Thursday, October 11, 2012

What is Environmental History ?

Lecture 1

Environmental History ?

Introduction
  •  environment is one of the most pressing concerns in the 21st century
  •  highly complex with cultural, social, economic, moral, political and scientific dimensions
  •  Environmental History which provides an valuable long-term perspective on environmental change is very crucial in this debate
  •  Historians provides fascinating insights into the relations between humans and their environments in the past
  •  Throughout history, humans have affected the natural environment-
in a sustainable manner & often in a destructive manner
Origins 
 new discipline came into being during the 1960's & 1970's
 direct consequence of the growing awareness of worldwide environmental problems
 pollution of water and air by pesticides
 depletion of the ozone layer
the enhanced greenhouse effect caused by human activity
 historians started to look for the origins of the contemporary problems, drawing upon the knowledge of a whole field of scientific disciplines and specializations which had been developed during the preceding century
 two important 19th century origins of environmental history:
 ecology and geography:-
¡ In modern environmental history, ecological concepts are used to analyse past environments
¡ and geography used to study the ever-changing face of the earth
 Two other roots of environmental history are
¡ archaeology and anthropology of which the latter introduced ecology into the human sciences
 The emergence of world history, with works by McNeill and Thomas among others, introduced interdisciplinary and continental wide, even world scale studies into history
 Ecology and the interdisciplinary method became later two important features of environmental history
Rodrick Nash coined the term environmental history in 1972
 the works of Worster, Pfister, Brimblecombe, Ponting and others made environmental history mature
 Now environmental history is an international and interdisciplinary undertaking
What is environmental history?
 always about human interaction with the natural world (interaction between culture and nature)
 goal of environmental history is to deepen our understanding of how humans has been affected by the natural environment in the past and also how they have affected that environment and with what results (bilateral approach of environmental history )
 environmental history is studying the interaction between humans and the environment in the past
To study the relationships between humans and the surrounding world, we must try to understand how the interaction between the two works
Donald Worster has recognised three clusters of issues to be addressed by environmental historians
  The first cluster deals with the human intellectual realm consisting of perceptions, ethics, laws, myth and the other mental constructions related to the natural world.
  Ideas about the world around us influence the way we deal with the natural environment
  the socio-economic realm
  Ideas have an impact on politics, policies and the economy through which ideas materialise in the natural world
  the natural realm (deals with understanding nature itself)
  world is not static, it reacts on our actions to influence the material world
 The impact of human actions on the natural world is causing a feedback that changes our ideas, policies, economy etc
 Envi Hi: is about
  includes analysis of data on tides, winds, ocean currents, the position of continents in relation to each other and geology
  the history of climate and weather
  the pattern of diseases
  the story of human exploitation of the natural world
  impact of agriculture on soil and landscape
  the history of forests
  the effects of hunting and grazing
  the environmental impact of mining, transportation, urbanisation and industrialisation.
  last, but not least, environmental history is about unmasking myths and distorted perceptions of the past
  Myths and false perceptions are not based on historical facts and can be highly influential
 It is an important task of environmental history to correct these misconceptions of the past
  The subject matter of environmental history can be divided into three main components.
    1. Nature itself and its change over time, includes the physical impact of humans on the Earth's land, water, atmosphere and biosphere. 
   2. How humans use nature, includes the environmental consequences of increasing population, more effective technology and changing patterns of production and consumption.
   The transition from nomadic hunter-gatherer communities to settled agriculture in the Neolithic revolution, the effects of colonial expansion and settlements, and the environmental and human consequences of the industrial and technological revolutions.
   3. Environmental historians study how people think about nature - the way attitudes, beliefs and values influence interaction with nature, especially in the form of myths, religion and science.

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