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An Environmental History of Russia
by Paul Josephson Nicolai Dronin Aleh Cherp Ruben Mnatsakanian Dmitry Efremenko Vladislav LarinThe former Soviet empire spanned eleven time zones and contained half the world's forests; vast deposits of oil, gas and coal; various ores; major rivers such as the Volga, Don and Angara; and extensive biodiversity. These resources and animals, as well as the people who lived in the former Soviet Union – Slavs, Armenians, Georgians, Azeris, Kazakhs and Tajiks, indigenous Nenets and Chukchi – were threatened by environmental degradation and extensive pollution. This environmental history of the former Soviet Union explores the impact that state economic development programs had on the environment. The authors consider the impact of Bolshevik ideology on the establishment of an extensive system of nature preserves, the effect of Stalinist practices of industrialization and collectivization on nature, and the rise of public involvement under Khrushchev and Brezhnev, and changes to policies and practices with the rise of Gorbachev and the break-up of the USSR.
An Environmental History of the World: Humankind's Changing Role in the Community of Life
by J. Donal Hughes J. Donald HughesThis second edition of An Environmental History of the World continues to present a concise history, from ancient to modern times, of the interactions between human societies and the natural environment, including the other forms of life that inhabit our planet. Throughout their evolutionary history, humans have affected the natural environment, sometimes with a promise of sustainable balance, but also in a destructive manner. This book investigates the ways in which environmental changes, often the result of human actions, have caused historical trends in human societies. This process has happened in every historical period and in every part of the inhabited earth. The book is organized into ten chapters. The main chapters follow a chronological path through the history of mankind, in relationship to ecosystems around the world. The first explains what environmental history is, and argues for its importance in understanding the present state of the world's ecological problems. Chapters two through eight form the core of the historical analysis, each concentrating on a major period of human history (pre-civilized, early civilizations, classical, medieval, early modern, early and later twentieth century, and contemporary) that has been characterized by large-scale changes in the relationship between human societies and the biosphere, and each gives several case studies that illustrate significant patterns occurring at that time. The chapters covering contemporary times discuss the physical impacts of the huge growth in population and technology, and the human responses to these problems. Our moral obligations to nature and how we can achieve a sustainable balance between technology and the environment are also considered. This revised second edition takes account of new research and the course of history containing new sections on global warming, the response of New Orleans to the hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the experience of the Dutch people in protecting their low-lying lands against the encroachments of rivers, lakes, and the North Sea. New material is also offered on the Pacific Islands, including the famous case of Easter Island. This is an original work that reaches further than other environmental histories. Rather than looking at humans and the environment as separate entities, this book places humans within the community of life. The relationship between environmental thought and actions, and their evolution, is discussed throughout. Little environmental or historical knowledge is assumed from the reader in this introduction to environmental history. We cannot reach a useful understanding of modern environmental problems without the aid of perspective provided by environmental history, with its illustrations of the ways in which past decisions helped or hindered the interaction between nature and culture. This book will be influential and timely to all interested in or researching the world in which we live.
An Environmental History of the World: Humankind's Changing Role in the Community of Life (Routledge Studies In Physical Geography And Environment Ser. #Vol. 2)
by J. Donald HughesThis second edition of An Environmental History of the World continues to present a concise history, from ancient to modern times, of the interactions between human societies and the natural environment, including the other forms of life that inhabit our planet. Throughout their evolutionary history, humans have affected the natural environment, sometimes with a promise of sustainable balance, but also in a destructive manner. This book investigates the ways in which environmental changes, often the result of human actions, have caused historical trends in human societies. This process has happened in every historical period and in every part of the inhabited earth. The book is organized into ten chapters. The main chapters follow a chronological path through the history of mankind, in relationship to ecosystems around the world. The first explains what environmental history is, and argues for its importance in understanding the present state of the world's ecological problems. Chapters two through eight form the core of the historical analysis, each concentrating on a major period of human history (pre-civilized, early civilizations, classical, medieval, early modern, early and later twentieth century, and contemporary) that has been characterized by large-scale changes in the relationship between human societies and the biosphere, and each gives several case studies that illustrate significant patterns occurring at that time. The chapters covering contemporary times discuss the physical impacts of the huge growth in population and technology, and the human responses to these problems. Our moral obligations to nature and how we can achieve a sustainable balance between technology and the environment are also considered. This revised second edition takes account of new research and the course of history containing new sections on global warming, the response of New Orleans to the hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the experience of the Dutch people in protecting their low-lying lands against the encroachments of rivers, lakes, and the North Sea. New material is also offered on the Pacific Islands, including the famous case of Easter Island. This is an original work that reaches further than other environmental histories. Rather than looking at humans and the environment as separate entities, this book places humans within the community of life. The relationship between environmental thought and actions, and their evolution, is discussed throughout. Little environmental or historical knowledge is assumed from the reader in this introduction to environmental history. We cannot reach a useful understanding of modern environmental problems without the aid of perspective provided by environmental history, with its illustrations of the ways in which past decisions helped or hindered the interaction between nature and culture. This book will be influential and timely to all interested in or researching the world in which we live.
An Environmental History of Twentieth-Century Britain
by John SheailEnvironmental history - the history of the relationship between people and the natural world - is a dynamic and increasingly important field. In An Environmental History of Twentieth-Century Britain, John Sheail breaks new ground in illustrating how some of the most pressing concerns came to be recognised, and a response made. Much use is made of archival sources in tracing a number of key issues, including: * management of change by central and local government * the manner in which natural processes were incorporated in projects to protect personal and public health, and ultimately environmental health * new beginnings in forestry * the emergence of a third force alongside farming and forestry in the countryside * management of a transport revolution, and mitigation of environmental hazards Such instances of policy-making are reviewed within the wider context of a growing awareness, both on the part of government and business, of the role of environmental issues in the creation of wealth and social well-being for us all. An Environmental History of Twentieth-Century Britain is essential reading for all those concerned with these issues.
Environmental History, volume 27 number 1 (January 2022)
by Environmental HistoryThis is volume 27 issue 1 of Environmental History. Environmental History (EH) is the world’s leading scholarly journal in environmental history and the journal of record in the field. Scholarship published in EH explores the changing relationships between humans and the environment over time. This interdisciplinary journal brings together insights from geography, anthropology, the natural sciences, and many other disciplines to inform historical scholarship.
Environmental History, volume 27 number 2 (April 2022)
by Environmental HistoryThis is volume 27 issue 2 of Environmental History. Environmental History (EH) is the world’s leading scholarly journal in environmental history and the journal of record in the field. Scholarship published in EH explores the changing relationships between humans and the environment over time. This interdisciplinary journal brings together insights from geography, anthropology, the natural sciences, and many other disciplines to inform historical scholarship.
Environmental History, volume 27 number 3 (July 2022)
by Environmental HistoryThis is volume 27 issue 3 of Environmental History. Environmental History (EH) is the world’s leading scholarly journal in environmental history and the journal of record in the field. Scholarship published in EH explores the changing relationships between humans and the environment over time. This interdisciplinary journal brings together insights from geography, anthropology, the natural sciences, and many other disciplines to inform historical scholarship.
Environmental History, volume 27 number 4 (October 2022)
by Environmental HistoryThis is volume 27 issue 4 of Environmental History. Environmental History (EH) is the world’s leading scholarly journal in environmental history and the journal of record in the field. Scholarship published in EH explores the changing relationships between humans and the environment over time. This interdisciplinary journal brings together insights from geography, anthropology, the natural sciences, and many other disciplines to inform historical scholarship.
Environmental History, volume 28 number 1 (January 2023)
by Environmental HistoryThis is volume 28 issue 1 of Environmental History. Environmental History (EH) is the world’s leading scholarly journal in environmental history and the journal of record in the field. Scholarship published in EH explores the changing relationships between humans and the environment over time. This interdisciplinary journal brings together insights from geography, anthropology, the natural sciences, and many other disciplines to inform historical scholarship.
Environmental History, volume 28 number 2 (April 2023)
by Environmental HistoryThis is volume 28 issue 2 of Environmental History. Environmental History (EH) is the world’s leading scholarly journal in environmental history and the journal of record in the field. Scholarship published in EH explores the changing relationships between humans and the environment over time. This interdisciplinary journal brings together insights from geography, anthropology, the natural sciences, and many other disciplines to inform historical scholarship.
Environmental History, volume 28 number 3 (July 2023)
by Environmental HistoryThis is volume 28 issue 3 of Environmental History. Environmental History (EH) is the world’s leading scholarly journal in environmental history and the journal of record in the field. Scholarship published in EH explores the changing relationships between humans and the environment over time. This interdisciplinary journal brings together insights from geography, anthropology, the natural sciences, and many other disciplines to inform historical scholarship.
Environmental History, volume 28 number 4 (October 2023)
by Environmental HistoryThis is volume 28 issue 4 of Environmental History. Environmental History (EH) is the world’s leading scholarly journal in environmental history and the journal of record in the field. Scholarship published in EH explores the changing relationships between humans and the environment over time. This interdisciplinary journal brings together insights from geography, anthropology, the natural sciences, and many other disciplines to inform historical scholarship.
Environmental History, volume 29 number 1 (January 2024)
by Environmental HistoryThis is volume 29 issue 1 of Environmental History. Environmental History (EH) is the world’s leading scholarly journal in environmental history and the journal of record in the field. Scholarship published in EH explores the changing relationships between humans and the environment over time. This interdisciplinary journal brings together insights from geography, anthropology, the natural sciences, and many other disciplines to inform historical scholarship.
Environmental History, volume 29 number 2 (April 2024)
by Environmental HistoryThis is volume 29 issue 2 of Environmental History. Environmental History (EH) is the world’s leading scholarly journal in environmental history and the journal of record in the field. Scholarship published in EH explores the changing relationships between humans and the environment over time. This interdisciplinary journal brings together insights from geography, anthropology, the natural sciences, and many other disciplines to inform historical scholarship.
Environmental Human Rights: A Political Theory Perspective (Routledge Explorations in Environmental Studies)
by Markku Oksanen Ashley Dodsworth Selina O'DohertyThe nature of environmental human rights and their relation to larger rights theories has been a frequent topic of discussion in law, environmental ethics and political theory. However, the subject of environmental human rights has not been fully established among other human rights concerns within political philosophy and theory. In examining environmental rights from a political theory perspective, this book explores an aspect of environmental human rights that has received less attention within the literature. In linking the constraints of political reality with a focus on the theoretical underpinnings of how we think about politics, this book explores how environmental human rights must respond to the key questions of politics, such as the state and sovereignty, equality, recognition and representation, and examines how the competing understandings about these rights are also related to political ideologies. Drawing together contributions from a range of key thinkers in the field, this is a valuable resource for students and scholars of human rights, environmental ethics, and international environmental law and politics more generally.
Environmental Human Rights and Climate Change: Current Status And Future Prospects
by Bridget LewisThis book examines the current status of environmental human rights at the international, regional, and national levels and provides a critical analysis of possible future developments in this area, particularly in the context of a changing climate. It examines various conceptualisations of environmental human rights, including procedural rights relating to the environment, constitutional environmental rights, the environmental dimensions of existing human rights such as the rights to water, health, food, housing and life, and the notion of a stand-alone human right to a healthy environment.The book addresses the topic from a variety of perspectives, drawing on underlying theories of human rights as well as a range of legal, political, and pragmatic considerations. It examines the scope of current human rights, particularly those enshrined in international and regional human rights law, to explore their application and enforceability in relation to environmental problems, identifying potential barriers to more effective implementation. It also analyses the rationale for constitutional recognition of environmental rights and considers the impact that this area of law has had, both in terms of achieving stronger environmental protection and environmental justice, as well as in influencing the development of human rights law more generally. The book identifies climate change as the key environmental challenge facing the global community, as well as a major cause of negative human rights impacts. It examines the contribution that environmental human rights might make to rights-based approaches to climate change.
Environmental Human Rights in Earth System Governance: Democracy Beyond Democracy (Elements in Earth System Governance)
by Walter F. Baber Robert V. BartlettEnvironmental rights are a category of human rights necessarily central to both democracy and effective earth system governance (any environmental-ecological-sustainable democracy). For any democracy to remain democratic, some aspects must be beyond democracy and must not be allowed to be subjected to any ordinary democratic collective choice processes shy of consensus. Real, established rights constitute a necessary boundary of legitimate everyday democratic practice. We analyze how human rights are made democratically and, in particular, how they can be made with respect to matters environmental, especially matters that have import beyond the confines of the modern nation state.
Environmental Human Rights in the Anthropocene: Concepts, Contexts, and Challenges
by Walter F. Baber James R. MayHuman rights and environmental protection are closely intertwined, and both are critically dependent on supportive legal opportunity structures. These legal structures consist of access to the courts; 'legal stock' or the set of available standards and precedents on which to base litigation; and institutional receptiveness to potential litigation. These elements all depend on a variety of social, political, and economic variables. This book critically analyses the complexities of uniting human rights advocacy and environmental protection. Bringing together international experts in the field, it documents the current state of our environmental human rights knowledge, strategically critical questions that remain unanswered, and the initiatives required to develop those answers. It is ideal for researchers in environmental governance and law, as well as interested practitioners and advanced students working in public policy, political science and environmental studies.
The Environmental Humanities: A Critical Introduction (The\mit Press Ser. #1)
by Robert S. Emmett David E. NyeA concise overview of this multidisciplinary field, presenting key concepts, central issues, and current research, along with concrete examples and case studies.The emergence of the environmental humanities as an academic discipline early in the twenty-first century reflects the growing conviction that environmental problems cannot be solved by science and technology alone. This book offers a concise overview of this new multidisciplinary field, presenting concepts, issues, current research, concrete examples, and case studies. Robert Emmett and David Nye show how humanists, by offering constructive knowledge as well as negative critique, can improve our understanding of such environmental problems as global warming, species extinction, and over-consumption of the earth's resources. They trace the genealogy of environmental humanities from European, Australian, and American initiatives, also showing its cross-pollination by postcolonial and feminist theories. Emmett and Nye consider a concept of place not synonymous with localism, the risks of ecotourism, and the cultivation of wild areas. They discuss the decoupling of energy use and progress, and point to OECD countries for examples of sustainable development. They explain the potential for science to do both good and harm, examine dark visions of planetary collapse, and describe more positive possibilities—alternative practices, including localization and degrowth. Finally, they examine the theoretical impact of new materialism, feminism, postcolonial criticism, animal studies, and queer ecology on the environmental humanities.
Environmental Humanities and the Uncanny: Ecoculture, literature and religion (Routledge Explorations in Environmental Studies)
by Rod GiblettSigmund Freud’s essay on the uncanny is celebrating a century. It is arguably his greatest and most fruitful contribution to the study of culture and the environment. Environmental Humanities and the Uncanny brings into the open neglected aspects of the uncanny in Freud’s famous essay in its centenary year and in the work of those before and after him, such as Friedrich Schelling, Walter Benjamin, E. T. A. Hoffmann and Bram Stoker. This book does so by focussing on religion, especially at a time and for a world in which some sectors of the monotheisms are in aggressive, and sometimes violent, contention against those of other monotheisms, and even against other sectors within their own monotheism. The chapter on Schelling’s uncanny argues that monotheisms come out of polytheism and makes the plea for polytheism central to the whole book. It enables rethinking the relationships between mythology and monotheistic and polytheistic religions in a culturally and politically liberatory and progressive way. Succeeding chapters consider the uncanny cyborg, the uncanny and the fictional, and the uncanny and the Commonwealth, concluding with a chapter on Taoism as a polytheistic religion. Building on the author’s previous work in Environmental Humanities and Theologies in bringing together theories of religion and the environment, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of the environmental humanities, ecocultural studies and religion.
Environmental Humanities and Theologies: Ecoculture, Literature and the Bible (Routledge Environmental Humanities)
by Rod GiblettMany ways of thinking about and living with ‘the environment’ have their roots in the Bible and the Christian cultural tradition. Environmental Humanities and Theologies shows that some of these ways are problematic. It also provides alternative ways that value both materiality and spirituality. Beginning with an environmentally friendly reading of the biblical story of creation, Environmental Humanities and Theologies goes on to discuss in succeeding chapters the environmental theology of wetlands, dragons and watery monsters (including crocodiles and alligators) in the Bible and literature. It then gives a critical reading of the environmental theology of the biblical book of Psalms. Theological concepts are found in the works of English writers of detective and devotional stories and novels, American nature writers and European Jewish writers (as succeeding chapters show). Environmental Humanities and Theologies concludes with an appreciation for Australian Aboriginal spirituality in the swamp serpent. It argues for the sacrality of marsh monsters and swamp serpents as figures of reverence and respect for living bio- and psycho-symbiotic livelihoods in bioregions of the living earth in the Symbiocene. This is the hoped-for age superseding the Anthropocene. Environmental Humanities and Theologies is aimed at those who have little or no knowledge of how theology underlies much thinking and writing about ‘the environment’ and who are looking for ways of thinking about, being and living with the earth that respect and value both spirituality and materiality. It is a new text nurturing sacrality for the Symbiocene.
Environmental Humanities in Central Asia: Relations Between Extraction and Interdependence (Routledge Environmental Humanities)
by Jeanne Féaux de la CroixThis book is the first collection to showcase the flourishing field of environmental humanities in Central Asia. A region larger than Europe, Central Asia possesses an astounding range of environments, from deserts to glaciated peaks. The volume brings into conversation scholarship from history to social anthropology, demonstrating the contribution that interdisciplinary and engaged research offers to many urgent issues in the region: from the history of conservationism to the tactics of environmental movements, from literary engagements with ‘pure nature’ to the impact of fossil fuel extraction. The collection focuses on the Central Asian republics of the former USSR, where a complex layering of nomadic and sedentary, Turkic and Persianate, Islamic and Soviet cultures ends up affecting human relations with distinct environments. Featuring state-of-the-art contributions, the book enquires into human-environment relations through a broad-brush typology of interactive modes: to extract, protect, enspirit and fear. Broadening the scope of analysis beyond a consideration of power, the authors bring into focus alternative local cosmologies and the unintended consequences of environmental policy. The volume highlights scholarship from within Central Asia as well as expertise elsewhere, offering readers diverse modes of knowledge-production in the environmental humanities. This book is an important resource for researchers and students of the environmental humanities, sustainability, history, politics, anthropology and geography of Asia, as well as Soviet and Post-Soviet studies.
Environmental Humanities in the New Himalayas: Symbiotic Indigeneity, Commoning, Sustainability (Routledge Environmental Humanities)
by Dan Smyer Yü Erik De MaakerEnvironmental Humanities in the New Himalayas: Symbiotic Indigeneity, Commoning, Sustainability showcases how the eco-geological creativity of the earth is integrally woven into the landforms, cultures, and cosmovisions of modern Himalayan communities. Unique in scope, this book features case studies from Bhutan, Assam, Sikkim, Tibet, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sino-Indian borderlands, many of which are documented by authors from indigenous Himalayan communities. It explores three environmental characteristics of modern Himalayas: the anthropogenic, the indigenous, and the animist. Focusing on the sentient relations of human-, animal-, and spirit-worlds with the earth in different parts of the Himalayas, the authors present the complex meanings of indigeneity, commoning and sustainability in the Anthropocene. In doing so, they show the vital role that indigenous stories and perspectives play in building new regional and planetary environmental ethics for a sustainable future. Drawing on a wide range of expert contributions from the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanist disciplines, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental humanities, religion and ecology, indigenous knowledge and sustainable development more broadly.
Environmental Humanities of Extraction in Africa: Poetics and Politics of Exploitation (Routledge Environmental Humanities)
by James Ogude Tafadzwa MushongaThis book brings together perspectives on resource exploitation to expose the continued environmental and socio-political concerns in post-colonial Africa. The continent is host to a myriad of environmental issues, largely resulting from its rich diversity of natural resources that have been historically subjected to exploitation. Colonial patterns of resource use and capital accumulation continue unabated, making environmental and related socio-political problems a dominant feature of African economies. The book pursues the manifestation of these problems through four themes: environmental justice, violent capitalocenes, indigenous knowledge, and climate change. The editors locate the book within the broad fields of political ecology and environmental geopolitics to highlight the intricate geographies of resource exploitation across Africa. It uniquely focuses on the socio-political and geopolitical dynamics associated with the exploitation of Africa’s natural resources and its people. The case studies from different parts of Africa tell a compelling story of resource exploitation, related issues of environmental degradation in a continent particularly vulnerable to climate change, and the continued plundering of its natural resources. The book will be of great interest to scholars and students from the interdisciplinary fields of the environmental humanities and environmental studies more broadly, as well as those studying political ecology, environmental policy, and natural resources with a specific focus on Africa.
The Environmental Imaginary In Brazilian Poetry And Art
by Malcolm K. McneeThis study contributes to ongoing discussions on the connections between the environmental imaginary and issues of identity, place and nation. Utilizing a delimited ecocritical approach, McNee puts Brazilian culture, through the work of contemporary poets and visual artists, into a broader, transnational dialogue.