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US Environmental History Class at CSW
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#Post#: 291--------------------------------------------------
Re: #3: Cronon and Merchant Continued...
By: afreitag Date: February 14, 2019, 8:25 pm
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Environmental history is an interdisciplinary, revisionist
history studying the complex, codependent relationship between
humanity and the environment. It objectively aims to explain
human phenomenons through environmental settings, and vise
versa.
Environmental history is a history of changes and consequences.
Why is this the way it is? What influenced this? What shaped
this into what it is?
I’ve read from other posts the idea that environmental history
opens a new perspective on development and decline, which can be
applied to both humanity and the environment. I think this
aspect specifically is a huge newly realized context with many
histories to revisit and explore.
Another important idea in this study is the rejection of
absolute answers; there are moving parts in this field that
require ever evolving evaluations. It’s the difference from
seeing in strictly black and white and seeing through a
greyscale - which holds a special value in interdisciplinary
studies.
I believe this history relies heavily on science, specifically
scientific documents from which to comb through, as this is a
new field and does not have its individually dedicated
historical documents. Scientific documents such as graphs,
charts, experiments, etc. do not carry the same bias that
historical documents can, which is another reason why I think it
is especially important. This history also seems the closest to
science because environmental happenings cannot be defined or
explained without a kind of science.
#Post#: 292--------------------------------------------------
Re: #3: Cronon and Merchant Continued...
By: afreitag Date: February 14, 2019, 8:32 pm
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reading this reminded me that theology has been pulled into
environmental history, which I very much hope we will be
learning more about. Like Diamond was talking about in our first
night's reading, different areas of the world developed based on
their environmental means. This could be applied to how
religions have developed in different regions - and how those
varying religions can be connected to ethnicity and be
attributed to wars, specifically over land.
#Post#: 293--------------------------------------------------
Re: #3: Cronon and Merchant Continued...
By: ebartel2020 Date: February 14, 2019, 8:38 pm
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The way I view environmental history is the relationship and
interactions that humans have with nature and our understanding
of ecology. This is a multidisciplinary topic as it involves
different subtopics such as, the actual environment, how we
understand the environment and what impact we have on the
environment. When I say nature, I mean anything not humanly
made. It is about how we shape the world as well as how the
world shapes us. In my eyes, we have an issue with culture
because of the past and in order to change that I think we as a
whole have to the teacher the younger people the “proper” way of
thinking. But then, this becomes contradictory because not
everyone has the same views. I think about this often.
I appreciated when Cronon talked about how we get stuck in the
negative due to a negative past. I feel like this sums up much
of what we do and how we are as humans. As the same time, due to
science, we thought we knew certain things that we did not and
it ended up hurting us in the future which is nobody's fault. I
see that as part of evolution. But, how do we move past certain
issues when everyone has their own opinions and thoughts?
#Post#: 294--------------------------------------------------
Re: #3: Cronon and Merchant Continued...
By: smartins2019 Date: February 14, 2019, 8:45 pm
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Some thoughts while reading the Merchant reading...
I love this! Everything about it! Is so! Amazing!
quotes that really stuck out to me:
"In interpreting environmental history, therefore, one needs to
ask probing questions such as: What is race and how is it
historically and socially constructed at different times and
places?"
"African Americans bore the brunt of early forms of
environmental pollution and disease as whites fled urban areas
to the new streetcar suburbs. Black neighborhoods became toxic
dumps and black bodies became toxic sites." 10
"Over time the meanings attached to skin colors have been
redefined in ways that reinforce environmental and institutional
racism." 11
"But food is also a cultural construct and is therefore not only
good to eat, but important to people in maintaining historical
and cultural identities."11
As for my definition of environmental history, I'm not sure I am
able to put it into one sentence yet. I know for sure that (at
this point in time at least) I think it has to do with how has
the development of the earth impacted people and how has the
development of people impacted the earth. (Obviously I need to
find a less-clunky way to say that!)
#Post#: 295--------------------------------------------------
Re: #3: Cronon and Merchant Continued...
By: yzhu2020 Date: February 14, 2019, 8:56 pm
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Environmental history is the study of history using the earth as
the primary source of information; it is revisionist because it
is not using information that past figures have written with the
intent that it will be part of history and is more inclusive in
its content. Though environmental history does not view history
through the conventional perspective (reviewing politics,
nation-wide events, etc.), it also includes subjects, such as
gender, race, religion, etc., that is commonly studied in
conventional history. The goal of environment history is to show
how nature affects human life. Nature is not limited to only
plants and organisms, it is also about human society, behavior,
etc. Therefore it is essential to learn the effect of nature on
humans. Earth, then, is the perfect source to learn about
nature; earth is like the foundation of nature. By learning
about earth, people will learn about nature which leads to a
deeper understanding of human history.
#Post#: 296--------------------------------------------------
Re: #3: Cronon and Merchant Continued...
By: yzhu2020 Date: February 14, 2019, 9:06 pm
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Reply to Alice:
I really liked how you described environment history as a
history of changes and consequence. I think this is the matter
of taking and giving. There is always a balance of take and
give; humans can cause damages to earth but it can also benefit
the earth as the same time.
I also really enjoyed your point of how environmental history
rejects absolute answers. In my perspective, environmental
history doesn't reject absolute answers it is that there are no
absolute answers. In environmental history, we study the "why"
questions not "what" question. With "why" questions, we cannot
give absolute answers but instead analysis that can provoke even
more profound thinking and perspective.
#Post#: 297--------------------------------------------------
Re: #3: Cronon and Merchant Continued...
By: Annaliese Date: February 15, 2019, 12:09 am
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Environmental history is the study of history by looking at how
the environment influences every part of culture and humanity
and what we think we know about history. It seeks to understand
how the human experience is impacted by nature and natural
constraints. It is a revisionist history attempt to make history
more inclusive in its narratives in order to understand it
better. Environmental history is about the way humanity
interacts with nature, how we have changed nature and how nature
has changed us and our culture. It increases our understanding
of the past by looking at how these natural factors impact us.
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