"Environmental history is the study of human interaction with the natural world over time, emphasising the active role nature plays in influencing human affairs and vice versa."
The study of how human societies have interacted with the natural world, often with an emphasis on the impacts of human activity on the environment.
Ecological Systems: This topic deals with the physical environment and how it supports different ecological systems, including forests, wetlands, deserts, grasslands, and oceanic regions. It also covers issues like climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation.
Human Impact: This topic explores the impact of humans on the environment, including their use of natural resources, pollution, habitat destruction, and climate change. It examines how different cultures have influenced the environment throughout history and how those changes have affected societies and cultures.
Ethnohistory: This is the study of the history of different cultures and their relationship with the environment. It examines how different cultures have interacted with the environment over time, including their use of natural resources, agriculture, fishing and hunting practices, and spiritual beliefs and practices.
Landscapes: Landscapes refer to the different natural and cultural features of an area, including mountains, rivers, forests, and cities. The study of landscapes includes understanding the ways in which humans have altered them over time, but also how people have responded to changes in the environment and how these changes have shaped cultural and societal systems.
Environmental Policy: This topic explores laws, regulations, and policies surrounding the environment, including the development of environmental laws, conservation efforts, and environmental activism. It also covers issues surrounding sustainability and sustainable development.
Disease and Health: This topic examines the relationship between the environment and health. It includes infectious diseases and their spread through the environment, as well as environmental factors that affect human health like pollution, climate change, and access to clean water and food.
Environmental Justice: This is the study of how environmental outcomes are distributed across different social and economic groups. It examines the ways in which race, class, and gender affect access to quality environmental resources and the effects environmental hazards have on different groups.
Energy: This topic explores the history of energy use and production, including the extraction of natural resources like coal, oil, and gas, as well as the development of renewable energy sources like wind and solar power.
Rural and Urban Environments: This is the study of the environmental history of rural and urban areas. It includes how the built environment impacts human health, how urbanization has changed the natural environment, and how rural populations have interacted with the natural world over time.
Water: This topic explores the history of water use and management, including the development of water infrastructure like dams and canals, as well as the impact of pollution and climate change on water resources.
Agrarian History: This type of environmental history focuses on the study of people's relationship with the land and how they use it for agricultural purposes.
Environmental Policy History: This type of environmental history deals with the study of the policies made by governments and other organizations to protect the environment.
Climate History: This type of environmental history deals with the study of the impact of climate on human societies, including how past changes in climate affected historical events.
Forest History: This type of environmental history focuses on the relationship between people and their environment, specifically the ways in which people manage and use forest resources.
Urban History: This type of environmental history focuses on the ways in which people interact with their environment in urban settings.
Indigenous Environmental History: This type of environmental history focuses on the environmental practices of indigenous peoples and the impact of colonization on their environment.
Environmental History of Technology: This type of environmental history focuses on the role of technology in the relationship between human societies and their environment.
Water History: This type of environmental history focuses on the ways in which water has shaped human societies and how societies have influenced their water environments.
Colonial Environmental History: This type of environmental history focuses on the impact of colonialism on the environment and how colonial powers exploited natural resources.
Environmental Justice History: This type of environmental history focuses on the intersection between environmental issues and social justice, including issues of race, class, and gender in relation to the environment.
"Environmental history first emerged in the United States out of the environmental movement of the 1960s and 1970s."
"Much of its impetus still stems from present-day global environmental concerns."
"The field was founded on conservation issues."
"but has broadened in scope to include more general social and scientific history and may deal with cities, population or sustainable development."
"It is also a strongly multidisciplinary subject that draws widely on both the humanities and natural science."
"The subject matter of environmental history can be divided into three main components."
"The first, nature itself and its change over time, includes the physical impact of humans on the Earth's land, water, atmosphere, and biosphere."
"The second category, how humans use nature, includes the environmental consequences of increasing population, more effective technology, and changing patterns of production and consumption."
"Other key themes are 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."
"Finally, 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."
"Environmental history tends to focus on particular time-scales, geographic regions, or key themes."
"Emphasising the active role nature plays in influencing human affairs and vice versa."
"The physical impact of humans on the Earth's land, water, atmosphere, and biosphere."
"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."
"The way attitudes, beliefs, and values influence interaction with nature, especially in the form of myths, religion, and science."
"The field was founded on conservation issues."
"Much of its impetus still stems from present-day global environmental concerns."