Atmosphere, climate and weather[edit]

The atmosphere of the Earth serves as a key factor in sustaining the planetary ecosystem. The thin layer
of gases that envelops the Earth is held in place by the planet's gravity. Dry air consists of 78% nitrogen,
21% oxygen, 1% argon and other inert gases, such as carbon dioxide. The remaining gases are often referred
to as trace gases,[12] among which are the greenhouse gases such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane,
nitrous oxide, and ozone. Filtered air includes trace amounts of many other chemical compounds. Air also
contains a variable amount of water vapor and suspensions of water droplets and ice crystals seen as clouds.
Many natural substances may be present in tiny amounts in an unfiltered air sample,
including dust, pollen and spores, sea spray, volcanic ash, and meteoroids. Various industrial pollutants also
may be present, such as chlorine (elementary or in compounds), fluorine compounds, elementalmercury,
and sulphur compounds such as sulphur dioxide [SO2].
The ozone layer of the Earth's atmosphere plays an important role in depleting the amount of ultraviolet (UV)
radiation that reaches the surface. As DNA is readily damaged by UV light, this serves to protect life at the
surface. The atmosphere also retains heat during the night, thereby reducing the daily temperature extremes.

Atmospheric layers[edit]
Principal layers[edit]
Earth's atmosphere can be divided into five main layers. These layers are mainly determined by whether
temperature increases or decreases with altitude. From highest to lowest, these layers are:

 Exosphere: The outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere extends from the exobase upward, mainly
composed of hydrogen and helium.
 Thermosphere: The top of the thermosphere is the bottom of the exosphere, called the exobase. Its height
varies with solar activity and ranges from about 350–800 km (220–500 mi; 1,150,000–2,620,000 ft).
The International Space Station orbits in this layer, between 320 and 380 km (200 and 240 mi).
 Mesosphere: The mesosphere extends from the stratopause to 80–85 km (50–53 mi; 262,000–279,000 ft).
It is the layer where mostmeteors burn up upon entering the atmosphere.
 Stratosphere: The stratosphere extends from the tropopause to about 51 km (32 mi; 167,000 ft).
The stratopause, which is the boundary between the stratosphere and mesosphere, typically is at 50 to
55 km (31 to 34 mi; 164,000 to 180,000 ft).
 Troposphere: The troposphere begins at the surface and extends to between 7 km (23,000 ft) at the poles
and 17 km (56,000 ft) at the equator, with some variation due to weather. The troposphere is mostly
heated by transfer of energy from the surface, so on average the lowest part of the troposphere is warmest
and temperature decreases with altitude. The tropopause is the boundary between the troposphere and
stratosphere.
Other layers
Within the five principal layers determined by temperature are several layers determined by other properties.

 The ozone layer is contained within the stratosphere. It is mainly located in the lower portion of the
stratosphere from about 15–35 km (9.3–21.7 mi; 49,000–115,000 ft), though the thickness varies
seasonally and geographically. About 90% of the ozone in our atmosphere is contained in the
stratosphere.
 The ionosphere, the part of the atmosphere that is ionized by solar radiation, stretches from 50 to
1,000 km (31 to 621 mi; 160,000 to 3,280,000 ft) and typically overlaps both the exosphere and the
thermosphere. It forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere.
 The homosphere and heterosphere: The homosphere includes the troposphere, stratosphere, and
mesosphere. The upper part of the heterosphere is composed almost completely of hydrogen, the lightest
element.
 The planetary boundary layer is the part of the troposphere that is nearest the Earth's surface and is
directly affected by it, mainly through turbulent diffusion.
Effects of global warming[edit]

The potential dangers of global warming are being increasingly studied by a wide global consortium of
scientists. These scientists are increasingly concerned about the potential long-term effects of global warming
on our natural environment and on the planet. Of particular concern is how climate change and global warming
caused by anthropogenic, or human-made releases of greenhouse gases, most notably carbon dioxide, can act
interactively, and have adverse effects upon the planet, its natural environment and humans' existence. It is
clear the planet is warming, and warming rapidly.–This warming is also responsible for the extinction of natural
habitats,which in turn leads to a reduction in wildlife population.The most recent report from the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the group of the leading climate scientists in the world) concluded
that the earth will warm anywhere from 2.7 to almost 11 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 to 6 degrees Celsius)
between 1990 and 2100.[13] Efforts have been increasingly focused on the mitigation of greenhouse gases that
are causing climatic changes, on developing adaptative strategies to global warming, to assist humans, other
animal, and plant species, ecosystems, regions and nations in adjusting to the effects of global warming. Some
examples of recent collaboration to address climate change and global warming include:

Another view of the Aletsch Glacierin the Swiss Alps and because of global warming it has been decreasing

 The United Nations Framework Convention Treaty and convention on Climate Change, to stabilize
greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic
interference with the climate system.[14]
 The Kyoto Protocol, which is the protocol to the international Framework Convention on Climate Change
treaty, again with the objective of reducing greenhouse gases in an effort to prevent anthropogenic climate
change.[15]
 The Western Climate Initiative, to identify, evaluate, and implement collective and cooperative ways to
reduce greenhouse gases in the region, focusing on a market-based cap-and-trade system.[16]
A significantly profound challenge is to identify the natural environmental dynamics in contrast to environmental
changes not within natural variances. A common solution is to adapt a static view neglecting natural variances
to exist. Methodologically, this view could be defended when looking at processes which change slowly and
short time series, while the problem arrives when fast processes turns essential in the object of the study.

Climate[edit]
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric
particle count and numerous other meteorological elements in a given region over long periods of time.[citation
needed]
Climate can be contrasted to weather, which is the present condition of these same elements over periods
up to two weeks.[citation needed]
Climates can be classified according to the average and typical ranges of different variables, most commonly
temperature and precipitation. The most commonly used classification scheme is the one originally developed
by Wladimir Köppen. The Thornthwaite system,[17] in use since 1948, incorporates evapotranspiration in
addition to temperature and precipitation information and is used in studying animal species diversity and
potential impacts of climate changes.[citation needed]

Weather[edit]
Weather is a set of all the phenomena occurring in a given atmospheric area at a given time.[18] Most weather
phenomena occur in thetroposphere,[19][20] just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day
temperature and precipitation activity, whereasclimate is the term for the average atmospheric conditions over
longer periods of time.[21] When used without qualification, "weather" is understood to be the weather of Earth.
Weather occurs due to density (temperature and moisture) differences between one place and another. These
differences can occur due to the sun angle at any particular spot, which varies by latitude from the tropics. The
strong temperature contrast between polar and tropical air gives rise to the jet stream. Weather systems in
the mid-latitudes, such as extratropical cyclones, are caused by instabilities of the jet stream flow. Because the
Earth's axis is tilted relative to its orbital plane, sunlight is incident at different angles at different times of the
year. On the Earth's surface, temperatures usually range ±40 °C (100 °F to −40 °F) annually. Over thousands
of years, changes in the Earth's orbit have affected the amount and distribution of solar energy received by the
Earth and influence long-term climate
Surface temperature differences in turn cause pressure differences. Higher altitudes are cooler than lower
altitudes due to differences in compressional heating. Weather forecasting is the application of science and
technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a future time and a given location. The atmosphere is
a chaotic system, and small changes to one part of the system can grow to have large effects on the system as
a whole. Human attempts to control the weather have occurred throughout human history, and there is
evidence that civilized human activity such asagriculture and industry has inadvertently modified weather
patterns.

Life[edit]
Evidence suggests that life on Earth has existed for about 3.7 billion years.[22] All known life forms share
fundamental molecular mechanisms, and based on these observations, theories on the origin of life attempt to
find a mechanism explaining the formation of a primordial single cell organism from which all life originates.
There are many different hypotheses regarding the path that might have been taken from simple organic
molecules via pre-cellular life to protocells and metabolism.
Although there is no universal agreement on the definition of life, scientists generally accept that the biological
manifestation of life is characterized by organization, metabolism, growth,adaptation, response
to stimuli and reproduction.[23] Life may also be said to be simply the characteristic state of organisms.
In biology, the science of living organisms, "life" is the condition which distinguishes
active organisms from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth,functional activity and the continual
change preceding death.[24][25]
A diverse variety of living organisms (life forms) can be found in the biosphere on Earth, and properties
common to these organisms—plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea, and bacteria—are a carbon- and water-
based cellular form with complex organization and heritable geneticinformation. Living organisms
undergo metabolism, maintain homeostasis, possess a capacity togrow, respond to stimuli, reproduce and,
through natural selection, adapt to their environment in successive generations. More complex living organisms
can communicate through various means.

Ecosystems[edit]
An ecosystem (also called as environment) is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-
organisms (biotic factors) in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical (abiotic) factors of
the environment.[26]
Central to the ecosystem concept is the idea that living organisms are continually engaged in a highly
interrelated set of relationships with every other element constituting the environment in which they
exist. Eugene Odum, one of the founders of the science of ecology, stated: "Any unit that includes all of the
organisms (ie: the "community") in a given area interacting with the physical environment so that a flow of
energy leads to clearly defined trophic structure, biotic diversity, and material cycles (i.e.: exchange of materials
between living and nonliving parts) within the system is an ecosystem."[27]
The human ecosystem concept is then grounded in the deconstruction of the human/naturedichotomy, and the
emergent premise that all species are ecologically integrated with each other, as well as with the abiotic
constituents of their biotope.
A greater number or variety of species or biological diversity of an ecosystem may contribute to greater
resilience of an ecosystem, because there are more species present at a location to respond to change and
thus "absorb" or reduce its effects. This reduces the effect before the ecosystem's structure is fundamentally
changed to a different state. This is not universally the case and there is no proven relationship between the
species diversity of an ecosystem and its ability to provide goods and services on a sustainable level.
The term ecosystem can also pertain to human-made environments, such as human ecosystems and human-
influenced ecosystems, and can describe any situation where there is relationship between living organisms
and their environment. Fewer areas on the surface of the earth today exist free from human contact, although
some genuine wilderness areas continue to exist without any forms of human intervention.

Biomes[edit]
Biomes are terminologically similar to the concept of ecosystems, and are climatically and geographically
defined areas of ecologically similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals,
and soil organisms, often referred to as ecosystems. Biomes are defined on the basis of factors such as plant
structures (such as trees, shrubs, and grasses), leaf types (such as broadleaf and needleleaf), plant spacing
(forest, woodland, savanna), and climate. Unlike ecozones, biomes are not defined by genetic, taxonomic, or
historical similarities. Biomes are often identified with particular patterns of ecological succession and climax
vegetation.

Biogeochemical cycles[edit]
Global biogeochemical cycles are critical to life, most notably those
of water, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus.[28]

 The nitrogen cycle is the transformation of nitrogen and nitrogen-containing compounds in nature. It is a
cycle which includes gaseous components.
 The water cycle, is the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth.
Water can change states among liquid, vapour, and ice at various places in the water cycle. Although the
balance of water on Earth remains fairly constant over time, individual water molecules can come and go.
 The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere,
pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth.
 The oxygen cycle is the movement of oxygen within and between its three main reservoirs: the
atmosphere, the biosphere, and thelithosphere. The main driving factor of the oxygen cycle
is photosynthesis, which is responsible for the modern Earth's atmospheric composition and life.
 The phosphorus cycle is the movement of phosphorus through the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and
biosphere. The atmosphere does not play a significant role in the movements of phosphorus, because
phosphorus and phosphorus compounds are usually solids at the typical ranges of temperature and
pressure found on Earth.

Wilderness[edit]
Wilderness is generally defined as a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified
by human activity. The WILD Foundation goes into more detail, defining wilderness as: "The most intact,
undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet - those last truly wild places that humans do not control and
have not developed with roads, pipelines or other industrial infrastructure."[29] Wilderness areas and
protected parks are considered important for the survival of certain species, ecological studies, conservation,
solitude, and recreation. Wilderness is deeply valued for cultural, spiritual, moral, and aesthetic reasons. Some
nature writers believe wilderness areas are vital for the human spirit and creativity.[30]
The word, "wilderness", derives from the notion of wildness; in other words that which is not controllable by
humans. The word's etymology is from the Old English wildeornes, which in turn derives
from wildeor meaning wild beast (wild + deor = beast, deer).[31] From this point of view, it is the wildness of a
place that makes it a wilderness. The mere presence or activity of people does not disqualify an area from
being "wilderness." Many ecosystems that are, or have been, inhabited or influenced by activities of people
may still be considered "wild." This way of looking at wilderness includes areas within which natural processes
operate without very noticeable human interference.
Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and
animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the
environment, both positive and negative. Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems. Deserts, rain forests, plains,
and other areas—including the most developed urban sites—all have distinct forms of wildlife. While the term in
popular culture usually refers to animals that are untouched by civilized human factors, most scientists agree
that wildlife around the world is (now) impacted by human activities.

Challenges[edit]
It is the common understanding of natural environment that underlies environmentalism — a
broad political, social, and philosophicalmovement that advocates various actions and policies in the interest of
protecting what nature remains in the natural environment, or restoring or expanding the role of nature in this
environment. While true wilderness is increasingly rare, wild nature (e.g., unmanagedforests,
uncultivated grasslands, wildlife, wildflowers) can be found in many locations previously inhabited by humans.
Goals for the benefit of people and natural systems, commonly expressed by environmental
scientists and environmentalists include:

 Elimination of pollution and toxicants in air, water, soil, buildings, manufactured goods, and food.
 Preservation of biodiversity and protection of endangered species.
 Conservation and sustainable use of resources such as water, land, air, energy, raw materials, and natural
resources.
 Halting human-induced global warming, which represents pollution, a threat to biodiversity, and a threat to
human populations.
 Shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy in electricity, heating and cooling, and transportation, which
addresses pollution, global warming, and sustainability. This may include public
transportation and distributed generation, which have benefits for traffic congestion and electric reliability.
 Establishment of nature reserves for recreational purposes and ecosystem preservation.
 Sustainable and less polluting waste management including waste reduction (or even zero
waste), reuse, recycling, composting,waste-to-energy, and anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge.

Environmental history
Environmental history is the study of human interaction with the natural world over time. In
contrast to other historical disciplines, it emphasizes the active role nature plays in influencing
human affairs. Environmental historians study how humans both shape their environment and are
shaped by it.
Environmental history emerged in the United States out of the environmental movement of the
1960s and 1970s, and much of its impetus still stems from present-day global environmental
concerns.[1] 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. As all history occurs in the natural world, environmental history tends to focus on
particular time-scales, geographic regions, or key themes. 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.[2] 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 productionand 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 andtechnological revolutions.[3] Finally, environmental historians study how people think
about nature - the way attitudes, beliefs and valuesinfluence interaction with nature, especially in the
form of myths, religion and science.

Origin of name and early works[edit]

In 1967 Roderick Nash published "Wilderness and the American Mind", a work that has become a
classic text of early environmental history. In an address to the Organization of American
Historians in 1969 (published in 1970) Nash used the expression "environmental history",[4] although
1972 is generally taken as the date when the term was first coined.[5] The 1959 book by Samuel P.
Hays, Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency: The Progressive Conservation Movement, 1890-
1920, while being a major contribution to American political history, is now also regarded as a
founding document in the field of environmental history. Hays is Professor Emeritus of History at
the University of Pittsburgh.[6]

Historiography[edit]
Main article: Historiography

Brief overviews of the field of environmental history have been given by John McNeill in
2003,[7] Richard White in 1985,[8] and J. Donald Hughes in 2006.[9] In 2014 Oxford University
Press published a volume of 25 essays entitled The Oxford Handbook of Environmental
History. This collection was edited by Andrew C. Isenberg.
Definition[edit]
There is no universally accepted definition of environmental history. In general terms it is a history
that tries to explain why our environment is like it is and how humanity has influenced its current
condition, as well as commenting on the problems and opportunities of tomorrow.[10] Donald
Worster's widely quoted 1988 definition states: "Environmental history is the interaction between
human cultures and the environment in the past."[11]
In 2001 J. Donald Hughes defined the subject as “The study of human relationships through time
with the natural communities of which they are a part in order to explain the processes of change
that affect that relationship.”[12] and, in 2006, as "... history that seeks understanding of human beings
as they have lived, worked and thought in relationship to the rest of nature through the changes
brought by time"[13] ... "As a method, environmental history is the use of ecological analysis as a
means of understanding human history ... an account of changes in human societies as they relate
to changes in the natural environment.”[12] Environmental historians are also “interested in what
people think about nature, and how they have expressed those ideas in folk religions, popular
culture, literature and art.”[12] In 2003 McNeill suggested that environmental history was "... the history
of the mutual relations between humankind and the rest of nature".[7]
Subject matter[edit]
Traditional historical analysis has over time extended its range of study from the activities and
influence of a few significant people to a much broader social, political, economic and cultural
analysis. Environmental history further broadens the subject matter of conventional history. In 1988,
Donald Worster stated that environmental history “attempts to make history more inclusive in its
narratives”[14] by examining the “role and place of nature in human life”,[15] and in 1993, that
“Environmental history explores the ways in which the biophysical world has influenced the course of
human history and the ways in which people have thought about and tried to transform their
surroundings”.[16] The interdependency of human and environmental factors in the creation of
landscapes is expressed through the notion of the cultural landscape. Worster also questioned the
scope of the discipline, asking: "We study humans and nature; therefore can anything human or
natural be outside our enquiry?"[17]
Environmental history is generally treated as a subfield of history, an established discipline. But
some environmental historians challenge this assumption, arguing that while traditional history is
human history – the story of people and their institutions,[18] "humans cannot place themselves
outside the principles of nature."[19] In this sense environmental history is a version of human history
within a larger context, one less dependent on anthropocentrism (even
though anthropogenic change is at the center of its narrative).[20]
Dimensions[edit]
J. Donald Hughes responded to the view that environmental history is "light on theory" or lacking
theoretical structure by viewing the subject through the lens of three "dimensions": nature and
culture, history and science, and scale.[21] This advances beyond Worster's recognition of three broad
clusters of issues to be addressed by environmental historians although both historians recognize
that the emphasis of their categories might vary according to the particular study[22] as, clearly, some
studies will concentrate more on society and human affairs and others more on the environment.
Themes[edit]
Several themes are used to express these historical dimensions. A more traditional historical
approach is to analyse the transformation of the globe’s ecology through themes like the separation
of man from nature during the neolithic revolution, imperialism and colonial
expansion, exploration, agricultural change, the effects of the industrial and technological revolution,
and urban expansion. More environmental topics include human impact through influences
on forestry, fire, climate change, sustainability and so on. According to Paul Warde, “the increasingly
sophisticated history of colonization and migration can take on an environmental aspect, tracing the
pathways of ideas and species around the globe and indeed is bringing about an increased use of
such analogies and ‘colonial’ understandings of processes within European history.”[23] The
importance of the colonial enterprise in Africa, the Caribbean and Indian Ocean has been detailed
by Richard Grove.[3] Much of the literature consists of case-studies targeted at the global, national
and local levels.[24]
Scale[edit]
Although environmental history can cover billions of years of history over the whole Earth, it can
equally concern itself with local scales and brief time periods.[25] Many environmental historians are
occupied with local, regional and national histories.[26] Some historians link their subject exclusively to
the span of human history – "every time period in human history"[19] while others include the period
before human presence on Earth as a legitimate part of the discipline. Ian Simmons's Environmental
History of Great Britaincovers a period of about 10,000 years. There is a tendency to difference in
time scales between natural and social phenomena: the causes of environmental change that
stretch back in time may be dealt with socially over a comparatively brief period.[27]
Although at all times environmental influences have extended beyond particular geographic regions
and cultures, during the 20th and early 21st centuries anthropogenic environmental change has
assumed global proportions, most prominently with climate change but also as a result of settlement,
the spread of disease and the globalization of world trade.[28]

History of the subject[edit]

The questions posed and themes covered by environmental history date back to antiquity: historians
have always included the effects of natural phenomena on human affairs.[29] Hippocrates, ancient
Greek father of medicine, in his Airs, Waters, Places, asserted that different cultures and human
temperaments could be related to the surroundings in which peoples lived.[30] During the
Enlightenment there was a rising awareness of the environment as concept and early environmental
scientists addressed themes of sustainability via the subjects of natural history and
medicine.[31] However, the origins of the subject in its present form are generally traced to the
twentieth century.
In 1929 a group of French historians founded the journal Annales, in many ways a forerunner of
modern environmental history since it took as its subject matter the reciprocal global influences of
the environment and human society. The idea of the impact of the physical environment on
civilizations was espoused by this Annales School to describe the long term developments that
shape human history[17] by focusing away from political and intellectual history,
toward agriculture, demography, and geography. Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, a pupil of the Annales
School, was the first to really embrace, in the 1950s, environmental history in a more contemporary
form.[32] One of the most influential members of the Annales School was Lucien Febvre (1878–1956),
whose book A Geographical Introduction to History is now a classic in the field.
The most influential empirical and theoretical work in the subject has been done in the United States
where teaching programs first emerged and a generation of trained environmental historians is now
active.[23] In the United States environmental history as an independent field of study emerged in the
general cultural reassessment and reform of the 1960s and 1970s along with environmentalism,
"conservation history",[33] and a gathering awareness of the global scale of some environmental
issues. This was in large part a reaction to the way nature was represented in history at the time,
which “portrayed the advance of culture and technology as releasing humans from dependence on
the natural world and providing them with the means to manage it [and] celebrated human mastery
over other forms of life and the natural environment, and expected technological improvement and
economic growth to accelerate”.[34] Environmental historians intended to develop a post-colonial
historiography that was "more inclusive in its narratives".[14]
Moral and political inspiration[edit]
Moral and political inspiration to environmental historians has come from American writers and
activists Henry Thoreau (1817 – 1862), John Muir (1838 – 1914), Aldo Leopold(1887 – 1948),
and Rachel Carson (1907 – 1964). Environmental history frequently promoted a moral and political
agenda although it steadily became a more scholarly enterprise.”[14] Early attempts to define the field
were made in the United States by Roderick Nash in “The State of Environmental History” and in
other works by frontier historiansFrederick Jackson Turner, James Malin, and Walter Prescott
Webb who analysed the process of settlement. Their work was expanded by a second generation of
more specialized environmental historians such as Alfred Crosby, Samuel P. Hays, Donald
Worster, William Cronon, Richard White, Carolyn Merchant, John McNeill, Donald Hughes, Chad
Montrie, and Europeans Paul Warde, Sverker Sorlin, Robert A. Lambert, T.C. Smout and Peter
Coates.
British Empire[edit]
Although environmental history was growing rapidly after 1970, it only reached historians of the
British Empire in the 1990s.[35][36][37] Gregory Barton argues that the concept of environmentalism
emerged from forestry studies, and emphasizes the British imperial role in that research. He argues
that imperial forestry movement in India around 1900 included government reservations, new
methods of fire protection, and attention to revenue-producing forest management. The result eased
the fight between romantic preservationists and laissez-faire businessmen, thus giving the
compromise from which modern environmentalism emerged.[38]
In recent years numerous scholars cited by James Beattie have examined the environmental impact
of the Empire.[39] Beinart and Hughes argue that the discovery and commercial or scientific use of
new plants was an important concern in the 18th and 19th centuries. The efficient use of rivers
through dams and irrigation projects was an expensive but important method of raising agricultural
productivity. Searching for more efficient ways of using natural resources, the British moved flora,
fauna and commodities around the world, sometimes resulting in ecological disruption and radical
environmental change. Imperialism also stimulated more modern attitudes toward nature and
subsidized botany and agricultural research.[40] Scholars have used the British Empire to examine the
utility of the new concept of eco-cultural networks as a lens for examining interconnected, wide-
ranging social and environmental processes.[41]

Current practice[edit]

In the United States the American Society for Environmental History was founded in 1975 while the
first institute devoted specifically to environmental history in Europe was established in 1991, based
at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. In 1986, the Dutch foundation for the history of
environment and hygiene Net Werk was founded and publishes four newsletters per year. In the UK
the White Horse Press in Cambridge has, since 1995, published the journal Environment and
History which aims to bring scholars in the humanities and biological sciences closer together in
constructing long and well-founded perspectives on present day environmental problems and a
similar publicationTijdschrift voor Ecologische Geschiedenis (Journal for Environmental History) is a
combined Flemish-Dutch initiative mainly dealing with topics in the Netherlands and Belgium
although it also has an interest in European environmental history. Each issue contains abstracts in
English, French and German. In 1999 the Journal was converted into a yearbook for environmental
history. In Canada the Network in Canadian History and Environment facilitates the growth of
environmental history through numerous workshops and a significant digital infrastructure including
their website and podcast.[42]
Communication between European nations is restricted by language difficulties. In April 1999 a
meeting was held in Germany to overcome these problems and to co-ordinate environmental history
in Europe. This meeting resulted in the creation of the European Society for Environmental History in
1999. Only two years after its establishment, ESEH held its first international conference in St.
Andrews, Scotland. Around 120 scholars attended the meeting and 105 papers were presented on
topics covering the whole spectrum of environmental history. The conference showed that
environmental history is a viable and lively field in Europe and since then ESEH has expanded to
over 400 members and continues to grow and attracted international conferences in 2003 and 2005.
In 1999 the Centre for Environmental History was established at the University of Stirling. Some
history departments at European universities are now offering introductory courses in environmental
history and postgraduate courses in Environmental history have been established at the Universities
of Nottingham, Stirling and Dundee and more recently a Graduierten Kolleg was created at
theUniversity of Göttingen in Germany.[43] In 2009, the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and
Society (RCC), an international, interdisciplinary center for research and education in the
environmental humanities and social sciences, was founded as a joint initiative of Munich's Ludwig-
Maximilians-Universität and the Deutsches Museum, with the generous support of the German
Federal Ministry of Education and Research.[44] The Environment & Society Portal
(environmentandsociety.org) is the Rachel Carson Center's open access digital archive and
publication platform.[45]

Related disciplines[edit]

Environmental history prides itself in bridging the gap between the arts and natural sciences
although to date the scales weigh on the side of science. A definitive list of related subjects would be
lengthy indeed and singling out those for special mention a difficult task. However, those frequently
quoted include, historical geography, the history and philosophy of science, history of
technology and climate science. On the biological side there is, above all, ecology and historical
ecology, but also forestry and especially forest history, archaeology and anthropology. When the
subject engages in environmental advocacy it has much in common with environmentalism.
With increasing globalization and the impact of global trade on resource distribution, concern over
never-ending economic growth and the many human inequities environmental history is now gaining
allies in the fields of ecological and environmental economics.[46][47]
Engagement with sociological thinkers and the humanities is limited but cannot be ignored through
the beliefs and ideas that guide human action. This has been seen as the reason for a perceived
lack of support from traditional historians.[23]

Issues[edit]
The subject has a number of areas of lively debate. These include discussion concerning: what
subject matter is most appropriate; whether environmental advocacy can detract from scholarly
objectivity; standards of professionalism in a subject where much outstanding work has been done
by non-historians; the relative contribution of nature and humans in determining the passage of
history; the degree of connection with, and acceptance by, other disciplines - but especially
mainstream history. For Paul Warde the sheer scale, scope and diffuseness of the environmental
history endeavour calls for an analytical toolkit "a range of common issues and questions to push
forward collectively" and a "core problem". He sees a lack of "human agency" in its texts and
suggest it be written more to act: as a source of information for environmental scientists;
incorporation of the notion of risk; a closer analysis of what it is we mean by "environment";
confronting the way environmental history is at odds with the humanities because it emphasises the
division between "materialist, and cultural or constructivist explanations for human behaviour".[48]
Global sustainability[edit]
Many of the themes of environmental history inevitably examine the circumstances that produced
the environmental problems of the present day, a litany of themes that challenge global sustainability
including: population, consumerism and materialism, climate change,waste
disposal, deforestation and loss of wilderness, industrial agriculture, species extinction, depletion of
natural resources, invasive organisms and urban development.[49] The simple message of
sustainable use of renewable resources is frequently repeated and early as 1864 George Perkins
Marsh was pointing out that the changes we make in the environment may later reduce the
environments usefulness to humans so any changes should be made with great care[50] - what we
would nowadays call enlightened self-interest. Richard Grove has pointed out that "States will act to
prevent environmental degradation only when their economic interests are threatened".[51]
Advocacy[edit]
It is not clear whether environmental history should promote a moral or political agenda. The strong
emotions raised by environmentalism, conservation and sustainability can interfere with historical
objectivity: polemical tracts and strong advocacy can compromise objectivity and professionalism.
Engagement with the political process certainly has its academic perils[52] although accuracy and
commitment to the historical method is not necessarily threatened by environmental involvement:
environmental historians have a reasonable expectation that their work will inform policy-makers.[53]
Declensionist narratives[edit]
Narratives of environmental history tend to be declensionist, that is, accounts of progressive decline
under human activity. Thus environmental history, like environmentalism, is perceived as entrenched
pessimism, a litany of degeneration, failure, loss, decline and decay often portrayed as proceeding
from some halcyon golden age of the past.
Presentism and culpability[edit]
Under the accusation of "presentism" it is sometimes claimed that, with its genesis in the late 20th
century environmentalism and conservation issues, environmental history is simply a reaction to
contemporary problems, an "attempt to read late twentieth century developments and concerns back
into past historical periods in which they were not operative, and certainly not conscious to human
participants during those times".[54] This is strongly related to the idea of culpability. In environmental
debate blame can always be apportioned, but it is more constructive for the future to understand the
values and imperatives of the period under discussion so that causes are determined and the
context explained.[55] An awareness of presentism can help us to be wary of the easy wisdom of
hindsight.
Environmental determinism[edit]

Ploughing farmer in ancient Egypt.Mural in the burial chamber of artisanSennedjem c. 1200 BCE

For some environmental historians "the general conditions of the environment, the scale and
arrangement of land and sea, the availability of resources, and the presence or absence of animals
available for domestication, and associated organisms and disease vectors, that makes the
development of human cultures possible and even predispose the direction of their
development"[56] and that "history is inevitably guided by forces that are not of human origin or subject
to human choice".[57] This approach has been attributed to American environmental historians Webb
and Turner[58] and, more recently to Jared Diamond in his book "Guns, Germs, and Steel", where the
presence or absence of disease vectors and resources such as plants and animals that are
amenable to domestication that may not only stimulate the development of human culture but even
determine, to some extent, the direction of that development. The claim that the path of history has
been forged by environmental rather than cultural forces is referred to as environmental
determinism while, at the other extreme, is what may be called cultural determinism. An example of
cultural determinism would be the view that human influence is so pervasive that the idea of pristine
nature has little validity - that there is no way of relating to nature without culture.[59]