Environmental History Resources
Environmental History News
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Tuesday, 16 April 2013
Bibliography of Scottish forestry updated
The bibliography of Scottish forestry has been updated to reflect the most recent publications in this area. The list is current up to early 2013. Access this reading list in the Bibliography section of this website.
Tuesday, 4 April 2013
New podcast episode: The Scottish forestry experience and the development of forestry in India
The latest episode of the Exploring Environmental History podcast features a seminar talk that Jan Oosthoek gave in the School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics at the University of Queensland, Brisbane on 22 March 2013.
This podcast examines the influence of Scottish foresters on the development of empire forestry in British India. Scottish-trained foresters aided the adaptation of continental forestry models, mainly German and French, to the Indian conditions, drawing on their experience gained in Scotland. Returning from their service in India they went on to advocate the creation of a forestry service in Scotland, which resonated with landowners who believed that forestry would make the Highlands more productive.
Listen to the podcast.
You can also watch or downlaod a video of the talk containing the slides used during the presentation.
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
New podcast episode: Conquering the Highlands. History of the afforestation of the Scottish uplands
The latest episode of the Exploring Environmental History podcast is co-hosted by Sean Kheraj and features an interview with Jan Oosthoek about his new book, Conquering the Highlands: A History of the Afforestation of the Scottish Uplands.
The podcast explores how, over the course of the twentieth century, foresters worked to establish timber reserves in the Scottish Highlands, creating forests on marginal lands that were not easily adapted to forestry following millennia of deforestation. Using a variety of techniques and strategies drawn from modern forestry practices, the Scottish uplands were afforested in the twentieth century, tripling the forest cover. The creation of new forests to serve strategic and economic interests, however, altered the ecology of the Scottish uplands and eventually came into conflict with the interests of environmentalists in the late twentieth century. In many ways this history turns the narratives of traditional environmental histories on its head as it is a story of afforestation and not of deforestation or even reforestation.
Listen to the podcast.
Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Book companion website to Conquering the Highlands launched
A month after the publication of Conquering the Highlands. A history of the afforestation of the Scottish uplands a companion website to the book has been launced. The site presents some of the source material as well as oral histories that were used to write the book. It is intende to give readers the opportunity to put quotes and discussions of the book in the context of the original sources. In addition the site also offers a number of interactive maps that supplement the maps in the book. These maps provide a wider geographical context for both the images and the maps of the book.
The companion site can be accessed at http://scottish-forest-history.net/
Friday, 22 February 2013
New podcast episode: Kielder: the story of a man-made landscape
The latest edition of the Exploring Environmental History podcast discusses anthropogenic landscape and environmental change. In England, one of the most striking locations of such anthropogenic changes is Kielder Forest and Water in Northumberland. Since the 1920s, this site has seen a massive tree planting effort, creating one of the largest man-made forests in Western Europe. During the 1970s a large dam and reservoir were constructed at Kielder in order to create a secure water supply for the industries at Teeside. As a result Kielder has witnessed significant and dramatic environmental changes over the course of the twentieth century.
How did local people experience and perceive the landscape transformation and the resulting man-made environment of Kielder? To find out the Kielder Oral History Project was conducted. On this episode of the podcast, the two researchers who carried out the Kielder Oral History project, Professor David Moon of the University of York and Dr Leona Skelton of Durham University, will discuss some of their findings.
Wednesday, 13 February 2013
Newly published: Conquering the Highlands.
Today the ANU E Press published Conquering the Highlands. A history of the afforestation of the Scottish uplands by Jan Oosthoek. This book tells the story of how 20th century foresters devised ways to successfully reforest the poor Scottish uplands, land that was regarded as unplantable, to fulfil the mandate they had received from the Government and wider society to create a timber reserve. He raises the question whether the adopted forestry practice was the only viable means to create forests in the Scottish Highlands by examining debates within the forestry community about the appearance of the forests and their longterm ecological prospects. Finally, the book argues that the long held ecological convictions among foresters and pressure from environmentalists came together in the late 20th century to create more environmentally sensitive forestry.
The book can be downloaded for free or ordered as a print-on-demand book from the ANU E Press website.
Monday, 7 January 2013
New forest history book announced: Science and Hope. A Forest History.
In June the White Horse Press will publish a book on the history of the science and ideas of forestry over the past three centuries. The book’s authors, John Dargavel and Elisabeth Johann, tell the story of the hopeful science and art of forestry. It is a story about the hopes of foresters and other scientists to understand the forests more deeply, and about their unspoken trust that their knowledge could ensure an enduring sylvan future. Much has been written on the origins and development of modern forestry in various countries, and on the people and institutions involved, but there is little in the forest history literature that explains what the science actually is. This volume is concerned with the modern form of forest science, founded in Europe early in the nineteenth century, when regimes for managing the forests, that could be traced to the ancient world and had flourished in the Middle Ages, were disrupted. New ways had to be found.
Download the flyer or visit the White Horse Press for details how to order the book.
Tuesday, 13 November 2012
CFP: Special issue in 2014 on History and Sustainability
Journal Ekonomska i ekohistorija (Economics and eco-history)
The scholarly journal Ekonomska i ekohistorija (Economics and eco-history) invites submissions for a special issue on «History and Sustainability» to be published in 2014. The editors of this special issue, Drs. Hrvoje Petrić and Paul Hirt, invite submissions dealing with any area of the world and any chronological period, but we especially seek articles on central Europe, the Adriatic, and the Balkans. We welcome essays based on original research as well as literature reviews and critical/theoretical essays about history and sustainability. Deadline for submission for this special issue is July 1, 2013.
Contributions for this special issue on history and sustainability must be in English and submitted in Microsoft Word format. Preferred font is Times New Roman 12 point font with 1,5 paragraph spacing; notes should be font size 10, with single spacing. Articles and papers for the special issue can be e-mailed to the editors listed below, with the subject line indicating: Ekonomska i ekohistorija submission.
Editor Hrvoje Petrić,
h.petric@inet.hr or hpetric@ffzg.hr
Guest co-editor Paul Hirt
paul.hirt@asu.edu
The articles should not exceed the size limit of 60.000 characters (32 pages); authors get a free copy of the magazine.
Ekonomska i ekohistorija is published by the Society for Economic and Environmental History in Croatia and primarily publishes peer-reviewed scientific articles. See http://hrcak.srce.hr/ekonomska-i-ekohistorija?lang=en.
Saturday, 16 June 2012
New Centre for Ecological History in China
Remin University of China (Beijing) is pleased to announce the opening of its new Center for Ecological History. The Center's director is Mingfang Xia, senior professor of the Institute of Qing history, and the deputy director is Shen Hou, assistant professor in the Department of History. Donald Worster will serve as honorary director and part-time resident teacher and advisor. The mission of the Center is to promote ecological and environmental work in Chinese and world history and to establish better communications with scholars in other countries. On May 23, 2012, the Center celebrated its opening with a day-long conference featuring some of China's leading environmental and ecological historians, including Huiling Feng, Xueqin Mei, Lihua Wang, Jiange Wang, and Gao Gourong, International visitors included Christof Mauch of the Rachel Carson Center (Munich) president of the European Society for Environmental History, and Nancy Langston, editor of Environmental History and former president of the American Society for Environmental History.
The Center welcomes scholars from all over the world to come and present their work to our researeh community and learn more about China's long and rich history of human-environment interactions.
Sourced from H-Environment and submitted by:
Donald Worster
Distinguished Foreign Expert
and Honorary Director, Center for Ecological History
School of History
Renmin University of China
Haidian District
Beijing 100872
P.R. China
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