Even in a time with limited alternatives, polluted waterways were not simply accepted without complaint.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on Environmental history
Displaying 1 - 20 of 21 articles
Humans have long struggled to understand the nocturnal world. As environmental change becomes increasingly acute, understanding their lives has never been more critical.
Human waste created the landscape for a medieval Indian Ocean trading port and may eventually have led to its demise.
Plague-wary Londoners tolerated mischievous red kites and ravens for their services to the city’s sanitation.
The UK’s marshes, bogs and fens provided the bare necessities of daily life for many centuries.
Food shortages, festivities and far-off fighting – Britain’s coldest winters were among its most memorable.
Historians and scientists discovered how colonisation in eastern Europe changed ecosystems – and the societies embedded in them.
Instead of Tudors and Churchill, history students need to learn how civilisation has arrived at the point of no return.
Saving seed is a way of protecting the world’s vegetable varieties, saving money, and increasingly, a political statement too.
Historical perspective can offer much in this time of ecological crisis,. Many historians are reinventing their traditional scales of space and time to tell different kinds of stories that recognise the unruly power of nature.
The process known as policy analysis requires careful consideration and deliberation. In most cases, the public also gets to weigh in.
His exquisite drawings suggest a particular depth of feeling for the natural world and he was attuned to the emotions of animals. Yet it seems that preservation of nature was not on Leonardo’s mind.
Progress, in historical terms, has so often meant clearing places of their native inhabitants – both human and non-human.
Scientists have discovered new evidence of a drought that finished off the Akkadian Empire 4,000 years ago.
Stories of substitution and surrogates are all too common in the wildlife trade, especially when it comes to medicines derived from animal parts.
Oil spills, nuclear meltdowns and chemical poisonings should be taught in schools.
Big Oil has historically played a behind-the-scenes role on American policy and politics. No longer.
Almost 100 years ago, the foundations to preserve the Boundary Waters in Minnesota for recreation were put in place. Now residents are debating whether to allow a mine in its headwaters.
Historically, environmental causes enjoyed bipartisan support but gains by NGOs and the emergence of climate change as a social issue have created a sharp political divide.
What explains the anger behind the Malheur occupation in Oregon, and why does the BLM own so much land in the West?
Top contributors
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Associate Professor of Medieval History, University of Oxford
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Distinguished Professor of History and Environmental Studies, Penn State
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W. M. Keck Professor of Environmental Analysis and History, Pomona College
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Director, Gender and Women's History Research Centre, Australian Catholic University
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Emeritus Professor of History, Australian National University
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Professor of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University
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Cecil D. Andrus Endowed Chair for Environment and Public Lands and University Distinguished Professor, Boise State University
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Associate Professor in History of Modern Science and Technology, University of Cambridge
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Professor of History, The University of Western Australia
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Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, Flinders University
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Associate professor in Physical Geography, Northumbria University, Newcastle
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Lecturer in History, Coventry University
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Associate Professor, Flinders University
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Visiting Scholar, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
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Emeritus Professor, Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University
