History in the Time of Climate Change

Session 1: History in the Time of Climate Change

• Traditional human history has focused on societies, wars, politics, and economies, while natural history focused on geological and biological evolution
• Climate change has collapsed the separation between human and natural history
• The Anthropocene is a proposed geological epoch where human activity significantly alters Earth's climate and ecosystems
• Eugene F. Stoermer and Paul Crutzen coined the term Anthropocene in 2000
• Humans influence natural cycles like the carbon, nitrogen, and water cycles
• Extractivism involves the large-scale removal of natural resources for economic gain
• Economic development has been tied to the availability of fossil fuels
• Fossil fuel extraction has historically led to environmental degradation, labor exploitation, and political oppression
• Modernity refers to the transition from pre-industrial to industrialized societies
• Fossil energy, particularly coal in the 18th-19th centuries and oil in the 20th century, fueled this transformation
• Dipesh Chakrabarty's "The Climate of History" (2009) argues that traditional history has separated human history from natural history

Session 2: What is Environmental History?

• Environmental history examines the reciprocal relationship between humans and the environment over time
• It goes beyond traditional history by incorporating ecology, biology, climate science, geography, and geology
• Frederick Jackson Turner's "Frontier Thesis" (1893) argued that American democracy was shaped by the frontier but criticism to this ignored the environmental destruction like deforestation and soil depletion
• Donald Worster analyzed the 1930s Dust Bowl as a human-caused ecological disaster, arguing capitalist expansion and industrial agriculture led to soil degradation
• James Malin focused on human resilience and long-term ecological adaptation instead of seeing the Dust Bowl as a failure
• William Cronon claims history is shaped by narratives, not just facts
• Environmental history must balance natural forces and human agency
• Lucien Febvre & Marc Bloch of the French Geographical School (1920s-30s) argued that landscapes are socially constructed, linking geography and history
• Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie used historical climate data to reconstruct past climate events (1967), helping establish climate as a historical force
• Barry Commoner warned of pollution and nuclear dangers in the 1950s-60s
• Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" (1962) exposed pesticide dangers, triggering modern environmental movements
• In the 1970s, environmental history emerged as a distinct academic field, focusing on human impacts on ecosystems, conservation, and industrialization

Session 3: Empires and Biological Exchange

• Alfred Crosby's "Ecological Imperialism" (1993) argues European imperialism was ecological, not just economic or military
• Colonization's success was due to European plants and animals ("portmanteau biota") dominating new environments and disease outbreaks decimating Indigenous populations
• Smallpox, measles, and influenza wiped out 90% of Indigenous populations in the Americas, creating a "vacant" land myth to justify European settlement
• The Columbian Exchange (1492 Onward) introduced wheat, sugarcane, cattle, and horses to the Americas and exported potatoes, maize, and tomatoes to Europe
• Unintended consequences included invasive species like rats in North America and rabbits in Australia, as well as deforestation and soil erosion in the Caribbean due to sugar plantations

Session 4: Soil and Agriculture

• Pre-industrial agriculture relied on organic fertilizers like manure, fish, and crop rotation
• Industrial agriculture in the 19th-20th centuries introduced synthetic fertilizers (Haber-Bosch process), pesticides, and monoculture, leading to soil depletion
• Timothy Johnson's "Nitrogen Nation" (2016) notes WWI shifted chemical nitrogen production from weapons to fertilizers
• Fertilizers created food abundance but caused dead zones in oceans and long-term soil degradation

Session 5: Industrialization and Energy in the 19th Century

• Coal-based industrialization led to urbanization, labor exploitation, and pollution (London Smog)
• Timothy Mitchell's "Carbon Democracy" (2011) claims coal gave labor unions power, as miners could shut down economies by striking
• Oil weakened labor movements because it was easier to transport via pipelines and authoritarian regimes controlled production in the Middle East
• Environmental costs of industrialization include deforestation, toxic waste poisoning ecosystems, and health crises like lung diseases and cancer from pollution

Session 1 (Readings) - Dipesh Chakrabarty, "The Climate of History in a Planetary Age" (2009)

• Climate change forces historians to rethink history on a planetary scale, challenging the human/natural history division
• Historians have traditionally separated human history (politics, economics, culture) from natural history (geology, evolution)
• The Anthropocene collapses the distinction between human and geological history, as humans now shape Earth's climate, oceans, and ecosystems
• Fossil fuel use and industrialization created an unprecedented global crisis, requiring integration of Earth sciences into historical analysis
• Climate change is not just an environmental issue but a crisis of historical thinking, raising questions about modernity, industrialization, and democracy in a fossil-fuel-dependent world

Session 2 (Readings) - William Cronon, "A Place for Stories: Nature, History, and Narrative" (1992)

• Storytelling shapes how we understand and interpret environmental events
• Historians impose structures on history, affecting its meaning
• Narratives can frame the Dust Bowl as a tragedy of capitalist greed or a story of human resilience
• Historians must balance natural forces with human actions
• Some narratives reinforce dominant ideologies like capitalism

Session 3 (Readings) - Alfred Crosby, "Ecological Imperialism: The Overseas Migration of Western Europeans as a Global Phenomenon" (1993)

• European imperialism was not just political or military but also biological, due to the introduction of European plants, animals, and diseases
• Portmanteau biota refers to the collection of organisms Europeans brought to new lands
• Disease decimated Indigenous populations, and European crops outcompeted native plants
• Areas with temperate climates became extensions of Europe
• The Columbian Exchange caused massive demographic and ecological shifts

Session 4 (Readings) - Timothy Johnson, "Nitrogen Nation: The Legacy of World War I and the Politics of Chemical Agriculture in the United States" (2016)

• WWI transformed chemical nitrogen production from military weapons to fertilizers, creating modern industrial agriculture
• The Haber-Bosch Process allowed for synthetic nitrogen fixation; the U.S. military invested in ammonia production for explosives
• After WWI, chemical plants repurposed for fertilizer production
• Consequences include soil degradation, water pollution (dead zones), and loss of soil biodiversity

Session 5 (Readings) - Timothy Mitchell, "Machines of Democracy," Carbon Democracy (2011)

• Coal-based economies enabled democratic movements, while oil-based economies weakened labor power and strengthened authoritarian regimes
• Coal mining required large, concentrated workforces, allowing miners to strike and forcing governments to expand democratic rights
• Oil weakened labor movements and was easier to transport, enabling authoritarian regimes in oil-rich regions
• Environmental Costs of Industrialization: This includes London Smog, toxic waste and mass deforestation