scholarly journals Combustion and Society: A Fire-Centred History of Energy Use

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 203-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nigel Clark ◽  
Kathryn Yusoff
Keyword(s):  
Environmental History ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Internal Combustion ◽  
Georges Bataille ◽  
Human History ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Energy Flows ◽  
History Of

Fire is a force that links everyday human activities to some of the most powerful energetic movements of the Earth. Drawing together the energy-centred social theory of Georges Bataille, the fire-centred environmental history of Stephen Pyne, and the work of a number of ‘pyrotechnology’ scholars, the paper proposes that the generalized study of combustion is a key to contextualizing human energetic practices within a broader ‘economy’ of terrestrial and cosmic energy flows. We examine the relatively recent turn towards fossil-fuelled ‘internal combustion’ in the light of a much longer human history of ‘broadcast’ burning of vegetation and of artisanal pyrotechnologies – the use of heat to transform diverse materials. A combustion-centred analysis, it is argued, brings human collective life into closer contact with the geochemical and geologic conditions of earthly existence, while also pointing to the significance of explorative, experimental and even playful dispositions towards energy and matter.

Social and Environmental History in the Anthropocene

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Warde
Keyword(s):  
Environmental History ◽  
Social History ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
Longue Duree ◽  
Longue Durée

This chapter takes seriously the notion of the ‘Anthropocene’—the concept of the period of history from which human activities have had global effects on the environment—and looks at it historically, across the longue durée, noting that the environment is itself a concept with a history of its own. The chapter argues that environmental history is very largely entwined with social history and that this poses a challenge for historians. Should we think of ‘the social’ and ‘the environmental’ as two different (albeit connected) spheres, or should we reconceptualize what ‘society’ and ‘environment’ might mean, both historically and for the future?

The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Oral History Project: A Preliminary Report

2000 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanya Levin ◽  
Ronald Doel
Keyword(s):  
Earth Sciences ◽  
Technological Change ◽  
Oral History ◽  
Environmental History ◽  
Preliminary Report ◽  
Earth Science ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Institutional History ◽  
The Earth ◽  
History Of

The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 1999. As part of" the effort to preserve the history of this important earth science research institute, senior Lamont administrators conceived an ambitious oral history project. Now complete, these oral histories present a useful resource for those studying the history of the earth sciences, environmental history, social and institutional history, disciplinary development, technological change, internationalism in the sciences, and patronage. This article summarizes certain preliminary conclusions reached during the course of this project.

scholarly journals ANTHRACOLOGICAL EVALUATION AT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES OF GUARANI OCCUPATION - TAPHONOMIC COMPARISONS TO CONSTRUCT THE ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF THE FORQUETA RIVER BASIN, RS, BRAZIL

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariela Inês Secchi ◽  
Isa Carla Osterkamp ◽  
Marjorie Kauffmann ◽  
Joana Beuren ◽  
Neli Tersinha Galarce Machado ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental History ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Anatomical Characteristics ◽  
Anthropogenic Origin ◽  
University Center ◽  
History Of

Anthracological studies aim at the reconstruction of the paleoenvironment through the analysis and interpretation of macroremains of carbonized woods found in soils and archaeological sites that are related to previous human activities. The objective of this study was to compare the anthrocological and taphonomic data of the Archaeological Sites RS-T-101 and RS-T-114, located in the municipality of Marques de Souza, associated with pre-colonial occupancies of Guarani origin (archaeological sites RS-T-114 and RS-T-101, respectively, in 1,410-431 BP years and 1,411 -295 years BP, to build the environmental history of the Forqueta River basin based on taphonomic comparisons between these two sites. The traces analyzed were collected following methodology scaling and blasting, being conducted by the Archeology Section of the team’s Museum of Natural Sciences of the UNIVATES University Center. In this work, the images of carbon obtained under SEM were analyzed from both sites, which were the object of previous anthrachological studies, being used to perform the taphonomic comparisons. From the images, it can be inferred that the recovered charcoals in the sites had their anatomical characteristics well preserved, being possible to observe homogenization of the cellular walls, as well as the thickness of the walls demonstrates fires with temperatures that did not exceed 340ºC. Moreover, with this study it was possible to infer that the fragments found in these sites may have been originated by fires of anthropogenic origin because they are dispersed in the sedimentary matrix as well as in places with the presence of vestiges of fires.

Ours Is the Earth: Science and Human History in the Anthropocene

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-358
Author(s):  
Sheila Jasanoff
Keyword(s):  
Earth Sciences ◽  
Earth Science ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Human History ◽  
The Earth ◽  
History Of ◽  
Temporal Horizon ◽  
Ethical Project

Abstract History at one time drew unproblematically on records produced by human societies about themselves and their doings. Advances in biology and the earth sciences introduced new narrative resources that repositioned the human story in relation to the evolution of all else on the planet, thereby decentering earlier conceptions of time, life, and human agency. This essay reflects on what it means for our understanding of the human that the history of our species has become so intimately entangled with the material processes that make up the biosphere, while concurrently the temporal horizon of our imagination has been stretched forward and back, underscoring the brevity of human existence in relation to earthly time. I suggest that, despite significant changes in the resources with which we can rethink the human condition, drawing upon the sciences, history’s fundamental purposes have not been rendered irrelevant. These center, as before, on the normative project of connecting past and future in ways that make sense of human experience and give meaning to it. In particular, the question of how humans should imagine the stewardship of the Earth in the Anthropocene remains an ethical project for history and not primarily the domain of the natural sciences.

The Unquiet River

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arupjyoti Saikia
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Environmental History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human History ◽  
The Past ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ecological Relations

At the turn of the twentieth century the human reshaping of the Brahmaputra and its extended ecological relations has become a reality. This biography of the Brahmaputra reimagines the layered history of Assam with the unquiet river at the centre. The Unquiet River combines a wide range of disciplinary scholarship to unravel the river which has always been an agent in both landscape engineering and the crafting of different livelihoods. This biography of the Brahmaputra, by way of an environmental history of the river, tells the story of the making of the river, its floodplains, and the human lives around it. Offering a longer history of the Brahmaputra, this book pays attention to the geological forces as well as human endeavour which shaped the river well into the twentieth century. This book treats both the river and human history equally without privileging one over the other. It offers an illuminating account of one of the world’s most turbulent rivers. Wonderfully described with archival detail and interwoven with narratives and striking connections, the book unravels the making of a river, its floodplains, and its people. This evocative and compelling book will be essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the past and the present of a river confronted by the twenty-first century’s ambitious infrastructural designs to further re-engineer the river and its landscape.

scholarly journals The most important message in the history of mankind

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-33
Author(s):  
Piotr Skubała
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Important Message ◽  
Sixth Mass Extinction ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact

AbstractIt the long history of life on the Earth five major mass extinctions were observed. Nowadays, the impact of human activities on the planet has accelerated the loss of species and ecosystems to a level comparable to a sixth mass extinction, the first driven by a living species. Surprisingly, this fact rarely reaches the public consciousness. The negative influence of human activity is observed in whole area of land ecosystems, whereas marine ecosystems are at risk of entering a phase of extinction unprecedented in human history. We have domesticated landscapes and ecosystems causing unforeseen changes in ecosystem attributes. Humanity has already overshot global biocapacity by 50% and now lives unsustainabily by depleting stocks of natural capital. Three the Earth-system processes - climate change, rate of biodiversity loss and interference with the nitrogen cycle - have already transgressed their boundaries. Human activities are of sufficient magnitude to suggest that we have triggered a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. The “Biosphere 2” project revailed that we are not able to build and control a different system life and that we are totally dependent on the present biosphere. The experiment known in the literature as “The Tragedy of the Commons” reminds us that we need frugality and cooperation to solve environmental problems and survive.

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