Search results

Excerpts from a Current History essay published two decades ago.

In his bookNature and PowerJoachim Radkau seeks to provide a broad vision of environmental history that is not unduly influenced by American perspectives but does justice to the experience of the "Old World." Given this motive behind his work, how does Radkau deal with the American hemisphere? Examination of the relevant sections of his book shows that Radkau is drawn toward areas of environmental history with scholarly debate, takes conventional positions for the most part on those debates, and follows the literature in emphasizing the United States over the rest of the Americas.

Environmental disruption in the 20th century is described, focusing on freshwater & energy, two components relevant to security concerns. Irrigation, the main usage of freshwater, decreased in the 20th century while industrial use of water increased. The increase in energy use in the 20th century has been the primary cause of tumultuous environmental changes. The propositions that environmental change may create security problems or that resource competition may provoke war are analyzed. A third proposition -- the lack of security affects environmental change -- is advanced. Environmental changes are likely to play a greater role in security in the future because environmental resources like water & energy are scarcer than in the past, provoking more competition & population migration. 3 Tables. M. Pflum

The grand social and ideological systems that people construct for themselves invariably carry large consequences, for the environment no less than for more strictly human affairs. Among the swirl of ideas, policies, and political structures of the twentieth century, the most ecologically influential were the growth imperative and the (not unrelated) security anxiety that together dominated policy around the world. … By 1970, however, something new was afoot.