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Hailed as 'one of the most eminent environmental historians of the West' by Alan Brinkley in The New York Times Book Review, Donald Worster has been a leader in reshaping the study of American history. Winner of the prestigious Bancroft Prize for his book 'Dust Bowl', Worster has helped bring humanity's interaction with nature to the forefront of historical thinking. Now, in 'The Wealth of Nature', he offers a series of thoughtful, eloquent essays which lay out his views on environmental history, tying the study of the past to today's agenda for change.

The discovery of the Americas around 1500 AD was an extraordinary watershed in human experience. It gave rise to the modern period of human ecology, a phenomenon global in scope that set in motion profound changes in almost every society on earth. This new period, which saw the depletion of the lands of the New World, proved tragic for some, triumphant for others, and powerfully affecting for all. (Provided by publisher)

The driving force behind the North American frontier were waves of economic migrants from Europe and their offspring, competing against the indigenous people and eventually replacing them. But those waves were backed up by the power of the American and Canadian nation states, with their well-armed military, their well funded railroads, and other technology and capital. Science too was initially on the side of the invaders. But after World War One that frontier began to run out of free, abundant land. Then began what I will call a "post-frontier" science, especially ecological in content, that represented a very different attitude toward the white man's conquest. Scientists like Frederick Clements, John C. Weaver, Paul Sears, and Stan Rowe, all natives to the Great Plains, laid the foundations for what is now a powerful critique of frontier agriculture. This article aims to summarize that critique briefly but focus mainly on the more recent work of Wes Jackson, founder and longtime president of the Land Institute. He has strongly criticized the frontier ethos for its the lack of understanding of the native ecology of the grasslands. In its place he has offered a vision of "perennial polyculture," using nature as a model for agriculture in an era of limits. That model has not only been making a growing impact on American thinking but has now spread to other continents. Will the end of this frontier cycle and scientific reappraisal turn out to be what Jackson calls a "new agriculture," one based on learning from the past and one that can change farming all over the world? ; The driving force behind the North American frontier were waves of economic migrants from Europe and their offspring, competing against the indigenous people and eventually replacing them. But those waves were backed up by the power of the American and Canadian nation states, with their well-armed military, their well funded railroads, and other technology and capital. Science too was initially on the side of the invaders. But after World War One that frontier began to run out of free, abundant land. Then began what I will call a "post-frontier" science, especially ecological in content, that represented a very different attitude toward the white man's conquest. Scientists like Frederick Clements, John C. Weaver, Paul Sears, and Stan Rowe, all natives to the Great Plains, laid the foundations for what is now a powerful critique of frontier agriculture. This article aims to summarize that critique briefly but focus mainly on the more recent work of Wes Jackson, founder and longtime president of the Land Institute. He has strongly criticized the frontier ethos for its the lack of understanding of the native ecology of the grasslands. In its place he has offered a vision of "perennial polyculture," using nature as a model for agriculture in an era of limits. That model has not only been making a growing impact on American thinking but has now spread to other continents. Will the end of this frontier cycle and scientific reappraisal turn out to be what Jackson calls a "new agriculture," one based on learning from the past and one that can change farming all over the world? ; The driving force behind the North American frontier were waves of economic migrants from Europe and their offspring, competing against the indigenous people and eventually replacing them. But those waves were backed up by the power of the American and Canadian nation states, with their well-armed military, their well funded railroads, and other technology and capital. Science too was initially on the side of the invaders. But after World War One that frontier began to run out of free, abundant land. Then began what I will call a "post-frontier" science, especially ecological in content, that represented a very different attitude toward the white man's conquest. Scientists like Frederick Clements, John C. Weaver, Paul Sears, and Stan Rowe, all natives to the Great Plains, laid the foundations for what is now a powerful critique of frontier agriculture. This article aims to summarize that critique briefly but focus mainly on the more recent work of Wes Jackson, founder and longtime president of the Land Institute. He has strongly criticized the frontier ethos for its the lack of understanding of the native ecology of the grasslands. In its place he has offered a vision of "perennial polyculture," using nature as a model for agriculture in an era of limits. That model has not only been making a growing impact on American thinking but has now spread to other continents. Will the end of this frontier cycle and scientific reappraisal turn out to be what Jackson calls a "new agriculture," one based on learning from the past and one that can change farming all over the world?

O artigo discute a constituição do campo da história ambiental, que se deu nos anos 70 em meio aos debates sobre a crise ecológica e a eclosão do movimento ambientalista. Esta história não aceita a noção de que as sociedades humanas não produzem alterações ambientais significativas, e interpela as condições específicas dessa interação recorrente. O sistema agroecológico representa um dos casos mais típicos de rearranjo da atividade humana sobre os ecossistemas naturais, em uma relação complexa de interação entre plantas nativas, vegetação forasteira, fertilidade dos solos e diversas práticas agrícolas. O itinerário dessas mudanças é essencial para se compreender a história do ponto de vista ambiental