Suchergebnisse

Argues against postmodernist authors that it is better to decode the history of environmentalism as a developmental logic of capitalism rather than as a particular narrative form. Environmental history is defined in the former terms as the study of how human agency shapes & modifies nature & constructs built environments & spatial configurations. It is suggested that this definition has led historians to the only totalizing social science, Marxism. Environmental history writing is situated in the context of three prior types of history: political, economic, & social/cultural. It is argued that, because environmental history encompasses the development of capitalism & its political, economic, social/cultural, & environmental revolutions, it is properly described as the culmination of history writing in the capitalist epoch. The more that nature is viewed as a product of labor, property, exploitation, & social struggle in particular contexts, the better the chances of developing a more socially just future. D. M. Smith

Profit ― getting more out of something than you put into it ― is the original genius of homo sapiens, who learned how to unleash the energy stored in wood, exploit the land, and refashion ecosystems. As civilization developed, we found more and more ways of extracting surplus value from the earth, often deploying brutally effective methods to discipline people to do the work needed. Historian Mark Stoll explains how capitalism supercharged this process and traces its many environmental consequences. The financial innovations of medieval Italy created trade networks that, with the European discovery of the Americas, made possible vast profits and sweeping cultural changes, to the detriment of millions of slaves and indigenous Americans; the industrial age united the world in trade and led to an energy revolution that changed lives everywhere. But when efficient production left society awash in goods, a new sort of capitalism, predicated on endless individual consumption, took its place. This story of incredible ingenuity and villainy begins in the Doge's palace in medieval Venice and ends with Jeff Bezos aboard his own spacecraft. Mark Stoll's revolutionary account places environmental factors at the heart of capitalism's progress and reveals the long shadow of its terrible consequences.

There is increasing concern over the unchecked growth of the worlds cities and the detrimental effect this is having on the worlds ecosystems. This unfettered growth is affecting every ecosystem on Earth, from the deepest oceans to the highest mountains, through both climate change and the lack of food and other resources