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The authors discuss their book on our state's human and natural history as detailed from an environmental rather than a political viewpoint.

The authors discuss their book on our state's human and natural history as detailed from an environmental rather than a political viewpoint.

The authors discuss their book on our state's human and natural history as detailed from an environmental rather than a political viewpoint.

In this podcast Robert Tiegs discusses his research with Jan Oosthoek on the Exploring Environmental History Podcast. It is a wide-ranging discussion, touching on the so-called nuclear option of permanently flooding the province of Holland in the late 16th century, the political/environmental impacts of the military inundations, and how Dutch society coped with the strategic floods.

The history lessons that have existed in the school curriculum generally only discuss the development of the times, occupation, the struggle for independence, and social, political, economic and cultural changes (government). All of these factors discussed are about human life and human interests. Based on these problems, in the curriculum of history subjects especially at the high school level it is necessary to add environmental education using the Ecopedagogy approach that is expected from this, students can have ecological intelligence such as empathizing with all forms of life, anticipating undesirable natural conditions, reducing natural damage, protecting cleanliness, understanding how nature supports human life, and how the symbiosis of mutualism between humans and nature if humans are able to protect it. So that through history lessons in the context of environmental education using the ecopedagogy approach can reduce environmental damage, natural damage that goes on by nature does not get better but is increasingly damaged.

A recent report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) showed that toxic chemical substances are responsible for 4.9 million deaths every year, i.e. 8.9 per cent of annual deaths. This report also highlights the fact that these figures are largely underestimated, given the significant knowledge gaps. Not only is the number of deaths and diseases caused by pollutants unknown, but most of the very large number of chemical substances in circulation have not been even minimally investigated for potential toxicity.1 The first four of these five books, and certain chapters of the last one, provide important contributions to the growing historical and sociological literature on toxicants and their governance. This literature sheds light on the paradox of the increasingly massive development of (potentially) toxic chemical substances for over a century: while knowledge—especially scientific knowledge — of these substances has been continually expanding, movements denouncing them have constantly evolved, and complex regulatory systems to prevent and improve the substances' effects have been gradually developed. The books presented here provide insightful and detailed analysis of several major issues underpinning the literature on environmental chemicals. I shall present the five reviewed books focusing on four of those issues.

For millions of years, the Arctic has been the world's most important "barometer of global change and amplifier of global warming." For twenty thousand years, the Arctic has been the homeland of modern human settlement, and it has played a central role in the interplay between global climate change and human migration throughout Eurasia and the Americas. Since the late fifteenth century, Arctic aboriginal peoples, lands, and seas have been thoroughly integrated into the international history of European trade, capitalism, and colonization; the territorial expansion of modern nation states; and the transnational strategic history since the outset of the Cold War, including the continued basing of nuclear-armed missiles, bombers, and submarines throughout the Arctic region. Appreciation of this international history can provide lessons for contemporary policymakers to help mitigate grave risks to human life and biodiversity in the Arctic and sub-Arctic. For example, this Article calls for negotiations between the U.S., NATO, and the Russian Federation on the basis of Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev's 1987 proposal to transform the Arctic into "a zone of peace" and, specifically, to establish "a nuclear free-zone in northern Europe." In conclusion, this Article identifies how deeply embedded global systems of political economy and international relations continue to shape recent developments in the Arctic at this time of exacerbated climate change and resulting ecological crisis. Appreciation of the Arctic's environmental history can help decision-makers to more knowledgeably and effectively support indigenous self-determination, resource conservation, and environmental stewardship throughout the circumpolar bioregion.

Northern Canada's distinctive landscapes, its complex social relations and the contested place of the North in contemporary political, military, scientific and economic affairs have fueled recent scholarly discussion. At the same time, both the media and the wider public have shown increasing interest in the region. This timely volume extends our understanding of the environmental history of northern Canada—clarifying both its practice and promise, and providing critical perspectives on current public debates. Ice Blink provides opportunities to consider critical issues in other disciplines and geographic contexts. Contributors also examine whether distinctive approaches to environmental history are required when studying the Canadian North, and consider a range of broader questions. What, if anything, sets the study of environmental history in particular regions apart from its study elsewhere? Do environmental historians require regionally-specific research practices? How can the study of environmental history take into consideration the relations between Indigenous peoples; the environment, and the state? How can the history of regions be placed most effectively within transnational and circumpolar contexts? How relevant are historical approaches to contemporary environmental issues? Scholars from universities in Canada, the United States and Britain contribute to this examination of the relevance of historical study for contemporary arctic and sub-arctic issues, especially environmental challenges, security and sovereignty, indigenous politics and the place of science in northern affairs. By asking such questions, the volume offers lessons about the general practice of environmental history and engages an international body of scholarship that addresses the value of regional and interdisciplinary approaches. Crucially, however, it makes a distinctive contribution to the field of Canadian environmental history by identifying new areas of research and exploring how international scholarly developments might play out in the Canadian context. With Contributions By: Tina Adcock, Stephen Bocking, Emilie Cameron, Hans M. Carlson, Marionne Cronin, Matthew Farish, Arn Keeling, P. Whitney Lackenbauer, Tina Loo, Paul Nadasdy, Jonathan Peyton, Liza Piper, John Sandlos, and Andrew Stuhl.