The Environment: A History of the Idea

by Paul Warde, Libby Robin, Sverker Sörlin

Overview

Is it possible for the economy to grow without the environment being destroyed? Will our lifestyles impoverish the planet for our children and grandchildren? Is the world sick? Can it be healed? Less than a lifetime ago, these questions would have made no sense. This was not because our ancestors had no impact on nature--nor because they were unaware of the serious damage they had done. What people lacked was an idea: a way of imagining the web of interconnection and consequence of which the natural world is made. Without this notion, we didn't have a way to describe the scale and scope of human impact upon nature. This idea was "the environment."

In this fascinating book, Paul Warde, Libby Robin, and Sverker Sörlin trace the emergence of the concept of the environment following World War II, a period characterized by both hope for a new global order and fear of humans' capacity for almost limitless destruction. It was at this moment that a new idea and a new narrative about the planet-wide impact of people's behavior emerged, closely allied to anxieties for the future. Now we had a vocabulary for talking about how we were changing nature: resource exhaustion and energy, biodiversity, pollution, and--eventually--climate change.

With the rise of "the environment," the authors argue, came new expertise, making certain kinds of knowledge crucial to understanding the future of our planet. The untold history of how people came to conceive, to manage, and to dispute environmental crisis, The Environment is essential reading for anyone who wants to help protect the environment from the numerous threats it faces today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421440026
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	01/05/2021
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.74(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Paul Warde is Professor of environmental history at the University of Cambridge, England. Libby Robin is Emeritus Professor at The Australian National University. Sverker Sörlin is Professor of environmental history at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and a cofounder of the KTH Environmental Humanities Laboratory.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Prologue 1

1 Road to Survival 6

2 Expertise for the Future 25

3 Resources for Freedom 47

4 Ecology on the March 73

5 Climate Enters the Environment 96

6 "The Earth Is One but the World Is Not" 122

7 Seeking a Safe Future 151

Notes 183

Bibliographic Essay 221

Index 225

What People are Saying About This

Jane Carruthers

The Environment is intellectual history of the highest order. Through careful research and extraordinarily wide source material, the authors deftly and expertly unravel the complex and fascinating genealogy of one of the most powerful and influential concepts of the modern era.

J. R. McNeill

The team of Warde, Robin, and Srlin offer a compact, clear, and crisp intellectual history of the concept of the environment. Ranging across the Anglophone world and sometimes beyond, they bring insight and historical context to their analysis of the crucial thinkers, ideas, and debates in environmental science as it evolved since the 1940s.

Dipesh Chakrabarty

What distinguishes this book's approach to intellectual history—in this case, the history of the idea of 'environment'—is the authors' meticulous and unwavering attention to histories of expertise, institutional power, and dominant imaginaries that influence the public career of an influential idea. A must read for those debating the environment today.

From the Publisher

Impressive in the freshness of its argument, the depth of its coverage, and the seamlessness with which its authors, each a distinguished environmental historian, have managed to collaborate in its production. This book will appeal to anyone with a serious intellectual or practical interest in environmental issues. It is hard to imagine that anyone, no matter how extensive their familiarity with the subject, will not learn from this book.
—Harriet Ritvo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, author of The Dawn of Green: Manchester, Thirlmere, and Modern Environmentalism

The Environment is intellectual history of the highest order. Through careful research and extraordinarily wide source material, the authors deftly and expertly unravel the complex and fascinating genealogy of one of the most powerful and influential concepts of the modern era.
—Jane Carruthers, University of South Africa, author of National Park Science: A Century of Research in South Africa

The team of Warde, Robin, and Srlin offer a compact, clear, and crisp intellectual history of the concept of the environment. Ranging across the Anglophone world and sometimes beyond, they bring insight and historical context to their analysis of the crucial thinkers, ideas, and debates in environmental science as it evolved since the 1940s.
—J. R. McNeill, Georgetown University, coauthor of The Great Acceleration: An Environmental History of the Anthropocene since 1945

What distinguishes this book's approach to intellectual history—in this case, the history of the idea of 'environment'—is the authors' meticulous and unwavering attention to histories of expertise, institutional power, and dominant imaginaries that influence the public career of an influential idea. A must read for those debating the environment today.
—Dipesh Chakrabarty, The University of Chicago

Harriet Ritvo

Impressive in the freshness of its argument, the depth of its coverage, and the seamlessness with which its authors, each a distinguished environmental historian, have managed to collaborate in its production. This book will appeal to anyone with a serious intellectual or practical interest in environmental issues. It is hard to imagine that anyone, no matter how extensive their familiarity with the subject, will not learn from this book.

Editorial Reviews

Demonstrates the power of history to speak into the present. A wonderfully succinct, compelling, and revealing piece of writing.
--Australian Book Review

Despite the importance in recent decades of environmentalism, environmental protection, environmental science, and so on, there has been strikingly little discussion of what exactly the environment is. Paul Warde, Libby Robin, and Sverker Sörlin examine the history of the concept as it has developed since the end of the Second World War, when they argue it took on its modern significance. The book is strongest in tracing the ways that changes in scientific institutions helped develop the modern idea of environment, as well as in its discussion of the ways that idea entered the popular imagination through works by Rachel Carson and others.
--Environmental History

Our relationship with nature goes far beyond resources, amenity, or the scientific idea of an archive we learn to read. There are, as The Environment shows, ethical complexities in how we use and abuse the planet--and in how we frame its improbable riches.
--Nature

This engaging and accessible book should be required reading for anyone concerned with the development of 'the environment' as a conceptual lodestone of both science and politics in the mid- to late-twentieth century. Moreover, it will be richly rewarding for anyone wishing to teach, research, or simply better understand the path dependencies and political dynamics of environmental issues today.
--Local Environment

This is a highly recommended book that agricultural and rural historians will appreciate the significance of in tracing the history of the environment. It will be of interest to a wide academic readership, including historians of the environment, ideas, politics, science and technology. More importantly, this book deserves to be read by the wider public as it explains how perceptions of the environment have evolved relative to the history of the twentieth century. Understanding this history can inform contemporary responses to present and future environmental issues.
--Agricultural History Review

From the Publisher

Despite the importance in recent decades of environmentalism, environmental protection, environmental science, and so on, there has been strikingly little discussion of what exactly the environment is. Paul Warde, Libby Robin, and Sverker Sörlin examine the history of the concept as it has developed since the end of the Second World War, when they argue it took on its modern significance. The book is strongest in tracing the ways that changes in scientific institutions helped develop the modern idea of environment, as well as in its discussion of the ways that idea entered the popular imagination through works by Rachel Carson and others.

Environmental History

This engaging and accessible book should be required reading for anyone concerned with the development of 'the environment' as a conceptual lodestone of both science and politics in the mid- to late-twentieth century. Moreover, it will be richly rewarding for anyone wishing to teach, research, or simply better understand the path dependencies and political dynamics of environmental issues today.

Local Environment

Demonstrates the power of history to speak into the present. A wonderfully succinct, compelling, and revealing piece of writing.

Australian Book Review

This is a highly recommended book that agricultural and rural historians will appreciate the significance of in tracing the history of the environment. It will be of interest to a wide academic readership, including historians of the environment, ideas, politics, science and technology. More importantly, this book deserves to be read by the wider public as it explains how perceptions of the environment have evolved relative to the history of the twentieth century. Understanding this history can inform contemporary responses to present and future environmental issues.

Agricultural History Review

Our relationship with nature goes far beyond resources, amenity, or the scientific idea of an archive we learn to read. There are, as The Environment shows, ethical complexities in how we use and abuse the planet—and in how we frame its improbable riches.

Nature Lib

"Our relationship with nature goes far beyond resources, amenity, or the scientific idea of an archive we learn to read. There are, as The Environment shows, ethical complexities in how we use and abuse the planet—and in how we frame its improbable riches."

Nature

"This is a highly recommended book that agricultural and rural historians will appreciate the significance of in tracing the history of the environment. It will be of interest to a wide academic readership, including historians of the environment, ideas, politics, science and technology. More importantly, this book deserves to be read by the wider public as it explains how perceptions of the environment have evolved relative to the history of the twentieth century. Understanding this history can inform contemporary responses to present and future environmental issues."

Agricultural History Review - James P. Bowen

"This engaging and accessible book should be required reading for anyone concerned with the development of "the environment" as a conceptual lodestone of both science and politics in the mid- to late-twentieth century. Moreover, it will be richly rewarding for anyone wishing to teach, research, or simply better understand the path dependencies and political dynamics of environmental issues today."

Local Environment - Philip Conway

"Demonstrates the power of history to speak into the present... It is a wonderfully succinct, compelling, and revealing piece of writing."

Australian Book Review - James Dunk

"Our relationship with nature goes far beyond resources, amenity or the scientific idea of an archive we learn to read. There are, as The Environment shows, ethical complexities in how we use and abuse the planet — and in how we frame its improbable riches."

Nature - Huw Lewis-Jones

"Despite the importance in recent decades of environmentalism, environmental protection, environmental science, and so on, there has been strikingly little discussion of what exactly the environment is. Paul Warde, Libby Robin, and Sverker Sorlin examine the history of the concept as it has developed since the end of the Second World War, when they argue it took on its modern significance... The book is strongest in tracing the ways that changes in scientific institutions helped develop the modern idea of environment, as well as in its discussion of the ways that idea entered the popular imagination through works by Rachel Carson and others."

Environmental History - Steven Vogel