Environmentalism Archives | National Humanities Center

Environmentalism

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Crabgrass Crucible: Suburban Nature and the Rise of Environmentalism in Twentieth-Century America

By Christopher C. Sellers (NHC Fellow, 1999–00) Although suburb-building created major environmental problems, Christopher Sellers demonstrates that the environmental movement originated within suburbs–not just in response to unchecked urban sprawl. Drawn to the countryside as early as the late nineteenth century, new suburbanites turned to taming the wildness of their surroundings. They cultivated a fondness … Continued

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Institutions for Environmental Aid: Pitfalls and Promise

Edited by Robert O. Keohane (NHC Fellow, 1995–96) and Marc A. Levy The discrepancy between levels of environmental quality of rich and poor countries will continue as long as large per capita gaps in income persist. Institutions for Environmental Aid draws on research from economics, international relations, and development assistance, as well as the growing … Continued

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La Frontera: Forests and Ecological Conflict in Chile’s Frontier Territory

By Thomas Miller Klubock (NHC Fellow, 2005–06) In La Frontera, Thomas Miller Klubock offers a pioneering social and environmental history of southern Chile, exploring the origins of today’s forestry "miracle" in Chile. Although Chile's forestry boom is often attributed to the free-market policies of the Pinochet dictatorship, La Frontera shows that forestry development began in the early twentieth … Continued

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Pilgrims of the Vertical: Yosemite Rock Climbers and Nature at Risk

By Joseph E. Taylor, III (NHC Fellow, 2002–03; 2018–19) Few things suggest rugged individualism as powerfully as the solitary mountaineer testing his or her mettle in the rough country. Yet the long history of wilderness sport complicates this image. In this surprising story of the premier rock-climbing venue in the United States, Pilgrims of the Vertical offers … Continued

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Reinventing Eden: The Fate of Nature in Western Culture

By Carolyn Merchant (NHC Fellow, 2000–01) This revised edition of Carolyn Merchant’s classic Reinventing Eden has been updated with a new foreword and afterword. Visionary quests to return to the Garden of Eden have shaped Western Culture. This book traces the idea of rebuilding the primeval garden from its origins to its latest incarnations and offers a … Continued

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The Columbia Guide to American Environmental History

By Carolyn Merchant (NHC Fellow, 2000–01) How and why have Americans living at particular times and places used and transformed their environment? How have political systems dealt with conflicts over resources and conservation? This is the only major reference work to explore all the major themes and debates of the burgeoning field of environmental history. … Continued

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The Dawn of Green: Manchester, Thirlmere, and Modern Environmentalism

By Harriet Ritvo (Trustee; NHC Fellow, 1989–90; 2002–03) Located in the heart of England’s Lake District, the placid waters of Thirlmere seem to be the embodiment of pastoral beauty. But under their calm surface lurks the legacy of a nineteenth-century conflict that pitted industrial progress against natural conservation—and helped launch the environmental movement as we … Continued

Rachel Carson and the Awakening of Environmental Consciousness

In the summer of 1962 the prestigious New Yorker magazine published excerpts from a sensational new book by Rachel Carson. In Silent Spring Carson argued that humankind was fatally tampering with nature by its reckless misuse of chemical pesticides, particularly the ubiquitous new wonder chemical DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro-ethane). In riveting chapters on the contamination of soil, … Continued

The Puritan Origins of the American Wilderness Movement

By the second century of their existence in the New World, the sober, frugal, hard-working Puritans had transformed the American wilderness into fruitful farms and shining cities on hills. The “howling” wilderness encountered by the first generation of Puritans in America was demonized. It was the vast domain of Satan, his minions the “Salvages,” and … Continued