Environmental History and Its Key Concepts

This set of flashcards focuses on key concepts in environmental history, including historiography, sustainability, industrial capitalism, and their implications for human-nature interactions.

What is historiography?

The study of how history is written, including methods, interpretations, and debates among historians.

What does historical agency refer to?

The capacity to act and influence change over time, including the role of non-human actors like animals and plants.

What is environmental determinism?

The theory that human behavior and culture are shaped by the natural environment; it was later rejected for its oversimplification.

What does the term Anthropocene refer to?

The proposed geological epoch where human activity became the dominant force shaping the planet.

How does technology influence our interaction with nature?

Technology mediates our knowledge of animals, shapes value systems, and integrates into ecosystems.

What is environmental history?

An interdisciplinary field that studies the interactions between humans and the environment over time.

How is sustainability defined?

The desire to create a society that is safe, stable, prosperous, and ecologically minded.

What role did industrial capitalism play in environmental history?

It transformed work, nature, and society through mechanization and fossil fuels, altering human-environment relations.

What are fossil fuels?

Natural resources like coal, oil, and natural gas that powered industrialization but also contributed to pollution and climate change.

What is the significance of the steam engine?

It converted heat into mechanical energy, becoming crucial for industrial factories and increasing the capacity to exploit natural resources.

How did electric power change energy usage?

It allowed cities and industries to operate beyond the limitations of coal-fired steam engines, reshaping urban landscapes.

What do neocolonialism and imperialism involve?

Continued economic and political domination by industrial powers, linking environmental exploitation with global inequality.

What is the United Fruit Company known for?

Controlling banana production and exemplifying corporate imperialism and ecological simplification in Central America.

What are Banana Republics?

Central American states dominated by U.S. fruit corporations, reliant on single export crops.

What is monoculture?

Large-scale cultivation of a single crop species, which increases efficiency but can deplete ecosystems.

What does vertical integration entail?

A corporate structure where a company controls all stages of production, concentrating economic power.

What is Fair Trade?

A movement promoting ethical production and equitable pay for farmers, challenging exploitative trade structures.

What does the domestication of plants and animals signify?

The transition from foraging to farming, which transformed human societies and ecosystems.

What does the frontier process describe?

The expansion of settlement and resource extraction into new lands, often leading to deforestation and imperial power.

What is the meaning of anthropogenic?

Human-caused; it highlights the impact of human actions on the environment.

How does climate relate to environmental history?

Climate patterns influence both natural and human systems, and industrial emissions have made climate a historical actor.

What is a turning point in history?

A significant moment when historical trajectories change dramatically, like during the Industrial Revolution.

How does agriculture impact the environment?

It facilitated population growth and complex societies, but also caused deforestation and altered ecosystems.

What is urbanization?

The rise of cities, which accelerates during the Industrial Revolution, leading to population concentration and environmental transformation.

What characterizes the Early Modern Era?

A period of state expansion, empire, and global trade that prepared the ground for industrial capitalism.

What was the Age of Exploration?

A period marked by European maritime expansion in search of trade routes, which initiated colonization and environmental changes.

What is the Columbian Exchange?

The exchange of plants, animals, humans, and diseases between the Old and New Worlds initiated after 1492.

How has globalization affected the environment?

It intensifies connections across economies and societies, spreading technologies while magnifying environmental impacts.

What drove animals to extinction?

Two hypotheses—climate change and human predation—have been proposed, while some scholars suggest that it was a combination of the two that drove so many large animals to extinction.