GSU Exam 1

William Cronon

“There has been no timeless wilderness in a state of perfect change-lessness”

Pioneering environmental historian, who showed us that even pre-industrial societies altered the landscapes that sustains them

Jared Diamond

Wrote- Collapse: How societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.

Formulated a five point framework to understand the collapse of historical societies. These factors included: environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, friendly trade partners, and society’s response to its environmental problems

Rene Descartes

Wrote of the need for humans to become “masters and possessors of nature”.

Adam Smith

Saw nature as “no more than a storehouse of raw materials for man’s ingenuity”.

Francis Bacon

rallied humans to “conquer and subdue nature”. He spoke often of the relationship between power and science.

John Evelyn

an English aristocrat and founding member of the Royal Society.

Wrote, Sylva, or a Discourse of forest-Trees, and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesty’s dominions, which deplored woodland loss that plagued England in the 17th century.

Jean-Baptiste Colbert

French commoner who became the Minister of Finances during the reign of Louis XIV. Created an ordinance for for forest policy that in the end created more problems than it solved (He was an imperialist). However he later helped inspire future treaties.

Hans Carl von Carlowitz

laid out the 1st comprehensive strategy for sustained yield forestry

“We must aim for continuous, resilient, and sustainable use, because (forests) are an indispensable thing, without which the country and its forests could not exist”

Jean-Jaques Rousseau

Wrote on many subject, 3 of which are relevant to sustainability: his contention that technological innovation did not make humans any more happier or virtuous, his critique of social inequality and its links to the natural environment, and his deep admiration for wilderness, rural values, and simple living.

E.F Schumacher

Belonged to the first wave of ecological economists met with moderate success.

He was invited to the White House to discuss his collection of essays, Small is Beautiful.

Herman Daly

Worked with the World Bank and helped make it more environmentally sensitive and literate.

E.J Mishan

Provided a partial list of the effects of “unchecked commercialism” on the industrialized world:

“the erosion of the countryside, the uglification” of costal towns, the pollution of the air and of the rivers with chemical wastes ….. a rich heritage of natural beauty being wantonly and systematically destroyed.”