1. Environmental History of South Asia: An Introduction

Vocabulary flashcards covering core definitions, geologic periods, major historiographical strands, South Asian environmental protests, and key schools of environmental ethics.

Environment

The natural and human-created physical surroundings that affect a living organism or group of organisms' ability to maintain itself and develop over time.

Ecology

The study of all elements in the environment and the relationships between living organisms and their surroundings, seeking to understand life processes, adaptation, and biodiversity.

Ecosystem

A specific place—such as a rotting log, a forest, or a schoolyard—where interactions between living and non-living things occur.

Environmental Science

An interdisciplinary field incorporating earth and life sciences that investigates interactions among physical, chemical, and biological components of the environment, human impacts, and sustainability.

Astrobiology

A perspective examining how Earth and life have co-evolved over billions of years through various global states, including a water world, a glaciated snowball world, and a hothouse jungle planet.

Holocene

The current geological epoch, characterized by a warm and moist climate that proved ideal for the rise and flourishing of human civilization.

Anthropocene

An unofficial unit of geologic time (from the Greek 'anthropo' meaning human and 'cene' meaning new) proposed to mark the period when human activity began having a lasting, irreversible impact on Earth's systems and rock layers.

Paul J. Crutzen and Eugene F Stoermer

The atmospheric chemist and diatom researcher who popularised the term 'Anthropocene' in 2000 to designate a proposed new human-dominated geological epoch.

International Union of Geological Sciences

The official geological scientific body that in 2024 rejected a formal proposal to codify the Anthropocene as a distinct geological epoch.

The Great Acceleration

The rapid surge of global human impacts over the last 60 years, marked by skyrocketing carbon dioxide emissions, global warming, ocean acidification, habitat loss, species extinctions, and widespread resource extraction.

Baker Explosion

A nuclear weapon test carried out by the United States in Micronesia on 25 July 1946; its dispersal of highly radioactive elements is proposed by some researchers as a candidate marker for the onset of the Anthropocene.

Environmental History

The history of mutual relations between humankind and the rest of nature over time, examining both how humans alter the environment and how nature shapes human societies.

Material Environmental History

A strand of environmental history concerning physical and biological changes in environments, how those changes affect societies, and the economic and technological dimensions of human affairs.

Cultural/Intellectual Environmental History

A strand of environmental history that investigates changing representations, perceptions, and artistic depictions of nature and what they reveal about human cultures.

Political Environmental History

A strand of environmental history that examines environmental law, state policy, political philosophies, ideological stances of parties and social movements, and multi-level public policymaking.

Wanderer above a Sea of Fog

An 1818 painting by Caspar David Friedrich representing Romanticism, depicting both nature's sublimity and human alienation.

Dongria Khond Art

Geometric and triangular artwork reflecting the Niyamgiri hills of Odisha, using green for the natural landscape, red for ritual sacrifice, and yellow for community well-being and farming practices.

Chipko Movement

A landmark 1970s forest conservation movement in northern India where villagers, led prominently by women, clung to trees to prevent commercial felling.

Jal Satyagraha

A nonviolent protest tactic involving protestors remaining immersed in river water, staged in states like Madhya Pradesh and Odisha to oppose large dam construction and community displacement.

Anthropocentrism

The human-centered ethical viewpoint rooted in classical Western philosophy (e.g., Aristotle) and Descartes, asserting that nature holds value primarily to the extent that it serves human interests.

Biocentrism

The life-centered moral philosophy, championed by Albert Schweitzer through 'Reverence for Life,' holding that all living organisms possess intrinsic value and humans are morally equal members of the community of life.

Ecocentrism

The ecological perspective holding that ecosystems, species, and entire ecological wholes have intrinsic value, serving as the foundation of modern conservation biology and ecosystem management.

Land Ethic

Aldo Leopold's moral philosophy published in 'A Sand County Almanac,' stating: 'A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community.'

Deep Ecology

An environmental philosophy formulated by Arne Næss in the 1970s that rejects anthropocentrism and advocates for the intrinsic value of all beings, human population reduction, simple living, and an 'ecological self.'

Ecofeminism

A philosophy and movement, associated with scholars such as Vandana Shiva, that links the domination and exploitation of nature with the patriarchal subjugation of women.

Environmental Pragmatism

A philosophical approach associated with Bryan Norton that prioritizes practical, consensus-driven policy solutions over abstract, polarizing ethical debates.

Climate Ethics

The branch of ethics addressing moral obligations tied to global warming, focusing on the responsibility of wealthy nations, intergenerational justice, rights of climate refugees, and corporate accountability.

Natural history

data on climatic fluctuations;

geological changes; plant and animal ecology; and

microbial life

Human history

state archival documents; account

books of traders; journals of explorers; court records

of births and deaths; laws; diaries of farmers; myths

and legends; paintings, poetry, and essays about

nature; scientific investigations; and the musings of

philosophers