#EnvHist Worth Reading: June 2014

"Read II" by Daniel Go

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Every month we carefully track the most popular and significant environmental history articles, videos, audio, and other items making their way through the online environmental history (#envhist) community. Here are our choices for items most worth reading from June 2014.

1. Photos of Alaska: Then and Now

Our most popular post on Facebook this month was an article on snowaddiction.org, which juxtaposes historical photographs of Alaskan landscape with current photographs of the same place. The photographs offer rather impressive evidence of the change that has occurred in northern environs as a result of climate change.

2. Hiking While Black: The Untold Story

One of the most interesting environmental history items in June was an article and interview with Carolyn Finney about her new book, Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors. In the article and the book, Finney explores why the American story of conservation and nature is dominated by white figures. This article is particularly a must-read for those of us attending the Environmentalism from Below workshop at the University of Alberta in August. 

3. Environmental History Field Notes

Environmental History introduced its web-only essay feature, Field Notes, this month. The first essay is “New Spaces for Stories: Technical and Conceptual Challenges to Using Spatial Imagery in Environmental History” by David Biggs. Those individuals interested in HGIS and spatial history in general will find this article of particular interest. It is a great example of how online content will enable historians to more fully experiment with digital and other non-traditional content.

4. Undoing Forever

CBC’s radio program Ideas aired an episode called “Undoing Forever,” which examines the ethics, practicality, and science behind de-extinction–bringing back animals that have gone extinct. The program includes an interview with environmental historian Dolly Jorgensen, who argues that society must look at historical species reintroduction schemes to fully illuminate the possible implications of future de-extinction plans.

5. Battlefield Earth – the Geological Legacy of War

The 100 year anniversary of the First World War has resulted in a plethora of content hitting the internet in June. One article dealing with the environmental implications of the war on the European landscape is “Battlefield Earth – the Geological Legacy of War” by David Bressen in Scientific American. Bressen concludes that the earth moved during the First World War represents “another erosive legacy of the Anthropocene.”

Remember to follow #envhist hashtag and NiCHE (@NiCHE_Canada) on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ to keep up with the latest environmental history content.

 

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Jessica DeWitt

is an environmental historian of Canada and the United States, editor, project manager, and digital communications strategist. She earned her PhD in History from the University of Saskatchewan in 2019. She is an executive member, editor-in-chief, and social media editor for the Network in Canadian History and Environment (NiCHE). She is the Managing Editor for the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines. She is also President of the Saskatchewan History and Folklore Society, a Girls Rock Saskatoon board member, and a Coordinating Team member of Showing Up for Racial Justice Saskatoon-Treaty Six. A passionate social justice advocate, she focuses on developing digital techniques and communications that bridge the divide between academia and the general public in order to democratize knowledge access. You can find out more about her and her freelance services at jessicamdewitt.com.

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