history of environment

What are the tools for looking at deep history that Hughes provides? How can we use these tools to think through environmental history? How does Hughes use them for comparative enviro. history?

*deep history: world environmental history rather than human history 1. archaeology, dendrochronology, radio carbon dating, paleoclimatology, pollen analysis 2. use all the above tools to get a sense of what the different factors of the environment were like back then; learn climate history of each civilization and how human actions affected the climates; see emerging patterns 3. compares ancient civilizations teach other, as well as to modern environment today; can see similarities as well as differences which benefits us by showing if their were similar factors that led to the collapse of civilizations (contingency)

Population, Food, Guano 3/15

*malthusianism 1. 2nd agricultural revolution -britain, 1690-1880 -increase in agricultural productivity to feed growing population (labor and land) -ethos of improvement (incorporating new technologies) -uk population 1700-5.5 million; 1801-9 million -major elements=enclosure, crop rotation, new technologies, selective breeding, fertilizers 2. enclosure movement -private landowners converted common pasture land into enclosed fields for farming -1604-1914; 5,200 acts, 6.8 million acres -metabolic rift: soil exhaustion because rift between ag land and source of fertilizer as people moved to cities 3. shift from 3 field rotation to 4 field rotation -more efficient -3 field=wheat, barely, fallow -4 field=wheat (for bread), turnips (cleansed soil), barley (for beer), grasses (high in nitrogen) -results: more crops because all fields used every year; winter food for cattle so there was fresh meat 5. new technologies -rotherham plow -jethro bull's seed drill (allows to plant in long straight rows) 6. selective breeding -controlling the reproduction of domesticated animals to enhance desired traits -results: hardier animals, more milk/meat/wool 7. thomas robert malthus -wrote essay on principle of population, 1798 in response to enclosure movement; sees a lot of optimism around him (ethos of improvement) -optimists believe in perfectability of mankind -wrote to William Godman who thought humans would be able to live in perfect harmony where laws, gov weren't necessary -*malthusianism: population grows faster than food production; natural resources act as a check on human population growth -graph shows population vs resources, w/ population increasing geometrically while good supply increases arithmetically; point of crisis is where population exceeds resources 8. guano age -1802-1884 -wanu (Quecha world) -high in ammonia, nitrogen, phosphate, potassium -Humble was first scientist to take guano sample from peru and send it back for analysis -guano is 1/4 uric acid -thought guano had been laid down over a geologic time span even though indigenous people claimed it was coming from sea birds -isnt believed for 30 years -ships carrying whale oil also started bringing back guano; spike in peruvian exports -passed guano islands act (allowed imperial annexation for any island thought to have guano) -1840-1879 peru exported millions of tons of guano 9. significance of the guano age -end of the ecological old regime (intensify production from land, extract materials from another environment) -new high farming (high-input of nitrogen, high output, capital intensive) -nitrate industries -guano is not a perfectly balance fertilizer, fields would still lose productivity -south american countries fought wars over access to guano -end of boom due to guano supply on islands running dry -significance of nitrate industry=not only good for fertilizer but also chemical synthesis

Industrial Energy

*why was the steam engine so significant? What was its effect on the anthropocene? *fossil economy 1. anthropocene begins with the steam engine, 1784 (Crutzen) -100k being used around world by 1900s -problem with industrial burning of coal 2. **fossil economy -"economy characterized by self-sustaining growth predicated on growing consumption of fossil fuels, and therefore generating a sustained growth in emissions of carbon dioxide" -profit motive (capitalist) -but limited availability of resources and unintended consequences -social relationships; "no piece of coal has yet turned itself into fuel" 3. history of coal -peat->lignite->coal -in carboniferous period, decomposing plant matter becomes sediment as plants grow before they can decompose, forming layers -peaty swamps unevenly distributed; northern canada, center US, Russia and Britain all have coal deposits 4. what makes coal fuel? -1700s energy transition -biological old regime-> fossil fuels -social relationship because people have to do things to coal to turn it into fuel -british coal mining=1650; 2 million T, 1700; 3 million T, 1800; 10 million T -first companies were collecting it on surface seams; once exhausted, began digging deeper and deeper mines -once mined, would fill cart on track; child labor was involved -in some mines, women were doing some of heavy lifting and mining -some mines used horsepower -2 continual problems: ventilation, and water in mines -water problem problem led to invention of the steam engine -first one was invented to pump water out of mines -eventually led to invention of first train; built 7 miles of train rails that linked coal mines to port city where coal could be loaded and transported by ship 5. what makes coal industrial fuel? -watt's steam engine, and social relationships -why was it adopted and diffused? -Malm article points out this is important question; skipping it makes it seem like transition to market economy was inevitable; wants to show how this was contingent on decisions people made, as well as geological accident that britain and hella coal mines -took 40 years for steam engine become useful in cotton industry -old cotton mills ran on water power ran by water wheels -water is a free energy source -drawbacks: water freezes in winter, dries up during the summer, therefore had to be located in certain rural areas; more difficult to find workers in rural areas -solution to latter problem was idea of factory colony -conditions were shitty; once this was known it became more and more difficult to find willing workers 6. Ellen hootton -in june 1833 she was called before a factory inquiry commission investigating child labor -she was 10, had been working in a mill for 2 years and worked a loom -daughter of single mother -worked every day from 5:30 am to 8pm with 2 breaks -for first 5 months, wasn't paid anything because she was an unskilled laborer -had job of fixing broken strings of looms -would get in trouble with Mr. swan for missing knots in string, get beaten -ellen and tried to run away 10 times, mother approved of punishment and called her stupid -walked up and down factory floor w/ 16 pound iron tied to her neck -commission decided she was a liar, but historians have proved it true -1824, birtish gov repealed combination laws which made it difficult for workers to organize in unions; resulted in huge boom of protesting/riots/strike -for this reason, in 1930s, mills started fading off -steam factories in cities were independent of weather -important change with law of limited work day; water peeps would have to make up work later if water wasn't flowing; no longer legal with laws 7. oliver twist -dickenson's novel shows people of the time realized something was wrong with this industrialization, although they ere unaware of the environmental effects as we do today -not only divide w/ europe and rest of world, but also internal division in britain (capitalist investors vs labor conditions and environmental consequences) 8. connections w/ antrhopocene -contingency: this wasn't unavoidable, meaning we can change -critique of species thinking (wasn't entire species, but european capitalists) -graph shows US and Britain had vast majority of emissions -not anthropocene, but anglocene (white western history)

what are the debates about pre-columbian human management of land in the americas?

-amazonians possibly created rainforest -myth fo ecological native american -changes concept that nature was untouched before europeans

what was the columbian exchange and what were some if its lasting effects?

-exchange of food, disease, raw materials between old world and new world

Capitalocene: The Rise of market economies 2/18

-main thesis: social economic problems we see today are due to capitalism; capitalism is a very specific economic system -about 400 years old; not about a particular start point, rather relationships and how they change 1. capitalocene -historical era shaped by relations privileging the endless accumulation of capital (Jason Moore) -greatest strength and source of its problems is its capacity to create cheap natures (labor, food, energy, raw materials) -posits britain as center of the anthropocene -doesn't like species thinking; assumes british were model humans and everyone was catching up -framing is based on distinction between humans and nature; human enterprise is set against nature -columbian exchange, african slave trade, ascent of silver mining in the Andes, expansive rays of whaling fleets 2. what makes capitalism capitalist? -liberal political economy: a. capitalist markets evolved from previous markets b. gradual growth of natural tendencies c. laissez-faire d. truck, barter and exchange (Adam Smith) e. homo economicus -critical political economy: a. capitalist markets new beginning ~1450 b. transformation in relations of production c. societies become organized around "free" market d. "laissez-faire was planned" e. distinctions in class -pre-capitalist and capitalist economies both had exchange, money, commodities and slavery -pre-capitalist goes commodity, money, commodity; economy embedded in society -capitalist goes money, commodity, means of production/labor power, commodity prime, money plus change in money (increase profit); society embedded in economy -profit driving model, system based on competition between industries, origin of profit lies in labor 3. *fictitious commodities -land, labor money; treated as commodities, but not produced for the market -labor-human activity, land=nature, money=token of purchasing power 4. enclosure movement -private landowners converted common pasture land into enclosed fields for farming -acts were meant to rectify situation of everyone sharing plots 5. *primitive accumulation -Karl Marx -process through which peasants forced from their land as the commons were enclosed and pushed to sell their labor as a commodity, allowing early capitalists to accumulate private wealth from what had been communal property; explains emergence of capitalist class -accumulation by dispossession (David Harvey) -continuation of this process as public goods privatized for profit and people forced to sell labor -metabolic rift: soil deteriorates because it lacks nitrogen input from fertilization 6. how do we understand the capitalocene? -accumulation by dispossession continues as capitalism brings new laborers and environments into its fold -contradictory processes because treating labor and land as commodities degrades the basis of capitalism -produces social and environmental crises -can't understand what is causing climate change, extinctions, etc without examining relations of capitalism -who is the anthropos? Social difference based on wealth, class

Macgregor: standard of ur, indus seal

1. standard of ur -iraq 2600-2400 BC -made of various exotic materials -pictures depict structures of power -includes war scenes showing how they protected their surplus 2. indus seal -Pakistan 2500-2000 BC

lecture 1/21 Geology of the human age

1. video -two rocks -show how insignificant human time is in the timeline of earth -rocks will outlast us 2. history of geology -earth is 4.5 billion years old -380 ma=first vertebrae land animals -2 ma=first hominids -Pennsylvanian period is explosion of plant life -permian extinction (the great dying)=most severe extinction event -holoecene epoch: 11,700 ya-present -pleistocene epoch: 3 may-11,700 ya (ice ages, homo sapiens, megafauna extinction) -quarternary period: 3mya-present -people used to think that the earth was only a couple thousand years old according to the bible -18th century people became more interested in mineral makeup of the earth, initially to determine when the great flood occurred -James Hutton wrote about theory of reading history through strata of rocks; responsible for the idea of geological time and that the earth wasn't formed in one event but was developing continuously -sublime=being overwhelmed -geologic theories of history **1. uniformitarianism: change happens gradually (Hutton, Lyell, Darwin; erosion/sedimentation), explains physical properties **2. catastrophism: only short-term, violent catastrophes could account for changing form of the earth (Cuvier; volcanic eruptions, floods, asteroid impacts), gradual changes occur but ket changes are the big catastrophes **geologic time: one of the greatest accomplishments of mankind; broad time scale in relation to historical time, determined by sedimentation of rocks -Cuvier proved the existence of extinction (mastedon) **stratigraphy: branch of geology that seeks to understand relationships between rock layers and use these to interpret history -geologists mark temporal boundaries with GSSPs (golden spikes) or GSSAs 3. geology of the anthropocene -ice samples -Lewis and Maslin argue new-old world collision is the best golden spike **4. techno-fossils: geologically preserved remains of human artifacts (highways, aluminum, pens, fordite)

the world in 1400 2/16 lecture

1. what's the geography of world history? *eurocentrism: rise of the west, european exceptionalism, europe center of world history (diffusionist); all you need to explain modern world *polycentrism: multiple centers of world history, noneurocentric; multiple creations came up independently (agriculture) or interdependently (industrial revolution) from one another -Marks doesn't like eurocentric history -history of asia necessary for understanding why world looks the way it does today -8 subsystems of trading zones -up until 1500, trade was peaceful, not based on force or violence, china and india were main engines of trade -1398, founder of Ming dynasty died, nephew was appointed as emperor; after war for 4 years, 4th son takes over, wanted to increase trade of indian ocean by creating one of the largest leagues of ships -africans based wealth on amount of laborers 2. elements of a non-eurocentric narrative -contingency vs inevitability -accident vs foreseen -conjecture: interaction of separate developments that have significance beyond the regions in which they took place -polycentric world economic system: china, India and Indian Ocean, Dar-al Islam, Europe *how did people power their societies *black death 3. *biological old regime: material and natural conditions under which most people lived prior to the 19th century, agriculture and industry both dependent upon capturing solar energy flows 4. black death -attributed to black rats -europe was really cold in early 14th century -mongols started invading town and threw plagued bodies over wall -italian traders started to flee but brought diseased rats with them -spread along shipping lanes everywhere -4/5 villages were abandoned -pop of middle east declined by 1/3, didn't recover until 19th century -symptoms are swollen lymph nodes, bumps spread everywhere, gangrene of the hands, chills, high fever, seizures, skin color changes to pink, untreated could kill someone in 4 days -rat hosts plague, flea gets plague from rat, flea bites human to give them plague -thought plague was transmitted by evil air back in the day -plague doctors wore bird masks (primitive gas mask), stuffed with straw to protect the wearer -one of the sign of plague was animals like rats running around like they were drunk -what stopped plague? brown norway rat took their place, black rats died out? -killed 75-200 million -45-50% of pop of medieval europe -sense of collective madness; burning witches at stakes -illustrates connectedness of world regions and fragility of agricultural productions under old world regime

Mann; 1491 Precis

*amazon rainforest may be a human artifact -2 archaeologists -pristine myth: belief that the Americas in 1491 were an almost unmarked -should we let native people keep burning the Beni? 1. like a club between the eyes -disease knocked out hella native americans; pilgrims attributed it to their religion -in 1491 more people lived in the americas than europe -Dobyn criticized for making up high numbers to make america look bad 2. inventing by the millions -Soto's pigs wiped out an entire native american population -argument over how many existed before the plagues 3. buffalo farm -native americans were great at exploiting their environment 4. green prisons -native americans built orchards -amazonians created the ground beneath their feet; were terraforming the earth to fix the environment when columbus showed up and messed it up 5. novel shores -explosion in species such as buffalo when disease killed off indians -argues we need to follow the indians example and build a big garden

Agricultural revolutions lecture

*did the anthropocene begin with farming? 1.**early anthropocene hypothesis -William ruddiman (paleoclimatologist) -wrote about how anthropocene greenhouse gas emissions began 8000 ya with intensive farming -tortoise vs hare (slow gradual build greater than recent spike) -spread of agriculture out of the fertile crescent across Europe -complex stratified agriculture and simple peasant agriculture 2. holocene history: what happened as the ice melted? -dickinson argues changes aren't natural, they've co-evolved with our species 3.**agricultural revolutions -gradual transitions in subsistence from hunting and gathering to planting crops, domesticating animals -began about 11000 years ago with Holocene warming -agriculture was invented 7 separate times in different locations -people started to farm because certain areas had water, diverse enough food options -selective breeding of grains -building rice levels affects family relations as well as diet -idea that anthropogenic landscape can be beautiful and help humans -gradual transition from hunting/gathering to agriculture -5 main human activities related to methane increase: more human waste, livestock waste, burning of seasonal grass, irrigating rice paddies, animal waste -supports hypothesis for 5000ya as start of anthropocene 6. effects of agricultural revolutions -community -health (diseases of sedentism, domestication and storage) -landscape -climate

malm: fossil capitalism

*examines causes of transition from water to steam in british cotton industry in 19th century; refutes concept of shift driven by scarcity, and argues its due to power over labor 1. intro 2. birth of fossil economy -britain -coal used in domestic production of heat -if cotton industry had stayed with water, fossil economy wouldn't have come about as it did 3. false starts in energy studies -substituting wood for coal idea 4. critique of the paradigm -states there is constant appetite for more energy in all societies, and in 18th and 19th centuries, britain satisfied it 5. puzzle of superior water -adoption of steam power in cotton manufacturing was a slow process -water wheels were more powerful than steam engines -water was also more abundant and cheaper 6. power to visit labour -opportunity for exploitation of labor 7. centrifugal dynamic of water mills 8. crisis in the colonies

the great hunt 3/3

*whale commodities 1. what's a commodity? -whalebone corset, oil, perfume -good bought and sold at market -geographic separation (one place where natural form is collected, produced and sold elsewhere) -rendered from animal form (whale itself isn't the commodity) -includes human labor 2. basques: the first commercial whalers -11-16th centuries -hunted not for subsistence, but for profit -47 bay of biscay villages -annual take 240-360 animals -right whales to hunt=immense, valuable, vulnerable, retrievable, abundant -float when they're dead -80k right whales before commoditization 3. arctic whalers hunted bowheads -1500-1800 -by 1670, move from coastal waters to open sea -european competition 4. shift to southern waters, sperm whales -18th-19th centuries -sperm oil replaces (right) whale oil -oil burned at sea -during 19th century, 180k-235k animals taken -spermaceti organ is where oil is located 5. Into the deep video

flynn giraldez: silver spoon

-Boxer says international trade started in 157, year Manila was founded 1. role of silver in creating a world market -mexico and peru provided, china bought -euros were intermediaries between new world and china -Manila only traded in silver and silk 2. china: the world's silver sink -gold was undervalued in china, went out in exchange for silver which was overvalued in china -silver was chinas unit of currency once their paper money lost all value 3. silver and the power bases of imperial spain, the tokugawa, and Ming China -richest silver mine ever found in the Andes -new world mines supported spanish empire -fall in value of silver which resulted in end of spanish power 4. summary and conclusion -explanation of west to east flow of money was europe had to settle its trade deficit with asia (conventional explanation) -reality is gold flowed to west, silver flowed to east -portuguese traded african slaves for silver

Cushman: The guano Age

-Humboldt believed coast of peru was desolate landscape due to incan and european colonialists -went to lima for celestial event -impressed with large supply of guano -guano contains uric acid which is rich in nitrogen -guano age was 1802-1884 -discovery of this fertilizer started a global rush -chemist humphrey davy got involved -2 ways to increase productivity of agricultural societies under biological old regime: intensify production from land, or extract materials from another environment -guano trade emerged from growing trade with pacific basin and growing interest among farmers in accelerating cycling of nutrients in land -whaling is somehow involved -north-south trade was unequal -supply side of guano trade quickly went global -peru exported 12.7 million tons of guano -potatoes from peru messed up potatoes in europe causing problems -ecological criticism of guano; didn't know its long term effects, would deplete soil of fertility over the years -gunpowder somehow threatened guano -everyone was a mess in 1879; floods, droughts, virus -globalization of fertilizer trade made world vulnerable to ecological and economic disruptions -created farmings addiction to inputs

geology of mankind

-anthropocene coincides with creation of the steam engine

Cod: Kurlansky

-basques were shapers and seafarers able to travel long distances by catching and salting schools of cod -vikings preserved cod by drying it, but salting worked better -salting allowed basques to travel farther, as well as trade more because it lasted the longest -cod was one of the only things christians were allowed to eat on certain days, which increased business -got all their fish from Hy-Brasil -coboto found it and called it newfoundland 2. with mouth wide open -cod meat white, nearly fat-free, almost no waste -origin of name is unclear, used as sexual slang -many different species -cod eat almost anything; was made to endure 3. the cod rush -british lacked salt, but relied on lightly salted dried codfish -competition over ports 4. 1620: the rock and the cod: -no one could find china -stumbled upon modern-day maine and realized it would be a great cod port -pilgrims didn't wanna try new foods even though they are starving -finally figured out how to fish 5. certain inalienable rights -new england merchants were very involved in slavery because they supplied the plantation system, and slaves could be purchased with cod in west africa 6. a cod war heard round the world -?

who is the anthropos in the anthropocene effects of cod fishing?

-basques, vikings -jay and croft -those demanding cod

Mcneill: global environmental history

-before farming, environment affected humans more than humans affected the environment -because of farming and industrialization, that changed -climate change in last africa helped change humans -toba eruption almost killed off humans -migration out of africa spread populations; beginning of colonization -those who migrated to siberia also first domesticated the dog -raising animals instead of eating or hunting them allowed for culture since people could settle down instead constantly moving -settled=higher fertility rates and less abandoned babies -no one knows why people started farming instead of foraging (hunting was more nutritious and less time consuming) -7 successful farming transitions due to intelligence and climate -farming spread in two main ways: farmers displacing foragers (violence, disease, using materials), and the idea of agriculture spreading -paleolithic humans shaped environment through fire, hunting -farmers got diseases from poop, animals, and grain -agriculture altered species, landscapes, health, and climate (methane) -debate over if farming caused such drastic change

Hamilton: this goodly frame

-carbon dioxide we have released into the environment will continue to affect it thousands of years after -eruption of super volcano may have caused a severe decrease in population -20k years ago, earth began a dramatic warming -holocene's mildness allowed for human life to flourish -population growth and fossil fuel increase are reason for scientist's belief that we have entered the anthropocene -1950s was when greenhouse gas increased sharply -Ellis states by the second half of the 20th century the world changed from being primarily affected by nature to being primarily affected by humans -scientists feel that the past resilience of the earth has given the false impression that the world will bounce back from this epoch -on one hand we have advanced science, but on the other we've industrialized the environment so much -archer and stager's story: last 34 million years have consisted of iced periods followed by warm periods -caused by three cycles: earth's axis of rotation, its tilt, and its eccentricity -scientists believe the blanket of greenhouse gases will suppress the next ice age -more than the weather is game to be affected -science kind of disproved everything from the bible that had been accepted as fact -no longer true that all history is the history of humans, ours is entangled with history of nature -one response to anthropocene is that its occurred because we lacked foresight -should we deal with the messed up environment by using more technology (what got us here in the first place) or returning to natural roots? -ruddiman argues anthropocene began 8000 years ago with onset of forest clearing and farming -ellis defends the good anthropocene; believe humans can adapt to warmer climate -promethenas (in favor of climate engineering) vs soterians *should we undertake climate engineering? if yes, how?

chakrabarty: the anthropocene and the convergence of histories

-collision of history of the earth system, history of life, and history of industrial civilization -PETM=dramatic warming event 55 mya -talking about climate change is hard because we have to think short term and long term -3 rifts: regimes of probability having to be supplemented by our uncertainty of the climate, story of our divided human lives having to be supplemented by the story of our lives as species, and having to balance our anthropocentric thoughts with putting the earth first -point of article is analytics of the market are necessary but insufficient to grasp the anthropocene 1. uncertainty: -BC analysis won't work to predict global warming 2. human vs species: -if wealth had been evenly spread, global warming would be much worse -the large population makes it impossible for human climate refugees to move elsewhere 3. earth vs humans -humans must put earth first, because without a healthy earth we cannot survive

what is the capitalocene? how is this concept useful for thinking about the anthropocene?

-creating cheap natures, human relationship with nature changes at this point -capitalocene argues against species thinking

malm/hornborg: critique of the anthropocene narrative

-ecomarxist -argues physical mixing of nature and society doesn't mean we should abandon their analytical distinction -points out the human species didn't create fossil fuel; minority of rich white guys did -if increase in population shows increase in fossil fuels, then the human species is at fault; yet majority of people use the least amount of energy -sociogenic rather than anthropogenic -says there are lifeboats for the rich and privileged while poor get screwed (katrina)

anthropocene: an epoch of our making

-epochs=subdivisions of earths geologic timescale; progression from one to another marked by a distinguishable event such as mass extinction -anthropocene began sometime around the Industrial revolution in europe -carbon dioxide, global surface temperatures and human-induced nitrogen fluxes have all increased -sediment deposits have increased

Whale: Roman

-everyone was scared of whales -they had a large biblical presence; swallowing motif 3. the royal fish -basques were first to hunt and make a business out of whales -vikings were first to simply hunt -depleted whale population by removing them from their ecosystem -rules about dividing the kill -search for new whaling grounds -often wasteful 4. raising whales -nantucket was huge whaling port -gamming and scrimshaw became pastimes 6. oil and bone -whale oil, whalebone corsets

Bonneuil: The geological turn

-explaining environmental history is a narrative, some look upon the current state as positive, others negative -article discusses 4 narratives of the anthropocene: naturalist (mainstream), post-nature, eco-catastrophist, and eco-marxist 1. naturalist: humans have changed the environment through population, economic, and international exchange growth, but scientists have the knowledge to lead us to a sustainable future if policy can change -important distinction is the anthropos that triggered the antrhopocene is not just biological, but a complex belief system -the claim that we are the first generation to know of our environmental impact is false; we've known it since 1912 -erasure of civil society and laypeople as environmentally knowledgable -self-celebration pf scientists to save planet -reproduces grand narrative of modernity, man moves from environmental obliviousness to environmental consciousness -B doesn't like this narrative 2. post nature: world without nature -like naturalist, think we just realized our effect on the earth -instead of wanting to fix it say we go full throttle -nature is dead; everything is human-constructed -eco-pragmatism -welcomes a good anthropocene -promethean -not for humility or caution toward the earth, but push for technological stewardship of the earth 3. eco-catastrophist: world is going to hell in a handcart, so we gotta focus on changing our way of living to deal with it after it goes to crap -long story of unsustainable practices -modernity's indefinite growth hits wall of planet's finitude -systems thinking: non-linear, non-progressive -moving not toward better lives but tipping points, violence, war -need urgent, radical change to lifestyles -local, rather than global, level of political relevancy 4. eco-marxist: unequal exchange and capitalist society is responsible for environmental harm -capitalism, rather than species, the driver -capitalism exhausts nature on which it depends -story of an un-sustainable world system -core countries benefit from exploiting peripheral countries -not about population and economic growth but processes of dispossession, commodification, imperial domination

malthus: an essay on the principle of population

-food is necessary to humans -sex is necessary -argues power of reproduction is more powerful than power of earth to provide food -population unchecked increase in geometric ratio; subsistence for man in an arithmetical ratio -poor laws of england

Macgregor: Hebrew astrolabe

-found in spain -brass -allowed faithful to find direction of mecca -tells us how jewish and islamic scholars revitalized science by rehabilitating work of ancient greece and rome -made for someone based in spain who traveled between north africa and france -owner was jewish and educated

defining the anthropocene-lewis & maslin

-geographers -published in "Nature" in 2015 (warmest year on record) -four parts of reviewing human geology: summarize geologically important human-induced environmental impacts, review the history of naming the epoch that modern human societies live within, assess environmental changes caused by human activity, and highlight advantages and disadvantages of the few global markers that may indicate a date to define the beginning of the anthropocene -golden spike: a single physical manifestation of a change recorded in a stratigraphic section, often reflecting a global change phenomenon -a GSSP must have a principal correlation event, other secondary markers, demonstrated regional and global correlation, complete continuous sedimentation with adequate thickness, an exact location, be accessible, and have provisions for GSSP conservation -first major impacts of humans on environment was fire -arrival of europeans in the americas led to a decline in human numbers -possible golden spikes of the anthropocene: fire, farming, collision of old and new worlds, industrialization, the great acceleration -earliest potential GSSP marker is 5,020 1. megafauna extinction -lost half of large mammals -not best for golden spike 2. farming -increased C02, pollen fossils, methane -not the best, not global enough 3. new-old world collision -spread of disease due to travel between continents, change in sediment cores due to new plants being introduced to non-native soil ***prime golden spike 4. industrial revolution -marker was global warming -not the best, too localized 5. nuclear weapon detonation/persistent industrial chemicals -primary marker is tree rings, question as to whether thats lasting -pretty good marker

cod worlds 3/1

-illustrates how overuse of natural resources has led to species extinctions 1.*cod rush -great prizes of new world -legendary abundance -international market -rethink 3 historical moments: discovery of the americas, founding of american colonies & triangle trade, american revolution -easy to catch, good to eat 2. carta marina, 1539 -war fought in island between british and hanseatic league -league was formed in 1400, group of small towns of german sea merchants who formed together to regulate trade -began to abuse power and set up trade monopolies -tried to extend monopoly into cod -murder of british man sparked war -british retreated fairly quickly because they decided thy didn't need iceland cod waters anymore because John Haddock had found cod in newfoundland 3. *biogeography of cod -fish built to survive -can lay 3 million eggs -only takes 2 to survive to replace population -will eat anything, are very quick -cold water, live in north atlantic -make antifreeze protein that keeps them from freezing in cold waters -can get as big as 75 lbs 4. *saltcod -large white flakes, product of cods biology (poor muscle tone) -no fat -little waste -wasn't super cheap, but cheapest available meat -could salt fish in a brine, dry fish, smoke cod 5. making saltcod -hella fish drying in the sun in salt 6. case study: massachusetts 1850s -historical ecologists are trained to combine historical knowledge with ecological analysis -refutes myth of legendary abundance of cod -used fishers log books -no quotas or taxes on how much they brought in -hand-liningto long-lining -large decrease in cod intake between 1852 and 1859 -vessel increase in size was 10%, so total efficiency of take decreased by 52%, proving population had declined -construction of global marketplace dependent on freedom to fish on idea that there were no limits to consumption -race to the bottom, idea of capitalism

the lost world-Kolbert

-journalist -published in 2013 in the New Yorker -geol soc -Z states humans have made such an impact on earth that scientists millions of years from now will be able to tell something big happened in our era -believes we should call this phase anthropocene, not holocene -Dob's lin great area for graptolites -fewer graptolites is better because it indicates there were animals to eat them -Darwin and Lyell were resistant to accept the concept of mass extinction caused by terrible events such as asteroids -Z thinks rats will take over the earth -current extinction event known as the 6th extinction -Crutzen coined the term "anthropocene" -borders of the anthropocene are being debated over -hard to find golden spike since we don't have a fossil record of this era yet

what people and places were connected by the trade in atlantic cod?

-north america and europe -iceland and greenland -caribbean colonies in exchange for slaves -brought good cod into europe, and bad cod to caribbean -traded for mollasses, sugar

macgregor: olduvai stone chopping tool

-one of the first things humans consciously made -showed human beings and culture derived from africa -tool=bone marrow=bigger brains -hand axe is more advanced

what does the silver trade teach us about the relationship between distant demand and local environmental change?

-silver being produced caused mercury poisoning, etc affected the aztecs but was being produced for china and spain

silver and origins of global trade

-silver coins related to the anthropocene through 1. literal scarring of the earth, 2. spanish silver mining contributing to global capitalism, unsustainable by squeezing profit out of laborers to the point where their lives are threatened, and extracts wealth from natural environment, degrading it and 3. ? -mountain looked like a sponge after being tunneled so much *what does it mean to "vale un potosi" (to be valuable)? 1. *silver economy -pesos de oho first global currency -supply: spanish americas -spaniards owned the cow, others drank the milk -demand: china -eurocentrism vs global history 2. supply -spanish conquest, pursuit of riches -main mines located in New Spain and Peru -enormous amount of silver pouring out from mines -much of it sent to spain, eventually made its way to china 3. spaniards owned the cow, others drank the milk -carlos V inherited lands all across europe and in new world; got himself into debt because believed silver would never stop flowing in from new world to finance wars over land -the more silver that came in, the more it devalued -other rulers were trading w/ china for their goods, spanish wanted in -at the time, trade routes to the east were controlled by other euros, spaniards set up shop in Manila to trade to china -silver going across atlantic into europe then into china, and across pacific into china -sometimes amount across pacific outnumbered atlantic; significant because atlantic is what we think of 4. demand: china switches currency -changed from paper money to silver currency -china had 1/4 of worlds population, more developed than euro in some ways -value of silver in china skyrocketed because their was little of it there in comparison to the rest of the world -peso became accepted term for any currency -remained at center of trade until silver became common in china as well and dropped in value -disaster for spain, empire begins to crumble 5. eurocentrism vs global history -euros dont have any goods chinese are interested in; created a deficit because euros are buying from chinese -sound like euro demand is driving system and chinese are passive producers -euro was more like middle men -euros weren't bringing new form of trade to asia, but tapping into pre-existing trade networks -china and japan had been trading long before euros 6. case study: potosi -mountain in the andes -higher than any mountain peak in US -town is at 13,000 ft -someone found silver posits by chance in 1544 -story is he was a llama herder chasing a llama, stopped to camp, made a fire, realized he produced silver in the morning, tried to keep it a secret, best friend told -1545: surface veins (boom, bust) -1570s: toledo reforms (amalgamation, labor system) -smelted silver using guayras (clay vase with charcoal at bottom, ore on top, windy location -indians could work as smelters, miners, transporters merchants -1569=bust because veins dried up -turned around in 1570s -amalgamation: new smelting process -created paste, placed in bottom of bucket with water that flushes everything except the silver away -needed mercury to heat to make silver -mercury was fueling imperialism -got mercury out of cinnabar, heat, vaporized, condensed, was transported from huancavelica to potosi -combined mercury with silver ore, mixed w/ water and salt, made paste, placed on stone patio for a month with people walking in it -wanted silver and mercury to bond -mita: new labor system -encomienda: spanish provided religion, indians provided tribute and labor -yanaconas: willing workers -***mita: inca system of temporary forced labor, modified by toledo -would pay rent to use mines -willingness of workers declined along w/ quality of silver available -that's why mita system was reworked -**mita system dictated 1/7 of men between 18-50 would have to spend a year working at potosi; assigned rotating shifts -mercury is toxic af, meaning lots of health consequences for laborers -mita had impact of changing surrounding civilizations -had to be in town to be drafted, so people would go to surrounding communities to accept draft; were treated as outsiders -changed ability to have family structures -spanish owners would get an allotment of mitaos to work in the mines, who would bribe themselves out of it -system wouldn't have worked w/out mita system -mitaos hated labor system because their names were called 2 months before, causing panic of trying to leave or trying to bribe. some families said goodbye forever, some all moved with male to potosi. had to pay rent, men and women weren't allowed to live together. mondays all the laborers would be grouped, mine owners would claim groups and send them to work. tied candles to thumbs, descended down ladders of rawhide. mandated to carry up a certain amount of ore; if failed, they were whipped, fined, and sent back down. death in mines were common -30 years after mitao, only half of workers would show up -black legend: debate between diff spanish colonials about nature of the conquest (freeing incas from awful ways of life) -debating the mita: jesuit priest manuel toledo gave terrible description of mines, but argued it was necessary for production of silver for the spanish crown -viceroy wrote to King Charles II how bad it was, argued the provinces would be destroyed and they should stop but was ignored -mercury was known at the time to be poisonous -mercury vapor was absorbed by environment, people, etc

dickinson: holocene legacy

-viable environment is necessary, and humanity isn't the sole measure of all things; so what is the place of humans? -we must understand how the environment today evolved from previous conditions 1. holocene time -pleistocene=glaciers -holocence=bye glaciers; 11.5k years ago -in P, sea levels were way lower -shaped landscapes 2. holocene humankind -all tech we reline today was developed during holocene -first postglacial period in which anatomically modern humans have existed -humans did have an impact on environment (forest clearance which caused upland erosion and stream sedimentation) -environment has been shaped by humans for awhile 3. shoreline evolution -sealevels rose and fell along with the non glacial and glacial periods -recent human modifications have reversed delta growth -shoreline is disappearing at a much faster rate 4. terrestrial surface -floral migrations 5. human influences -fire and irrigation 6. human impact -grasslands and savannas might exist because of the discovery of fire -migration of humans caused the extinction of some animals through hunting as well as destruction of habitat 7. environmental restoration -cannot recover past environments, only regenerate them as a means of restoration 8. environmental management -task for us is to acquire knowledge of environmental history needed to choose what sorts of human impacts will benefit us in the future 9. holistic history -need to get rid of disciplinary boundaries to get a full understanding of environmental history

sad stats

-we lost 80% of forests -could lose 2/3 of global species by end of the century

why and how were atlantic cod fished to near extinction?

-went from hand line to long line, should have been catching more but ended up catching less because stocks were so depleted -illusion that atlantic cod were an endless supply -no quotes or taxes for amount of fish caught -surrogate for meat on fridays for catholics

Ellis op ed

-who: author, scientist, post doctorate associate at institution for science, professor of geography and environmental system -between naturalist and eco-pragmatist; we should embrace new era, but not by going full throttle with technology; by using our scientific knowledge to protect what nature (although not untouched by humans) we have left -people argue naming this era the anthropocene is bad because it discourages those who are trying to conserve that it is too late

MacGregor: clovis spear point, bird shaped pestle, jamon pot, egyptian clay model of cattle

1. clovis spear point 11000 BC -found in arizona -made of flint, crafted to kill prey -some think clovis people were the first americans -as climate warmed, both humans and animals were able to cross to america -clovis people probably killed all the large mammals -was their restlessness caused by the human quality of hope? 2. bird-shaped pestle -found in papua new guina 6000-2000 BC -beginning of plant farming -used to grind food to make it edible -disproved theory that farming began in middle east; happened in a bunch of places at the same time -began to eat initially inedible plants to compete with other species; if they eat the easy plants, we had to use the brain power to male inedible plants edible 3. jamon pot -found in Japan 5000 BC -from era where people were still migrant, which is surprising -looks and feels like a basket in clay -jamon people made first pots -pots change diet because they allow you to boil things -inside is lined with gold leaf 4. egyptian clay model of cattle -found in egypt 3500 BC -cows were clearly important to egyptian farmers -sahara used to be lush and full of life; when it dried up humans had to turn to harding cattle rather than hunting -cows served as a blood bank and insurance policy, then a symbol of worship

polanyi selections: rise and fall of market economy

1. habitation vs improvement -enclosed land was an improvement -called revolution of the rich against the poor -argues social dislocation ruined england -market economy completely screwed over the poor -expensive machinery means a lot of goods must be produced -self-regulating system of markets 2. societies and economic systems -order in production and distribution is insured through reciprocity and redistribution -symmetry and centricity -householding 3. evolution of the market pattern -three types of trade???? -gave synopsis of market history up to industrial revolution 4. the self-regulating market and fictitious commodities: labor, land, and money -labor land and money were turned into commodities -idk what this was talking about

The Rise and Fall of Ancient Worlds Lecture

1. italian scientists argue the anthropogenic soils are the golden spikes for the anthropocene -last 2000 years of Holocene -reflects growing impact of early civilizations -terra preta (top of soil is black, lower levels are more orange) -ex. in italy, duke of milan began rice paddies which turned soil grey 2. ur standard -fine materials indicate an agricultural surplus with which to trade -powerful government 3. indus seal -suggests long-distance communication -no one can translate the writing on it -city seemed pretty well-developed *how do we understand ancient worlds? *historical knowledge *collapse 4. periodization -identification of coherent periods of history depends on prior decision about the issues and processes that are most important for the shaping of humans societies 5. interpretation -most historians disagree on all of this -"past is a foreign country; they do things different there" 6. rise and fall of the roman empire -roman republic (509-27 BCE) and roman empire (27 BCE-476 CE) -79 BC=vesuvius eruption, Pompeii was buried under ash -preserved extremely well so paints a good picture of life in ancient rome -had a great water system; water always flowing along roads, saunas for after the gym -lots of people concentrated in a small space -165-180 CE, massive epidemic wiped out population 7. roman agriculture -grains, olives, vines -follow year -olive trees take 10-15 years to bear fruit, provided stable economic base 8. **collapse -book by Jared Diamond that a lot of historians hate -reasons for the fall of rome: overgrown bureaucracy/military, invasion by barbarians, moral decadence/failure to worship gods, overextension of territory, decline of population, class struggle, drain of precious metals, lead poisoning, soil exhaustion, changing climate *decline vs collapse: declines is the slow and steady fall of an empire, a lot of different factors contributing; collapse=sudden event due to one factor ex. plague; multi causal vs unicausal

guest lecture

1. mesoamerica 2. preclassical mesoamerica -civilization of maize -surplus production -social stratification -gender division of labor 3. olmec -1400-400 BC -slash and burn -large areas -religious and/or military expansionism 4. heritage -religion -astronomy -beginnings of a written language -agricultural and food technologies -circuits of exchange -weaponry 5. the classical period 150-900 CE a. teotihuacan "metropolis of the gods) -fertile highland valleys -agricultural innovation -permanent agricultural centers to cities -priestly rulers who spoke Nahuat (ancient form of nahuatl) -water b. the classical maya -200-1200 CE -water canals -slash and burn -agricultural centers -sophisticated knowledge about arts, math, astronomy, and hieroglyphic script -700 CE overpopulation -war -copal fell 800 -tika 900 -life as peasants -book relics 6. catastrophe (80% population collapse) a. the aztec -central valley -multicultural -canals -chinampa -wars -chichimecas -secular -traders -city for the mexicas -300k -extensive system of transportation 7. ancient south americas a. the andes -coastal people -diff than mesoamerica -livestock -different legacies -hydraulic systems -no slash and burn -potato -camelids -problems with elites, el nino, wars b. puna -potato -tarwi -quinoa -coca c. harsh conditions -resources from other places -became advantages *why iberia? -wanted a new route to india, didn't wanna go through middle east 8. the columbian exchange a. disease -smallpox -measles -influenza -scarlet fever -yellow fever b. other communities far harder to conquest *the great dying: 80-95% of native americans died from disease brought by small number of europeans and animals from the columbian exchange; actual number of dead still debated; aztecs, incas, and mayans all involved; a lot of plants grew back because there were less people to burn them

Hughes: the ancient world 500 BCE-500 CE

1. periodization -how do we divide history? periods and ages don't work, should use points of changing modes of human interaction w/ environment 2. problems of scholarship -lack of dependable primary sources 3. archaeology -used to look at bones -environmental, landscape, regional 4. radiocarbon dating -based on the fact living organisms incorporate carbon into their tissues from the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere -used on mummies 5. paleoclimatology -drilling in ice cores 6. pollen analysis -palynology 7. dendrochronology -tree-ring studies -indicates effects of volcanic eruption 8. environmental factors in the decline of civilizations -removal of vegetative cover through deforestation and overgrazing, and a lot of other stuff -Diamonds 5 factors of environmental collapse: environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, friendly trade partners, society response to environmental problems -criticisms of diamond: doesn't pay enough attention to specialists on the societies he discusses, inadequate definition of collapse, doesn't mention other reasons of collapse, makes errors of fact and interpretation, and writing is too popularizing -ancient cities discussed in collapse are mesopotamia, roman empire, and easter island -mesopotamia=increasing salinity -roman empire=mistreatment of natural environment, failure to find sustainable ways to interact withe ecosystem of italy; they cut a lot of trees, had a lot of pollution -easter island=forest destruction, introduction of foreign animals and crops, population was outgrowing resources, when europeans came they brough exploitation and disease

lecture 1/28 Thinking the Anthropocene

1. picture "Image is everything" -nature=big hands, animal -culture=human pose, intelligent expression 2. modern constitution -nature=realm of physical world, physical/biological sciences, natural history (slow processes on scale of millions of years) -culture=realm of social/intellectual, social sciences/humanities, human history (series of events on the scale of years/decade/centuries) -we can't use this constitution anymore 3. Hamilton? -are we worried about humans as a species or social justice and the lives of people? -human species will likely survive, people right now is what is worrisome -we used to think nature is very robust, anthropocene is questioning that assumption -we can't say humans made their own history on the stage of nature because our stage is shaking -split of book of nature and book of scripture -split of mind and body; white males were peak evolution so instead their minds started developing further **4. *human exceptionalism -belief that humans different from other organisms -human behavior controlled by culture and free will -problems can be solved by human ingenuity and technology -anthropocentrism=humans are the central actors in the world 5. chakrabarty's three "rifts" -temporal scales -issues about issues of population and justice -think outside of anthropocentrism 6. narratives of the anthropocene (bonneuil) -attributing value to state of things at the beginning and at the end -selecting a focus and a framing that highlights some actors and phenomena while leaving others in the shadows -putting time into sequences, pinpointing certain periods, turning points, key forces and downplaying others -all this dramaturgy with implicit or explicit causal factors and implicit or explicit moral lessons **progressive narratives: storylines that demonstrate progress, optimistic (in terms of **declensionist narratives: storylines that demonstrate decline, pessimistic *linear: one-directional, follow temporal sequences of events **gradualism: slow change allows for historical analysis; everything gradually evolves which has led up to where we are now **catastrophism: rupture implies little historical continuity; rupture was responsible for disrupting continuity and where we are now **narratives of the anthropocene: naturalist, post-nature, eco-catastrophist, eco-marxist

empire of cotton 3/8

1. the fabric of our lives -money -coffee filters -gunpoweder *what does the history of cotton teach us about capitalism? *war capitalism 2. cotton and the industrial revolution -flying shuttle made weaving looms faster; allowed for making wider products -increased demand for thread -spinning jenny consisted of 8 spindles of thread, all turning at once by turning one wheel -1779; spinning mule was a hybrid between spinning jenny and water frame. could produce a finer and stronger thread -at peak of production, there were 50 million mule spinners in lincolnshire alone (epicenter of cotton production in england) -produced half of all of the worlds cotton -very eurocentric approach to history of industrial revolution 3. history of cotton -1000-1900 CE=largest manufacture -dispersed geography (multiple nodes) -household work -gender division of labor -first occurred in indus river valley -people in china used to pay taxes in cotton -interspersed with subsistence crops, low risk because no one was relying solely on one crop -in most places women did spinning -tech change was slow in this period; took month to spin pound of cotton -people were taxed on output, so people didn't make surplus -cloth was ideal medium of exchange b/c easily transportable, non perishable, and valuable -arabs first brought cotton to euro in spread of islam -italians and germans began getting raw cotton from middle east -change from a bunch of places producing cotton separately to a bunch of places producing cotton interconnectedly w/ lincolnshire at the center 4. **war capitalism -beckert's term to replace mercantile capitalism (1600-1800) -global view, trace cotton rather than capitalists -argues mercantilism doesn't do justice to the violent approach used in this time -based on slavery (not wage labor), violence and coercion (not contracts) and lan expropriation (not property rights) -explains great divergence -rather than mercantile capitalism->industrial capitalism, overall war capitalism -wage labor, contacts and property rights were rules abided by in the west, but those rules didn't apply elsewhere 5. new cotton trade patterns -indian cotton cloth (British east india company, est. 1600) -cotton purchased africans as slaves -slaves worked new world plantations -sugar, tonacco, indigo to europeans -between 1500-1800 8million africans were taken to europe as slaves

What are the four themes of the emergence of the modern world according to Marks? What is the biological old regime? The material world? How do they relate to the emergence of modern fossils?

1. the gap between wealthy and poor, how and why industrialization, emergence of nation-states, human relationship with the environment 2. biological old regime: A description of the material/natural conditions under which most people lived. These conditions were shaped by the growing population, which resulted in negative side effects such as decreased wildlife population, spread of disease, and famine. Agricultural world. Only got energy from the sun, didn't have fossil fuels. Nitrogen cycle is disrupted because all the food goes to the city, but then the poop is in the city rather than fertilizing the crops 3. the material world: see of economic/social conditions under which humans lived; trade 4. idk bro -can't think of world history starting in one place (euro), have to look at how countries interacted with each other

lecture 2/2 Who is the anthropos of the anthropocene

1. video -technology goes from big and clunky to small and refined -change in physical form (size of face) and change in behavior -McNeil is arguing climate shaped the biology of our ancestors -Mt toba explosion blocked sun for 6-10 years 2. **behaviorally modern humans -homo sapiens -50k ya -domestication, farming, fire, extinctions -symbiotic relationship with dogs 3. domestication -who domesticated home? -master breeder narrative 4. harnessing of fire 5. megafauna extinction -percentage varied by continent -debate over why this happened -most scientists believe in "overkill" hypothesis 6. sociocultural niche construction -caused by humans -fire=cultural inheritance -stone tools=material inheritance -species=ecological inheritance -we have more control over sociocultural factors than biological factors 7. **species thinking: literally acknowledging that we (humans) are a species, and the species as a whole is responsible for environmental changes' critiqued by Maln/Hornberg that only a fraction of the species is responsible -responsibility for anthropocene? or is it just the rich white dudes? -not nature, human nature 8. Maln/hornberg -who the main actors are=rich white capitalists -how is fire related=fire didn't directly cause industrial revolution, human use of fire did -is it natural=environment used to shape humans, but now humans shape environment; humans make natural impacts on the world, but its cultural and social reasons that motivate those impacts we need to discover

ellis skype

1. why did you first get involved in the anthropocene working group? -2007 published a paper on anthropogenic patterns of the world, hadn't heard of anthropocene -met with other dude working on anthropocene, who invited him to join group and he said yes -first ecologist added 2. who decides membership in the anthro group, and who is represented? -yanzo dude decides; its whoever they want although they try to get a good mix of people -there are a lot of working groups like this, but no ones ever cared about them before this -some people have turned down the invite -there are politics involved, not solely data-driven -no one disagrees the earth is changing significantly and we have to do something about it -strongest criticism comes from geologists -seeking but not getting formalization 3. does your work in china connect with your work on the anthropocene? -started off with environmental thinking as white males do, why do we do this terrible stuff to the earth -found in china they were transforming earth as much as they could -chinese have been living in anthropocene a lot longer than most people 4. when do you place the start date of the anthro? why then? -feels we aren't in the position to answer that -behaviorally modern humans is critical -there aren't good markers for it -geologists argue for simultaneous emergence across the year as necessary which he disagrees with -most geological spikes don't have time periods -sea creatures moving mix radioactive stratigraphic evidence; already a 100 year gap -doesnt have a solid answer 5. how do you respond to alt names for our age such as capitalocene? -do not consider alt names -not telling you what to think about it, but that's the name and what they're working on 6. is naming the anthro about saving the world, or saving humanity? -neither; about better outcomes -most people are unsatisfied with how things are going both environmentally and socially -earth is gonna be fine, homo sapiens are gonna be around -societies will collapse and change -we need to be a better global force 7. why did you choose the categories you did for the anthromes? what intellectual work does this term do for us? -two generations of anthromes -ran cluster analysis on data to identify different categories 8. how do you respond to someone who doesn't believe in climate change? -why 9. responding to six americas article, what issues does that raise for the awg? how do we raise awareness of the anthro in a positive way? -idk 10. what are your thoughts on the limits to growth thesis? -people are better fed, we aren't limited to growth 11. why do you advocate for conservation over preservation? -idk 12. What would the "ideal" designed ecosystem be? How do we decide what is "ideal"? -which one do you like

Marks: Origins of the Modern World

INTRO -four themes of story of modern world: industrialization, emergence of nation-states, gap between wealthy and poor, and interrelationship of the environmental context of when these other themes emerged and the ways people in turn changed the environment -past explanation has been the "rise of the west", author argues thats not sufficient -important to know history so we can make smart choices going forward -narrative will not be euro-centric 1. rise of the west -began with spanish inquisition when euros thought the reason for their easy defeat of the Incas was due to superior christian religion -euros were "rising" during 18th century above everyone else -capitalism was superior, and asian countries were "backward" because they lacked protestant work ethic so its was euros mission to civilize the rest of the world 2. the gap and its explanations -searching for why euros saw themselves as superior -they thought they were the best, japan had learned from them, and eventually everyone else will too 3. eurocentrism a. stories and historical narratives -historical contingency (not inevitable like many think), accident, and conjuncture (local things happening in different parts of the world that ended up having global impacts) 4. the elements of an environmentally grounded non-eujocentric narrative -take entire world as unit of analysis, not just specific countries -attention to china and india CHP 1 -2 major structural aspects of world in 1400: biological old regime, and trading networks 1. biological old regime -material/natural conditions under which most people lived a. the weight of numbers -there have been 3 great advances of population; currently in the third one which has yet to top out b. climate change -correlated with growing population if moving towards warmer climate c. population density and civilization -greatest dense pockets on eurasian continent -relationship between country farmers and city people consuming the surplus from those farmers d. the agricultural revolution e. towns and cities in 1400 f. nomadic pastoralists -sometimes attacked cities if food was scarce g. wildlife -more people=less wildlife -africa had more since humans grew up with animals so animals knew to keep distance h. population growth and land -fights over land, ruining ecosystems to make their home i. famine -social phenomenon since farmers had to pay taxes in the form of crops j. the nitrogen cycle and world history -limited supply of reactive nitrogen in environment limited how much farmers could grow k. epidemic disease -microparasites 2. the world and its trading system circa 1400 -8 interlinking trading zones -no central controlling force 3. the black death -passed through war, trade, travel -reasons it spread so fast in europe=black rats started chilling in peoples attics, euro pop had increased, everyone was stressed -not a natural phenomenon, a perfect storm of various socio-political factors

Beckert: empire of cotton chp 1&2

chp.1: the rise of a global commodity 1. grown in mexico, but three different continents as well -extremely durable and can adapt well to varying environments, but needs warmer temperatures -used to make clothing -1k ago was worlds largest manufacturing business -methods for making cloth were invented independently in varying parts of the world -5000 ya in india was supposedly first use of cotton as fabric -4 original species now created many different ones -farmers adapted cotton plants to fit their needs -indian people were first to manufacture cotton, known for its beauty -cotton also woven in aztec empire -first cultivated in africa by the nubians -became big in china even though it wasn't native to china; 2nd largest after india -cotton grown alongside food crops -women have monopoly on spinning -weaving lacked as many gender divisions -cotton became a medium of exchange -as demand and international trade grew, cotton production made its way out of homes and into factories -amount of control for merchants and weavers varied by country -mesoamerica first introduced tools to facilitate cotton production -euro remained pretty unimportant to the cotton business -euro began utilizing middle eastern colonies in which to grow cotton -blossomed in italy due to skilled workers, easy access to raw cotton -incorporated eastern inventions to expedite process -faced competition from germany -both eventually failed chp 2: building war capitalism -next 200 years brought major reorganization of who was producing cotton -caused by europe inserting themselves into global cotton trade by force -controlling huge territories in america allowed for growing mass supplies of cotton -columbus' arrival in america was first major change to cotton -2nd event was when euros could access products of indian weavers -euros purchased cotton from india, to trade for spices in southeast asia, and also bring to europe for domestic consumption or shipping to africa to pay for slaved -insertion of euros into asian trade resulted in asian countries being outmuscled by them and therefore dependent on them -slave trade established more euro mercantile presence in africa -euro cotton business grew slowly due to lack of raw materials; west indies helped with this issue -euro imports of cotton form india helped expand the domestic euro cotton business -selling indian cotton in england became illegal -by 18th century, while cotton manufacturing still mostly occurred in asia, most of it was controlled by europe