Environmental History Final Identification Questions

Amartya Sen (How He Describes Famine)

- Starvation is the characteristic of some people not having enough food to eat. It is not the characteristic of there being not enough food to eat. While the latter can be a cause of the former, it is but one of many possible causes. - The cause of famines is political. Global food security in an interconnected world. - A lack of consensus over the definition of famine has delayed interventions and the distribution of resources during a crisis. - He is an Indian economist. - Sen argues that famine is not simply a result of a lack of food, but rather a failure of the distribution of food and resources within a society. He suggests that famine is often the result of a complex set of social, economic, and political factors that prevent people from accessing the food and resources they need to survive. - This was demonstrated in British India.

Carbon Democracy

- Carbon energy and modern democratic politics are fundamentally tied together. - The extraction of coal would be stopped after the extraction of oil. - The price of oil determines the limits of democracies. - Any government that has an enormous amount of oil resources can do anything and the world will not intervene. - Imperial corporations keep political figures in power until these powers go beyond their control. Example U.S. keeping in tyrants in the Middle East? Operation Ajax 1953? Iran. - It is a term used to describe the relationship between energy, particularly fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas, and political power. - The reliance on fossil fuels has also created new forms of power and domination, as governments and corporations have sought to control and manipulate energy resources for their own interests. In some cases, this has led to the suppression of democratic movements, the exploitation of marginalized communities, and environmental degradation. - Carbon-based energy sources, such as oil and coal, have played a significant role in shaping the political and economic structures of modern societies. These energy sources have allowed for the development of industrial capitalism and have provided the basis for the growth of modern nation-states. - Carbon-based energy sources have also led to significant political and social inequalities. The control over these resources has often been concentrated in the hands of a small elite, who have used their power to dominate political systems and undermine democratic institutions. - Proposed by Timothy Mitchel that carbon energy and democracy are fundamentally tied together. Oil prices determine democratic limits.

Rachel Carson

- Carson called on the state to reform pesticide use policies. - Rachel Carson is the author of the book, "the Silent Spring." - She recognized that the government was contributing to the pesticide problem. The government promoted the use of DDT and other dangerous pesticides. They implemented large-scale pesticide campaigns without considering the negative effects. - People trusted the state and believed that its pesticide campaigns were best for them. - The state was a trustable institution in the eyes of the public. - If the state promoted a campaign, then it was seen as a good thing by the ordinary people. People saw DDT and pesticide use as a good and safe thing because the state promoted it. - What makes Carson distinct from other environmentalists is that she thinks it is the Government's responsibility to decide the number of pesticides, and control the composition of pesticides, and control the application of pesticides. She is calling for the state to be responsible for its citizens. - Carson argues that the use of pesticides should be regulated because she believed the consequences of pesticide use negatively affect the environment in both the present and the future and affects people's health. - Capitalism and corporations had the desire to make profits by selling dangerous chemicals. Carson argued that these corporations could not be trusted and they needed to be regulated by the authorities of the central government. - Carson thought that corporations and the institution of capitalism had no limit and were determined to make a profit rather than benefit human society. - Carson called for the role of state regulation for our benefits and the benefits of the future.

Pesticides

- Chlorinated hydrocarbon and organic phosphate pesticides have been shown to induce negative health effects on humans and the environment. Pesticides including DDT, Chlordane, and Aldrin can cause liver damage if large quantities of these chemicals accumulate in the body. Organic phosphates like Aldrin, Endrin, and Dieldrin have the ability to damage the nervous system and potentially inflict seizures upon people. Additionally, pesticides can be passed up the food chain from the plants that were sprayed with insecticide to people and other organisms that consume the products of such plants. Chlorinated-hydrocarbon pesticides have a strong influence over the food chain because they don't degrade as fast and their residues last longer than other pesticides on plants. Due to the use of pesticides in the 1960s, many food products including milk and produce were at risk of being contaminated with unhealthy levels of pesticide residues. As described in the first chapter of "The Silent Spring," the use of dangerous pesticides can be determinantal to plant and animal life. Birds, fish, bees, livestock, flowering plants, and crops were all shown to have suffered as a result of pestilence use. The first chapter was a demonstration of what could happen and was supported by scientific research in later chapters. - Pesticides were greatly promoted by the U.S. government in the 1950s and 1960s. - Pesticides were determinantal to both animal and plant life. Often pesticides hurt organisms that weren't the target of the pesticide. - Eagles are an example of animals that were hurt by pesticides, specifically DDT. - Man has acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world. - The most alarming of all man's assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials. - Chemicals are the main environmental pollutants. - The rapidity of change and the speed with which new situations are created follow the pace of man, and now there is much more man-made, unnatural, radiation than ever before. Synthetic chemicals are polluting the Earth. For nature to adjust to these chemicals would take many years. - Humans have created pesticides aimed at killing a few insects which in turn have killed a lot of vegetation and animals in nature. These pesticides have devastated the environment.

Drought

- Droughts are a consistent period of decline in precipitation in any interval of time. - Droughts are a deficiency of precipitation over an extended period of time, resulting in a water shortage. - The longer a drought occurs, the worse effects they have. - There are different types of droughts. - Meteorological droughts are a decrease in precipitation. - Hydrological Droughts are a decrease in the water supply. - Agricultural droughts are any lack of precipitation that negatively affect agricultural yield. Agricultural droughts happen at certain times, and the timing is important, agricultural droughts often prevent the germination of planted plants. - Socioeconomic Droughts and Ecological Droughts are related to the deficiencies caused by droughts. - Droughts are events that cause a series of immediate, short-term, and long-term consequences. - A crisis does not need to occur for a long time to cause negative implications. - Droughts caused crop failure, which doesn't cause an immediate famine, but it causes a rise in food and fodder prices. Droughts dry up pastures which causes a loss of livestock. Following the decrease in crop and livestock yields, farmers and peasants abandon their farmlands and pastoralist will abandon their pasture land. People will migrate towards urban centers. Cities usually manage and prioritize supplying urban centers during a crisis. - Famine is a man-made factor. - Famine is not an environmental event. Famine is a political and economic event, not a natural one. - In times of drought, farmers will abandon their homes and become rural nomads. - Droughts during the ENSO in the 19th century in South Asia caused famines which lead to the Victorian Holocaust (Indian famines in the 1870s and 1890s), the Great Famine (1876-1879) in China, and famine in the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. The Great Drought: - Occurred from 1591-1593. - The Ottoman started in a region in western Turkey around 1300.- By the mid-1500s, the Ottoman empire stretched from Wien Hungary, to Medina/Baghdad, and to Algiers in Morocco. - The waves of drought that occurred during 1591-93 happened when the Ottomans had huge military campaigns that were aimed at expanding the empire. The Ottoman Empire relied on a huge amount of manpower, who required food. The Ottoman Empire collected taxes to support the army. - The Middle East did not have many freshwater sources and did not have many irrigation systems. The farming in the region relied on rainwater farming. Because the army was very large, there was a need for the mass production of grain and sheep (meat); when this drought happened, the army could not be well supported. - Celali Uprising - A series of peasant uprisings that occurred in much of Anatolia, Iraq, and Syria. -The Little Ice Age did not affect the parts of the Ottoman Empire in the same ways. The consequences of these impacts and the response to the little ice age were different all around the empire.

Amazon Geoglyphs

- Geometrical earthworks found in the Amazon rainforest- Amazon Geoglyphs were purposefully designed and man-made. - Deforestation in the present day, developments in scientific tools, and satellite surveys revealed many of the Amazon Geoglyphs in South America. - Amazon Geoglyphs were created for irrigation and agriculture purposes. Human-made irrigation canals. Used for agriculture. Caused increased agricultural productivity. - The construction of Amazon Geoglyphs demonstrates land management and human organization. - Native Americans used fish scraps and decomposing vegetation to make the soil in the Amazon Geoglyphs sites more fertile.

Gezi Park Movement

- Gezi Movement: Started in May 2013 in Turkey. There is a little park in Istanbul, the Turkish government decided to destroy the park. The park is the only remaining greenspace in the city, a shopping mall was going to be built over the park. - In the beginning, a few environmentalists set up tents in the parks and refused the park be destroyed. The police were violent, they burnt the environmentalist tents at the park. - The news coverage of the Gezi protest was very limited, the Turkish government limited the news reports on the uprising. News in Turkey was showing a penguin documentary instead of showing the protest. - The Gezi movement shows people's ability to organize and push back against the state. - In this protest, more than 100,000 people, from all different backgrounds, fought against the state and local police to protect their environment, in this case, the last of the greenspace in downtown Istanbul. - The protests were sparked by a plan to replace the park with a shopping mall. - The protests highlighted concerns about the environmental impact of large-scale development projects in Turkey. - The protests led to a greater awareness of environmental issues among the Turkish public.

Grading of the Identification Questions

- Identification: What is it, and how did it allow humans to change the environment? Why is it important? What did we discuss about it in the class and readings? Geographical and temporal context. Examples from reading and lectures.

Inka Empire

- In 1491 the Inka empire was one of the largest empires of its time. - The Inka Empire had a centralized bureaucracy. - The Inka empire the land along the pacific ocean of South America. - The Inca Empire was situated next to the Pacific Ocean and the Andes mountains. There was an extreme rain shadow effect, making areas east of the Andes extremely arid. - The Inca Empire was a vertical archipelago, which means a very diverse range of ecological niches in the empire forced the powers to redistribute goods across the empire depending on environments. - The Inca empire had to manage and distribute goods based on the different regions' ecological niches. - The Inca Empire state was very involved in the management of goods. - The Inca empire built the Qhapaqnan, the royal highway, to connect different parts of their empire. - All the roads that made up this royal highway led to their capital Cusco. - The royal highway was 23,000-40,000 kilometers long. - The roads were maintained by the empire and it was used to buy loyalty from other native South Americans. - The Inca empire had not developed the wheel, and besides llamas, there were no domesticated animals good for transportation. - The construction of the royal highway and the transportation of goods along the highway were all powered by manpower and muscle.

Sykes-Picot Agreement

- Mark Sykes, was a British military major. He was sent to the Middle East to do geographic surveys on the eve of WW1. - Francois Georges-Picot was a military officer, French, who was sent to survey the Middle East on the eve of WW1. - Sykes-Picot agreement, 1916. Greatly changed the country boundaries and borders in the Middle East. These borders ignored the history of coexistence in the Middle East. - These two men met and decided to spilt the middle east between the French and the British. - They made an agreement about which part of the Middle East was under French or British management. They split the Middle East based on oil resources. - Railway construction was limited. - During WW1 Mike Sykes and Georges-Picot signed a secret agreement in 1916. This agreement separated the Ottoman Empire between France and England. - After WW1 broke out, British and French attention towards the Middle East increased because this area had a lot of accessible oil. - Was signed during an oil struggle, and the two major beneficiaries of this agreement were Great Britain and France. -The maps and borders of Middle Eastern nations are the results of the Sykes-Picot Agreement. - The borders drawn by the Sykes-Picot agreement ignored all cultural and ethnic backgrounds of the Middle East and as a result of the agreement, many nations in the Middle East are in conflict partially due to the artificial borders drawn. - The agreement allowed Great Britain and France to obtain low-cost oil which further fueled the industrialization in these nations.

The Little Ice Age

- Occurred from 1300-1850. - The most common argument for the cause of the little ice age is that volcanic eruptions during 1253-1816 caused the cooling felt in the little ice age. These volcanic eruptions occurred along the ring of fire. - The magnitude of these eruptions was large, they occurred around the world. - There was a major volcanic eruption that occurred in 1258 in Indonesia and in 1275 in Ecuador. - A lot of sulphate aerosol was emitted into the atmosphere during the end of the 1200s. - Many eruptions occurred around the world. The first wave of eruptions occurred in the mid-1200s, then a second wave in the mid-1400s, and then the third wave in the late-1700s to early-1800s. -These volcanic eruptions released a lot of sulfate particles that reflect about 1% of sunlight. The massive release of sulfate particles caused the world to cool. - The cooling of the Earth had various, economic, environmental, demographic, and cultural consequences of the little ice age. - (Climate as a direct linkage/Earth's climate) + (Variations of weather/annual variations) = Impact on crops, food, and demography. - Abnormal season cycles during the Little Ice Age led to European food shortages which eventually caused the Great Famine of 1315-1317. - Extreme rains and floods in 1596 in Western Sweden ruined harvests and pastures and this led to widespread famine in the area. - A Volcano eruption of Tambora in Indonesia in 1815 caused cool and wet summers, this eruption led to The Year without Summer. - There is no uniformity in the magnitude and implications of the Little Ice Age around the world. Some places were more affected and experienced colder temperatures than others. The Dutch Republic Empire experienced a golden age in ship voyages during this time, whereas the Ottoman Empire experienced a great peasantry revolt. - The Little Ice Age also drove the Manchurian conquest of China in 1644. - 1816-1817- the year without summer. - There are strong ties between the long-term environmental crisis and the short-term cultural, economic, and climatic crises. - The Abnormal season cycle during the little ice age led to European food shortages, which ultimately caused the Great Famine of (1315-17). - There were extreme rains and floods in 1596 Western Sweden (during the little ice age), these rains and floods ruined harvests and pastures and caused widespread famine. - The Little Ice Age had three major cold waves. The first was the Grindelwald fluctuation of the 17th century. The second was the Maunder Minimum of the 17th century, and the third was the Dalton Minimum of the 19th century. - The Little Ice Age led to the Ottoman Mortality crisis of 1580-1610. - The Ottoman Mortality crisis was caused by the Great Drought, which occurred from 1591 to 1593. - The Little Ice Age climatic events caused the death of livestock, harvest failure, and deaths from cold and related illnesses. - The Harvest failure and death of livestock caused by the Little Ice Age climatic events caused peasants to abandon their land and led to famine and malnutrition. These two things led to a drop in fertility, deaths by starvation, death by infections, and death by cold related diseases.

Qullqa

- Qullqa were granaries, armories, and storehouses that were built along the Inca royal highway. - They were used to store grain, like maize, goods, and tools. -Qullqa were managed by the Inca Empire. -They were built in strategic areas. - Qullqa needed to be managed by the Inca state regularly. - They were used in emergencies like famine. - Some were located on the primary roads of the highway, while others were located on secondary roads. - They were built in the pre-1491 era in the Inca Empire.

Sunrise Movement

- Sunrise Movement: The marches took place in 2021. The movement was founded in 2017. A diverse group of people came together. These groups were trying to convince government officials to push the Green New Deal. - Similar to Silent Spring, this movement shows that political figures and the state are central to making important environmental change. - The State has the power to make decisions for the better or worse of the environment. - The state has the ability, due to its huge finical capacity, to change the environment for the better. - People participating the in the Sunrise Movement wanted to make a difference that lasted. - They are using marching as a political strategy to create a wider audience to support their desires, they want to pass the Green Deal and get more attention from the media about their movement.

Ecological Imperialism

- Term coined by Alfred Crosby. - It is the introduction of biological and ecological factors, such as pathogens and animals, and the ways in which this grated to the Europeans' advantages that greatly aided in their conquering of the (Native) Americans. The Europeans who arrived were superior and civilized, and that's how they would explain their success in conquering the Americas. - It is the contribution of European biological species such as animals, plants, and pathogens in the success of European colonists. - Ecological Imperialism implies that European settlers were successful in colonization due to their introduction of animals, plants, and diseases to the new territories. - Millions of Native Americans died off from European diseases. - Humans in the Old World had developed immunity due to domesticating many animals and so they had been in contact with diseases that they spread to the Old World for many years. - What is Ecological Imperialism: Goods, Crops, Diseases carried on by Europeans to the Americas - Pigs, horses, sheep, and cattle were the major animals brought by Europeans and taken care of by them. - The spreading and biological exchange of things across the "New," and "Old" world was similar to the spreading of new crops and agricultural technologies seen during the Islamic Green Revolution. - The Lands of Demographic Takeover are nations that Europeans conquered and triumphed demographically in; including North America, Argentina, Uruguay, Australia, Nigeria, Peru, and New Zealand. - European demographic takeover did not occur in the tropics in Africa or the Americas because of fever, disease, and Native American factors. Furthermore, in these regions, European agricultural techniques, crops, and animals did not prosper. - In the cooler lands, the colonies of the Demographic Takeover, Europeans achieved very rapid population growth by means of immigration, by increased life span, and by maintaining very high birthrates. - Four categories of organisms are deeply involved in European expansion: 1. Human beings; 2. Animals that are closely associated with human beings; 3. Pathogens or microorganisms that cause disease in humans; and 4. Weeds. - The flow of human migration was almost entirely from Europe to her colonies and not vice versa. - significance - In the Lands of Demographic Takeover, the European pioneers were accompanied and often preceded by their domesticated animals, and these animals often adapted more rapidly to the new surroundings and reproduced much more rapidly than their masters. Honeybees were also brought with Europeans from the Old World to their new colonies. Honeybees spread quite rapidly in the new colonies. Horses spread through the Americas. - Few animals from the Lands of the Demographic Takeover were sent back to Europe. Europeans, who controlled the passage of large animals across the oceans, had no need to reverse the process. This exchange was just as one-sided for varmints. Rats and rabbits spread in the areas that Europeans colonized, where they often accumulated in large numbers. - Whenever and wherever Europeans crossed the oceans and settled, the pathogens they carried created prodigious epidemics of smallpox, measles, tuberculosis, influenza, and a number of other diseases. - In the Lands of the Demographic Takeover, the Aboriginal populations were too sparse to rebound from the onslaught of disease or were inundated by European immigrants before they could recover. - Many of the most successful weeds in the well-watered regions of the Lands of the Demographic Takeover are of European or Eurasian origin. - European weeds rolled west with the pioneers, in some cases spreading almost explosively. - European and Old-World human beings, domesticated animals, varmints, pathogens, and weeds all accomplished demographic takeovers of their own in the temperate, well-watered regions of North and South America, Australia, and New Zealand.

Terra Preta

- Terra Preta is a combination of low-fertility soil with bone, pottery, manure, compost, and a high-carbon charcoal called biochar. The resulting soil is incredibly fertile. - Terra Preta techniques were used to make more fertile, dark soil, from the fairly infertile soils in parts of south America. - Native Americans used fish scraps and decomposing vegetation to enrich the soil. - The soil in the Amazon rainforest is the poorest and most infertile in the world.

Silent Spring

- The Book was published in 1962. - Relationship between state and society. - Role of state in the decision maker. - The first chapter was a demonstration of what could happen and was supported by scientific research in later chapters. - The book, "the Silent Spring," played a major role in changing the public's opinion of pesticide use. - The book also inspired grassroots movements and political figures like JFK to protest and urge the ceasing of excessive pesticide use. - The main argument of the book "The Silent Spring," is that the use of pesticides should be better regulated. In her book, Rachel Caron expresses her concerns about the dangers of pesticides including DDT, Aldrin, Dieldrin, Endrin, Malathion, Chlordane, and Parathion. She argues that the use of these chlorinated hydrocarbons and organic-phosphate pesticides can have detrimental effects on human, animal, and plant health. Rachel Carson believed that people should have the right to determine whether they want to be exposed to these dangerous chemicals. The book informed the general public of the dangers of pesticides, and, as a result, inspired environmental movement and influenced political figures (including JFK) to change policies implementing the use of dangerous pesticides. The book, "The Silent Spring," also argued that the impacts of insects were often over-exaggerated to promote the extensive use of pesticides. Rachel Carson argued that this promotion of dangerous pesticides disrupted the healthy balance between nature and humanity. Carson promoted the idea that humans were discharging new, and often un-tested, pesticides onto the environment at an unprecedented rate.

The Great Dying

- The Great Dying; 1492-1780 - Disease and religious conversion were the two biggest killers to Native Americans - 1492: Mesoamerican population est. 25 million; Peru, 5 million (Andes total, 6-30m). - By 1650 in Mesoamerican only 1.5 million; in 1780s in Peru only 300,000 - Between 1520 and 1600, 14 major. Epidemics in Mesoamerica; 17 major Epidemics in Andes. - In 1492, the interconnected Mississippian area was home to more than 2 million Native people. - In 1700, European migrants were about 250,000. - The 'Great Dying' was triggered by the arrival of Europeans and the introduction of new pathogens to the continent. -

Vertical Archipelagoes

- The Inca Empire was a vertical archipelago, which means a very diverse range of ecological niches in the empire forced the powers to redistribute goods across the empire depending on environments. - Vertical Archipelagoes describe the Inca empire, which occupied a diverse range of ecological biomes. - Model of distributing goods across the Inca Empire.

Cocolizitli

- The conquistadors' secret weapon: "virgin soil" epidemics: contact with a population with no immunities Argue that Europeans weaponized their diseases to conquer more land Horses carried the diseases - "Cocoliztli": a disease caused by hemorrhagic fever Lasts 3-5 days (kills) High fever, vertigo, severe headache, insatiable thirst, red eyes, weak pulse Restless and anxious patients Hard painful nodules behind the ears or the entire neck Intense chest pain Dysentery ← gross. Like really gross Eventually bleeding from mucus or GI tract - Who were the transmitters?: Ruttens were the host of the disease and when folks arrived it spread very quickly - Europeans took advantage of rivalries and conflicts in areas they went to and gained Native American followers with false promises. - Smallpox, measles, mumps, and cocoliztli killed millions between 1520-1600 in Mexico - First victims; Young die off - In an agrarian society this means no food production - Famine and other diseases follow - Years later survivors develop immunity - Cocoliztli is an important historical event because it had a significant impact on the demographic and cultural landscape of Mexico, South America, and Central America.

The Great Famine in China

- The great famine in China, 1876-1879, killed millions of people in North East provinces of China due to starvation. - The famine was caused by interruptions in the monsoon season during the 19th century due to El Nino conditions. These interruptions in the monsoon season led to droughts. - Cannibalism became a phenomenon during the famine in China. - The book "Tears from Iron," describes how Chinese people during the Great Chinese Famine of 1876-1879 would catch rats, birds, and in some cases ate each other. - Chinese state attempted to relieve the pressure of the famine by setting of soup kitchens and moved grain to famine stricken areas.

Petro States

- The petrol state refers to any country that has rich oil resources, but the distribution of wealth from these oil resources is not equal. The top 1% is very rich and buys the rights of the rest 99%. -Petrol States are authoritarian states. - Oil brought a great amount of transformation and development to petrol states. - Saudi Arabia and Qatar are two examples of nations that experienced a great amount of urbanization following the demand for oil. - Most people in Petro States still live in poverty. - By extracting oil, the oil money in Petrol nations allowed nations to urbanize. CO2 is released in excessive amounts due to oil extraction in Petrol nations. - These states also supply much of the world with the oil resources they demand. As a result, they are fueling the further fossil fuel use in many other nations.

Fossil Fuel Societies

- This is a term that describes how societies, starting with England during its industrial revolution in the latter half of the 18th century, switched to fossil fuel energy energy regimes. - There were two major regimes; The Age of Solar Energy (....(long time age)..... to 1800 CE), and The Age of Fossil Fuels (1800 to present). - The industrial revolution was a major event in which the main source of energy changed from being based on manpower to being based on fossil fuels. - The age of solar energy was the time when energy came from renewable energy sources like muscle power. - The age of fossil fuels is the time when the main energy source is non-renewable. - The Age of Coal (the 1730s-1914). - Other societies had used coal prior to the Industrial Revolution. However, during the Industrial Revolution, more coal was used than ever before, and for the first-time coal combustion was used to power machines, specifically the steam engine. - The Age of Petroleum and Natural Gas (1880-present). - Coal could burn longer than wood. - Coal has a higher energy density. - The quantity and quality of coal were much better than wood. - It is much easier to move more energy in the form of coal as opposed to in the form of wood. - When mining coal, more workers are going to be in the same central area. - Coal produces more CO2 emissions. - The London fog is a phenomenon that became common following the industrial revolution due to the increased CO2 emissions following the burning of coal. - With the building/implementation of electricity in 1882, coal use increased. Coal was used as the main source of energy to power electricity at the end of the 18th and early 19th centuries. - Nations with early access to coal experienced the largest amount of economic growth. - Cotton was the main raw material that would fuel England's industrial revolution. Cotton was used in many industries in England during this time. - Cotton demand grew following the industrial revolution. - Coal was used for steam technologies that supported large-scale mass production of goods. - The transition to coal and fossil fuels caused a great increase in manufacturing production in much of Western Europe and in the United States. However, some nations, like India, experienced a decrease in manufacturing production. - The Steam engine was used to create more efficient means of transportation, examples include the railway and ship vessels. - The improvement in transportation greatly improved the speed and efficiency of global trade. - The steam locomotive age; as the steam engine improved, ship vessels became larger and were able to hold more and more people. There was a shift from the steam engine being used as a secondary source of power to being the primary source of power in ships. - Ships went from being reliant on wind power to water and wind power, to wind-water-steam power, to being fully powered by fossil fuels. - The improved transportation caused by the implementation of steam power and fossil fuels caused an interconnectedness between different regions around the world; it caused improved spreading of news, etc. - The coal that was extracted in England was used mainly in steam power technology. This was used in maritime and transportation technologies (locomotive sectors), and in factories. England then was the place that succeeded in industrial manufacturing.

The Oil Curse

- This poses the question of why nations with a lot of oil resources have weak democracies. - European Union supports the Warlords in North Africa and the Middle East because they're oil-rich nations. - Oil prices plus oil production rates have a lot of influence over world conflicts and violence. - No one stood up to Saudi Arabia when they killed an American Washington Post Journalist because Saudi Arabia has so much control over oil. -Countries that are rich in petroleum have less democracy, less economic stability, and more frequent civil wars than countries without oil. - Hand and hand with Petro states. - Economic dependence on oil exports, which can lead to instability in the economy due to fluctuations in global oil prices. Corruption, as politicians and business elites seek to control and profit from the lucrative oil industry. Inequality, as the benefits of oil wealth, are often concentrated in the hands of a small elite, while the majority of the population may see little to no benefit. Political instability, as authoritarian leaders use oil wealth to maintain power, often at the expense of democratic institutions and human rights. Environmental degradation, such as oil extraction and production, can have significant negative impacts on the environment and public health. The term "oil curse" was coined to describe the paradoxical situation where countries with abundant natural resources such as oil, which should theoretically bring prosperity and development, often experience significant negative consequences instead. - Reflected by the instability seen in the Middle Eastern States today.

1491

-1491 was the last year of the preconquest era of the Americas. - 1491 was the year before Christopher Columbus first landed in the Americas. - In 1491 there existed many diverse communities, economies, agriculture, classes, and distinct population densities in the Americas. - Native Americans a this time had a very diverse diet, which allowed there populations to be physically fit and have strong immune systems. - There were extensive trading routes present. Native Americans had very high populations. - The Native Americans were densely populated more than sparsely populated. - The Native Americans lived in densely populated cities, had good agriculture technology, had established good security and military forces, and have developed extensive irrigation systems.

Environmental Justice

-Environmental justice entails all communities have equal environmental protection and enforcement. - It calls for equal protection, equal accesses, and equal enforcement. - The father of environmental justice was Robert Bullard. - Environmental justice also means having accesses to the decisions being made, and that no one group should be in charge of making decisions for other people. - People have the right to live in clean neighborhoods. - Environmental justice is also related to having the ability to make an environmental decision, and for voices to be heard, and is a matter of equality. - In Houston, landfills, incinerators, and waste management plants were usually found in suburban Black neighborhoods. - Climate change will exacerbate the inequalities that exist today. - The areas that got hit hardest by Hurricane Harvey were historically more vulnerable to environmental floods and disasters, these areas had more Black and Latino populations. Differing wealth levels are splitting people and causing inequity. Housing and pollution are segregated. Families of color are exposed to more pollution. Middle-income black communities were worse off than low-income white families. - Climate change and environmental justice are very interrelated. - After WW2 65 million cars were in the U.S. - There was major traffic in the twin cities. The creation I-94 was the answer to solving this congestion. - These highways were created partially as a military defense highways to help with the movement of the military across the country. - The creation of this interstate divided a black neighborhood. It destroyed the Rondo neighborhood. - Split the neighborhood of Prospect Park. - Those who were going to be impacted by the decisions of making the highway were not accounted for. African Americans were ignored. There was environmental racism. - The neighborhoods of Prospect Park were not as impacted by the creation of the highway because people in those neighborhoods had connections with the state - It is important to organize the public and push against the state when necessary. Prospect Park came together as a community and pushed against the construction of the I-94. - Policymakers are concerned with what part of the community is most important (i.e. those who make them the most money) and they will base policy on it accordingly. - Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.

Imperial Ecology of the Ottoman Empire

-The Ottoman Empire had different environmental conditions. Some regions produced more grain than others, some manufactured more than others, etc. The Ottoman Empire developed a system called provisionism. - The Ottoman Empire was in charge of mobilizing and supplying the population with resources. They transferred resources from rural areas to support their urban economic spaces.- Ottoman empire managed the flow of grain and sheep (meat) to areas of their empire. - Provisionism: The state obliged itself to supply goods and resources across the empire. The main determinant is not the market economy it is the state. The state would supply goods to regions when they needed them. It was a way to stop political disorders. If the regions got what they needed, then there would be less risk of an uprising. To accomplish this distribution, the Ottoman empire mobilized resources and helped transfer resources from the rural area to urban spaces. A different form of economy. Urban spaces are really important to the Ottoman empire; urban spaces are the center of economic activity and are important for law and order. It was important for the Ottoman empire to supply goods to these urban spaces. The state obliged itself to supply its citizens with high-quality and cheap goods. The decision maker is not supply and demand. Prevent the large-scale development of capitalism.

Dutch Sailing Car

-To adjust to new weather patterns, the Dutch developed such inventions as the "sailing car" or "land yacht," which used wind power to haul people and goods along beaches. - They invented this sailing car during the little ice age. - During the little ice age, the Dutch State had a golden age in sailing. - The Dutch Sailing Car is an example of how people can adapt to their environment and use it to benefit themselves. - The Dutch were able to benefit off the conditions of the Little Ice Age while other areas, like in the Ottoman Empire and in China, experienced much worse and unfavorable conditions of 1330-1850. - This Dutch golden age occurred from around 160-1720. - The Dutch Sailing Car shows peoples resilience to and ability to adapt to their environment. - The Dutch people saw an opportunity to utilize the strong winds during the climatic anomalies of the Little Ice Age. -https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/some-places-flourished-in-the-little-ice-age-there-are-lessons-for-us-now/2018/02/16/455fb2d8-0c25-11e8-8b0d-891602206fb7_story.html