The essay sheds light on the implications of Chernobyl as a national site of memory in Germany, France, and Belarus. The comparative perspective reveals the importance of underlying structures such as national (nuclear) politics, elite and expert culture, environmentalism, and the role of individual agency.
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This essay reflects on an incident in 1995, when 300 snow geese died in the flooded Berkeley Pit, a toxic open pit copper mine in the northwestern United States. In his analysis the author draws on new materialist theoretical approaches that reject anthropocentric thinking and instead emphasize the powerful materiality of cultural phenomena.
This essay discusses methodological difficulties of the established concept of social memory for the analysis of energo-political discourse. It examines the case study of the German-Russian energy cooperation on the natural gas market which began with the discovery of the Urengoi gas field in 1966.
This essay traces the history of the nuclear risk discourse and policy in West Germany from the first use of the term GAU in the 1960s to the present. A close examination of the term reveals that it is in fact ambiguous, oscillating between support of nuclear energy and criticism of it.
This article reflects on the Knechtsand, a sandbank in the estuary of the Weser, that served as a bombing range for the British and American air forces stationed in England in 1952. It examines the locals’ protests historically and uncovers strands of tradition that are hugely significant for our understanding of the Wadden Sea and the expanding conservation regime.
The purpose of this article is to assess recent trends in Russian environmental history over the last five years. The author broadly traces its emergence from the foundation of the field in the 1970s and 1980s.
Following the establishment of the world’s first national park at Yellowstone (USA) in 1872, the concept was rapidly transferred to Australia, New Zealand and Canada. This article examines this second wave of adoption—and adaption—focussing on five case studies from Australia and New Zealand.
This article examines the development of North American environmental history as a field on the edges of the historical profession to an increasing application of environmental history to the central events of mainstream North American history.
Using the Central Coast of California as a case study, this article argues that a nexus of ambitious growers and a growing state agricultural bureaucracy worked to create a “brand name” and teach cultivation approaches with increased production and expanded markets. But these same actors also made efforts to keep the long-term health of the industry and the community in mind.
This historiographical essay outlines and discusses major trends within European environmental history by highlighting recent discussions and future possibilities regarding collaboration across national borders and contexts, and ultimately arguing for more transnational cooperation within the field of environmental history.