Environmental History

The Neanderthals failed to adapt to climate change and may have died out in as little as a thousand years. Are we making the same mistakes, asks Mike Williams.

The great Russian author drew inspiration from the countryside and explored the practical and spiritual impact of trees on people, as well as on the environment and climate, Roland Quinault writes.

James Hamilton looks at how volcanic activity in Iceland in 1783 and elsewhere elicited strange reactions, and stimulated the creative powers of artists and scientists.

The way the environment has been shaped and exploited is now a major field of historical study. A conference in London this month gathers leading experts in the field, writes Miles Taylor.

The Antarctic Treaty, signed 50 years ago, kept the cold continent out ofthe Cold War and fostered collaboration on scientific research. The world now faces a different challenge as climate change affects this vast region, writes Peter J. Beck.

The Turkish government’s plans to flood two ancient towns with the reservoirs created by two dams are being fiercely resisted – but time is rapidly running out, as Pinar Sevinclidir reports.

Jean-François Mouhot traces a link between climate change and slavery, and suggests that reliance on fossil fuels has made slave owners of us all.

Glen Jeansonne and David Luhrssen describe how the pioneer aviator Charles Lindbergh was increasingly disturbed by the tension between technology and its impact on the environment. In his later career, in the 1960s, Lindbergh became a spokesman for the embryonic environmental movement as they describe here.

Our prehistoric ancestors survived rapid climate change and rising temperatures as extreme as those we face today, says Kate Prendergast. What can they tell us about global warming?

Richard Cavendish describes the earthquake that shook San Francisco on April 18th, 1906.

Peter Ling argues that Thomas Jefferson’s ideas have had dramatic continent-wide effects on the landscape and ecology of the United States.

The week-long hurricane that struck the south of England and the English Channel on November 24th, 1703, was beyond anything in living memory.

Continuing our series on History and the Environment, Thomas Dunlap explores the development of quasi-religious environmentalism in North America.