Michael Bess

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to Enviromental History online. About 287 words from this article are provided below; about 794 words remain.

If you are a individual subscriber to Environmental History, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a subscriber to the Environmental History, you can:: • get subscription information here.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of Environmental History (8.1-present).
Instititutions can:: • get subscription information here to receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

Michael Bess | Artificialization and its Discontents | Environmental History, 10.1 | The History Cooperative

Anniversary Forum

Artificialization and its Discontents

I SEE FIVE main themes that environmental history could fruitfully explore in the coming decades—all five predicated on a single observation. The world around us, including our own bodies, is coming to be increasingly permeated by potent technologies of all shapes and sizes; this process of artificialization has been accelerating since the 1700s, and the rate of acceleration has itself increased dramatically since 1945. The changes now come with truly dizzying speed, and they feed on themselves, each innovation further ratcheting up the potential for still other innovations, in a spiral of technological proliferation that calls to mind the story of the sorcerer's apprentice. Over the next fifty years, this open-ended transformative process stands a good chance of turning our physical world, our society, our very identity upside down. Environmental historians can play a vital role in helping humankind to understand the gale-force of artifice that we have unleashed on our planet and on ourselves.

The first theme I envision has to do with survival. Thus far the social and economic changes wrought by environmentalism have made a significant dent in the world's environmental crisis: We sell ourselves short, and needlessly demoralize ourselves, if we fail to recognize that industrial civilization has come a long way indeed from the belching smokestacks and smoldering open dumps of the 1960s. But we remain far—terrifyingly far—from achieving true sustainability. One key priority for our field therefore lies in continuing the ongoing effort to comprehend how societies are mobilized for environmentally friendly transformation. What might "sustainability" actually look like, in concrete practice? How do mentalities change? Where are the best points of leverage for bringing about political and institutional reform?

. . .

There are about 794 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.