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Book Review
| Understanding the Environment: Bridging the Disciplinary Divides. Edited by R. Quentin Grafton, Libby Robin, and Robert J. Wasson. Sydney, Australia: University of New South Wales, 2004. 220 pp. Paper $39.95.
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| This collection of essays is unique (to the best of my knowledge) in at least one respect. Every author, in the year of publication, was a member of the same institution, namely, the Australian National University's National Institute for Environment (with many working together at the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies—the Southern Hemisphere's biggest and oldest interdisciplinary environmental research center). This contributor cohesiveness bodes well and, by the standards of edited collections, this one is certainly tightly focused and organized (with a wealth of cross-referencing). Each author was given a common set of issues to address—including the fundamental features of their disciplines. So, in addition to finding out about the distinctive contributions to environmental understanding of anthropology, ecology, economics, environmental earth science, geography, history, human health, hydrology and engineering, mathematics and statistical sciences, and public policy, we learn about things like the history of environmental health studies and the origins of geology. |
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The chapter from which environmental historians obviously will learn the least is Libby Robin's and Daniel Connell's "History and the Environment." That nearly half this essay is a basic introduction to the historian's craft simply underlines that this book is for everyone. Three brief case studies illustrate the range of issues that environmental historians tackle and the questions they ask (Chicago's ecological footprint, India's "subaltern" experience, and Australia's Murray-Darling river basin). If you are an environmental historian, skip this chapter and immerse yourself in the material on the evolution of hydrology instead (meanwhile, the hydrologist is likely to be finding out "what is history?"). Next, historians might wish to dip into the chapter on mathematical and statistical sciences to examine the models for charting population growth and predator-prey relations. If this happens, the editors will be happy. |
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This collection's objective is weighty: to enhance mutual understanding among those who do environmental research for the sake of producing better solutions to problems. Yet nothing else is heavy. Essays are broken into easily digestible sections suitable for undergraduates and seasoned academics curious to learn more about disciplines far removed from their own but sharing an interest in the environment. Only half of the essays carry endnotes and there are just thirty-five in total. |
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Every reader will spot a favorite disciplinary omission. The editors are fully aware that the absence of chapters on political theory, law, philosophy, genetics, and chemistry will raise some eyebrows, but defend themselves by reiterating that their purpose is to forge links, not to achieve inclusivity (p. 188). Understanding the Environment will open the eyes of environmental historians to the potential contributions of other disciplines to their enterprise. It may also alert them to possibilities for collaboration with colleagues lurking elsewhere in their universities and colleges. |
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Peter Coates teaches in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Bristol, UK. He is currently writing a short "total" history of the salmon. |
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