A Temperate Empire : Making Climate Change in Early America
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| Title: | A Temperate Empire : Making Climate Change in Early America |
|---|---|
| Description: | Controversy over the role of human activity in causing climate change is pervasive in contemporary society. But, as Anya Zilberstein shows in this work, debates about the politics and science of climate are nothing new. Indeed, they began as early as the settlement of English colonists in North America, well before the age of industrialization. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, many early Americans believed that human activity and population growth were essential to moderating the harsh extremes of cold and heat in the New World. In the preindustrial British settler colonies in particular, it was believed that the right kinds of people were agents of climate warming and that this was a positive and deliberate goal of industrious activity, rather than an unintended and lamentable side effect of development. A Temperate Empire explores the ways that colonists studied and tried to remake local climates in New England and Nova Scotia according to their plans for settlement and economic growth. For colonial officials, landowners, naturalists, and other elites, the frigid, long winters and short, muggy summers were persistent sources of anxiety. These early Americans became intensely interested in reimagining and reducing their vulnerability to the climate. Linking climate to race, they assured would-be migrants that hardy Europeans were already habituated to the severe northern weather and Caribbean migrants'temperaments would be improved by it. Even more, they drew on a widespread understanding of a reciprocal relationship between a mild climate and the prosperity of empire, promoting the notion that land cultivation and the expansion of colonial farms would increasingly moderate the climate. One eighteenth-century naturalist observed that European settlement and industry had already brought about a'more temperate, uniform, and equal'climate worldwide-a forecast of a permanent, global warming that was wholeheartedly welcomed. Illuminating scientific arguments that once celebrated the impact of economic activities on environmental change, A Temperate Empire showcases an imperial, colonial, and early American history of climate change. |
| Authors: | Anya Zilberstein |
| Resource Type: | eBook. |
| Subjects: | Climatic changes--History.--North America, Climatic changes--History.--United States |
| Categories: | HISTORY / United States / Colonial Period (1600-1775), HISTORY / Canada / Pre-Confederation (to 1867), HISTORY / United States / State & Local / New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT) |
| Database: | eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) |
| FullText | Links: – Type: ebook-pdf – Type: ebook-epub Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: A Temperate Empire : Making Climate Change in Early America – Name: Abstract Label: Description Group: Ab Data: Controversy over the role of human activity in causing climate change is pervasive in contemporary society. But, as Anya Zilberstein shows in this work, debates about the politics and science of climate are nothing new. Indeed, they began as early as the settlement of English colonists in North America, well before the age of industrialization. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, many early Americans believed that human activity and population growth were essential to moderating the harsh extremes of cold and heat in the New World. In the preindustrial British settler colonies in particular, it was believed that the right kinds of people were agents of climate warming and that this was a positive and deliberate goal of industrious activity, rather than an unintended and lamentable side effect of development. A Temperate Empire explores the ways that colonists studied and tried to remake local climates in New England and Nova Scotia according to their plans for settlement and economic growth. For colonial officials, landowners, naturalists, and other elites, the frigid, long winters and short, muggy summers were persistent sources of anxiety. These early Americans became intensely interested in reimagining and reducing their vulnerability to the climate. Linking climate to race, they assured would-be migrants that hardy Europeans were already habituated to the severe northern weather and Caribbean migrants'temperaments would be improved by it. Even more, they drew on a widespread understanding of a reciprocal relationship between a mild climate and the prosperity of empire, promoting the notion that land cultivation and the expansion of colonial farms would increasingly moderate the climate. One eighteenth-century naturalist observed that European settlement and industry had already brought about a'more temperate, uniform, and equal'climate worldwide-a forecast of a permanent, global warming that was wholeheartedly welcomed. Illuminating scientific arguments that once celebrated the impact of economic activities on environmental change, A Temperate Empire showcases an imperial, colonial, and early American history of climate change. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Anya+Zilberstein%22">Anya Zilberstein</searchLink> – Name: TypePub Label: Resource Type Group: TypPub Data: eBook. – Name: Subject Label: Subjects Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Climatic+changes--History%2E--North+America%22">Climatic changes--History.--North America</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Climatic+changes--History%2E--United+States%22">Climatic changes--History.--United States</searchLink> – Name: SubjectBISAC Label: Categories Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22HISTORY+%2F+United+States+%2F+Colonial+Period+%281600-1775%29%22">HISTORY / United States / Colonial Period (1600-1775)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22HISTORY+%2F+Canada+%2F+Pre-Confederation+%28to+1867%29%22">HISTORY / Canada / Pre-Confederation (to 1867)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22HISTORY+%2F+United+States+%2F+State+%26+Local+%2F+New+England+%28CT%2C+MA%2C+ME%2C+NH%2C+RI%2C+VT%29%22">HISTORY / United States / State & Local / New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)</searchLink> |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Classifications: – Code: 304.2 Scheme: ddc Type: prePub Languages: – Code: eng Text: English Subjects: – SubjectFull: Climatic changes--History.--North America Type: general – SubjectFull: Climatic changes--History.--United States Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: A Temperate Empire : Making Climate Change in Early America Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Anya Zilberstein – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Anya Zilberstein IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 01 Type: published Y: 2016 – D: 26 M: 10 Type: profile Y: 2016 Identifiers: – Type: isbn-print Value: 9780190206598 – Type: isbn-print Value: 9780190055516 – Type: isbn-electronic Value: 9780190206604 – Type: isbn-electronic Value: 9780190206611 Titles: – TitleFull: A Temperate Empire : Making Climate Change in Early America Type: main |
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