The Silent COUNTDOWN

There is a growing need for cooperation between disciplines, not only to deal with the burning problems of the present, but to study the interaction of societies and their ecosystems in the past. In the 1970s studies in Environmental History were largely confined to North America. Recent years have brought about a vast increase in the "amount, the quality and the scope of scholarship on historical interactions between human (social and economic) de­ velopment and the biosphere in Europe, both East and West. This broad interest in environmental history may have been heightened and sharpened by the dangers of unbridled technology and unlimited growth, which are becoming more and more manifest. However, for several reasons it is still difficult to become familiar with the different approaches to this new and interdisciplinary of study. Many fields of thought - biology, anthropology, field geography, sociology and history - are involved; the relevant books and articles are hard to find and a coherent theoretical framework is still lacking, because the key issues have yet to be submitted to a thorough scholarly debate. It is hoped that the pre­ sent volume will make a contribution towards overcoming those shortcomings.

Holistic Conceptions.- The Energy System - A Basic Concept of Environmental History.- From Ecological History to World Ecology.- The Early Loss of Ecological Stability in an Agrarian Region.- An Anthropological Perspective of Environment, Population, and Social Structure in the Alps.- Environmental History: Some Questions for a New Subdiscipline of History.- Reflections on a Typology of Historical Pollution: Complementary Conceptions.- Agricultural and Sylvicultural Impacts.- Aspects of Historical Soil Erosion in Western Europe.- Natural Environment and Human Settlement over the Central European Lowland in the 13th Century.- Sylviculture and Forest Administration in Hungary 11th-20th Centuries.- The Ecological Background of the Livelihood of Peasants in Kuusamo (NE Finland) During the Period 1670-1970.- Urban and Industrial Impacts.- Environmental History - The Environmental Evidence.- "Policey" and Environment as a Form of "Social Discipline" in Early Modern Hamburg.- Environmental Policy in 19th-Century Leyden.- Air Pollution in York 1850-1900.- Experts in the Smelter Smoke Debate.- The Ruhr Basin 1850-1980: A Case of Large-Scale Environmental Pollution.- Environmental Consciousness.- The Evolution of Environmental Sensitivity 1750-1950.- The Obscure Problems: Rationalization, Power, and the Discovery of Environmental Problems.