Does Environmental History Matter? Shikar, Subsistence, Sustenance and the Sciences

Contents: Preface. Introduction by Ranjan Chakrabarti. Part I: Historiography of Environmental History. 1. Imperialism and Environmental Change: Unearthing the Origins and Evolution of Global Environmental History from Edmond Halley to John Richards, 1678–2000 by Richard Grove and Vinita Damodaran Part II: Environmentalism and Environmental Awareness 2. Environmental Awareness in Ancient India by C. Rajendran 3. The Changing Landscape of Kolkata: The Failure of Urban Ecological Planning and the Disappearance of Water Bodies by Chhanda Chatterjee Part III: Nature, Wildlife and Livelihood 4. The Jungle, the Imperial Hunt and Shikaris in Colonial India by Ranjan Chakrabarti 5. Free Trade, Markets and Forests: A Study of India’s Forests, Forest Policy and its Impact on Tribal Society with Special Reference to Eastern India (from Precolonial Times to 2000) by Kaushik Chakraborty 6. Firewood Consumption in Rural Bengal and the Search for an Alternative: Case Studies of Two Villages by Suchibrata Sen Part IV: Environment and Sciences 7. Has Earth System Science Arrived? A Historical Analysis of the Response of Indian Academia to Global Warming and Climate Change by Sudeshna Banerjee 8. Cyclones, storm surges and the Collapse of Port Canning: Henry Piddington, the Colonial Meteorologist, 1797–1858 by Mili Ghose Index. Does Environmental History Matter? explores the territory of climate history and environmentalism through its methodology and historiography, focusing on its origins and usefulness in the contemporary world as well as its multidisciplinary character. The chapters brought together in this volume examine numerous issues in the context of the ongoing global climate crisis and analyse how such disasters are caused by the complex relationship between humans and the environment. Through their writings, the contributors thus call for a greater understanding of the connections between natural disasters and human-led activities such hunting, land use, deforestation, soil erosion, and overconsumption of resources. The volume grasps historical problems in terms of ecological, biological and cultural terms, drifting away from conventional methodologies of history while also questioning the gaps in history writing relating to the climate and the environment.…