Reply To: 3. 3 March – River History

Comments on Flavia Reflection.

Dear Flavia,

I totally agree with your idea and doubt too. It also confused me what exactly Global Environmental History is about, its limits and boundaries and what exactly meant for. I have seen also professors (probably the ones which we assumed to define the disciple correctly) let us leave behind the dust with more uncertainty and question. Like what it was written in your reflection from the Skype with ‘Winiwarter’s’ as “Environmental History is just what it is: the study of human interaction with the natural world over time”. And Worsters (one of the founders of Global Environmental History) said that GEH is not a confined field rather it is changing perception. He said also “we can’t say it is a bounded field rather it is more like new environmental paradigm shift”. For me with some doubt I agree with Worster as Environmental History is more like creating new internal sentiment towards environment, changing our past perception with a new environmental paradigm. It is more than reading literature and collecting data and studying what was and what wasn’t happened in the past but putting myself in new religion or I can call “Environmental Yoga” (lol..). I can say it is more like environmental system of philosophy that aims to unite the self with natural environment.

But as a discipline to communicate with outside world, I choose to say GEH is the study of environment with respect to continuous human perception and activities over it. It could be in the past, present or in the future.