Episode 5 of the envirohistory NZ podcast series is now out. This episode explores the critical link between environmental history and the decisions we make about how we shape and live within the environment. To illustrate the importance of environmental history in helping to inform environmental policy and planning decisions, this episode reflects on two recent natural disasters – the February 22nd Canterbury earthquake and the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in north-eastern Japan. (more…)
April 5, 2011
envirohistory NZ podcast – episode 5 out now!
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: Canterbury earthquake, disasters, envirohistory NZ, Environmental History, environmental planning, environmental policy, episode 5, Japan, Northeast Japan, podcast, Tohoku, tsunami |Leave a Comment
March 13, 2011
Nature strikes again – beautiful Tohoku’s coastal towns devastated by tsunami
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: 11 March 2011, Ainu, Asiatic black bear, Christchurch earthquake, coastal towns, earthquake, Hayachine Shrine, Iwate, Japan, Jomon, Kamaishi, map of Tohoku, Miyako, New Zealand, Ofunato, Rikuzentakata, tidal wave, Tohoku, tsunami, Yamadera Temple, Yayoi |[6] Comments
Once again, I find myself writing about a place that I hold great affection for, after it has been devastated by a natural disaster [see also: Christchurch - a city haunted by its environmental past]. This time the north-east of Japan, where a tsunami (tidal wave) of up to 10 metres high struck the eastern coast, following the magnitude 8.9 earthquake of 11 March. (more…)
January 9, 2011
Canterbury Plains: an ecological “ground zero”
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: biodiversity, Canterbury, Canterbury Plains, Colin Meurk, coprosma, deforestation, Environmental History, farming, farming productivity, Four Leaf, ground zero, industrial agriculture, intensive farming, Japan, kanuka, Landcare Research, matai, New Zealand, Rebecca Macfie, Resource Management Act, satoyama, semi-managed nature, The Listener, totara, Waipara Valley |Leave a Comment
An article in the New Zealand Listener by Rebecca Macfie is entitled “Nature ground zero” and describes an initiative in Canterbury to give “a new lease of life” to “the devastated native flora of the Canterbury Plains” [click here to read article]. The initiative is to identify and encourage the reintroduction of indigenous plant species which provide “ecosystem services” such as the provision of pollen and nectar to attract beneficial insects, improved soil health, weed suppression, the control of pest insects, and greater biodiversity. The project is focused on the Waipara Valley of Northern Canterbury, which is renowned for its vineyards, but has potential to be applied across Canterbury. (more…)
November 21, 2010
The role of semi-managed nature in supporting biodiversity
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: 2010, Asian Studies Review, biodiversity, conservation estate, Convention on Biological Diversity, COP10, Dr Catherine Knight, ecosystem services, Japan, Kumano, Landcare Trust, lowland forests, national parks, New Zealand, pastoral landscape, plantation forest, QEII Trust, satoyama, semi-managed nature, Winifred Bird |Leave a Comment
Hot off the press today is Catherine’s article on satoyama, the semi-managed nature in rural Japan, which has been published in the latest issue of Asian Studies Review. The article is highly topical, because satoyama was a prominent theme in this year’s Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which was just held in Nagoya, Japan last month. (more…)
September 25, 2010
Japanese satoyama – a model for sustainability?
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: Asia, Asiatic black bears, Catherine Knight, convention of biological diversity, COP10, human-managed nature, IUCN, Japan, Kyoto Journal, satoyama |Leave a Comment
The United Nation’s 10th Conference of Parties to the Convention of Biological Diversity is due to be held in Japan in October, and the pictorial Kyoto Journal has issued a special biodiversity issue.*
In this special issue, Dr Catherine Knight, the convener of this website, explores the validity of the model of sustainable management, or satoyama, touted by Japanese officials and conference organisers in the lead-up to the conference.
Read or download the PDF version of the article here. (more…)
June 5, 2010
Weeds – the great European invasion
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: A history of gardening in New Zealand, Bee Dawson, cultural understanding, Environmental History, Germany, gorse, Ian Popay, Japan, Maori horticulture, New Zealand, parks, provincial government, Scotch thistle, unkraut, weeds, zasso |Leave a Comment
As Bee Dawson relates in “A history of gardening in New Zealand”, when Europeans began to settle in earnest in New Zealand in the early to mid-19th century, they not only brought with them “productive” plants, but many other plants, which soon became invasive “weeds”. (more…)
May 21, 2010
Mountains, bears and conservation in Japan and New Zealand
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: Asiatic black bears, bears, Cath Knight, Catherine Knight, conservation, cosmologies, Jan Oosthoek, Japan, Maori, mountains, perceptions of the environment, podcast, Scott Schnell |Leave a Comment
Mountains, bears and conservation in New Zealand and Japan are topics featured in an interview with envirohistory NZ founder, Catherine Knight on the latest episode of Exploring Environmental History.
From Exploring Environmental History: “On the podcast Cath briefly talks about the origins and topics of the blog before exploring her work on Japanese environmental history. (more…)
March 6, 2010
What is environmental history?
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: Chris Smout, comparative history, Edinburgh University, Environmental History, Europe, interview, Japan, landscape, MSc, Scotland, T.C. Smout |Leave a Comment
So, what exactly do we mean by environmental history, and why is it so important?
As part of a newly established MSc in Landscape, Environment and History at the University of Edinburgh, Prof. Chris Smout, emeritus professor of history at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, is interviewed about what environmental history is and why it is important.* He argues that the subject area is like a stage on which various subjects come together. The difference with conventional history is that environmental history is not only concerned with people but also with nature, the landscape and the environment as a whole. However, it is not just the history of nature but more the history of human interaction with the environment.
Click here to watch this interview with Prof. T.C. Smout introducing environmental history (7 mins approx). (more…)
January 25, 2010
Comparing histories – nature conservation in Japan
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: Catherine Knight, Japan, Japan Focus, nature conservation, wildlife |1 Comment
Geographically, Japan and New Zealand are strikingly similar: they are both longitudinally narrow and latitudinally long archipelagos of similar land-mass, and of comparable distance from the respective poles. They are both prone to seismic activity, and predominantly mountainous.
However, unlike New Zealand, Japan’s uplands are still largely forested – about 69 per cent of Japan is under forest, albeit over half of it comprised of exotic coniferous species. (more…)
December 12, 2012
Japanese mountain asceticism: a spiritual approach to the environment
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: animism, folk religion, human relationship with the environment, Japan, Maori cosmology, religion, sacred mountain, Shugendo |1 Comment
While environmental history tends to be a predominantly intellectual exploration of the human relationship with the environment, this film reminded me of the myriad other ways human beings can experience the environment. (more…)
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