conference

How does environmental history bring hope?

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Brunner coalmining town
One of the historical images I used in my talk. The remarkable thing about this photograph – of the coalmining town of Brunner on the West Coast (date unknown) – was that it was taken by the New Zealand Tourist and Publicity Department to promote our country to overseas investors and visitors. Ref: PA1-o-498-36. Alexander Turnbull Library, New Zealand.

I was fortunate to be invited to be a keynote speaker at the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand conference last week in Perth. I spoke about how environmental history can – and should – inform our decision-making about the environment. Continue reading →

How can environmental history shape the future?

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What do these three – seemly unrelated – photographs have in common? They all feature in an upcoming talk by Dr Catherine Knight exploring how environmental history research can shape the future, through policy and planning decisions which take account of the environmental past. This question has become increasingly topical both here and internationally, particularly in the wake of a series of natural disasters that have led to many questioning the wisdom of thinking that as humans we can control the forces of nature through engineering and technological solutions. (See for example: Is there such a thing as a natural disaster? The lessons of environmental history) Continue reading →