Hist 3991 A3: Environmental History

HIST 3991 A3Since the onset of the 1960s, states began to have more focus on environment. This was following the fact that consumer society expanded in Europe and North America after Second World War. This increase led to an increase on the pressure in the environment and states had to act. The elite began to demand for a better and cleaner environment, which led to an environmental movement. Nevertheless, the movement did not provide a historical explanation for the environmental problems and it associated the problems with capitalism in the 20th century (McNeill 2011, 153). Some researchers noted some historical perspective, and this became the origin of environmental history. The United States played a key role in the creation and growth of environmental history. Therefore, there were many American historians writing about environmental history between 1970s and 1980s (McNeill 2011, 153). Nonetheless, this international prominence was lost in the 21st century. This is because more scholars across the globe began writing on environmental history and they adapted diverse approaches for their writing (McNeill 2011, 153). In this regard, environmental history takes a different definition based on a particular context. The most common definition for this concept is “the relationship between