A History of Technology and Environment

This book provides an accessible overview of the ways that key areas of technology have impacted global ecosystems and natural communities. It offers a new way of thinking about the overall origins of environmental problems. Combining approaches drawn from environmental biology and the history of science and technology, it describes the motivations behind many technical advances and the settings in which they occurred, before tracing their ultimate environmental impacts. Four broad areas of human activity are described:_x005F_x000D_ _x005F_x000D_ over-harvesting of natural resources using the examples of hunting, fishing and freshwater use;_x005F_x000D_ farming, population, land use, and migration;_x005F_x000D_ discovery, synthesis and use of manufactured chemicals; and_x005F_x000D_ development of sources of artificial energy and the widespread pollution caused by power generation and energy use._x005F_x000D_ These innovations have been driven by various forces, but in most cases new technologies have emerged out of fascinating, psychologically rich, human experiences. This book provides an introduction to these complex developments and will be essential reading for students of science, technology and society, environmental history, and the history of science and technology.