Controversy over the role of human activity in causing climate change is pervasive in contemporary society. But; as Anya Zilberstein shows in this work; debates about the politics and science of climate are nothing new. Indeed; they began as early as the settlement of English colonists in North America; well before the age of industrialization. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; many early Americans believed that human activity and population growth were essential to moderating the harsh extremes of cold and heat in the New World. In the preindustrial British settler colonies in particular; it was believed that the right kinds of people were agents of climate warming and that this was a positive and deliberate goal of industrious activity; rather than an unintended and lamentable side effect of development. A Temperate Empire explores the ways that colonists studied and tried to remake local climates in New England and Nova Scotia according to their plans for settlement and economic growth. For colonial officials; landowners; naturalists; and other elites; the frigid; long winters and short; muggy summers were persistent sources of anxiety. These early Americans became intensely interested in reimagining and reducing their vulnerability to the climate. Linking climate to race; they assured would-be migrants that hardy Europeans were already habituated to the severe northern weather and Caribbean migrants' temperaments would be improved by it. Even more; they drew on a widespread understanding of a reciprocal relationship between a mild climate and the prosperity of empire; promoting the notion that land cultivation and the expansion of colonial farms would increasingly moderate the climate. One eighteenth-century naturalist observed that European settlement and industry had already brought about a "more temperate; uniform; and equal" climate worldwide-a forecast of a permanent; global warming that was wholeheartedly welcomed. Illuminating scientific arguments that once celebrated the impact of economic activities on environmental change; A Temperate Empire showcases an imperial; colonial; and early American history of climate change.
#1168105 in Books 1997-10-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 .98 x 6.22 x 9.25l; #File Name: 188352203X316 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. My Families historyBy Dan Heath de ButtsThe book was researched in telling who the people were that are in the story and what role they played in the community . Pictures are excellent . This is a history of the Dulany family that lived around Upperville and their extended family from farther away and the pressures of war they were living under.The story was written during the war and only edited now by Peggy Vogtsberger .Help was given by a number of family members in giving genealogy and history of the family and the area.6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. A Modern Classic!By rlj17@hotmail.comAlthough many volumes have been written on the notorious Dulanys of Welbourne; none that I have encountered match this work for clarity; completeness; and compunction.Ms. Vogtsberger's use of the Queen's English is nothing short of scintillating. This reader cannot gush enough - - history would not be complete without Ms. Vogtsberger's tantalizing exploration of the little known Dulaneys of Welbourne. A must!
