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Agroecological

The purpose of the journal article titled Transformation of the Earth: Toward an Agroecological Perspective in History by Donald Worster is to explain the emerging field of ecology. The ecological interpretation was first recognized by Aldo Leopold to help explain how the past developed the way it did. For instance, Leopold described how in the frontier land of Kentucky during the revolutionary war no one knew who would win the war. The result was that colonial Americans won the revolutionary war which led to the burning of canebrakes which were replaced by bluegrass. The replacement of grass is known to ecologist as the second ecological succession, which means that the land is not disturbed and a fresh sequence of species replaces the former vegetation. In Kentucky and the surrounding region, Kentucky bluegrass became the new species that followed canebrake. Leopold always wondered what would have happened if bluegrass did not grow on the lands in and around Kentucky. He wondered about the possibilities of the having shrubs or weeds take over the land, since bluegrass was never a native species in America but rather a European import (Worster 1088). Ecological imperialism is the term that Alfred Crosby Jr used when invaders brought their plant species to take over a land. His theory brought on a lot of controversy that caused people to reject the idea.

In the 1970’s the field of environmental history began to take form because people were concerned about the biosphere, pollution, consumption, global warming, and moral obligation. There have been many histories about the environment and one of these histories is about the idea that people are a separate species and that the ecological consequences of the past can be ignored. Modern historians disagree with this idea and believe that this idea is naïve. Instead most of the environmental history information comes from natural scientist, anthropologist, and geographers (Worster 1089). Climatic information has also been taken into consideration when studying environmental history. Ecologist George Woodwell has also taken into consideration living resources, such as animals and plants, in order to study the earth history and global fertility. In other words, environmental history deals with the role and place of nature in human life (Worster 1089). It also studies the interaction that societies of the past have had with the nonhuman world, meaning that the world has not been created. Technologies in the environment, for instance, are defined as the second nature because they are products of the human culture rather than the natural environment.

There are three theoretical levels that the current history proceeds, the first level is the discovery of distribution and structure of the past natural environments. This means that before a person can write about environmental history they must understand nature in order to proceed to the second level. The second level of environmental history is the interaction of technology with the environment. This means that historians need to observe the way in which technology has restructured human ecological relationships, such as farming equipment, to meet the pull of human consumption. Technology in a special way has helped reform societal roles, this means that different communities have different roles based on their production. For instance, a hunting society might have different seasons and gender roles than a community that is organized to catch fish. The third level is based on laws, ideas, and ethics. In this level people have different ideas about the world around them that can influence their behavior. Therefore, an ecosystem is a subdivision of the global economy of nature because local and regional humans have to find ways to survive and agroecosystems have helped in this process. An agroecosystem is an ecosystem that has been reorganized for the purpose of agriculture, it is also known as a domesticated ecosystem. This means that the process of energy and food flows into the economy of living organisms. For instance, in order for the agroecosystem to survive for a long time the ecosystem must have a balance between its imports and exports because if it is not in balance hunger and poverty increase (Worster 194). An agroecosystem is therefore extremely dependent on the natural world such as the climate, photosynthesis, and biochemical cycles.

I found this journal article to be genuine and well thought out compared to the ideas of other writers. The author, Donald Worster, did an excellent job in explaining the environmental history origins and how humans have shaped history. For instance, William Cronon has approached environmental history in an emotionally indifferent way. He instead wanted humankind to take responsibility for the separation that exists between cultures and the environment. In Worster’s journal article, on the hand, no separation between the environment and humans is acknowledged because without these two topics environmental history would not exist.

Source:

Donald Worster, “Transformations of the Earth: Toward an Agroecological Perspective in History,” Journal of American History 76:4 (1990), 1087-1106. Print.