The Environmental Humanities

Abstract

A concise overview of this multidisciplinary field, presenting key concepts, central issues, and current research, along with concrete examples and case studies. The emergence of the environmental humanities as an academic discipline early in the twenty-first century reflects the growing conviction that environmental problems cannot be solved by science and technology alone. This book offers a concise overview of this new multidisciplinary field, presenting concepts, issues, current research, concrete examples, and case studies. Robert Emmett and David Nye show how humanists, by offering constructive knowledge as well as negative critique, can improve our understanding of such environmental problems as global warming, species extinction, and over-consumption of the earth's resources. They trace the genealogy of environmental humanities from European, Australian, and American initiatives, also showing its cross-pollination by postcolonial and feminist theories. Emmett and Nye consider a concept of place not synonymous with localism, the risks of ecotourism, and the cultivation of wild areas. They discuss the decoupling of energy use and progress, and point to OECD countries for examples of sustainable development. They explain the potential for science to do both good and harm, examine dark visions of planetary collapse, and describe more positive possibilities—alternative practices, including localization and degrowth. Finally, they examine the theoretical impact of new materialism, feminism, postcolonial criticism, animal studies, and queer ecology on the environmental humanities.

Towards an eco-literate tertiary music education: Notes from a South African context

“…Robert Emmett and David Nye (2017) explain four main premises of the environmental humanities, namely,we think global warming is taking place, and do not think it is an open question as to whether human beings have contributed to it or not. 6 We believe that species extinction is occurring at an alarming rate, and we reject the notion that humanity has a special place in creation that legitimizes the elimination of other forms of life.…”

The environment as seen through the life of a journal: Ambio 1972–2022

“…It has a longer history but 1972 is a legitimate milestone in what political theorist William Connolly has called “facing the planetary”, referring also to the moral and existential implications of the expanding knowledge horizon of the human–earth relationship (Connolly 2017 ). Humanities and social sciences have, across the board, elaborated the environmental objects and integrated humans and societies with the environment, since around 2010 under the label environmental humanities (Sörlin 2012 ; Emmett and Nye 2017 ). The Anthropocene has become another of those gravitational concepts and one that has drawn interest from both the natural and the human sciences alike (Adeney Thomas et al 2020 ; Pálsson 2020 ).…”

Communing with Bees: A Whole-of-Community Approach to Address Crisis in the Anthropocene

“…In the first volume of the journal, the environmental humanities are described as enriching "environmental research with a more extensive conceptual vocabulary, whilst at the same time vitalizing the humanities by rethinking the ontological exceptionality of the human" (Rose et al, 2012, p. 1). The environmental humanities, therefore, grew and evolved out of the need for a more transdisciplinary and integrated approach to environmental issues and combined environmental concerns with social criticism (Rose et al, 2012;Emmett & Nye, 2017).…”