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Second Nature: An Environmental History of New England
Bounded by the St. Lawrence Valley to the north, Lake Champlain to the west, and the Gulf of Maine to the east, New England may be the most cohesive region in the United States, with a long and richly recorded history. In this book, Richard W. Judd explores the mix of ecological process and human activity that shaped that history over the past 12,000 years. He traces a succession of cultures through New England’s changing postglacial environment down to the 1600s, when the arrival of Europeans interrupted this coevolution of nature and culture.
A long period of tension and warfare, inflected by a variety of environmental problems, opened the way for frontier expansion. This in turn culminated in a unique landscape of forest, farm, and village that has become the embodiment of what Judd calls “second nature”— culturally modified landscapes that have superseded a more pristine “first nature.”
In the early 1800s changes in farm production and industrial process transformed central New England, while burgeoning markets at the geographical margins brought rapid expansion in fishing and logging activities. Although industrialization and urbanization severed connections to the natural world, the dominant cultural expression of the age, Romanticism, provided new ways of appreciating nature in the White Mountains and Maine woods. Spurred by these Romantic images and by a long tradition of local resource management, New England gained an early start in rural and urban conservation.
In the 1970s environmentalists, inspired by a widespread appreciation for regional second-nature landscapes, moved quickly from battling pollution and preserving wild lands to sheltering farms, villages, and woodlands from intrusive development. These campaigns, uniquely suited to the region’s land-use history, ecology, and culture, were a fitting capstone to the environmental history of New England.
A long period of tension and warfare, inflected by a variety of environmental problems, opened the way for frontier expansion. This in turn culminated in a unique landscape of forest, farm, and village that has become the embodiment of what Judd calls “second nature”— culturally modified landscapes that have superseded a more pristine “first nature.”
In the early 1800s changes in farm production and industrial process transformed central New England, while burgeoning markets at the geographical margins brought rapid expansion in fishing and logging activities. Although industrialization and urbanization severed connections to the natural world, the dominant cultural expression of the age, Romanticism, provided new ways of appreciating nature in the White Mountains and Maine woods. Spurred by these Romantic images and by a long tradition of local resource management, New England gained an early start in rural and urban conservation.
In the 1970s environmentalists, inspired by a widespread appreciation for regional second-nature landscapes, moved quickly from battling pollution and preserving wild lands to sheltering farms, villages, and woodlands from intrusive development. These campaigns, uniquely suited to the region’s land-use history, ecology, and culture, were a fitting capstone to the environmental history of New England.
- GenresHistory
328 pages, Hardcover
First published May 31, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 28, 2015
Richard Judd gives a nice, clear environmental historical overview of New England here. This is a useful book to outline major themes of environmental history (particualrly at the regional level) that would be especially useful to someone organizing a class (building a curriculum) around this subject.
The mix of ecological process and human activity shaped the New England landscape over the past 12,000 years; the postglacial environment of the 1600s inhabited by Europeans interrupted this coevolution of nature and culture. Frontier expansion culminated in a unique landscape of forest, farm, and village—what he calls “second nature”—or culturally modified landscapes that supersede a more pristine “first nature.” During the 1800s—as reactions to industrialization and urbanization—the dominant cultural expression of Romanticism provided new ways to appreciate nature and sustained a long tradition of local resource management.1970s environmentalism moved from battling pollution to preserving wild lands to shelter farms, villages, and woodlands from intrusive development—unique reactions to the regional land-use history, ecology, and culture of New England.
Blending the old (environmental determinism) and the new (culture as antagonistic to and dominant over nature) (ix). The French Annales School championed environmental determinism in the long run, but Cronon and merchant cast the environment as a passive victim and gave near-absolute agency to commercial capitalist culture (8-9).
This is not a model for all environmental history; there is still room for declension narratives. “Tracing the historical construction of second nature, in short, encourages a more fluid and adaptable understanding of the nature we need to protect” (xi). Responsibility for the present and hope for the future is better than a feeling of bitterness and hopelessness of past atrocities.
Reevaluating key ecological concepts in the late twentieth century—succession replaced Clements climax model. This had three effects on environmental history: i. a more artificial understanding of nature allowed for the inclusion of the farm, the city, the suburb, and the industrial workplace into the definition of environment; ii. ecological relativism challenged the grounds for environmental determinism; iii. challenged the declension narratives—chaotic nature is difficult to standardize/measure (10-11).
A regional history of New England is different for the west-focused historiography of environmental history. In the west, there is always the presence of an imperial, invasive narrative and new relationship with the land. In the four centuries of New England settlement, things have developed differently with deforestation and reforestation. The post frontier New England may be viewed as less exploitive of—perhaps even partnered with—nature.
The mix of ecological process and human activity shaped the New England landscape over the past 12,000 years; the postglacial environment of the 1600s inhabited by Europeans interrupted this coevolution of nature and culture. Frontier expansion culminated in a unique landscape of forest, farm, and village—what he calls “second nature”—or culturally modified landscapes that supersede a more pristine “first nature.” During the 1800s—as reactions to industrialization and urbanization—the dominant cultural expression of Romanticism provided new ways to appreciate nature and sustained a long tradition of local resource management.1970s environmentalism moved from battling pollution to preserving wild lands to shelter farms, villages, and woodlands from intrusive development—unique reactions to the regional land-use history, ecology, and culture of New England.
Blending the old (environmental determinism) and the new (culture as antagonistic to and dominant over nature) (ix). The French Annales School championed environmental determinism in the long run, but Cronon and merchant cast the environment as a passive victim and gave near-absolute agency to commercial capitalist culture (8-9).
This is not a model for all environmental history; there is still room for declension narratives. “Tracing the historical construction of second nature, in short, encourages a more fluid and adaptable understanding of the nature we need to protect” (xi). Responsibility for the present and hope for the future is better than a feeling of bitterness and hopelessness of past atrocities.
Reevaluating key ecological concepts in the late twentieth century—succession replaced Clements climax model. This had three effects on environmental history: i. a more artificial understanding of nature allowed for the inclusion of the farm, the city, the suburb, and the industrial workplace into the definition of environment; ii. ecological relativism challenged the grounds for environmental determinism; iii. challenged the declension narratives—chaotic nature is difficult to standardize/measure (10-11).
A regional history of New England is different for the west-focused historiography of environmental history. In the west, there is always the presence of an imperial, invasive narrative and new relationship with the land. In the four centuries of New England settlement, things have developed differently with deforestation and reforestation. The post frontier New England may be viewed as less exploitive of—perhaps even partnered with—nature.
October 15, 2015
Nice contribution to the environmental history literature, focusing on 'second nature' and the preservation of that rather than 'first nature.' Preservation in New England was a story of small parcels, cultural landscapes, land that had been obviously molded and shaped for generations. Not only burned and farmed by Indians, but cut and farmed and sold and reforested and cut again by Europeans. We tend to think of preservation in terms of massive, Federally protected "wilderness" out west, but that is entirely different. (And that isn't really 'wilderness' either, but that's a whole other argument)
I really liked the way Judd approached this environmental history as connected and symbiotic, kind of, rather than composed of discrete eras. He argues that it is wrong to think of New England's history as consisting of an agricultural age, which ends and is replaced by an industrial age, which ends and is replaced by a new industry. Agriculture and industry grew and changed together in New England, he writes, they "evolved in tandem as partners." Labor could move from farm to factory and back relatively easily. Farms fed factories and factories fed farms.
The bit that bothers me (because it is my field of study) is that if one is doing an environmental history, treating New England as a discrete unit makes no sense. It's not like it is set off by oceans or mountain ranges. How is an environmental history of Maine different from an environmental history of Quebec or New Brunswick? Not only is the border just an imaginary line in the woods, but lots of New Englanders settled the Maritimes, and lots of Quebecois migrated south to New England. New Englanders settled Upstate New York too. How are the Adirondacks different from Vermont and New Hampshire? Really, wouldn't an environmental history of everything from Upstate New York to the Maritimes, including Quebec AND New England, make more sense? Logging, fishing, farming...all this stuff spills over New England's borders.
I really liked the way Judd approached this environmental history as connected and symbiotic, kind of, rather than composed of discrete eras. He argues that it is wrong to think of New England's history as consisting of an agricultural age, which ends and is replaced by an industrial age, which ends and is replaced by a new industry. Agriculture and industry grew and changed together in New England, he writes, they "evolved in tandem as partners." Labor could move from farm to factory and back relatively easily. Farms fed factories and factories fed farms.
The bit that bothers me (because it is my field of study) is that if one is doing an environmental history, treating New England as a discrete unit makes no sense. It's not like it is set off by oceans or mountain ranges. How is an environmental history of Maine different from an environmental history of Quebec or New Brunswick? Not only is the border just an imaginary line in the woods, but lots of New Englanders settled the Maritimes, and lots of Quebecois migrated south to New England. New Englanders settled Upstate New York too. How are the Adirondacks different from Vermont and New Hampshire? Really, wouldn't an environmental history of everything from Upstate New York to the Maritimes, including Quebec AND New England, make more sense? Logging, fishing, farming...all this stuff spills over New England's borders.
December 17, 2014
I really enjoyed this book. Picked it up on a whim at the RISD library in Providence and I'm glad I did! A fascinating examination of the changing meaning of a 'natural landscape' in New England. Well-researched and definitely worth a read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews