Humans versus Nature: A Global Environmental History

by Daniel R. Headrick

Since the appearance of Homo sapiens on the planet hundreds of thousands of years ago, human beings have sought to exploit their environments, extracting as many resources as their technological ingenuity has allowed. As technologies have advanced in recent centuries, that impulse has remained largely unchecked, exponentially accelerating the human impact on the environment.

Humans versus Nature tells a history of the global environment from the Stone Age to the present, emphasizing the adversarial relationship between the human and natural worlds. Nature is cast as an active protagonist, rather than a mere backdrop or victim of human malfeasance. Daniel R. Headrick shows how environmental changes--epidemics, climate shocks, and volcanic eruptions--have molded human societies and cultures, sometimes overwhelming them. At the same time, he traces the history of anthropogenic changes in the environment--species extinctions, global warming, deforestation, and resource depletion--back to the age of hunters and gatherers and the first farmers and herders. He shows how human interventions such as irrigation systems, over-fishing, and the Industrial Revolution have in turn harmed the very societies that initiated them.

Throughout, Headrick examines how human-driven environmental changes are interwoven with larger global systems, dramatically reshaping the complex relationship between people and the natural world. In doing so, he roots the current environmental crisis in the deep past.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ecology

624 pages, Paperback

Published January 2, 2020

About the author

A specialist in the history of international relations, technology, and the environment, Daniel R. Headrick is professor emeritus of social science and history at Roosevelt University.

Reviews

[Marc Lamot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meritorious, very global overview of the difficult relationship between man and nature from the prehistory to the present, and even beyond. Daniel R. Headrick (Emeritus Professor of Social Science and History, Roosevelt University) sketches in just over 500 pages the interaction of man with his surrounding environment, in its various aspects, but with the emphasis on the negative impact of man.
This is not a book that will make you happy, because Headrick spares us nothing: the mass extinction of large animal species by hunter-gatherers; the deforestation, soil exhaustion, and the first large-scale epidemics in agricultural societies; the acceleration of human impact by the Industrial Revolution and its spread across the entire planet; and finally climate change and reduced biodiversity that threatens our survival. The chronological overview focuses mainly on economy, demography, urbanization, biological exchange, and so on. And is sometimes very factual. But my biggest issue is with the very committed tone of his final chapters, which focuses on climate and other challenges. More about that in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

[Sense of History]

The title, “Humans VERSUS Nature”, sets the tone: Headrick wants to systematically highlight the human plundering of nature from the very beginning of human history: “Since the appearance of Homo sapiens, the motivation to take as many resources from the environment as technology allows has been a human characteristic.” And, of course, there is enough evidence of this ‘predator’ attitude throughout history. Headrick lists it in reasonable detail, in an overview that perfectly follows the chronology of human history. In that sense, this is certainly meritorious.

But there are some downsides. For example, Headrick fails to highlight the ideological basis of this human plundering behavior: the role of religions and secular beliefs (like the ideology of progress) that repeatedly underline the supremacy of man and promote the instrumental use of nature. Every now and then he also seems to go a bit populist, with a lot of speculation about the impact of human actions on its surrounding environment, or – conversely – the impact of nature (volcanic eruptions, epidemics, cooling and warming of the climate..) on human societies. By that I don't mean there's no impact at all, on the contrary, but it is very risky to establish real causal relations. And it seems as if Headrick with some sarcasm hints to the revenge that nature takes on humans: “nature is not a passive victim but has agency and will play a role in the environment of the future as it has in the past.” Of course, this is an open door (the corona epidemic that broke out after the publication of this book is tangible proof of this). But Headrick's underlying negative tone is – in my opinion- very one-sided and too polemical: as if humans and nature can only live in opposition, while reality rather shows a picture of how far humans and nature have complemented each other in many areas and continue to complement each other. The epilogue also shows that Headrick had a particular goal with this book: to sharpen the awareness of the dangers that our own behavior poses for our survival; the author even formulates a whole program to avert the greatest danger. And of course, he's right to worry about this and to look for solutions. But I don't like to see an historical work completely framed by this presentist point of view; it causes too much myopia and anachronism. In that sense, this is more an example of committed historiography than a detached and nuanced approach. It has merit, for sure, but it comes with a caveat.

[Caitlin Krachon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for a class but it was still super informative and cool, very long

[Solei]

I had to read this book for my global environment class and it was packed full of information. I wish it had talked a little bit more about changes that can be made and things we can do to help protect the environment because that felt very rushed over at the end after having such in depth information about the past and present conditions for 500 pages. Overall, there were a lot of new facts and things that I learned from this book but it was just so much that it’s hard to remember most of it. If you want to learn more about our history and the effects we have had on the environment you will definitely learn a lot from this.

[Carlijn Van Der Hart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zeer gedetailleerde beschrijving van de relatie mens en natuur. Eigenlijk meer een studieboek dus was echt wel taai om doorheen te komen. En ook heel informatiedicht dus zou het niet allemaal kunnen reproduceren helaas