president's column: aseh and diversity

I am honored to be ASEH president and humbled when I contemplate my predecessors' accomplishments. They, among others, produced the scholarship that launched this important intellectual field. Along with many members, these past presidents provided the leadership that made our society a vibrant professional organization. Perhaps now, from this position of strength, our society may consider an area where we are less successful - the limited diversity of our membership.

ASEH is not alone in grappling with this issue. Many environmental organizations face this challenge. In history, the number of women and ethnic and racial minorities receiving PhDs continues to grow, but history lags behind other disciplines. Anecdotal evidence suggests that ASEH has made some progress with our members and conference attendees, but we can do much more. And, of course, ASEH remains dedicated to diversity through interdisciplinarity as well.

I hope we can begin a dialogue that builds on existing efforts. Program committees, past and present, work hard to recruit participants and topics that speak to wider audiences. Local arrangements committees schedule environmental justice field trips. Our Diversity Committee is developing a survey to help consider how we might improve our record. Environmental History recently launched its new virtual edition on environmental justice - see:

http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/envhis/environmentaljustice.html. ASEH also offers travel grants for minority students and international scholars.

In the end, however, if ASEH wants greater diversity in our membership, our meetings, and our discipline, we need the commitment of our members to bolster the efforts of these committees. We must ask difficult questions. What does diversity mean for our society? Environmental justice remains an essential issue, but is it the only way for us to integrate diversity into our scholarship? Is diversity only about adding people of color to our stories or does it involve enhancing inclusivity in all aspects of the organization? Who have you recruited for the annual meeting? Should we rethink how we teach environmental history so as to gain the interest of a wider array of students? How often do we reach out to others on our campuses or in our agencies or firms?  How do we engage the communities in which we live?

These are not the only queries we should ponder, and I certainly do not have all the answers. I do know that we must open a conversation, develop plans, and maintain action. ASEH cannot resolve these issues in a year or two, but knowing the dedication, skill, and intelligence of our members, I am confident we will achieve great things.

Please let me know your thoughts on these matters at kbrosnan@ou.edu. 

-Kathleen Brosnan, ASEH President

by Adam Rome, University of Delaware

I've been a professor since 1996, but I didn't truly appreciate the power of questions until I wrote a book about the first Earth Day. I never thought my research would teach me about education. The standard interpretation of Earth Day 1970 has nothing to do with academic life. The iconic images of the first Earth Day all suggest that the event was a playful protest, not an occasion for serious questioning. In one often-reprinted Earth Day photograph, a crowd surrounds a huge banner of the earth shouting "Help!!" Another classic Earth Day image is a close-up of a young man in a gas mask trying to smell the buds on a tree.

 

But I discovered that Earth Day 1970 was a powerful educational event. Earth Day began as a teach-in. In September 1969, Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson vowed to organize "a nationwide teach-in on the environment," and Nelson's call-to-action inspired more than 12,000 celebrations on college campuses, in K-12 schools, and at community venues. Though few Earth Day events ultimately were called teach-ins, the most common Earth Day activities were speeches and panel discussions.

 

For thousands of people the Earth Day education began well before April 1970. Except for the event in Washington, D.C., every Earth Day celebration was organized by local folk, and Nelson gave the local organizers free reign in planning their events. Because Earth Day 1970 was unprecedented, the local organizers had to answer question after question. What counted as an environmental issue? How if at all was the Earth Day effort related to the great causes of the 1960s? Was the goal of Earth Day to advance a specific agenda or to involve as many people as possible? What kinds of speakers could contribute most to Earth Day discussions?  Many Earth Day organizers thought about little else for months.

 

The experience of speaking on Earth Day also was educational. By my estimate, at least 35,000 people spoke on Earth Day, and most had never talked publicly about environmental issues before. As the rookie speakers pondered what they should say, they often concluded that the stakes were higher than they had realized.  Even veteran speakers were stretched by the occasion. Their Earth Day audiences often were the biggest and most diverse they had ever addressed. They had to go beyond their expertise - to consider new issues and articulate new ideas. Many felt compelled to adopt a new tone. Some spoke more intimately, while others found a more prophetic voice.

 

The talk mattered. Earth Day challenged attendees to decide where they stood on important issues, and many took that challenge seriously. Everywhere, Earth Day audiences reflected on big questions. Was environmental degradation largely an issue of quality of life, or was the danger dire? How deep did the roots of the environmental crisis go? Could Americans end pollution by passing legislation or investing in new technologies, or would the nation need to change its fundamental values? What were the most effective ways to force government and business leaders to do more to protect the environment? Was everyone at fault?

 

Though I'm convinced now that the educational character of Earth Day was critical, I was slow to see that. My first effort to explain the genius of Earth Day was half-baked. In 2010, I wrote in Wired that Earth Day was about "empowerment, not education or protest or celebration." I was right that Earth Day empowered many participants, but I realized much later that empowerment depends on education. People only change when they learn something, and real learning often begins with hard questions.

 

Thinking about what I've learned, I decided to put two Earth Day photographs on my office door. The first

Earth Day at UC Irvine - courtesy Adam Rome

photograph shows a group of high-school students meeting over lunch with their advisor to plan their Earth Day event. In the second photograph, a UC Irvine student is speaking from an outdoor podium while three professors listen behind him. Though the images aren't striking, they remind me that good questions can make history. What could be more inspiring?

 

Adam Rome teaches environmental history and environmental non-fiction at the University of Delaware. This piece is adapted from his book, The Genius of Earth Day: How a 1970 Teach-In Unexpectedly Made the First Green Generation (New York: Hill and Wang, 2013).

announcements

The following individuals received awards on March 21 at our conference in Washington, DC:

George Perkins Marsh Prize for Best Book:

Catherine McNeur's Taming Manhattan: Environmental Battles in the Antebellum City (Harvard University Press, 2014).

Alice Hamilton Prize for Best Article outside Environmental History:

Molly A. Warsh, "A Political Ecology in the Early Spanish Caribbean," William and Mary Quarterly 3d ser., 71, no. 4 (October 2014): 517-548.

Honorable Mention: James Tejani, "Harbor Lines: Connecting the Histories of Borderlands and Pacific Imperialism in the Making of the Port of Los Angeles, 1858-1908," Western Historical Quarterly 45 (Summer 2014): 125-146.

Leopold-Hidy Prize for Best Article in Environmental History:

Faisal Husain, "In the Bellies of the Marshes: Water and Power in the Countryside of Ottoman Baghdad" (October 2014 issue).

Rachel Carson Prize for Best Dissertation:

Philipp N. Lehmann, "Changing Climates: Deserts, Desiccation, and the Rise of Climate Engineering 1870-1950."

Honorable Mention: Joseph Horan, "Fibers of Empire:  Cotton Cultivation in France and Italy during the Age of Napoleon."

Distinguished Service Award:

Joel Tarr

Public Outreach Career Award:

Marty Reuss

Click here for the comments from the award evaluation committees.

Julie Cohn presented the best dissertation award to Philipp Lehmann (above) on behalf of the Rachel Carson Prize Committee.

Editor Lisa Brady (above) presented the Leopold-Hidy Award for best article in Environmental History to Faisal Hussain.

President Gregg Mitman (right) presented the Distinguished Service Award to Joel Tarr.

Marty Reuss (above) received the Public Outreach Career Award.

E. Elena Songster and Michael Lewis received the best poster award for their depiction of research on snow leopards (above).

for graduate students

ASEH Graduate Student Caucus

The Caucus, founded in 2011, has grown from twenty members, two years ago, to approximately eighty members at present. At the 2015 Washington DC conference, we held a graduate student reception attended by around fifty graduate students. In addition, the Caucus convened for our annual face-to-face meeting where the members in attendance discussed future enterprises. Ideas ranged from expanding services provided through the Internet to creating conference events that focus on publishing and the job market.  

The Caucus, led by the outgoing Graduate Student Liaison, Bathsheba Demuth, also organized two graduate-student focused panels at the conference. The Graduate Student Writing Workshop, in its third installation, grouped faculty mentors with a number of graduate students to improve writing skills. The graduate students participating developed materials ranging from dissertation chapters to prospective journal articles. Our second event, a roundtable titled "Jobs for Environmental Historians: From Tenure-track to Alt-Ac," combined panelists from both inside and outside academia to discuss employment options for individuals with advanced degrees in environmental history. We look forward to planning and attending more professional development events like these during the Seattle conference in 2016.  

For questions or information about the Graduate Student Caucus, please email the current ASEH Graduate Student Liaison, Daniel S. Soucier: daniel.soucier@umit.maine.edu

Summary of Washington, DC Meeting

Click here to read Sarah Ruth Wilson's post "A Grad Student Walks Into a Room" on ASEH's 2015 conference in Washington, DC. Excerpts: "From the start, there was a particular vibe ... I cannot express how excited I am at meeting fellow graduate colleagues and conversing with those established in the field that are willing to share their wisdom." The conference "was a kind of renewal for me as a scholar."