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14 JUDIT FARKAS
two highly influential and emblematic photos have, in the view of Hubbell and Ryan,
also contributed to the emergence of EH: Earthrise, taken of the Earth from space by
the Apollo 8 Mission (1968) and Blue Marble taken by Apollo 17 (1972). These
photos are said by many to have changed humankind’s attitude to the Earth, making
it clear that our planet is not only beautiful but also fragile.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthrise#/media/File:AS8-13-2329.jpg
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Marble#/media/File: The_Earth_seen_from_
Apollo_17.jpg.
Among the natural sciences, it was ecology, specifically the study of traditional
ecological knowledge, as well as landscape research, that occasioned the turn towards
EH. (This is the topic of the chapters The Conservation of Nature and Traditional
Ecological Knowledge, and The Significance of the Landscape in Humanities Research
and Local History).
The emergence of EH is tightly linked to the first great wave of environmental
anxiety in the 1960s, triggered by a few grave environmental disasters (the first
oil tanker accidents) and the freshly published scientific findings about the
degradation of the environment. That was when the first widely influential works
expressing concern over the state of the environment appeared (e.g., Carson’s
above-mentioned book), and when the environmentalist movement gathered
momentum (see Guha 2000, Glied 2016).” EH’s interaction with the ecological
movements served as a starting point for environmental activism and the scholarly
approach exercising influence on each other even today.’
Environment historians, including Ramachandra Guha, point out that anxieties about the
environment emerged far earlier. The Industrial Revolution marked a turning point when several
scholars, poets, artists, and thinkers began to express concern about the exploitation and ruination
of nature. But they were relatively few, a thin layer of intellectuals, and their means (essays, studies,
art works, exodus) reached only few people. This is what Guha calls the first wave of the
environmental movement. The second wave, in the 1970s, reached far larger numbers and broader
social strata. Its tools were also new, ranging from grass-roots environmental protests to radical
movements and lobbying, as can be seen today as well. (Guha 2000)
“Reflecting its historical roots, EH is a dynamic cross-disciplinary field that combines academic
scholarship with environmental activism.” (Hubbell — Ryan 2022: 10).