Oldal 24 [24]
OCR
22 — JUDIT FARKAS emergence of the notion of the Anthropocene has given new impetus to research in the field of environmental history, research which is of crucial importance to EH. In this book, Róbert Balogh shares his thoughts on dilemmas regarding environmental history. Anthropause It marks a period in which humanity temporarily withdraws from some of its customary activities. The term, brought into existence by the Covid19-induced lockdown, was coined by a research team which examined the impacts of human retreat on wildlife and nature in general. They published their findings in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution in June 2020, whose cover featured the sentence Welcome to the Anthropause (Rutz et al. 2020). Resilience The concept of resilience has become almost as fashionable a household word as the Anthropocene. A resilient ecological system is healthy and self-regulating, capable of responding to external effects by adapting — within certain limits. Originally a scientific term of ecology, today it is also used in human and social studies applied to human communities. It involves the examination of a community’s reactions and its techniques of adaptation (e.g., in war, economic crisis or climate crisis). The notion is relevant on the micro level, too, for an individual may also be hit by private or economic traumas to which he/she must respond somehow. An individual and a community with greater resilience can cope with external difficulties better, and this applies to nature in general as well. Degrowth The idea of degrowth emerged from environmentalist and anti-capitalist criticism of consumerism, and is now a political, economic and social movement. The idea of steady growth is seen by many as the key factor in the environmental and social problems. The infinite use of the finite resources of planet Earth is seen within EH thought as a fundamental contradiction and grave problem. Degrowth is addressed in the article by Dorottya Mendly and Melinda Mihaly and in the paper by Tamas Kocsis. Sudden violence, slow violence Finally, let us look at the concepts of sudden and slow (or quiet) violence. Sudden violence is applicable to cases in which an environmental problem presents itself quickly and usually spectacularly. Emmett and Nye illustrated it with the 2016 events around Standing Rock, USA, when the Trump administration had given permission to lead an oil pipeline through a sacred place venerated by the native people (Emmett — Nye 2017: 19). This term is valid for forest clearings, forest fires, capsized oil tankers, etc. Slow violence is at first unnoticed, its effects becoming
