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Green History? 79
The reality of the Central European forests is complex; they no longer constitute
wild, untouched wilderness. People regularly accessed woodlands a few dozen
kilometers away from their settlements, thus, these forests have been shaped by
human activity. Up until the forest engineering of the modern age, this often had
the effect of increasing biodiversity (K. Németh—Maté 2020; Szabé 2005; Molnar
et al. 2022). Moreover, forestry work pursued in the forests was also adapted to
the social hierarchy. A good example of this is the case of the vakancsos people
[from vacant (plot)] around Debrecen. They were employed in the first few decades
of the 20th century to plant forests (mainly black locust) and could live in frugal
conditions, planting crops and keeping a few animals in the forests around the
city (I. Balogh 1936).
The most radical transformation in historical thought in the past decade can
be ascribed to the discovery of the existence of the Anthropocene as the present
era. The word means: recent human stratum. According to the current position
of the natural sciences, the conditions of life on Earth have changed to such an
extent in response to human activity, and the evolutionary, chemical and physical
signs of these changes are so marked and irreversible, that their aggregate can be
taken to constitute a new geological era. The changes may even cause the extinction
of the great majority of the species extant today. Humankind may suffer mass
losses and disasters, in the first instance due to the incalculability of the weather
and extreme climate phenomena. In the early 2010s, more and more historians
began to wonder about the advantages and disadvantages that revisiting their
research themes and the archives from the perspective of the Anthropocene would
bring to this critical situation. Some say it would not be fortunate because the very
possibility of a narrative gives a sense of normalcy; thus, people and the public
opinion would be even less willing to change and to call for change (Simon 2020).
Seen from another angle, however, historical research has a decisive role in several