Oldal 81 [81]
OCR
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
