麻豆传媒AV

Citation

Oram R (2024) Standing on the Edge of Being [An Environmental History of Scotland - From 1850 to COP26]. 1st ed. An Environmental History of Scotland, 3. Edinburgh: Birlinn Ltd.

Abstract
Drawing together the evidence of archaeology, palaeoecology, climate history and the historical record, this first environmental history of Scotland explores the interaction of human populations with the land, waters, forests and wildlife. This volume takes the reader from the mid nineteenth century to the present, confronting the ‘Anthropocene’ – the era where human action became a key driver of environmental and climatic change – and explores Scotland’s experience of its consequences and costs. The first half of the book charts a course through a century of decline and loss alongside the first serious efforts to curb and reverse the worst environmental impacts, from the filth-spewing cities and foul factory emissions of the lowlands to the degraded mountains, moorland and waters of the upland zones, In the second half, the conflict between pressures to develop and to conserve, to go for economic growth or environmental protection, is traced against the backdrop of mounting public awareness of an unfolding environmental disaster. It shows how political compromises have failed to deliver security – for jobs or the environment – and how the toxic legacies of now-vanished industries have been left to the public purse to remediate. But, even now, all is not lost: this final volume of the exploration of the last two thousand years of Scotland’s environmental history calls for deeper and wider public engagement in shaping a future vision for the nation.

Keywords
Environment; Scotland; energy; agriculture; forestry; fisheries; industry; Improvement

Notes
The introduction to this book is available here: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/36997