Frank Uekötter

An account of German environmentalism that shows the influence of the past on today's environmental decisions.

A New History of German Environmentalism

The Greenest Nation?

Wenige Bereiche der deutschen Gesellschaft haben sich unter dem Eindruck von wissenschaftlichen und technischen Innovationen so umfassend verändert wie die Landwirtschaft: Aus einer vormodernen Agrargesellschaft am Rande des Hungers wurde eine industrieförmige Agrarproduktion, die Lebensmittel im Überfluss, aber auch gravierende Umweltprobleme erzeugt. Frank Uekötter beschreibt die agrarische Wissensentwicklung seit dem 19. Jahrhundert. Er diskutiert Institutionen und wichtige Innovationen ebenso wie die widersprüchlichen Reaktionen der agrarischen Wissensgesellschaft auf die Herausforderungen der neueren ökologischen Debatte. Die Arbeit dokumentiert damit auch, wie eine methodisch reflektierte Wissensgeschichte zu einer Neubewertung von Grundfragen der deutschen Agrar- und Umweltgeschichte führt.PD Dr. Frank Uekötter erhält für »Die Wahrheit ist auf dem Feld. Eine Wissensgeschichte der deutschen Landwirtschaft«den Forschungspreis des Deutschen Museums für das Jahr 2010.

Eine Wissensgeschichte der deutschen Landwirtschaft

Die Wahrheit ist auf dem Feld

Uwe Lübken

Information is crucial when it comes to the management of resources. But what if knowledge is incomplete, or biased, or otherwise deficient? How did people define patterns of proper use in the absence of cognitive certainty? Discussing this challenge for a diverse set of resources from fish to rubber, these essays show that deficient knowledge is a far more pervasive challenge in resource history than conventional readings suggest. Furthermore, environmental ignorance does not inevitably shrink with the march of scientific progress: these essays suggest more of a dialectical relationship between knowledge and ignorance that has different shapes and trajectories. With its combination of empirical case studies and theoretical reflection, the essays make a significant contribution to the interdisciplinary debate on the production and resilience of ignorance. At the same time, this volume combines insights from different continents as well as the seas in between and thus sketches outlines of an emerging global resource history.

Essays on Environmental Ignorance

Managing the Unknown

In 1880, coal was the primary energy source for everything from home heating to industry. Regions where coal was readily available, such as the Ruhr Valley in Germany and western Pennsylvania in the United States, witnessed exponential growth-yet also suffered the greatest damage from coal pollution. These conditions prompted civic activism in the form of “anti-smoke” campaigns to attack the unsightly physical manifestations of coal burning. This early period witnessed significant cooperation between industrialists, government, and citizens to combat the smoke problem. It was not until the 1960s, when attention shifted from dust and grime to hazardous invisible gases, that cooperation dissipated, and protests took an antagonistic turn. The Age of Smoke presents an original, comparative history of environmental policy and protest in the United States and Germany. Dividing this history into distinct eras (1880 to World War I, interwar, post-World War II to 1970), Frank Uekoetter compares and contrasts the influence of political, class, and social structures, scientific communities, engineers, industrial lobbies, and environmental groups in each nation. He concludes with a discussion of the environmental revolution, arguing that there were indeed two environmental revolutions in both countries: one societal, where changing values gave urgency to air pollution control, the other institutional, where changes in policies tried to catch up with shifting sentiments. Focusing on a critical period in environmental history, The Age of Smoke provides a valuable study of policy development in two modern industrial nations, and the rise of civic activism to combat air pollution. As Uekoetter's work reveals, the cooperative approaches developed in an earlier era offer valuable lessons and perhaps the best hope for future progress.

Environmental Policy in Germany and the United States, 1880-1970

The Age of Smoke

Joachim Radkau

Naturschutz und Nationalsozialismus

Wattenmeer, Tschernobyl, Krakatau – Orte und Ereignisse, die sich ins kollektive Gedächtnis gebrannt haben.

Frank Uekötter

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