Sunil Amrith (Allen Lane (UK); W. W. Norton (US))
So much has been written about the environmental crisis that it is difficult to say anything new. It is a hard problem, but Sunil Amrith takes a good swing at it.
He is a at Yale University, with interests that range from migration to climate history. In The Burning Earth: An environmental history of the last 500 years, Amrith documents the ways our societies have impacted the planet over the past half-millennium, from industrial farming to large-scale mining.
Advertisement
The most obvious comparison is Peter Frankopan鈥檚 The Earth Transformed. Both attempt global environmental histories, with case studies drawn from multiple continents. However, Amrith has a narrower focus than Frankopan, whose account covers the entirety of recorded history. In contrast, as his subtitle suggests, Amrith concentrates on industrialisation and the other choices that have directly shaped modern society.
He is also a more engaging guide than Frankopan, with a lyrical style and a talent for storytelling. For instance, his epilogue begins with a discussion of the classic anime film Princess Mononoke, which Amrith sees as a parable about humanity鈥檚 fraught relationship with nature. Topics that could be abstract, overly policy-focused or just plain depressing are brought vividly to life through such devices.
Amrith devotes most of his book to the colonial period and industrialisation. The two phenomena were strongly linked, he says, with European countries conquering swathes of the world in order to gain access to natural resources to grow their wealth. This means that environmental concerns are 鈥渋nseparable鈥� from 鈥減olitical rights, economic empowerment, and social justice鈥�, he argues.
To illustrate this idea, Amrith explores several industries, from Portuguese silver mining in Peru to palm oil production in South-East Asia. At every turn, environmental harms such as pollution and deforestation go hand in hand with the exploitation of people. Amrith documents not just a catalogue of disasters, but the mindset that caused them: a worldview in which everything, from trees and landscapes to animals and people, is seen as an exploitable resource.
Is a hydroelectric dam working with nature, by harnessing the power of water, or is it dominating nature?
A particular highlight is his chapter on the two world wars. These epochal conflicts involved all the major powers and drew in combatants from every inhabited continent.
But Amrith argues that they also caused environmental harms on every continent, as embattled nations rushed to obtain essential resources like food and armaments. 鈥淚ron-ore came from the mines of Kiruna and G盲llivare in Swedish Lapland, from Algeria and Newfoundland and Sierra Leone,鈥� he writes.
The central concept to which Amrith returns throughout The Burning Earth is how we should think of ourselves in relation to nature. He criticises 鈥渢he dream of human freedom from nature鈥檚 constraints鈥�, which only the wealthy and arrogant ever wanted.
Hence the parallels with Princess Mononoke, in which one of the key characters, Lady Eboshi, builds a convivial town that serves as a refuge for oppressed groups. But to do so she chops down the forest, and the gods of the forest fight back. As Amrith concludes, 鈥渢here can be no victory in a war against nature鈥�.
Instead of seeking to dominate nature, he argues, we should try to live in harmony with it in order to work with it. Herein lies my one quibble. Nobody with any sense would disagree with this rhetoric, but Amrith doesn鈥檛 clarify what 鈥渉armony鈥� means.
Is building a hydroelectric dam working with nature, by harnessing the power of the water, or is it dominating nature by controlling how the water flows? What about nuclear reactors, which use the natural process of nuclear fission? And densely packed cities are intense interventions in nature, which seem bad, but they enable the creation of protected areas elsewhere. So are they good?
But this is a small fault. Amrith鈥檚 book is a history, not a manifesto. It is beautifully and clearly written, well-researched and finds new perspectives on much-discussed issues. Strongly recommended.
Michael Marshall is a writer based聽in聽Devon, UK
New Scientist book club
Love reading? Come and join our friendly group of fellow book lovers. Every six weeks, we delve into an exciting new title, with members given free access to extracts from our books, articles from our authors and video interviews.
