Who are we?

The University of Stirling Research Centre for Environmental History and Policy was established in October 2006. It builds on the work of two previous research centres: the AHRC Research Centre for Environmental History and the Centre for Environmental History and Policy, funded by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council. Though situated within the Department of History at Stirling, the Centre is fundamentally interdisciplinary in both concept and practice. Its research involves input from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, including History, Environmental Science, Philosophy and Economics. It is also our intention to build links with any discipline which looks at the relationship between human society and the environment in the past.

What is environmental history?

Environmental history provides an indispensable long-term perspective on change. Important concepts like socio-economic sustainability, the maintenance of biodiversity and climate change are meaningless unless viewed in context. In a new millennium where profound environmental problems are becoming increasingly pressing, and decision-making more critical, this perspective will become even more essential. What is seen through contemporary eyes as abrupt and unpredictable becomes cyclic and comprehensible when viewed at appropriate timescales.

The past can also be searched for analogies to current and future developments, and, although by no means precisely replicable, the potential pattern of future change can be defined. Equally importantly, society’s responses to pressures and the rationale behind past decision-making are there for us to understand and learn from — public opinion and the willingness to change patterns of behaviour are just as important for future environmental good practice as understanding the scientific mechanisms of environmental change. Environmental history, which integrates both historical and scientific datasets when providing this long-term perspective, will, ultimately, provide the why as well as the how of environmental change.

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