Better late than never, here are our picks for what was worth reading on the #envhist tag for the month of May 2014. We track this tag every month and try to pick out some of the more interesting articles, videos, and audio that Twitter users shared.
1. Backstory with the American History Guys podcast episode on US oil history
At the end of May, Backstory, a US history podcast, published an episode that examines America’s addition to oil. From the beginning of the twentieth century to the dawn of the twenty-first, this episode takes a broad look at US energy history and the rise of oil.
2. Dan Macfarlane on Asian Carp, invasive species, and the Great Lakes
Picking up on themes in his recently published book, Negotiating a River: Canada, the US, and the Creation of the St. Lawrence Seaway, Macfarlane surveys the problem of invasive species on the Great Lakes in the years before and after the seaway in a new article on ActiveHistory.ca. He explores the social, ecological, and economic complexities of the impact of invasive species.
3. Public lectures on Indian environmental history from Nehru Memorial Museum and Library
For the past two years, the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library has hosted a series of public lectures on different aspects of Indian environmental history. Topics include science and religion, climate change, elephants, ecological restoration, rivers, and much more. Curious? You can listen to them all online.
4. Dan Allosso’s US environmental history library
Anyone who has been following the #envhist tag over the past couple of months knows that Dan Allosso is reading a lot of books in US environmental history. Dan is a graduate student studying US and global environmental history. He also runs an amazing new website. Blogging your reading as a grad student is an excellent practice. If you’re looking for a model, check out Dan’s site.
Last month, NYTimes.com published a video about the work of biologist Timothy Mousseau. He has been studying the long-term effects of radiation exposure on animals near the nuclear disaster site in Chernobyl, Ukraine. Watch this video.
