Brepols Publishers is producing a new online open-access journal titled Journal for the History of Environment and Society (JHES). This new journal aims to publish high quality scholarship covering all aspects of environmental history, understood in its broadest sense. As such, submitted articles are expected to be accessible to a wide range of disciplines and subfields. The Journal’s geographic focus is Northwestern Europebut the editors are open to articles about environmental change in other areas. Indeed, JHES is giving special attention to transregional and international comparative articles. Article submissions should be sent to Professor Tim Soens (tim.soens@uantwerpen.be) and should include an short abstract (80-130 words). Publication fees will be waived for the first 10 articles submitted to the 2017 volume. JHES accepts articles in English, French, or German but all abstracts must be written in English. Click here for more information and to view the Journal’s first volume.
Call for Proposals – Early American Environmental Histories
William and Mary Quarterly and the Early Modern Studies Institute invite paper proposals for a workshop on “Early American Environments.” The organizers are looking for proposals from a wide range of disciplines and methodological approaches. The geographic boundaries for acceptable proposals include not just North America and Mesoamerica but also environmental change at an oceanic or hemispheric scale. The conference will be held between May 19 and 20, 2017 at the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA. The workshop is aimed at mid-career scholars and graduate students who have not defended are ineligible. Travel and lodging will be covered. Those interested should submit an abstract, a brief methodological description (both 250 words), and a short c.v. to the conference website. The deadline for submissions is October 25, 2016. Click here to download a conference flyer with more detailed information.
CHN Summer Newsletter Published
Nicholas Cunigan, our newsletter editor, has just published the Summer 2016 issue of our quarterly Climate History Newsletter. This issue is our biggest yet, with conference information, feature articles, project abstracts, and (as always) a list of the latest scholarship in climate history. We also introduce the new faces in our growing leadership team.
Download the issue by clicking here.
Origins OSU Podcast - Climate Change and Human Life
In the Origins OSU podcast "Climate Change and Human Life," environmental historians Sam White, John Brooke, and Nicholas Breyfogle discuss what climate history can add to our understanding of anthropogenic climate change. White, Brooke, and Breyfogle discuss past patterns of climate change and debate the extent to which humans modified global climates prior to the onset of the industrial revolution. The three historians also address new directions in the field of climate history. Climate history has helped demonstrate that changes in climate and weather patterns have been a constant feature in the planet’s history and climate change has played an important role in human history. The field is now contributing in new ways to contemporary debates on climate change. For example, historians are starting to provide concrete instances of successful adaptation to climate change in the past. The podcast can be accessed by clicking here.
PAGES-Supported Sessions at AGU Fall Meeting
Past Global Changes (PAGES) will be holding six sessions related to climate history at this year’s Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). The AGU Fall Meeting will be held from December 12-16, 2016 in San Francisco, USA. Abstract submissions are due August 3, 2016 and student travel grant applications are due August 10, 2016. Click here for a description of each session and more information on abstract submissions.
Climate History at the AMOS Annual Conference, February 2017
The Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS) is holding an interdisciplinary conference on climate. One area of focus for the conference is on climate and history, with specific attention to the Anthropocene and interactions between humans and climate. The conference will also hold panels on contemporary issues associated with climate change, such as risk management and health. The conference will be held from February 7-10, 2017, in Canberra, Australia. The call for abstract submissions will go out in two weeks (Monday, June 28, 2016) at www.amos.org.au. Click here to download a conference poster with more information.
Call for Papers: Georgetown University Graduate Conference on Global Environmental History
The Department of History at Georgetown University invites paper proposals from graduate students for a one-day conference on world environmental history. Papers dealing with all themes in environmental history, from every world region and during any time period, are welcome. The conference will be held on November 5, 2016 at Georgetown University. Interested students should submit a 200-300 word abstract and a brief curriculum vitae to Faisal Husain (fh204@georgetown.edu). The deadline for abstract submissions is June 17, 2016. Successful applicants will be notified in early July and asked to submit a full version of their papers by September 23. Click here for more information.