Exercise #2: Family Environmental History
Instructions
For Exercise #2, you will bring the environmental concepts home by looking at your own and your family environmental history.
Our lives and present environments are products of history. Our parents and grandparents grew up in very different environments from those of today. In our study of environmental history, it is helpful to think about our families’ past environments and their meaning for us today.
- Write an informal essay, between 700 and 1100 words, reflecting on your personal environmental history going back to your grandparents, parents, and your own generation. See the Exercise 2 Samples for a guide to this exercise.
- In formulating your response, consider the environments in which they and you have lived. Where were they located? What natural resources sustained your families and their communities? To what extent were those environments “natural” or human-made, native, or exotic (that is, transformed by European or other non-native species)? How have your families helped to transform their environments? Does your own ethnic and class heritage or gender play a role in the way you and your family have related to and valued the environment? How did the relationships your grandparents and parents had with their environments differ from the ones you have had in the past and wish to have in the future?
- Post your response by clicking ‘Add Submission’ below.
- Please note, you should write and edit your submission in a separate file then copy and paste it into the submission box. Once submitted to the HIST 3991 trubox site, you will not be able to edit your post.
Are you a student of HIST 3991? Click here to add a submission to this assignment.
Submissions
Exercise #2: Family Environmental History
October 23, 2025 By: Grace Fang
HIST 3991: Environmental History Student name: Grace Fang October 23 2025 Exercise #2: Family Environmental History My family spans three very different ecological and social environments, from my grandparents’ rural Guangdong, my parents’ urban Shanghai, and my current immigrant life in Vancouver, Canada. This migration path reflects the drastic social and ecological transformation of China over the past century. My maternal grandparents were born in Meixian District, Meizhou, Guangdong Province in the 40s of the 20th century, a hilly area surrounded by the remnants of the Wuyi Mountains. In the forties and fifties of the last century, it was still…
Family Environmental History: From Holland to the Prairies
October 13, 2025 By: Jeff van der Ploeg
My family’s story begins in Friesland, a northern province on the Dutch coast, and stretches across the Atlantic to the wide-open plains of Canada. Over three generations, my family has lived in very different environments, but we all share the connection of how we came to live where we are. Grandparents: Crossing the Ocean On my father’s side, my grandparents are called Pake and Beppe, the Frisian words for grandfather and grandmother. For centuries, Frisians have battled the North Sea with countless series of dykes, which my Pake helped build by hand. My Beppe grew up in a nearby village…
From Farms to Fire Seasons: A Family Environmental Journey
September 1, 2025 By: Vraj Bharatkumar Patel
Dr. Mark Butorac HIST 3991 – Environmental History Vraj Bharatkumar Patel – T00785625 Sept 1, 2025 Exercise #2: Family Environmental History Environmental history can be examined not only through nations or regions but also at the level of families, where generational experiences reflect shifting relationships between people and the natural world. My own family’s environmental history, beginning in Gujarat, India and extending to my current life in Penticton, Canada, reveals a pattern of transition: from farming and direct interaction with animals, to business ventures less tied to land, and finally to migration and adaptation in new ecological settings. In this…
From Farms to Fire Seasons: A Family Environmental Journey
August 31, 2025 By: Vraj Bharatkumar Patel
Exercise #2: Family Environmental History Environmental history can be examined not only through nations or regions but also at the level of families, where generational experiences reflect shifting relationships between people and the natural world. My own family’s environmental history, beginning in Gujarat, India and extending to my current life in Penticton, Canada, reveals a pattern of transition: from farming and direct interaction with animals, to business ventures less tied to land, and finally to migration and adaptation in new ecological settings. In this exercise, I will describe my grandparents’ and parents’ relationships with their environment, reflect on my own…
Family Environmental History
August 13, 2025 By: Sunisha Rakesh
Student Name: Sunisha Rakesh Course: HIST_ 3991 Student ID: T00609237 Date: 2025/08/13 Exercise 2: Family Environmental History I grew up in a rural village in central Kerala, India. Kerala is known for its ever-flowing rivers and green hills and has been home to both my maternal and paternal families for many decades. Based on my grandfather’s folk tales, Kerala in the mid-20th century was primarily an agricultural region. The residents relied on nature for nearly all their livelihoods; the rivers provided water, the forests gave firewood, and the land offered adequate food for everyone. My grandfather specialized in cultivating rice…