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
Roots in the Soil, Dreams in the City: My Family’s Environmental Legacy
December 7, 2024 By: Panika Saxena
OFLM Name: Norman Fennema Course Name and Number: Environmental History HIST_3991 Name: Panika Saxena Date: December 7, 2024 The environmental history of my family spans several generations and geographies, from the fertile fields by the Betwa River to the bustling city of Bhopal, and now to the suburban landscapes of Saanich, Canada. Each generation of my family has experienced a unique relationship with the environment, shaped by migration, adaptation, changing lifestyles, and evolving societal contexts. My maternal grandparents were born in Adhwal, a village near Rawalpindi, Punjab (now in Pakistan). They grew up in a family of farmers, whose livelihoods…
Mailer history of farming
October 27, 2024 By: Marsha Clarke
At one time Scotland sheltered many species of animals, some now extinct: beaver, wolves, aurochs (wild oxen), wild boar, roebuck, wild cats, grouse, and salmon. The first people lived in caves, fished, and hunted reindeer and seals, avoiding the wolf and wild boar. As the centuries passed, they left the caves and began the use of agriculture. The climate is temperate with a lot of rain and short summers. It is often humid and can fall below freezing in winter. Snow falls on high grounds, but rarely lasts long. I have chosen to write about my mother’s lineage, starting with my…
Familial Environmental History of the Scottish lowlands and the Grand River Valley, Ontario, Canada.
October 23, 2024 By: Victoria Hodgson
To start, let us consider my positionality as a white Scottish settler living on the unceded territory of the Pentlatch, K’omoks, and Laich-wil-tach First Nations. On my mother’s side, I am a second generation Scottish settler. On my father’s side, my mixed anglo-saxon settler relatives began settling in Eastern Canada as early as the mid-eighteenth century. It is important to consider my positionality at the start of this paper as it contextualizes my place in the world and encourages personal reflection as I explore my family’s environmental history. I chose to explore both my maternal and paternal familial environmental…
Family Environmental History
September 20, 2024 By: Josie Bates
Professor Norman Fennema HIST 3991: Environmental History Josie Bates September 19th 2024 I live in Kelowna BC with my husband, our two young children, and our dog. My husband and I were born and raised here, and so were both of my parents. My mother’s parents emigrated to Canada from Holland in 1953 and my father’s parents moved to Kelowna in 1965 from Lister BC. My maternal grandparents were both 21 when they emigrated to Canada from a small village in North Holland; shortly after emigrating, they bought a home on a 32-acre apple and pear orchard, where they raised…
Exercise #2
September 11, 2024 By: Jordan W
Exercise #2: Family Environmental History My heritage is a mix of European roots. On my dad’s side, our Swiss-German ancestors came to Canada in 1756 to colonize Nova Scotia. I’m not sure what else transpired between that time, but my paternal grandfather moved to Toronto and met my grandmother, who had an Irish background. On my mother’s side: I am a mix of Welsch and Austrian, but unsure of when folks came to Canada – at least two generations ago. I have always considered myself a multi-generational “Canadian” (not trying to be a nationalist) and of European settlers. I was…