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
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…
My Personal Environemental History
August 7, 2025 By: Jessica McMath
My Personal Environmental History My family environmental history will focus on my mother’s side of the family as I have never met my father’s side of the family. Originally born in Canton, China, my grandfather immigrated to Canada in the early 1950s with his family to start a new life in Vancouver. Canton, which is now called Guangzhou today, is located near the Pearl River and just outside of Hong Kong. I have found sparse information online to understand why the cities name had change, and even my grandpa was not entirely sure as he was living in Canada when…
A Brief Look Into My Personal Environmental History
August 5, 2025 By: Logan Forman
A Brief Look at My Personal Environmental History I come from a Ukrainian Canadian family with roots in the regional district of Fraser-Fort George, specifically the Village of Valemount, British Columbia. A village situated between three mountain ranges, the Monashee mountains, the Cariboo ranges, and the Rockies. Valemount has always been a village with deep roots. Shaped by nature, forests, rivers, and plenty of wildlife are all accepted aspects of life in the mountains. For three generations, my family has lived, worked, and accepted the rugged terrain around Valemount. Reflecting on my family’s experiences as well as my own paints…
Roots in the Red Earth: My Personal Environmental History
August 3, 2025 By: Sochibueze Ajoku
Environmental history is not just about forests, rivers, and air—it’s about the lives lived on and with the land. My own environmental history, shaped by three generations, spans two continents. From my grandparents’ rural village life in Imo State, Nigeria, to my urban upbringing and current life in Canada, the environments we’ve lived in and transformed have deeply influenced our values, behaviors, and relationships with nature. My grandparents lived their entire lives in the rural heartland of Imo State, a region in southeastern Nigeria characterized by tropical rainforests and red laterite soil. They farmed the land using traditional methods, growing…
Tehran in the 20th Century: A Family Environmental History
July 17, 2025 By: Amir Meshgini
I grew up in Tehran, Iran and emigrated to Canada in 2021. My father and grandfather were also born in Tehran. I will mostly focus on their history for the purpose of this writing. My grandfather was born in 1930, my father in 1965, and I was born in 1996. Across these generations, Iran underwent huge political and social changes, which affected policies and practices regarding the environment. My grandfather, born around 1930, lived in a version of Tehran that still had dirt roads and was very rural except for the downtown. They had a Coca-Cola factory very close to…