Over three generations, my family’s relationship with the environment evolved from necessity-driven resourcefulness to reliance on modern agricultural methods and ultimately to regenerative land stewardship and local food production. My grandparents immigrated to Canada from Italy and England and settled in Toronto’s west end. Their experiences during the Great Depression and the Second World War influenced how they viewed food, money, and resources. While raising eight children, they minimized waste by planning meals carefully, reusing leftovers, and making the most of everything available. Despite living in the city, my grandparents maintained a small backyard garden to supplement their food supply….

While I have been a lifelong Vancouverite, my parents and grandparents hailed from the region of Gangnam, the southern part of the larger metropolitan city of Seoul.  The name Gangnam, directly translated, means south of the river and is positioned at one of the most prominent rivers in South Korea, the Han River.  Gangnam is now considered the central hub of education and industry, and is home to Korean international corporations such as Hyundai Motors and GS Caltex.  Despite its current prominence, Gangnam was not always a glamorous district.  Before the massive infrastructure development under the presidency of Park Chung…

My Family Environment History Our lives and the landscapes we occupy today are the living accumulation of choices made by those who came before us. My family came from a small village in Anhui province , and we moved to Huangshan city and now I am living in Guangzhou and travel between China and Canada.Over three generations, my family’s relationship with the environment transformed from a struggle for direct survival from the soil, to the active industrial modification of the landscape, to a contemporary lifestyle where we balance both highly artificial cities and protected natural worlds. Generation One: From Wujia…

My family’s environmental history reflects movement across different countries, climates, and lifestyles. Looking at my grandparents’ generation, my parents’ generation, and my own experiences helped me realize how much environments shape people’s daily lives, values, and opportunities. My family history includes experiences in Nigeria and now in Canada, and these two environments are very different in terms of climate, urbanization, natural resources, and lifestyle. Through these generational changes, I can see how modernization, migration, education, and technology have transformed the way my family interacts with the environment. My grandparents’ generation lived much closer to the land than my generation does…

The environmental history of the Hampshire landscapes surrounding Fleet and Frensham demonstrates how human relationships with land are shaped by changing systems of access, economy, and ecological interaction across generations. The region where I grew up consists of heathland, wetlands, woodland, and grazing landscapes formed through long histories of human activity and ecological processes rather than untouched wilderness. Archaeological evidence shows that humans have interacted with these environments since the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, relying on woodland, rivers, and seasonal ecological knowledge for survival. Environmental historian William Cronon describes these landscapes as relational systems where humans and nature are inseparable….