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
April 7, 2024 By: Danielle Fernstrom
The ecological history of my hometown is intimately tied to my family’s history. Only five years after the initiation of the development of Mackenzie my paternal grandparents moved to the place I was born in the early 1970’s. For three generations my family has been living within the same mountain range yet have experienced dramatically different environments over the 50 years. I live in a society far more detached from the natural world around me than my grandparents ever did when they occupied this area. The interaction in society with the surrounding ecology is diminished by modern technology and patterns…
Family Environmental History
March 22, 2024 By: Navraj Randhawa
For my personal environmental history my parents immigrated to Canada in 1984 but there is more of a back story of how we came here. I will be focusing on my mother’s side and how they originated in Punjab, India and then relocated in Calcutta, West Bengal before making the decision to come to Ontario, Canada. I have lived with my grandmother for most of my life and know the story, for why there was a transition of where they were settled. My grandmother was born in 1941 in a small village in Punjab, India. Here the community in the…
A Tapestry Unveiled: Navigating English, Scottish, and Indigenous Roots in the Environmental History of My Family
February 16, 2024 By: Britnie Hearsey
Norman Fennema HIST 3991: Environmental History Britnie Hearsey February 10th 2024 A Tapestry Unveiled: Navigating English, Scottish, and Indigenous Roots in the Environmental History of My Family As I reflect upon my environmental history, I find myself immersed in a story that weaves together resilience, industry, and heritage. This narrative spans continents and ecosystems, revealing a complex tapestry marked not only by cultural diversity but also by the systemic barriers faced by Indigenous communities in preserving their heritage. The landscapes of Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, visible through my kitchen window, introduced the presence of James McFadden….
Exercise 2: My Family History
February 9, 2024 By: Jin Yi Wu
My Family History Grandparents I have few personal memories of my grandparents’ stories related to the major wars and political events, so I rely on my mother’s recollections. Born in southern China during the 1920s-40s, my grandparents enjoyed relative peace and stability despite major international conflicts occurring. The southern regions, including Guangdong, remained mostly untouched by Japanese forces during World War I and II, offering a comparatively peaceful existence. Consequently, they did not experience the direct impact of Japanese occupation or the need to participate in major wars. Their decision to move within Guangdong might have been influenced by…
Exercise #2: My Family Environmental History
December 30, 2023 By: Jacob
My family’s environmental history in Perth, Ontario, spans across three generations each having an influence on my relationship with nature. The landscape where I lived was a country side with open fields and my neighbours were nowhere to be seen. This experience has had a significant influence on my love of nature, living off the land, and being outside. My grandparents’ story is connected to survival with the land. Perth’s countryside was a place where the natural resources of the land were rich and diverse. Firewood was collected from various trees such as maple, birch, poplar, and elm trees and…