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
My Family’s BC History
October 8, 2022 By: Jenn Wong
My maternal great grandparents met in England after WWI and wrote to each other when my great grandfather moved to British Columbia. He came to the rapidly growing urban centre of Vancouver. Shortly after his arrival, he assisted with a rescue effort for the 1915 Britannia mine avalanche disaster at a company camp where ore was being extracted from the mountainside. Through this event, he was offered work in the mining industry in the Kootenays. He traveled to Kimberly, where he became a medic and model-maker. Part of his job was to build 3D scale replicas of the shaft and…
My Personal Environmental History
October 5, 2022 By: Keith Gracey
My Grandmother and Grandfather were born in 1936 & 38, respectively; they were both born in the town where they currently live; this includes my Grandfather, who is still living in the house where he was born. They live on the same 50-acre farm my family has owned since 1848. My Grandfather purchased the family farm from his father in 1956. As farmers, the environment has always played a prominent role in their life. However, it is not the natural environment; most of where the farm is located would have been forested when colonists first arrived. Since the land had…
HIST 3991 Environmental History – Assignment 1- Exercise #2: Family Environmental History
September 29, 2022 By: Jennifer Marshall
Exercise #2: Family Environmental History My family history is complicated and diverse. With the help of www.ancestry.com, and many family records, over the past few years, I have been able to trace back my lineage through my great-grandparent’s generations. Both my father’s and mother’s families had members that emigrated from the Ukraine, and Russia. We also have unconfirmed information that older generations may have come from Poland as well. Many of the older generations of my family spoke fluent Polish, Ukrainian and Russian, although most could not write. When researching my family history, there has been many ‘hiccups along the…
My Personal Environmental History – Seeds of the Past
September 22, 2022 By: Vanessa Butler
Mark Butorac Environmental History 3991 Vanessa Butler September 18, 2022 My Personal Environmental History This summer I watched my daughter grow her first tomato plant from seed and my son grow his first bean plant from seed. Seeing them literally plant their first seeds of vegetation, I hope will also plant the seed in their minds that homegrown food is superior to processed grocery store options. I come from a family who has supplemented their dietary needs with back yard gardens at least as far back as my grandparents; likely further. This is not to say that…
Haida Gwaii
August 26, 2022 By: T00472990
My mother’s family was located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, and her family was transformed by World War Two. My grandfather went to war and came back a changed person. My grandmother raised the family with her parents. My grandmother was one of the first female executives in downtown Toronto, working at Standard Life as a head underwriter. She told me many stories of unfair treatment and discrimination while performing her duties in a male-dominated profession. This was really important to my mother as she has always fought for women’s rights. They lived in an area called High Park, which had…