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 Earlies days living off the Land
June 11, 2023 By: T00109988, Johanne Brar
Environmental History HIST 3991 Johanne Brar June 11, 2023 My Earlies days living off the Land My family grew up in a small one-bedroom cabin with my family of 20, and had every space of the floor used for beds. During the day we would roll up our beds, and used the living area for a living room. Our family relied on the land for food, food for animals, and hunted for fur-bearing for extra money. My family relied on the seasons to make a good living didn’t have to rely on the local store for food, and…
Family Environmental History
April 19, 2023 By: Philip Thrum
I was born in Vancouver, BC, at St. Paul’s Hospital. I grew up in Steveston; however, my parents had decided for me to be born in Vancouver as that would be my birth city for my passport. Both my parents were born in Stuttgart, Germany, and immigrated to Vancouver in 1998. My parents immigrated to Canada from Germany in 1998. Their parents grew up in various areas of Germany, which included East and West Germany during World War II. My father’s mother grew up in Zwickau, a city that was part of East Germany, also known as the DDR, Deutsche…
Exercise #2: Family Environmental History
April 17, 2023 By: Alexis Begg - T00047868
Exercise #2: Family Environmental History Our lives and present environments are indeed products of history. I believe that our lives are also products of circumstances and lived experiences. To begin with, my family’s history is a little murky and there are many unclear areas so I will do my best to respond accurately with the information I currently know. First off, my mother is Finnish, and both of her parents emigrated from Finland to Canada as young adults. My Papa was born and raised in Finland and lied about his age to join World War II as he was 16…
My Family Environmental History
April 13, 2023 By: Saman Darabian
My mother and her parents were born and raised in Tehran, the capital of Iran. Tehran does not have many natural resources that sustain its economy, however, a range of other factors such as oil and gas companies, services including finance, healthcare, and education, and large-scale manufacturing industries contribute to the city’s livelihood [1-4]. My mother’s father was a metallurgical technician and worked in a steel mill. As a middle-class family, environmental issues were not at the forefront of concerns for my grandparents. Their priority was meeting their basic needs. However, due to financial constraints, the family had to adopt…
My Family Environmental History
April 13, 2023 By: Saman Darabian
Kian, T. M. (2018). Gender Roles and Gender Relations in Iran: A Sociological Analysis of the 2014 World Values Survey. Iranian Studies, 51(5-6), 743-766. https://doi.org/10.1080/00210862.2018.1463092 Khazaee-Pool, M., & Majlessi, F. (2016). Women’s empowerment in Iran: Where we stand and where we need to go. Archives of Iranian Medicine, 19(5), 362-367. http://www.aimjournal.ir/Article/aim-2589 Afshar, H. (2014). Gender, sexuality, and patriarchy in modern Iran. In L. Beck, N. Keddie, & H. Yegenoglu (Eds.), Women, Islam and everyday life: Renegotiating polygamy in Indonesia (pp. 219-233). Routledge.