Exploring Apocalyptica: Coming to Terms with Environmental Alarmism

281 Pages·2019·2.21 MB·English

by  Frank Uekötter

EXPLORING APOCALYPTICA

E X P L O R I N G
A P O C A LY P T I C A
COMING TO TERMS WITH
ENVIRONMENTAL ALARMISM
EDITED BY
Frank Uekötter
University of Pittsburgh Press
Published by the University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15260
Copyright © 2018, University of Pittsburgh Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Printed on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Cataloging-in-Publication data is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN 13: 978-0-8229-4523-9
Cover art: Photographs by Ratana21/Sutterstock.com and iStock.com/pepifoto
Cover design: Nick Caruso Design
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
INTRODUCTION THE APOCALYPTIC MOMENT: WRITING
ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL ALARMISM 1
FRANK UEKÖTTER
1 POWER, POLITICS, AND PROTECTING THE FOREST:
SCARES ABOUT WOOD SHORTAGES AND DEFORESTATION
IN EARLY MODERN GERMAN STATES 12
BERND-STEFAN GREWE
2 GRASSROOTS APOCALYPTICISM: THE GREAT UPCOMING
AIR POLLUTION DISASTER IN POSTWAR AMERICA 36
FRANK UEKÖTTER
3 “A COMPUTER’S VISION OF DOOMSDAY”: ON THE HISTORY
OF THE 1972 STUDY THE LIMITS TO GROWTH 49
PATRICK KUPPER AND ELKE SEEFRIED
vI v CONTENTS
4 THE SUM OF ALL GERMAN FEARS: FOREST DEATH,
ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM, AND THE MEDIA IN 1980S
GERMANY 75
FRANK UEKÖTTER AND KENNETH ANDERS
5 THE ENDANGERED AMAZON RAIN FOREST IN THE
AGE OF ECOLOGICAL CRISIS 107
KEvIN NIEBAUER
6 GREENPEACE AND THE BRENT SPAR CAMPAIGN:
A PLATFORM FOR SEVERAL TRUTHS 129
ANNA-KATHARINA WÖBSE
7 A LANDSCAPE OF MULTIPLE EMERGENCIES:
NARRATIVES OF THE DAL LAKE IN KASHMIR 150
SHALINI PANJABI
8 THE ADIVASI VERSUS COCA-COLA: A LOCAL
ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICT AND ITS GLOBAL RESONANCE 169
BERND-STEFAN GREWE
Notes 195
Contributors 261
Index 265
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THIS IS THE FIRST book that grew out of the Birmingham Seminar for Envi-
ronmental Humanities (BISEMEH). It demonstrates what the environmen-
tal humanities should do: seize on an unresolved issue and explore ways to
advance debates with the intellectual resources of the humanities. The project
benefited from a workshop at Bielefeld University that took place with sup-
port from the School of History and Cultures of the University of Birming-
ham. I wish to thank Hannah Smith for translating the articles by Kevin Nie-
bauer, Patrick Kupper and Elke Seefried, and the two articles by Bernd-Stefan
Grewe, and Frances Foley for doing the same with Anna-Katharina Wöbse’s
article. Two anonymous reviewers provided helpful feedback. And it was a
pleasure to work with Sandy Crooms and Alex Wolfe at the University of
Pittsburgh Press.
My greatest thanks go to the authors, who took part in an academic
endeavor with an elevated risk level. You cannot write about alarmism
without stepping out of the ivory tower, which is what the environmen-
tal humanities should be all about. It also means to aim for an intellectual
middle ground that may not exist yet. With the world being as it is, it is
quite possible that vested interests will search this book for ammunition in
vIII v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ongoing conflicts. We hope to convince them that, rather than perpetuating
long-standing disputes, it is more rewarding to reflect on why we are stuck
with certain lines of reasoning. But every book runs the risk of being misun-
derstood, and misunderstandings about a book on environmental alarmism
can be particularly painful. But, all things considered, it would not be the
end of the world.
EXPLORING APOCALYPTICA