All articles tagged with #environmental history
Ticks carry diseases like Lyme and Rocky Mountain fever, with their spread influenced by human activities such as land clearing, urbanization, and livestock movement, which create ideal environments for ticks and their hosts, making tick-borne illnesses a significant public health concern.
Researchers have conducted the first assessment of toxic heavy metal pollution in the Southern Hemisphere over the past 2,000 years using ice cores from Antarctica. The study reveals that lead and other toxic heavy metals associated with mining activities have been polluting the region since the 13th century, with significant increases coinciding with the establishment of urban communities and Spanish Colonial mining and metallurgy. The research provides insight into the historical impacts of human activity on the environment and demonstrates the potential of ice cores as a time capsule for understanding Earth's history.
Galileo Galilei's examination of the Moon through a telescope in 1610 marked a significant moment in environmental imagination, sparking a transformative period in the way humans thought about the natural world. His treatise, Sidereus Nuncius, inspired centuries of thinking about space and exploration. This led to the belief in the possibility of extraterrestrial life and the idea that other worlds may contain vital natural resources. The environmental ideas that emerged in the seventeenth century still hold relevance today.