Arreola 2 Agroecological The purpose of the journal article titled Transformation of the Earth: Toward an Agroecological Perspective in History by Donald Worster is to explain the emerging field of ecology. The ecological interpretation was first recognized by Aldo Leopold to help explain how the past developed the way it did. For instance, Leopold described how in the frontier land of Kentucky during the revolutionary war no one knew who would win the war. The result was that colonial Americans won the revolutionary war which led to the burning of canebrakes which were replaced by bluegrass. The replacement of grass is known to ecologist as the second ecological succession, which means that the land is not disturbed and a fresh sequence of species replaces the former vegetation. In Kentucky and the surrounding region, Kentucky bluegrass became the new species that followed canebrake. Leopold always wondered what would have happened if bluegrass did not grow on the lands in and around Kentucky. He wondered about the possibilities of the having shrubs or weeds take over the land, since bluegrass was never a native species in America but rather a European import (Worster 1088). Ecological imperialism is the term that Alfred Crosby Jr used when invaders brought their plant species to take over a land. His theory brought on a lot of controversy that caused people to reject the idea. In the 1970’s the field of environmental history began to take form because people were concerned about the biosphere, pollution, consumption, global warming, and moral obligation. There have been many histories about the environment and one of these histories is about the idea that people are a separate species and that the ecological consequences of the past can be ignored. Modern historians disagree with this idea and believe that this idea is naïve. Instead most of the environmental history information comes from natural scientist, anthropologist, and geographers (Worster 1089). Climatic information has also been taken into consideration when studying environmental history. Ecologist George Woodwell has also taken into consideration living resources, such as animals and plants, in order to study the earth history and global fertility. In other words, environmental history deals with the role and place of nature in human life (Worster 1089). It also studies the interaction that societies of the past have had with the nonhuman world, meaning that the world has not been created. Technologies in the environment, for instance, are defined as the second nature because they are products of the human culture rather than the natural environment. There are three theoretical levels that the current history proceeds, the first level is the discovery of distribution and structure of the past natural environments. This means that before a person can write about environmental history they must understand nature in order to proceed to the second level. The second level of ...

1. Arreola 2
Agroecological
The purpose of the journal article titled Transformation of
the Earth: Toward an Agroecological Perspective in History by
Donald Worster is to explain the emerging field of ecology.
The ecological interpretation was first recognized by Aldo
Leopold to help explain how the past developed the way it did.
For instance, Leopold described how in the frontier land of
Kentucky during the revolutionary war no one knew who would
win the war. The result was that colonial Americans won the
revolutionary war which led to the burning of canebrakes which
were replaced by bluegrass. The replacement of grass is known
to ecologist as the second ecological succession, which means
that the land is not disturbed and a fresh sequence of species
replaces the former vegetation. In Kentucky and the surrounding
region, Kentucky bluegrass became the new species that
followed canebrake. Leopold always wondered what would
have happened if bluegrass did not grow on the lands in and
around Kentucky. He wondered about the possibilities of the
having shrubs or weeds take over the land, since bluegrass was
never a native species in America but rather a European import
(Worster 1088). Ecological imperialism is the term that Alfred
Crosby Jr used when invaders brought their plant species to take
over a land. His theory brought on a lot of controversy that
caused people to reject the idea.
In the 1970’s the field of environmental history began to
take form because people were concerned about the biosphere,
pollution, consumption, global warming, and moral obligation.
There have been many histories about the environment and one
of these histories is about the idea that people are a separate
species and that the ecological consequences of the past can be
ignored. Modern historians disagree with this idea and believe
that this idea is naïve. Instead most of the environmental history

2. information comes from natural scientist, anthropologist, and
geographers (Worster 1089). Climatic information has also been
taken into consideration when studying environmental history.
Ecologist George Woodwell has also taken into consideration
living resources, such as animals and plants, in order to study
the earth history and global fertility. In other words,
environmental history deals with the role and place of nature in
human life (Worster 1089). It also studies the interaction that
societies of the past have had with the nonhuman world,
meaning that the world has not been created. Technologies in
the environment, for instance, are defined as the second nature
because they are products of the human culture rather than the
natural environment.
There are three theoretical levels that the current history
proceeds, the first level is the discovery of distribution and
structure of the past natural environments. This means that
before a person can write about environmental history they must
understand nature in order to proceed to the second level. The
second level of environmental history is the interaction of
technology with the environment. This means that historians
need to observe the way in which technology has restructured
human ecological relationships, such as farming equipment, to
meet the pull of human consumption. Technology in a special
way has helped reform societal roles, this means that different
communities have different roles based on their production. For
instance, a hunting society might have different seasons and
gender roles than a community that is organized to catch fish.
The third level is based on laws, ideas, and ethics. In this level
people have different ideas about the world around them that
can influence their behavior. Therefore, an ecosystem is a
subdivision of the global economy of nature because local and
regional humans have to find ways to survive and
agroecosystems have helped in this process. An agroecosystem
is an ecosystem that has been reorganized for the purpose of
agriculture, it is also known as a domesticated ecosystem. This
means that the process of energy and food flows into the

3. economy of living organisms. For instance, in order for the
agroecosystem to survive for a long time the ecosystem must
have a balance between its imports and exports because if it is
not in balance hunger and poverty increase (Worster 194). An
agroecosystem is therefore extremely dependent on the natural
world such as the climate, photosynthesis, and biochemical
cycles.
I found this journal article to be genuine and well thought out
compared to the ideas of other writers. The author, Donald
Worster, did an excellent job in explaining the environmental
history origins and how humans have shaped history. For
instance, William Cronon has approached environmental history
in an emotionally indifferent way. He instead wanted
humankind to take responsibility for the separation that exists
between cultures and the environment. In Worster’s journal
article, on the hand, no separation between the environment and
humans is acknowledged because without these two topics
environmental history would not exist.
Source:
Donald Worster, “Transformations of the Earth: Toward an
Agroecological Perspective in History,” Journal of American
History 76:4 (1990), 1087-1106. Print.
Aaron Boutin Article Review #2
HST 481-400
The Machine in the Garden
In “The Machine in the Garden”, author Leo Marx asserts that
while many authors contemporary to the transition to
industrialism did not write about the subject directly itself, the
way in which they wrote provides an insight to their growing
perception of industrialism as is made evident through
symbolism amongst their texts. It was in these earlier writings

4. before industrialism became concrete that we see the beginnings
of the change and the feelings many had towards this transition
from the life they knew to the life that was becoming anew.
Leo Marx asserts this by comparing a few texts, Hawthorne’s
“Ethan Brand”, and Melville’s “Moby Dick”. Melville having
written his novel after reading “Ethan Brand” lends some of the
latter novels symbolism to the former. In “Ethan Brand”, Marx
discusses the symbolism as it pertains to the individuals of a
crowd from a village, each in its description a derelict, deprived
of vocation, and “victims of the fires of change” (Marx, 35).
This theme, found amongst various writings, Marx describes as
dissociation with nature, a detachment within man between
nature and machine as though a knife is driven in man’s mind.
Industrialism was seen to further disconnect the relationship
people have with wilderness. That technology is a divider,
causing “an individual cut off from the real of experience said
the be an indispensable source of life’s meaning” (Marx, 36)
Marx asserts that imagery used to describe pastoral range is the
use of the “Garden” or “Space”, with the “natural sun”
maintained as the rejuvenating energy of nature. In contrast, the
machine of industrialism is the “hot furnace”, fueled by man’s
use of nature, which provides this “artificial” energy in the
absence of the natural sun. This occurs at night, upon the
mountain in “Ethan Brand”. However, it is apparent that in its
context, industrialism is seen as tempting man from nature.
Many of Hawthorne’s villains are associated with fire, with
lairs hidden from the sun. Other writers, Marx writes, also
represent the sun as the “primal source of redemption”. In
“Moby Dick”, the furnace reappears as light in the night and the
means to render fat, Ishmael declaring “believe not the artificial
fire…tomorrow, in the natural sun, the skies will be bright…the
only true lamp-All others but liars”. Once again, Marx
illustrates the author’s perception of industrialism.
I found the article intriguing. To convey his perspective, he
didn’t jump straight into his interpretations of the symbolism
within the books contemporary to the advent and growth of

5. industrialism, but rather set up a platform, a foundation, in
which he ascribes the historical changes and their reactions,
referencing the author’s personal experiences with industrialism
leading up to their literary works, so as to be more in the mind
of the author in understanding the how their experiences and
feelings about the world around them would have influenced
their works. It was especially reinforcing when discussing the
imagery in “Moby Dick” that Melville had read “Ethan Brand”
prior to completing his novel, and was impressed by Hawthorne,
having written him.
I thought Marx’s point was well made, and we can see the
author’s perception of the advent of industrialism through their
texts, indicating a more romantic feeling towards pastoral lands,
one of need. Just like wilderness was necessary for man to be
invigorated and alive, the pastoral land was attributed this
attribute. I find it interesting that as pioneers fell forests and
gave way to pastoral land, romantics many have respected the
civility man needs in taming the wilderness to some degree, but
now they see it is the pastoral land, the rural nature, that is
being “tamed” by industrialism. However, the impression seems
more fearful; that they seem to feel the machine is a step further
in disconnecting us with nature and our lands. The machine, a
disconnection with the invigorating and rejuvenating life given
by the sun, a disconnection that grows as we replace nature with
the machine born solely from man’s imagination.
In the end, Marx writes that “Moby Dick” warns of the “great
disasters in store for worshippers of fire”, which I agree rings
true today. Our reliance on technology, without “wisdom” and
“experience” has created many environmental problems today.
The advent of gasoline powered automobiles and coal burned
for electricity are good examples. But in gaining experience
from the use, and applying wisdom, perhaps we can as we have
been, continue to reshape our use of technology into one that
uses fire to help the sun.