Modernity declared war on nature according to postmodernist interpretations. Modernity was structured around a 'Garden of Eden' ideology from Christianity that viewed nature as something that needed conquering or subjugating. Examples of this include John Milton's writings depicting the wilderness as somewhere that needed redeeming through labor. Modernity in places like Prussia/Germany also harnessed nature for prosperity, as seen in Frederick the Great's projects to drain marshes and cultivate new farmland. However, this came at environmental costs like pollution, extinction of species, and human health impacts. The subjugation of nature proved to be a chaotic process, as seen with the impacts of companies like ExxonMobil. Modernity

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Callum Craigie
Student no: 42779006
MHIS375 Major Research Essay:
Why did modernity declare war on nature?
Modernity declaring war on nature is a postmodernist construct. The romanticism of
modernity is chaotic and counterproductive process declaring war on nature. It will be
argued modernity declared war on nature with in the romanticism of harnessing its’ best
capabilities of a superior environment for prosperity. Examples such as the ‘Garden of
Eden’ ideology of Christianity and the conquest of barbarism will prove how the process of
modernity declares war on nature in the process of harnessing the environment.
Furthermore proving the romanticism of modernity constituted a destructive human force
on nature. The process of modernity will further be argued to be a chaotic process resulting
in modernity declaring war on nature. With the example of subjugation of nature in the
process of modernity to be chaotic process and furthermore counterproductive.
A direct historical interpretation of modernity declaration of war upon nature is a
postmodernist construct. The history of nature or conscious attempts to study the history

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of nature, is a post-constructuralist entity. The history of nature or environmental history
addresses how nature and humans have interplayed. Environmental history is a post-
modernist and post-constructuralist entity1. Kristin Asdal review the post-constructuralist
challenges of environmental history, highlights in the ‘The problematic nature of nature’
modernity to have taken place with the absence of environmental history. In the text post-
constructivist authors are primarily discussed, with the assertion of post-constructuralist
interpretations identifying challenges of modernity and nature. According to Asdal two
authors; Donna Haraway and Bruno Latour represent the challenges to the way nature was
conceptualized as non-problematical entities in modernity. Furthermore Asdal argues post-
constructuralist interpretations “challenge the ways in which dichotomies of nature and
culture tend to be reproduced within the program of environmental history”2. The post-
modernist and post-constructivist interpretations intentionally assess and challenge the
dichotomies in the history of how nature and humans interplayed3. To interpret
modernity’s impacts and reasoning for declaring war on nature a post-modernist
interpretation of modernity and nature in environmental history.
Modernity declared war on nature with the intention of harnessing its’ best capabilities as
it was structured on the ‘Garden of Eden’ ideology of Christianity. William Cronon argues in
‘Uncommon Ground’, that Christian society was hesitant and aggressive towards nature in
a way that differed little to modernity. Cronon develops the ‘Garden of Eden’ ideology with
1 Worster. D, ‘Transformations of the Earth: Toward an Agroecological Perspectivein History’,Journal of American
History,Vol. 76, 1990,p. 1087-1106.
2
Asdal.K, ‘The problematic nature of nature: The post-constructivistchallengeto environmental history’, Vol. 42,
History and Theory, Middletown: Wesleyan University Press,2003,p. 60.
3 Worster. D, 1990, p. 1087-1106.

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the rationality of why the American Western frontier was settled. Modernity encompassed
and was not alone in having connotations, promoting wariness and aggression towards
nature4. As late as the 18th century the word ‘wilderness’ or nature, referred to a landscape
that was deserted, savage, desolate, and barren or a wasteland5. According to Cronon the
‘wilderness’ was “on the margins of civilization where it is all too easy to lose oneself in
moral confusion and despair. The wilderness was where Moses had wandered with his
people for forty years, and where they had nearly abandoned their God to worship for a
golden idol”6. Cronon constructs the notion of Christian biblical text depicting the
‘wilderness’ or nature to be an immoral place and uncivilized, furthermore arguing ‘Christ’
himself to have been tempted by ‘Satan’7. Therefore modernity was not alone in having
connotations of wariness and aggression towards nature, as Christianity depicts a similar
construct.
Furthermore with reference of the writings of the 17th century poet and polemicist John
Milton, modernity’s war on nature was in the rational of the romanticism of Christian of
redemption8. Milton was a civil servant under the Cromwellian republic, who after the fall
of the republic wrote a poem in 12 books called ‘Paradise Lost’9. Milton was a source of the
social construct in American society. ‘Areopagitica’ a speech Cronon gave to the Parliament
4 Cronon. W, ‘Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Placein Nature’, New York: WW Norton and Co, 1996,p.
71.
5 Oxford English Dictionary,s.v.“wilderness”cited Cronon. W, ‘Uncommon Ground: Rethinkingthe Human Placein
Nature’, New York: WW Norton and Co, 1996,p. 70.
6 Exodus 32:1-35,KJV, cited Cronon. W, ‘Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Placein Nature’, New York:
WW Norton and Co, 1996, p. 70.
7 Cronon. W, 1996, p. 71.
8 Cronon. W, 1996, p. 71.
9 Hill. C, ‘Milton and the English Revolution’. London: Faber, 1977.

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of England in 1644 was based on the opposition to censorship, which is referenced in
United States first amendment10. ‘Paradise Lost’ is about Milton’s personal despair at the
failure of the Cromwell republic and affirmation of his optimism for human potential11. In
the 4th book Milton writes of the ‘Delicious Paradise’ with biblical references, where Adam
and Eve after been driven out of ‘the Garden of Eden’ and were forced to enter the
wilderness. Adam and Eve through labor and pain redeeming themselves, by planting a
new garden12. Cronon interprets American modernist society in the settlement of the
Western frontier to have absorbed Milton’s new ‘Garden of Eden’ in the process of
modernity13. Cronon describes the transatlantic settlement of Western frontier as Christian
romanticism. The European settlers combined with a ‘wild’ environment made the Western
frontier more ‘peculiarly’ American. With the convergence of the ‘wild’ environment and
European setters Cronon argues the wilderness was catered to their own image “freighting
it with moral values and cultural symbols that it carrier to this day”14. Thus modernity’s
rationality of war against nature is in the romanticism of Christian redemption, with
reference to the American frontier society, John Milton’s biblical references and presence
within the social construct of American society.
Modernity’s war on nature was the romanticism of harnessing a superior environment for
the prosperity of civilization. David Blackbourn’s ‘The Conquest of Nature: Water,
landscape and the Making of Modern’ is of particular relevance, analyzing the manipulation
10 Harold Bloom, The Anxiety of Influence: A theory of poetry, London, Penguin, 1997, p. 33.
11 Hill. C, 1977.
12 Milton.John, ‘ParadiseLost: A poem in 12 books’, Vol. 1, J. and H. Richter, 1794, p. 131.
13 Cronon. W, 1996, p. 71.
14 Cronon. W, 1996, p. 72.

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of landscape the modernity of Prussia and Germany15. According to Blackbourn “the
German village can only ever be a green Village”16. The work ‘green’ was a code word for
Germany’s environmental superiority over foreign lands, Prussia and Germany were
molded by the harnessing of environment17.
The analysis conceptualizes the modernity, economic and technological strength of
Prussia/Germany to be inseparable to nature’s subjugation. Frederick the Great in the
1740s had marshes along the river drained and cultivated. The Blackbourn highlights the
romanticism of modernity in redevelopment of water resources particularly the river
Rhine and Ruhr. According to Zygmunt Bauman, Frederick the Great approximated the ‘les
philosphes’ ideal of enlightenment with the earliest blueprints of the socially engineered
gardened state18. “Growing human control over the natural world meant new land for
colonization and more food to support a growing population; it removed the scourge of
malaria and checked the age-old threat of floods; it provided safe drinking water and a new
source of energy through the retention of the waters of upland streams; and it brought
freedom from the confines of closed-off local worlds by removing obstacles to
communication, speeding the flow of people and goods along previously twisting rivers as
surely as steamships drove through ocean sea lanes”19. In Frederick’s own words, this
‘conquest of Barbarism’ according to Blackbourn was in the attempt to harness the
15 Chaney. S. L, ‘Book Review: David Blackbourn,The conquest of Nature: Water, Landscapeand the Makingof
Germany’, Pimlico:London, 2006.
16 Blackbourn.D, ‘The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscapeand the Markingof Modern Germany’, Pimlico:
London, 2006,p. 3.
17 Chaney. S. L, 2006.
18 Bauman. Z, ‘Modernity and Ambivalence’, Cambridge, Polity Press,1991,p. 26-27.
19 Blackbourn.D, 2006,p. 8.

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environment by reducing the breeding ground of malaria infected mosquitoes and
encompassing more farmland20.
The conquest of barbarism proved to be effective and was evident after the Napoleonic
Wars with the development of hydraulic engineering in the reclaiming of floodplains for
more farming furthermore reducing decease and creating new settlements. A ‘golden age’
continued with the building of dams near mountain valleys beside Germany’s rivers being
the Ruhr and the Wupper. The projects saw the development of drinking water supplies,
farming and electricity with hydroelectric power21. Thus Prussia/Germany’s success in
modernity was due to Frederick the Great’s early subjugation of nature in his romanticism
of the conquest of barbarism in nature.
The romanticism of modernity constituted a destructive human force on nature.
Blackbourn further iterates the romanticism modernity of Prussia/Germany was a process
of partial gains and losses22. According to Blackbourn; “every benefit of progress had its
price: the water-borne pollution from industry and chemical fertilizer that caused fish-kills
and human health hazards, the vulnerable monocultures introduced on newly cultivated
land, the lowering of water tables caused by wholesale drainage”23. The habitat of native
20 Blackbourn.D, 2006,p. 3.
21 Blackbourn.D, 2006,p. 3-13.
22 Blackbourn.D, 2006,p. 12-13.
23 Blackbourn.D, 2006,p. 8.

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species such the wolf, lynx and the bear were destroyed24. Furthermore in the
restructuring of landscape such as Frederick the Great’s intent of making marshlands
productive necessitated the deployment of soldiers as communities resisted modernity, as
they themselves were to be displaced25. “The ‘conquest’ of water led to the decline in
biodiversity, and brought damaging invasive species, the algae’s, mollusks and more
‘adaptable’ fish that established themselves in already damaged eco-systems”26. Thus in the
modernist romanticism of the conquest of barbarism in the harnessing of the environment,
modernity declared war on nature with the pollution and extinction of elements within the
ecosystem.
The concept of the subjugation of nature proves to be chaotic and counterproductive. In the
development of a modernist society environmental impacts are casualties of the process of
modernity. Steve Coll in ‘Private Empire’ discusses the world’s biggest energy company
ExxonMobil and it’s impact on nature. Coll depicts ExxonMobil’s already widely known
image as a company known to be culpable for environment degradation, meddling in
international affairs and promoting deceptive scholarly research. Coll however considers
the reasons for ExxonMobil’s destruction of nature. Coll conceives ExxonMobil was acting
within the process of modernity27. Coll concentrates on the company’s relentless pursuit of
replacement oil reserves, its tactics for mitigating threats from environmentalism,
24 Chaney. S. L, 2006.
25 Chaney. S. L, 2006.
26 Blackbourn.D, 2006,p. 8.
27 Coll.S, ‘Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power, New York: The Penguin Press,2010, p. 137

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alternative fuels and attempts to influence government policy28. The company’s political
maneuvers for environmental subjugation are of particular reference in modernity’s war
on nature. ExxonMobil is an example of modernity harnessing nature, by removing oil and
devastating the natural environment in the process, therefore chaotic.
With reference to evidence above, it can be argued modernity is chaotic in the transition
process. Zygmunt Bauman in his essay ‘The Scandal of Ambivalance’ argues chaos to be
necessary in the modernity process. The need to control nature with the example of
eugenics is apart of the social engineering process of modernity29. The modernity state
described by Bauman is a purely rational society with the imperative of reshaping not just
the wilderness, but also humanity itself30. The degenerate, diseased and mentally inferior
are to excluded or removed been a burden on society31. Bauman explains the rational of the
Holocaust of as part of the modernist state. Bauman describes the process of modernity as
the gardening of the social state32. Nature was perceived as an uncultivated garden,
incompatible with modernity’s harmony and order for the moral capacity of humanity33.
There the Nazi vision of a harmonious, deviation free society is in accordance with
Bauman’s interpretation. Germany’s modern vision of the state excluded the degenerate,
diseased and mentally inferior. Eugenics proved to be the rational solution, removing the
28 Ross.M, ‘The Political Economy of the Resource Curse’, World Politics,Vol.51,January,1999,p. 297-322.
29 Bauman. Z, ‘Modernity and Ambivalence’, Cambridge, Polity Press,1991,p. 40.
30 Chaney. S. L, ‘Review Articles:The Consequences of Alterity: Zygmunt Bauman’s Modernity and Ambivalence’,
Thesis 11, Vol. 31,Erskine College, 1992,p.169.
31 Bauman. Z, 1991,p. 41.
32 Bauman. Z, 1991,p. 40.
33 Bauman. Z, 1991,p. 40.

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‘weeds’ for a cultivated garden34. Exercising eugenics furthermore was emancipated from
moral constraints, combining theoretical concepts with medical practices with social
discrimination35. In this image of a modern state of engineered social stability, there is no
difference from the subjugation of the wilderness described by Blackbourn36. According to
Bauman modernity is “order and chaos, full stop”37. Thus in the transition process to
modernity in the subjugation of the environment, eugenics and particularly the Holocaust
prove modernity to be chaotic.
Modernity’s chaotic dehumanization, induced social Darwinism and introduction of
Eugenics prove inconsequential to humanity’s superiority as a species. Hannah Arendt in
‘The Origins of Totalitarianism’ discusses in depth the individual and community in the
modernist society. Arendt argues all humans in modernist society were dehumanized, as
human personalities were considered as an insignificant thing38. Furthermore Bauman
argues the individual was dehumanized and reinterpreted as vermin to humanity. The
social engineering of modernity excluded the ‘individual’ as it was a purely scientific
rational exercise39. Francis Fukuyama is of particular reference as he argues in ‘Our
Posthuman Future’; the constructivist in engineering a new species would mean the
absence of humanity’s differentiation to other species, in the animal kingdom40. It is argued
34 Chaney. S. L, 1992,p.170.
35 Bauman. Z, 1991,p. 40.
36 Blackbourn.D, 2006.
37 Bauman. Z, 1991,p. 6.
38 Arendt. H, ‘The Origins of Totalitarianism’,San Diego, Harvest/ Harcourt BraceJovanovich,1958,p. 438.
39 Bauman. Z, 1991,p. 40.
40 Selinger. E, ‘History,Philosophy and Ethics:Reviewed work(s): Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the
Biotechnology Revolution’, State University of New York, Stony Brook, 2002.

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by Fukuyama with emergence of designer babies, psychotropic drugs and biotechnological
changes in the human genealogy, bioengineered humans would prove to be little different
to other species.41 The bioengineered human being and animals would prove to be not
different, as the concept of ‘human dignity’ would be absent. ‘Human dignity’ is described
to be the “the idea that there is something unique about the human race that entitles every
member of the species to a higher moral status that the rest of the natural world”42.
Therefore the reasoning of the subjugation of nature proves to be chaotic and
counterproductive with lack of ‘Human dignity’.
Thus modernity declaring war on nature is a postmodernist construct, post-modernist and
post-constructivist interpretations intentionally assess and challenge the dichotomies in
the history of how nature and humans interplayed. Modernity’s impacts and reasoning for
declaring war on nature is a post-modernist environmental historical interpretation of
modernity and nature. Furthermore the romanticism of modernity is chaotic and
counterproductive process declaring war on nature. Modernity’s rationality of war on
nature is in the romanticism of the harnessing of a superior environment. The example of
Christian redemption in American frontier society and John Milton’s biblical references are
evident. Frederick the Great’s romanticism in the subjugation of nature for the conquest of
barbarism for modernity of Prussia and the ‘green village’ Germany are adamant. The
modernist romanticism of the conquest of barbarism proves to be a chaotic process. The
process modernity in the harnessing of the environment proves to chaotic with the
41 Fukuyama. F, ‘Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution’, New York: Farrar,Straus
and Giroux, 2002,p. 119.
42 Fukuyama. F, 2002,p. 160.

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pollution and extinction of elements within the ecosystem, thus declaring war on nature.
ExxonMobil is an evident example of modernity harnessing nature, by removing oil and
devastating the natural environment in the process. Furthermore Eugenics and the
Holocaust prove modernity to be chaotic. The transition process to modernity in
subjugation and war on nature proves to be counterproductive. Modernity declares war on
nature and therefore human beings, removing the uniqueness of the human race as species
of higher moral status.
Bibliography:
Arendt. H, ‘The Origins of Totalitarianism’, San Diego, Harvest/ Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,
1958.
Asdal. K, ‘The problematic nature of nature: The post-constructivist challenge to
environmental history’, Vol. 42, History and Theory, Middletown: Wesleyan University
Press, 2003.
Bauman. Z, ‘Modernity and Ambivalence’, Cambridge, Polity Press, 1991.
Blackbourn. D, ‘The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape and the Marking of Modern
Germany’, Pimlico: London, 2006.

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Chaney. S. L, ‘Book Review: David Blackbourn, The conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape
and the Making of Germany’, Pimlico: London, 2006.
Chaney. S. L, ‘Review Articles: The Consequences of Alterity: Zygmunt Bauman’s Modernity
and Ambivalence’, Thesis 11, Vol. 31, Erskine College, 1992.
Coll. S, ‘Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power, New York: The Penguin Press,
2010.
Cronon. W, ‘Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature’, New York: WW
Norton and Co, 1996.
Exodus 32:1-35, KJV, cited Cronon. W, ‘Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in
Nature’, New York: WW Norton and Co, 1996.
Fukuyama. F, ‘Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution’, New
York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002.
Hill. C, ‘Milton and the English Revolution’. London: Faber, 1977.
Milton. John, ‘Paradise Lost: A poem in 12 books’, Vol. 1, J. and H. Richter, 1794.

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Ross. M, ‘The Political Economy of the Resource Curse’, World Politics, Vol. 51, January,
1999.
Selinger. E, ‘History, Philosophy and Ethics: Reviewed work(s): Our Posthuman Future:
Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution’, State University of New York, Stony Brook,
2002.
Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “wilderness” cited Cronon. W, ‘Uncommon Ground:
Rethinking the Human Place in Nature’, New York: WW Norton and Co, 1996.
Worster. D, ‘Transformations of the Earth: Toward an Agroecological Perspective in
History’, Journal of American History, Vol. 76, 1990.