RCC Newsletter, Issue 14

Dear Friends of the Rachel Carson Center,

Happy 2013! We hope that all of you have enjoyed a productive start to the New Year. This will be a big year at the RCC; in addition to our usual array of events, publications, and outreach programs, the RCC will also be hosting the Seventh Biennial European Society for Environmental History conference, “Circulating Natures: Water—Food—Energy.” This conference will bring over 600 scholars, Carson Fellows and alumni, publishers, and members of the public to Munich in August. We hope to see many of you there; registration fee is very reasonable and includes almost all conference activities.

1. The RCC is currently taking applications for its fellowship cohort 2013-4. Postdoctoral and established scholars who research on the interactions between nature and culture are encouraged to apply; the deadline for applications is 31 January 2013.
   
   
2. The first volume in the RCC’s English-language book series with Berghahn Books, The Environment in History: International Perspectives, has been released. Civilizing Nature: National Parks in Global Historical Perspective, edited by Bernhard Gissibl, Sabine Höhler, and Patrick Kupper, looks at the relationship between national parks and global environmentalism.
   
   
3. We are pleased to announce the publication of three new issues of RCC Perspectives:
   
   2012, Issue 7: "Rachel Carson's Silent Spring: Encounters and Legacies." Edited by Lawrence Culver, Christof Mauch, and Katie Ritson
   
   2012, Issue 8: "Realizing Utopia: Ecovillage Endeavors and Academic Approaches." Edited by Marcus Andreas and Felix Wagner
   
   2012, Issue 9: "Why Do We Value Diversity? Biocultural Diversity in a Global Context." Edited by Gary Martin, Diana Mincyte, and Ursula Münster
   
   
4. Our PhD Program, “Environment and Society,” has started a new cooperation with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), allowing it to offer full scholarships to two international students in the program each year.
   
   
5. Recent Events:
   
   The Alps and the Carpathians were the subjects of a recent workshop that drew back the Iron Curtain to compare the history and geology of two much vaunted mountain ranges in Western and Eastern Europe.
   
   How do poems, stories, and novels influence our understanding of environmental problems, such as climate change, deforestation, toxicity, and the food crisis? The Imperialism, Narrative, and the Environment workshop in October hosted twenty scholars who examined points of overlap and divergence in the narrative forms of imperial history and ecocriticism in order to tackle these questions.
   
   The RCC was represented at the Annual General Meeting of the American Historical Association, in New Orleans, with a book table showcasing RCC publications in the exhibition hall, and with presentations by Carson staff and fellows.
   
   
6. Fellows’ News: our fellows have been busy with new publications, talks and conference presentations, and professional moves. For more information, see the round up in the Fellows’ News section of our website.
   
   
7. Staff News: Christof Mauch has been profiled in a new LMU iTunes video and was elected in 2012 to an academic advisory board and an editorial board.
   
   
8. Upcoming Events:
   
   29 Jan: Globale Finanzwirtschaft / A Global Economy (Sustainability Lecture Series)
   
   31 Jan: Matthew Kelly on “Dartmoor National Park as a British Political Problem” (Lunchtime Colloquium)
   
   07 Feb: Sandra Brunnegger on ''Nature, People and Places: Utopian Movements in Colombia'' (Lunchtime Colloquium)
   
   14 Feb: "Urban Roots" (Green Visions Film Series)
   
   21 Feb: Gesundheit und Nachhaltigkeit / Health and Sustainability (Sustainability Lecture Series)
   
   21-23 Feb: Rivers, Cities, Historical Interactions (Workshop)

As always, to stay up to date on the RCC, check out our website, our Facebook page, our blog, or follow us on Twitter.

Best wishes,

The Rachel Carson Center