RCC Newsletter, Issue 10

Dear Friends of the Rachel Carson Center,

It might be still early in the year, but the RCC is tentatively able to confirm that the spring has arrived in Munich.  While we are all enjoying the sunshine and warmer temperatures and looking forward to an action-packed spring and summer schedule, we can also report that the winter months have been unusually productive, in particular in terms of publications. Whatever the weather over the next couple of months, we have the perfect reading matter for you...scroll down for more information. And any of you heading for Madison next week can come directly to our book table for a browse! Hope to see you there.

1. The RCC in Madison, Wisconsin: Many staff and fellows (both current and alumni) will be attending and presenting their work at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Environmental History. Alumnus Fellow Lawrence Culver served as chair of the program committee. The RCC will have a book table in the exhibitions hall, so stop by if you are interested in learning more about the Center.
   
   
2. New RCC Perspectives issues released: the RCC has published innovative volumes analyzing Ulrich Beck’s concept of risk and a piece by Alumnus Fellow Donald Worster on water control in the USA and China. As always, these issues are free and available for download online. If you are interested in receiving a printed copy for your classroom or library, please send an email to perspectives@carsoncenter.lmu.de.
   
   
3. RCC staff and fellows have also been busy publishing in early 2012. American Environments: Climate—Culture—Catastrophe, a joint volume with the Bavarian American Academy featuring contributions from many staff and fellows, is now available. Advisory Board Member Greg Bankoff and Project Director Uwe Lübken have released an edited collection, Flammable Cities: Urban Conflagration and the Making of the Modern World. Finally, Alumna Fellow Sherry Johnson published her book, Climate and Catastrophe in Cuba and the Atlantic World in the Age of Revolution—the result of her research and writing at the RCC.
   
   
4. Our fellows’ film portraits continue: check out video profiles on Maohong Bao, Stephen Bell, Wilko Graf von Hardenberg, Ingo Heidbrink, Paul Josephson, Martin Knoll, Patrick Kupper, Timothy LeCain, Reinhold Leinfelder, Clapperton Mavhunga, John McNeill, Daniel Philippon, Istvan Praet, Reinhold Reith, and Simon Werrett.
   
   
5. Topical Debates: RCC staff, fellows, and affiliates are featured in a series of articles on contemporary environmental history in the newest issues of Zeithistorische Foschung (Studies in Contemporary History).
   
   
6. Lunchtime Colloquium starts again on April 12: the next few months feature presentations on risk and the Munich RE, climate change in early America, the charisma of a wild mushroom, and much more.
   
   
7. Recent RCC Events:
   
   Russian cold in February: the RCC went to Moscow with a multi-language, thematically apt conference, ‘Frost, Ice, and Snow: Cold Climate in Russian History.’
   
   Where do environmental ethics stand? This was the central question of a workshop held in February in which participants discussed the role of environmental ethics in topical ecological debates.
   
   Motion and movements—particularly environmental ones—were the focus of a workshop that discussed ‘new histories’ of diverse environmental movements.
   
   
8. Upcoming Events:
   
   Cable Tangle: Energy Consumption in the Household, an exhibition at the Deutsches Museum, will run until July  15.
   
   11 Apr: Rio+20 Earth Debate on Food Security
   
   18-19 Apr: Eco-Images: Altering Environmental Discussion and Political Landscapes (workshop)
   
   18 Apr: Über Wasser (Green Visions Film Series)
   
   27-29 Apr: Hazardous Chemicals: Agents of Risk and Change, 1800-2000 (conference)
   
   
9. Fellows’ / Alumni News: Publications have been rife among fellows and alumni in early 2012. Fellows Jacob Tropp, Patrick Kupper, Amy Hay, Jan-Henrik Meyer, and Reinhold Leinfelder have all announced new books or articles. Furthermore, LMU Fellow Frank Uekoetter’s new monograph on environmental movements was named book of the month by the journal Jahrbuch Ökologie. Finally, Reinhold Leinfelder and Eagle Glassheim have been busy presenting their work in Germany and beyond.
   
   
10. Staff News: RCC Director Christof Mauch traveled to two universities in India in January. Wilko Graf von Hardenberg will serve as Acting Director of the Environment & Society Portal while Project Director Kimberly Coulter is on leave.
    
    

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Best wishes,

The Rachel Carson Center