In July 2024, all eyes will turn to Paris for the Summer Olympic Games. Spectators from around the world will gather in the City of Light to watch athletes compete and experience the culture, romance and history of one of the world’s most well-known cities.
However, Notre Dame Cathedral, the iconic landmark of Paris, will still be under renovation following the devastating fire that broke out at the cathedral on April 14, 2019 and burned for 12 hours. By the time the last embers were extinguished, most of Notre Dame’s wood and metal roof had collapsed and its majestic tower had vanished into flames.
Notre Dame is approximately 1000 years old and has been damaged and repaired many times. Its last major renovation took place in the mid-1800s. The massive beams framing the structure are made from European oak trees harvested 300 to 400 years ago.
Today, these trees are common in north-central Europe, but due to centuries of deforestation, few are tall enough to replace Notre Dame’s roof lattice and tower. Planners had to search across the country for oaks large enough for restoration.
As an archaeologist, I study human long-term interactions with nature. “Understanding the World in Danger: How Archeology and Human History Inform a Sustainable Future.” In my new book, I explain how addressing modern environmental crises requires understanding deep history, including not just written human records but also ancient connections between humans and the natural environment. World.
Many people assume that the devastating effects humans have had on our planet began with the industrial age that began in the mid-1700s. But humans have been changing conditions on Earth for thousands of years. Looking back can inform our journey forward.
From deforestation to reforestation
To see how this works, let’s consider the tall tree shortage at Notre Dame from a broader perspective. The history of deforestation in Europe dates back at least 10,000 years, when the first farmers scoured the continent, felling forests and creating agricultural and rural areas to create today’s landscapes.
Based on archaeological evidence, pollen-based modeling and written records, scientists determined that forest cover in northern, central and western Europe reached peak density approximately 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, followed by a gradual decline over the intervening millennia. By 1700 AD, people were farming 250 million acres (100 million hectares) of agricultural land, much of it created by clearing native European forests.
Millions of acres of lumber became fuel for home stoves and then for furnaces and boilers during the Industrial Revolution. This process was so transformative that the famous British geographer HC Darby called it “probably the single most important factor in changing the landscape of Europe” in 1954.
Most of these forests disappeared long before scientists studied them, but historical detective work can fill in the missing information. By identifying charred plant remains from ancient fire pits and analyzing pollen in lake and soil cores, archaeologists can map where ancient forests once flourished, determine what species were represented, and reconstruct what the forests might have looked like.
Today, European countries are trying to restore the continent’s forests in an effort to slow climate change and species loss. With historical knowledge of past forests, modern scientists can make better choices about which tree species to plant, choose the best locations, and predict how trees might respond to future climate change.
Understanding what is possible
Over the past 50 years, the pace and scale of human impacts on Earth have intensified. In what scientists call the “Great Acceleration,” human activities such as clearing forests, converting land for agriculture and development, overharvesting wildlife and fisheries, and heating the atmosphere through the widespread use of fossil fuels have changed living conditions.
For people born in this era of dizzying change, it can be difficult to imagine life on Earth before humans remade it. Scientists have noted the danger of “shifting baselines”; this is the common tendency to assume that the current depleted state of nature is the way things have always been. Knowing how ecosystems used to look and function, and how human actions have changed them, makes the scale of conservation tasks clearer.
History offers insights into what the world once looked like, long before globalization and industrial activities reshaped the planet. Discarded animal bones, charcoal fragments, broken stone tools, and other debris and jetsam from the ancient past provide clues about the size and abundance of animal species, the location and composition of local forests and landscapes, and fluctuating atmospheric conditions. They also show how people, plants and animals responded to these changes.
Providing information about a resilient future
The past can help modern societies face today’s environmental challenges in countless ways. Figuring out how requires careful historical detective work and scientific creativity. Here are a few examples:
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Tracing places where local fishermen have collected black abalone for more than 10,000 years could guide restoration efforts for this endangered species. Numerous examples of effective Indigenous strategies are emerging from recent archaeological and anthropological research that showcase innovative land management, sustainable agriculture, and community resilience practices honed over centuries.
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Understanding the history of deforestation and land conversion patterns can help health experts predict future epidemics. Many infectious diseases pass from wildlife to humans, and human activities such as deforestation and urbanization are bringing humans and wildlife into increasingly close contact. This increases the risk of transmission of zoonotic diseases.
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Museum collections can help scientists document and understand species declines and develop effective strategies to combat the loss of global biodiversity. For example, museum collections of preserved amphibians have allowed scientists to track the spread of the deadly chytrid fungus and helped develop targeted conservation strategies to protect vulnerable frog species.
Humans may slow and perhaps reverse the ecological damage they cause, but the Earth will never return to its pristine past state.
Yet I believe history can help people save Earth’s remaining wild and natural places, which tell the stories of who we are, as well as cultural icons like Notre Dame. The goal is not to go backwards, but to create a more resilient, sustainable and biodiverse planet.
This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent, nonprofit news organization providing facts and analysis to help you understand our complex world.
Written by: Todd Braje, University of Oregon.
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Todd Braje does not work for, consult, own shares in, or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond his academic duties.