Finally, last week's train trip to #Junto24 gave me a chance to read through #DarkStar: A New History of the #SpaceShuttle by Matthew Hersch (2020-21 LHL Fellow).
Highly recommended for fans of #SpaceHistory/#NASA, #ColdWar politics, or #histtech. mitpress.mit.edu/978026254672... [5/6]
Arguably the biggest takeaway of Moon’s talk: Historians of science & technology have a wide range of insights to offer, regardless of whether they are delving into the deep past or weighing in on the major issues of the day, including #ClimateChange.
#Junto24
Moon concludes w/a reflection on the merits of prescriptive writing in a historical study.
She’s not opposed to the idea, but these issues (climate change, food security, etc.) are complicated and it’s tough to break free of established narratives and make a clear/reasoned intervention. #Junto24
Moon remains fascinated w/integrated imaginaries.
Q: How do we explain popularity of the idea that solving climate change requires solutions to broader social & environmental justice issues?
A: Unclear—but worth noting critics/supporters of climate smart agriculture endorse the same tech #Junto24
Moon agrees the Monsanto-Gates narrative (as she terms it) has value but is still reluctant to accept it. It’s too clean, there’s no space to intervene if we take it at face value. (“Aha—capitalism!” is not likely to produce new insights…)
Q: What to do?
A: Seek out more context! #Junto24
Moon: There is a foundational (though very pat) narrative surrounding the presence of corporations (e.g., Monsanto) and NGOs (e.g., Gates Foundation) and their roles in promoting climate smart agriculture. This “capture” narrative has many precedents; power dynamics run counter to equity.
#Junto24
Moon: Easements, no till, cover crops, etc.—together form a soft sell for climate smart agriculture. Emphasis is on continuity of stability & profitability, not so much on recruiting farmers to fight climate change.
#Junto24
Moon: If you do nothing but retread old narratives then there’s no way you can approach a topic w/new insights.
Climate smart agriculture, for example, is not new. It relies on preexisting tech solutions but the concept can be rhetorically tailored to different audiences, e.g. farmers. #Junto24
How do you look beyond the concerns of the day w/o necessarily ignoring them?
Clearly tech transfer is an important part of the climate change story, but Moon doesn’t have the historical distance to evaluate its merits in that context. #Junto24
Moon: Throughout all of these reports there’s an assumption that inequality underlies all of the problems associated w/climate change.
[This links back to Moon’s comments on integrated imaginaries linking climate change w/other social issues that might seem unrelated on the surface.] #Junto24
Moon: By 2023–things have changed. More attention to water & soil conservation, agroecology, and other approaches working w/natural processes.
There’s no discussion of developed v. developing world. Biggest driver of vulnerability=past/present/future patterns of unsustainable consumption. #Junto24
Moon: By 1995, reports placed a greater emphasis on technological advances, based on the assumption that they would open up more adaptation options. This tech-focused approach to #ClimateChange was applied to agriculture & other sectors.
#Junto24
Moon: IPCC reports from the early 1990s describe some possible ways of addressing these issues, but most of their recommendations were relatively limited (e.g., cover crops, manure management, no-till agriculture).
(Moon: “I spent a lot of time reading about manure management…” 🐄 💩) #Junto24
Moon: Food production is responsible for ~25% of greenhouse gas emissions (11% of CO2 emissions).
Major sources: land clearance for agriculture, tilling soil, food wastage, global shipments, nitrogen fertilizers.
For more info: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/ghg-per-kg-poore #Junto24
Moon: Another challenge with this project is finding a new/fresh way to address this topic when it has been a topic of sustained discussion for a while.
Food security is a complex problem relying on geopolitical & economic factors, as well as new complications associated w/climate change. #Junto24
Moon: This talk began as a summation of my thoughts about recent history. It has evolved to focus on my research questions.
[e.g., How do we write history when the end date is constantly shifting? One thought: Look at recent models w/long-term scope like Curry’s Endangered Maize.] #Junto24
Moon asks how we can define/address a problem of such wide-ranging geographical & temporal scope?
Our old forms/habits of food security are shifting in the face of unpredictable threats. How can we respond? That’s the big question driving her new project on hunger, climate & agriculture. #Junto24
Moon begins by noting that the contributions of agriculture to climate change has received more public attention in recent years.
This raises questions about how we might address the dual challenges—or slow disasters (cf. Knowles)—of sustainable agriculture & food security. #Junto24
Welcome back to #Junto24! After a delicious Indian banquet, the time has come for the Stuart Pierson Memorial Lecture.
The 2024 Pierson Lecture will be delivered by Suzanne Moon (professor @ Univ. of Oklahoma & long-time editor of Tech. & Culture), who is speaking on #agriculture & #ClimateChange!
Our final #Junto24 presentation comes from Michail Vlasopoulos (Chicago), who is examining mid-16th c. debates over the certainty of mathematics
He begins w/a quotation from Francis Bacon contrasting the empirics (“ants”) & rationalists (“spiders”) who engaged in these conversations. #philsci 🐜 🕷️
Joshua Tonkel (Notre Dame) challenges dichotomy b/w pure & applied sci. by looking @ the career of agricultural researcher Henry Armsby.
Armsby, he argues, was influenced by a “useful knowledge tradition” in US agriculture balancing individual/collective & practical/theoretical research.
#Junto24
Believe it or not, we’ve reached the final #Junto24 session. Leah Malamut (Minnesota) begins w/a paper that considers how American women engaged in apiculture. 🐝
(This is based on her dissertation research, though she notes most of that study “focuses on lady #bees, not bee ladies…”)
#beekeeping
Soppelsa: The debates over rat-skin gloves, much like the third bubonic plague epidemic of the late 19th and early 20th century, resulted from globalization.
Indeed, some people viewed the use of rat pelts as an economically beneficial byproduct of ongoing efforts to fight the disease.
#Junto24
Moving now from consumption to yellow fever, as Elizabeth Root (Minnesota) describes how the latter affected (& infected) the city of Philadelphia in 1793.
Root focuses on physician William Currie, whose emphasis on observation over theory led him to embrace contagion theory over miasmas. #Junto24
The slide rules have been collected, and we’re kicking off our first afternoon panel here at #Junto24.
Sam Paek (Notre Dame) begins a #histmed-focused session w/a discussion of consumption & changing understandings of disease in early modern England.
It’s time for a brief coffee break. If you’re at #Junto24, be sure to stop by the back of the room, sign up for info about the Linda Hall Library’s fellowship program & grab some stickers inspired by the Library’s current exhibit (Chained to the Sky: The Science of Birds, Past & Future)!
#histSTM
In addition to providing a historical overview of analog computing (Napier’s bones!), Sheppard has passed out slide rules to the #Junto24 crowd for a brief hands-on tutorial…
More on John Napier and his bones: www.lindahall.org/about/news/scientist-of-...
#histSTM #histsci
After a tasty lunch break, #Junto24 resumes w/a special presentation by Kate Sheppard (Missouri S&T), which has already won me over w/its pun-derful title.
Get ready, everybody…we’re talking about slide rules!
#histsci #histSTM #MathHistory #SlideRules #badpun
Slane’s talk focuses on George Allman, a “switcher” who inspected oil fields & maintained the equipment. We don’t know much about Allman’s life, but Slane does a great job reconstructing his career using a collection of materials given to OU’s Western History Collection by his wife in 1954. #Junto24
Cecilia Slane (Oklahoma) begins her #Junto24 talk by observing that although a great deal has been written re: the history of the petroleum industry, there have been few studies focusing on the #maintenance of oil wells.
(@leev.bsky.social - Have any of the #Maintainers looked into this?) #histSTM
