Imaginings
stories, creative nonfiction, poetry, and other imaginative accounts of the natural world
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Day 6. Danube Excursion: Vienna—Bratislava
by Laura Kuen Vienna → Orth → GabÄÃkovo → Bratislava Traveling from Vienna to Bratislava, our day’s topics branched in quite different directions: water power and nature conservation. We first visited the Austrian National Park Donau-Auen in Orth and later the GabÄÃkovo Dams, Slovakia’s biggest hydroelectric plant. Conservation in the Donau-Auen The national park, which spans the distance…
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Day 3. Danube Excursion: Passau—Linz
by Lea Wiser Passau → Linz Our third day on the Danube excursion was both eventful and thought provoking, packed with activities covering a broad range of subjects: from environment and sustainability to modern history and the Nazi regime, to where these two subjects intersect—the city of Linz. Jochenstein Our first stops, the Donaukraftwerk in…
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Day 2. Danube Excursion: Deggendorf—Passau
Written by Leon Gomoll Deggendorf → Vilshofen → Jochenstein → Passau Bridge-Building and Nature Conservation on the Donau Early Modern Bridges and Politics in Bavaria On the second day of our field trip, we learned about Early Modern bridge-building in Bavaria. Martin Keßler’s talk focused on the politics of bridges, using as an example the…
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Day 1. The Danube Excursion: Munich—Deggendorf
Written by David Stäblein Munich —> Winzer —> Mühlham —> Deggendorf The bus ride from Munich to Deggendorf along the Isar river The landscape en route from Munich to Deggendorf is dominated by the flat valley of the river Isar. The river has carried a lot of material from the Alps to the lower part…
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Danube: Environments, Histories, and Cultures
A Place-Based Workshop 4–11 June 2017 Winding through Central and Eastern Europe, the once longstanding frontier of the Roman empire, the Danube, has carved its way into the landscapes and cultures of the countries it traverses. But the marks of humans, imprints of the Anthropocene, are also clearly visible on the river itself—and on the…
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Household Consumption and Environmental Change in the Twentieth Century
30–31 May 2017, Bologna, Italy In May 2017, the University of Bologna’s Department of History and Culture hosted a workshop entitled “Household Consumption and Environmental Change in the Twentieth Century.†The workshop was co-convened by RCC alumnus Giacomo Parrinello (Sciences Po, Paris) and professor of contemporary history Paolo Capuzzo (University of Bologna). The event was co-sponsored…
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Worldview: Iran Hosts Second International Seminar on Environment, Culture, and Religion (Part 1)
International Efforts to Mobilize Religions in the Cause of Conservation Part 1. Tehran “Religion is a powerful social force and for decades diverse actors who understand this have been engaged in earnest efforts to motivate and mobilize religious individuals and groups to construct environmentally sustainable societies. Although broad evidence suggests that these efforts have had…
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Snapshot: Human Evolution Workshop
By Christian Schnurr The evolution of the genus Homo was influenced in part by the landscape in which early hominins lived. Important archaeological sites are often located in areas with very rough terrain and a rich supply of nutrients and trace elements. These two features could have led wandering animals on paths where early hominins could…
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Worldview: Watch Your Step!
“Moss Conservation in Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland†By Katrin Kleemann All photographs were taken by Katrin Kleemann and used here with her express permission. LakagÃgar is a fissure volcano in Iceland’s remote highlands that erupted in 1783–84 and left behind a landscape full of lava fields, now covered in lush green moss. Tourists can travel…