Arcadia

Arcadia, 2013, no. 7

The Swiss National Park: A Model of Nature Conservation for Scientific Research

Patrick Kupper

Established in 1914, the Swiss National Park was one of Europe’s very first national parks. Scientific research became its hallmark and it became an important model for the establishment of protected areas around the world.

Arcadia, 2013, no. 6

The New Watch on the Rhine: Anti-Nuclear Protest in Baden and Alsace

Stephen Milder

During the 1970s, anti-nuclear activists in the Upper Rhine Valley worked together to oppose a series of reactor projects planned for their region. Their daring actions drew attention to this rural borderland, spread awareness of the dangers of nuclear energy, and thus furthered the development of national anti-nuclear movements.

Arcadia, 2013, no. 5

The North Sea Flood of 1953

Alexander Hall

The North Sea flood of 1953 caused widespread damage and approximately 2,400 fatalities in the UK, the Netherlands, and Belgium. As devastating as it was, the flood also triggered many changes in how the countries surrounding the North Sea manage their flood risk, including the development of improved warning systems and various protection schemes.

Arcadia, 2013, no. 4

Circeo National Park: Fascist Land-Reclamation and Conservation in the Pontine Marshes

Wilko Graf von Hardenberg

The Circeo National Park was created in 1934 as a propaganda tool to serve as a reminder of how the area looked during the Roman Empire. In fact, the area had been radically modified by Fascist land-reclamation policies and practices.

Arcadia, 2013, no. 3

The Great Fear: The Polesine Flood of 1951

Wilko Graf von Hardenberg

In November 1951 the Polesine, a flatland enclosed by the rivers Po and Adige in northeastern Italy, was hit by massive flooding. Hundreds of hectares were submerged and tens of thousands of people left homeless. The effects of a particularly heavy wet season were compounded by insufficient flood defenses.

Arcadia, 2013, no. 2

Political Reform, Professional Knowledge and Moral Appeals: Tscharner’s Strategy for Sustainability

Martin Stuber

As a response to perceived lumber shortages, Niklaus Emanuel Tscharner sketched a comprehensive strategy for achieving forest sustainability which included political proposals, forestry instructions and moral appeals.

Arcadia, 2013, no. 1

Foundation of the Oekonomische Gesellschaft Bern

Martin Stuber

A classic proponent of the trans-European Economic Enlightenment, the Oekonomische Gesellschaft Bern, founded in 1759, strove to optimize the use of the region’s resources in order to protect the sovereignty of the state of Bern. Its significance should not be measured according to its immediate practical effects, but rather in view of how its ideas for new forms of scientifically based natural resource usage unfolded over the long term.

Arcadia, 2012, no. 20

The Nuclear Disaster of Kyshtym 1957 and the Politics of the Cold War

Thomas Rabl

In 1957 the third most severe nuclear accident in history happened in the Southern Urals, at the Soviet nuclear site “Mayak” near Kyshtym. For decades, almost no information about this incident reached the Western press—thanks to the CIA’s secrecy.

Arcadia, 2012, no. 19

The Struggle with the River: Vienna and the Danube from 1500 to the Present

Severin Hohensinner

Numerous cartographic and written historical sources tell the story of the measures Vienna’s dynamic Danube riverscape underwent in an extensive effort to secure navigation between the main river arm and the city within the last 500 years.

Arcadia, 2012, no. 18

Burning Cultivation of Peatlands in Finland

Jan Kunnas

Burning cultivation of peatlands was by far the greatest source of carbon dioxide in Finland during the whole of nineteenth century and at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Explorations in Environmental History