Crosscurrents episode 1: "Petrocultures"

The first episode of the Crosscurrents podcast series focuses on the impact of oil on 20th-century plastic production, geopolitical conflict, and culture.

Read more about Crosscurrents episode 1: "Petrocultures"

Fish Consumption

In this chapter of their virtual exhibition “‘Commanding, Sovereign Stream’: The Neva and the Viennese Danube in the History of Imperial Metropolitan Centers,” the authors discuss how the growing population required a lot of food and fish was significant part of the city dwellers’ diets. Social stratification led to the clear division between fish commodities for the wealthy and those for poor citizens, though some kinds of fish could be popular among all dwellers, regardless of social differences.

“Commanding, Sovereign Stream”:
The Neva and the Viennese Danube in the History of Imperial Metropolitan Centers

The exhibition aims to reveal and visualize the power of mighty rivers so crucially important for the history of St. Petersburg and Vienna—the major imperial centers of continental Europe in the modern era.

Gertrud Haidvogl, Alexei Kraikovski, and Julia Lajus

About the author

Haidvogl, Gertrud

Institute of Hydrobiology and Aquatic Ecosystem Management (IHG), University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Austria

Gertrud Haidvogl studied history at the University of Vienna. She works at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, and is specialized in the history of riverine landscapes and historical changes of fish populations. Haidvogl is a member of the Center for Environmental History Vienna.

Kraikovski, Alexei

Laboratory for Environmental and Technological History at National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russia

Alexei Kraikovski graduated from St. Petersburg University and got his PhD in history from the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2005. He is Associate Professor of History and Senior Research Fellow at at the Laboratory for Environmental and Technological History at National Research University Higher School of Economics. His research interests include marine environmental history, urban history, the history of urban rivers, economic history, historical geography, and resource studies.

orcid.org/0000-0002-1355-7954

Lajus, Julia

Laboratory for Environmental and Technological History at National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russia

Julia Lajus has a Candidate of Science degree (Russian PhD degree) from the Institute for the History of Science and Technology, Russian Academy of Sciences. She is Associate Professor of History and Leading Research Fellow at at the Laboratory for Environmental and Technological History at National Research University Higher School of Economics. Her research interests include the environmental history of biological resources, especially in marine and polar areas, and the history of field sciences such as fisheries and oceanography. Julia Lajus served as the vice president of the European Society of Environmental History (ESEH) from 2011-2015.

Browse the exhibition

Gonzalez Carman, Victoria, and Maria Carman, "A Coexistence of Paradigms: Understanding Human–environmental Relations of Fishers Involved in the Bycatch of Threatened Marine Species"

Victoria Gonzalez Carman and Maria Carman focus on the interaction between a fishing community and a group of conservation experts in Brazil. They find that although fishers classify species according to their capacity to be exploited as a resource, they may also be willing to become strategic conservationists by negotiating with conservation experts to protect some of these species.

Read more about Gonzalez Carman, Victoria, and Maria Carman, "A Coexistence of Paradigms: Understanding Human–environmental Relations of Fishers Involved in the Bycatch of Threatened Marine Species"

Garcia-Lopez, Gustavo A., and Camille Antinori, "Between Grassroots Collective Action and State Mandates: The Hybridity of Multi-Level Forest Associations in Mexico"

Gustavo A. Garcia-Lopez and Camille Antinori trace and analyze the historical processes driving formation and change of Mexican inter-community forestry associations over time, drawing on survey data and in-depth case studies from two Mexican states.

Read more about Garcia-Lopez, Gustavo A., and Camille Antinori, "Between Grassroots Collective Action and State Mandates: The Hybridity of Multi-Level Forest Associations in Mexico"

Copyright Information

“The Life of Waste” was created by Simone M. Müller under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

This refers only to the text and does not include any image rights. Please click on an image to view its individual rights status.

“Abandoned Factory.” Photograph by Kerttu, 2016.

The Life of Waste

Everything is waste. Irrespective of their value, all materials and living things eventually become obsolete. At the same time, waste is life. Formerly discarded objects come to second life through reuse or recycling. Waste is one of the most complex, contested, and charged objects we humans deal with in our daily lives. The objects, texts, videos, and podcasts in this collection display the life of waste in six chapters. Historian Simone M. Müller shows how humans produce, move, and conceive of waste. Get to know the power of waste, and learn about the different mechanisms that we have found to cope with the trash in our lives.

Simone M. Müller