Alexander von Humboldt and the Beginning of the Environmental Movement

• Main Author: Engelhard Weigl
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: Universität Potsdam 2001-04-01
• Series: HiN - Alexander von Humboldt im Netz. Internationale Zeitschrift für Humboldt-Studien
• Subjects: Alexander von Humboldt; Engelhard Weigl; Climate change; Jean-Baptiste Boussingault; Venezuela
• Online Access: http://www.uni-potsdam.de/u/romanistik/humboldt/hin/weigl-hin2.htm

Article in English, Abstracts in English and German.In the middle of the 19th century the question whether expanding civilization and industrialization had an effect on climate was discussed intensely worldwide. It was feared that increasing deforestation would lead to continuous decrease in rainfall. This first scientific discussion about climate change as the result of human intervention was strongly influenced by the research Alexander von Humboldt and Jean-Baptiste Boussingault had undertaken when they investigated the falling water levels of Lake Valencia in Venezuela. This essay aims to clarify the question whether Alexander von Humboldt can be counted among the leading figures of modern environmentalism on account of this research as is being claimed by Richard H. Grove in his influential book Green Imperialism. Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island Edens and Origins of Environmentalism, 1600-1860 (1995).