Georgetown Environmental History invites you to attend the next Environment and History Research Seminar (EaHRS) event, which features the work of Professor Abigail Agresta of George Washington University. Professor Agresta will be presenting research from her current book project about natural disaster response and Christian identity in late medieval Valencia.

Date: Monday, September 30, 2019, 2:00-3:30 pm. 

Place: Intercultural Center (ICC) 662, Georgetown University, 3700 O st. NW Washington DC, 20057.

Title: "Improvements, by God's Mercy:" Natural Disaster Response and Christian Identity in Late Medieval Valencia.

Abstract: In this talk Dr. Agresta will discuss her current book project, God, Humans, and Nature in Late Medieval Valencia. The book is an analysis of the relationship between God, human beings, and nature, as imagined by the Christian rulers of the religiously mixed city. Based on archival research on Valencia's municipal records from the fourteenth century to the early sixteenth, the book argues that the governing elite moved from a fairly technocratic approach to the environment in the fourteenth century to an overwhelmingly religious one by the mid-fifteenth. This shift away from infrastructure and toward ritual reflected the city's changing relationship with its own Christianity and its crusading past. Reversing the traditional narrative of technological progress, the book shows how religious concerns shaped the governance of the environment in a multi-faith context, with implications for the history of both religion and environment in the pre-modern period.

If you plan to attend and would like a copy of the pre-circulated chapter associated with this presentation, please email Natascha Otoya (nd515@georgetown.edu) or Dylan Proctor (dap129@georgetown.edu).

Georgetown Environmental History invites you to attend an interdisciplinary lecture on volcanic eruptions and climate history by leading dendro-climatologist Kevin Anchukaitis of the University of Arizona's Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. 

Date: Tuesday, September 17, 2019, 12:30-2:00 pm.

Place: 239 Regents, Georgetown University, 3700 O st. NW Washington DC, 20057.

Title: Fimbulwinter, Yaxche, and Armageddon: Volcanic Impacts on Climate and Society

Abstract: Volcanic eruptions are the most important influence on the climate of the Common Era prior to the anthropogenic rise in atmospheric CO2. Large eruptions cause widespread cooling of surface temperatures and changes to the hydrological cycle, but substantial disagreements still exists between climate model simulations of these effects and paleoclimate reconstructions of Earth history.  In this talk I describe the physical mechanisms behind the climate influence of volcanic eruptions and how the timing and magnitude of their impacts can be studied using the annual rings of trees.  Tree-ring reconstructions of past temperature and rainfall reveal the spatial and temporal climate fingerprint of these eruptions, but also highlight disagreements and uncertainties especially for large eruptions in the 6th, 13th, and 15th century.  Finally, I review recent scholarship linking volcanic eruptions to societal change via climate disruptions and highlight the challenges and opportunities for collaboration between historians and paleoclimatologists.

Lunch will be included. If you plan to attend please email Professor Timothy Newfield (tpn11@georgetown.edu) or Professor Dagomar Degroot (dd865@georgetown.edu) so that they may include you in the lunch order.