Abstract
The imminent extinction of the animals and birds of the Arctic was observed by the Finnish-Swedish scientist and explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (1832–1901) over the course of ten polar expeditions, conducted between 1858 and 1883. During the first of these, an expedition to Spitsbergen in 1858, Nordenskiöld describes in his diary how the eider hunters indiscriminately shot and plundered the eggs of the birds in their greedy pursuit of the marketable feathers. He deemed it a miracle that the bird colonies were not already facing total extermination.
Nordenskiöld was one of the first people in the nineteenth century to show concern about environmental issues in Europe. He also put forward suggestions for preventing and resolving emergent environmental problems. In other words, he was environmentally literate, in the sense that environmental literacy involves the ability to identify harmful developments in an environment, and respond with the formulation of imaginative, effective and preventative measures.
This article will explain how Nordenskiöld’s observations gradually led to the production of an essay, entitled Förslag till inrättandet af Riksparker i de nordiska länderna (A Proposal for Establishing National Parks in the Nordic Countries), published in 1880, which is considered to be one of the founding texts of modern Nordic conservation history. This article will highlight the importance of one person’s environmental literacy by revealing some of the early sources informing Nordenskiöld’s philosophy. So far, the concept of environmental literacy has only been applied in studies of the contemporary environment. Here I will be offering an experimental example of using the term in a case study with a historical perspective.
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Notes
- 1.
The notion of conservation is understood in this article as referring to protection and preservation at a very basic level. There has been plenty of debate about the terminology of preservation and conservation. In order to avoid anachronism it is not advisable to use the word ‘conservation’ because the concept had not been coined in Nordenskiöld’s time. For instance, George Catlin used expressions such as ‘preserve’, ‘preservation’ and ‘protection’ in his proposal for national parks in 1845. But, since the word ‘conservation’ is commonly used in contemporary texts, I also use it in this article when discussing the history of conservation.
- 2.
In international literature Nordenskiöld is often called Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld or Nils Nordenskiöld. However, he himself used the name Adolf Erik and his three brothers are also have the Nils as a first name: Nils Gustaf Gabriel (1830–1891), Nils Otto (1834–1916), and Nils Karl (1837–1899) – all named after their father, Nils Gustaf Nordenskiöld (1792–1866).
- 3.
The two first of Nordenskiöld’s ten Arctic expeditions went to Spitsbergen under Otto Torell’s command in 1858 and 1861. The rest were under his own command: in 1864 and 1868 to Spitsbergen, in 1870 to West Greenland, in 1872–1873 overwintering at Spitsbergen, in 1875 and 1876 to the Yenisei River in Siberia, in 1878–1880 through the Northeast Passage and around Asia and Europe and the last was a journey to West Greenland in 1883.
- 4.
There are a few biographies by, for instance, Sven Hedin (1926), Henrik Ramsay (1953), and George Kish (1973), as well as articles in scientific journals – mostly on his expeditions or cartographical collection.
- 5.
In 1809, Finland had become part of Russia following Sweden’s defeat in the war between the two countries. Finland became independent in 1917.
- 6.
The original text that I have translated is: För varje dag blir det inflytande, det senaste århundradets stora uppfinningar utöfvat på den natur, som omger oss, allt mer och mer märkbart. Den aflägsnaste landsbygd genomkorsas snart af järnvägar och telegrafer.
- 7.
The original text that I have translated is: Men det ligger derjemte något nedtryckande i känslan att våra efterkommande knappast skola kunna göra sig ett tydligt föreställning om deras fäders land.
- 8.
The original text that I have translated is: alla djur, som ej vore verkliga skadedjur, året om kunde gå trygga för jägarens lod.
- 9.
Today these books and maps are filed in the Finnish National Library and classified as one of UNESCO’s world treasures: http://www.nationallibrary.fi/services/kokoelmat/adolferiknordenskioldinkarttakokoelma.html
- 10.
In terms of numbers of whales, the harvest of baleen whales reached a peak in 1938, with a catch of 50,769 animals. The total catch, including sperm whales, reached a maximum of 65,966 in 1962. However in terms of weight, the greatest biomass (maximum total weight) of baleen whales was captured in 1931.
- 11.
Nordenskiöld’s files are at the Centre for the History of Science at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm (CHS). The diary of his expedition to Spitsbergen in 1858 is in File F02:1.
- 12.
Dutch whaling companies, which in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries sent 14,000 vessels to Svalbard, took a total of about 50,000 bowhead whales.
- 13.
Nordenskiöld’s letter to his mother, Sofia Nordenskiöld from Bell Sund, Spitsbergen, 4 July 1858, and a letter to his father, Nils Gustaf Nordenskiöld, on board of the Lindesnäs, 9 Sept. 1858, in The National Library of Finland, Manuscript Collection, Frugård letters (NLF).
- 14.
Säve’s letters to Nordenskiöld, 9 May 1882, and 2 September 1885, in CHS E01:26.
- 15.
C. Hart Merriam’s letter to A. E. Nordenskiöld, 2 April 1892, in CHS E01:16.
- 16.
C. Hart Merriam’s letter to A. E. Nordenskiöld, 2 April 1892, in CHS E01:16.
- 17.
A. E. Nordenskiöld’s letter to C. Hart Merriam, 14 May 1892, in CHS E02:5.
- 18.
Henry W. Elliott’s letter to Nordenskiöld, 15 Jan. 1880, in CHS F01b:3. Henry W. Elliott (1846–1930) was an artist, explorer, and conservationist. From 1869 to 1871 he served as an artist on the United States Geological and Geographical Surveys of the Territories under Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden. In 1880 he worked at the Smithsonian Institution.
- 19.
Henry W. Elliott’s letter to Nordenskiöld, 15 Jan. 1880, in CHS F01b:3.
- 20.
These states were Germany, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France and Russia. In a memorandum in May 1892, Nordenskiöld explained the content of his apply in February 1871 to the Foreign Minister of Sweden and Norway in which he asked for a permission to build a colony on Spitsbergen. Before the approval, the application passed the governments in Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, The Hague, London, Paris and St. Petersburg. Memorandum of A. E. Nordenskiöld in 1892, in CHS.
- 21.
Douglas’ letter to A. E. Nordenskiöld, 17 June 1896, in CHS E01:5. Ludvig Wilhelm August Douglas was the Foreign Minister of Sweden 1895–1899, Governor of Uppsala region 1893–1895 and Governor of Östergötaland region 1901–1912. Count Douglas was one of the founders of the Swedish Society of Conservation.
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Niemi, S.A. (2017). Exploring Environmental Literacy from a Historical Perspective: How Observations of the Arctic Natural Environment by a Nineteenth-Century Scholar Resulted in a Proposal for Establishing National Parks in the Nordic Countries. In: Vaz, E., Joanaz de Melo, C., Costa Pinto, L. (eds) Environmental History in the Making. Environmental History, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41085-2_4
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