The Burning Earth

Once upon a time all history was environmental history.

That is the first line of this well told audio by the author Sunil Amrith. I would have thought all history is environmental, even that in the making.

The author discussed many events that I have read about in some depth. The Mongol invasions for example, but I had not read discussions previously as to the changing of the land from grazing to crop production. The discussion on the Little Ice age and the possible cause being the conquest of the South American continent by the Spanish I had read about. The discussion on Nipah virus in Malaysia was interesting as it was linked, in terms of propagation, to the Hendra Virus that occurred in Brisbane in the early 2010s. Hendra caused the death of 4 people and 83 horses. Nipah bought on the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of pigs and the deaths of over 100 people. The cause? Flying Fox having to move from their natural environment due to deforestation. As a species, we change our environment at our peril.

Recommended to those with an interest in the subject.