Ted Steinberg Down To Earth Summary

Environmental historian and professor, Ted Steinberg wrote the book Down To Earth which presents American history through the lens of nature. Steinberg does an excellent job displaying the significant role nature has played throughout American history and his writing will forever change the way you perceive our country’s history. This book differs from your traditional American History books by uniquely linking historical events to their environmental counterparts. Down To Earth provides an insightful perspective on American History by highlighting the environmental impacts caused by our culture and making us question whether or not development truly meant progress. Throughout the book, Steinberg touches upon factors such as expansion, conservation, and urbanization that have all had huge impacts on the environment. In the chapter “The Unforgiving West”, Steinberg shows us how the Gold Rush sparked mass Westward expansion and the implications it had on nature and humans likewise. The Gold Rush caused many …show more content…
Even though we consider ourselves to be a highly advanced society today, I don’t think I can say that we are the better society. What this book has made me realize is that there is never a right way to structure your society that is better than all other societies. Every society is unique and has its share of benefits and drawbacks, including our own. Agrarian societies have complex ecological systems that utilize every last resource. Native American societies only took what they needed from the land to preserve nature as much as possible. Our American society today is highly driven by consumerism, technology and development, but is very wasteful and extremely tolling on the environment. Although we’d probably like to think that we are the best society, the reality is that a lot of our alleged “progress” is regressing on the