Before the New Knowledge: Traditional Views on the Environment
For much of human history, environmental changes were viewed through a lens of short-term cycles and were often attributed to natural processes, such as seasonal variations, volcanic eruptions, or weather patterns. Human impacts on the environment, though present in certain forms (like deforestation or land cultivation), were not understood on a global or long-term scale.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, as industrialization began, the dominant belief was that human progress and economic growth were aligned with exploiting natural resources—such as coal, oil, and timber—to fuel factories, urbanization, and trade. Nature was often seen as an inexhaustible resource to be controlled and tamed for human benefit, and environmental conservation was not a major concern for most of society.