Nineteenth-Century Climate Change: Atmosphere, Culture and Romanticism

This project investigates the cultural history of climate change. It identifies a formative moment in this history, the early nineteenth century in Britain, when the modern sciences of atmosphere first came into being and when atmosphere and weather became newly central to Romantic art and literature. Climate was a central mechanism for representing and understanding how these disparate scientific and artistic activities belonged to a common cultural field. Because atmosphere was positioned as a medium of culture in this way, cultural changes could then be seen to lead to climatic changes. By shedding new light on these historical links between climate and culture, my project re-engages the humanities with the climate change debate today.