“The TDA (Thirlmere Defence Association)’s arguments invoked a nebulous new conception of ownership, the idea that citizens of a nation should have some say in the disposition of significant landscapes even if they held no formal title to the property in question.” The mid-1870s saw the beginning of a long drawn-out, extremely aggressive and very public encounter over the Thirlmere Waterworks project between what the press of the day would dub Manchester vs. Thirlmere. The opponents in the Manchester-Thirlmere controversy were understood as representative of two powerful and incompatible icons. On the one hand was the Lake District, symbolic of natural beauty and unspoiled countryside, legacy of England's romantic poets, and on the other was its complete antithesis - Manchester, representative of Victorian technological triumphalism, and modern industrial & commercial progress. MIT faculty and environment historian Prof. Harriet Ritvo's The Dawn of Green: Manchester, Thirlmere, and Modern Environmentalism traces the origins of the structure and polemics of modern day environmental activism to the struggle over Thirlmere in the 1870s, arguing that protests against the conversion of Thirlmere into a reservoir for the city of Manchester has served as a prototype for subsequent environmental confrontations. To me, the strength of Ritvo's argument lies in her detailed and revelatory research showcasing the numerous voices that questioned the transformation of a landscape at the behest of the prioritisation of capitalist productivity and consumption. It illuminates a moment in the history of a nation with a deeply entrenched hierarchical notion of ownership and use of land wherein a more public claim was being put forward, much to the shock and chagrin of its ruling elite. 5/5 🌟 and full review on #goodreads (link in bio) #harrietritvo #environmentalhistory #environmentalhumanities #environmentalactivism #infrastructure #urbanhistory #historyoftechnology #thirlmere #manchester #britishhistory #lakedistrict #bookstagram #historybooks #nonfictionbooks #academicbooks #bookstagramuk #bookrecommendations #bookreview #booksworthreading https://www.instagram.com/p/CRGbyd4HYeN/?utm_medium=tumblr
