历史学家为何关心生态问题——关于中国特色环境史学理论的思考

Why do Historians Care about Ecological Issues?Thoughts on the Theory of Environmental History with Chinese Characteristics

环境生态问题关联自然科学和人文社会科学众多领域,具有空前的广域性和复杂性,长期以来文理过度割裂的“分科治学”不能适应环境保护和生态文明建设需要。环境史学者试图跨越自然与社会边界,借取多学科理论方法考察历史上人与自然关系的复杂变化,为跨越“两种文化”鸿沟、融通科技与人文搭桥铺路。中国环境史研究的主要任务,是为生态文化体系建设夯土筑基,通过不同时间尺度的历史考察,深入阐明生态文明建设的现实必要性和历史必然性。应在马克思主义人与自然关系理论和习近平生态文明思想指导下,努力树立新的历史价值观,建构中国特色环境史学思想知识体系,为生态文明建设提供历史资鉴。

Environmental and ecological issues are related to many fields of natural sciences and humanities and social sciences with unprecedented scope and complexity.The long-term“sub-disciplinary study”with excessive divide between arts and sciences cannot meet the needs of environmental protection and the construction of ecological civilization.Environmental historians attempt to cross the boundaries between nature and society,and use multidisciplinary theories to examine the complex changes in the relationship between man and nature in history,paving the way for bridging the gap between the two cultures and integrating technology with humanity.The main task of China’s environmental history research is to build a foundation for the ecological and cultural system,and to clarify the practical necessity and historical inevitability of ecological civilization construction through historical investigations at different time scales.To achieve this goal,we should strive to establish new historical values,construct a knowledge system of environmental historiography with Chinese characteristics,and provide historical resources for the construction of ecological civilization under the guidance of the Marxist relationship between man and nature and Xi Jinping’s theory of ecological civilization.