@johntullyAVictorianEcologicalDisaster

Title: @johntullyAVictorianEcologicalDisaster date: 2023-03-09 type: Book Section project:

tags:: #ecology #technology projects:

Reference¶

Tully, John. “[A Victorian Ecological Disaster]: Imperialism, the Telegraph, and Gutta-Percha,” 20:559–79. 4. University of Hawai’i Press on behalf of Journal of World History, n.d. https://www-jstor-org.proxy.library.carleton.ca/stable/40542850.

Summary & Key Take Aways¶

In this article by John Tully, the impact of Gutta-Percha farming for building telegraph cables is reviewed as new communication technologies were built using the “gum” obtained from an unsustainable tree that grew in south east Asia. The tree provided a insulating material used to waterproof cables that ran deep in the ocean. It’s exploitation nearly pushed the plat to extinction in the nineteenth century, which lead to panic in the industry and created an ecological disaster, destroying tropical rain forests. The slaughter of these ecosystems amounted to a Victorian ecological disaster, where the colonial people tapped the roots that provided them with the commodities that mad the telegraphs existence possible.

Links¶

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