Thierry Gaillard
Quand les Grecs et les Romains luttaient contre la pollution durant l’Antiquité / Here’s how Ancient Greeks and Romans grappled with environmental damage
Les enjeux environnementaux sont au cœur des préoccupations actuelles, mais l’idée que les activités humaines peuvent détériorer la nature n’est pas nouvelle. Dès l’Antiquité, les Grecs et les Romains avaient déjà conscience des dommages causés à leur environnement. Des figures comme Pline l’Ancien ou Vegetius ont décrit les effets néfastes de la pollution de l’air et de l’eau, des réalités concrètes qui menaçaient à la fois la santé publique et les écosystèmes.
Des chercheurs comme Konstantine Panegyres, de l’Université de Melbourne, dans un article de The Conversation, revisitent ces textes pour mieux comprendre comment ces civilisations anciennes ont réagi face à la dégradation environnementale. Ce retour aux sources historiques permet de faire des parallèles pertinents avec les crises écologiques actuelles et de tirer des leçons sur la gestion de la pollution.
Lien vers l’article: https://www.science-et-vie.com/science-et-culture/archeologie/quand-les-grecs-et-les-romains-luttaient-contre-la-pollution-durant-lantiquite-182498.html
Today the perilous state of the environment is often in the news. Many stories describe how Earth is being damaged by human beings and discuss ways to prevent this.
These concerns are not new. Millennia ago, people in ancient Greece and Rome already knew humans were damaging the natural world. Literature from these ancient times contains many references to the environment and the harms it suffers.
Many of these insights ring true today. Polluting the soil we farm, air we breathe and water we drink has clear repercussions. We can only degrade the environment for so long before it will come back to haunt us.
So let’s explore what the ancient Greeks and Romans can teach us about nature and our place in the world.
An agent of destruction
The ancient Roman writer Pliny the Elder, who lived in the first century AD, was concerned about the way human beings were abusing Earth. In his work titled Natural History, he wrote:
We taint the rivers and the elements of nature, and the air itself, which is the main support of life, we turn into a medium for the destruction of life.
He thought of the planet as something humanity ought to protect rather than harm, because we owe our existence to mother Earth:
« It is my pleasant duty first of all to champion Earth’s cause and to support her as the parent of all things. »
Link to the article: https://theconversation.com/the-waters-become-corrupt-the-air-infected-heres-how-ancient-greeks-and-romans-grappled-with-environmental-damage-236680
