Robert Suits
Biographic Data
| ID | 4367761 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Robert Suits |
| GIVEN NAMES | Robert |
| FAMILY NAME | Suits |
| SIGNATURE | SUITS R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University College London |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 5 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 5 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Climate Change and International History
The Future of (Environmental) History
In April 2023, eighteen scholars from nine different subjects representing the humanities, natural and social sciences came together for a one-day workshop at St John’s College, Durham. Despite our differences, all had one aim: the study of past environmental change and its effects on human societies. Talking across disciplinary divides, we discussed what environmental history is, how it may or may not contribute to tackling the climate crisis, a…
Estimating energy flows in the long run
This article explores the methods of a prior larger research project to understand flows in the US energy economy, quantifying energy use across American history (1800–2020). As a case study, it uses a subset of this data—agricultural energy use—to examine the methods, sources, and problems around estimating the production and consumption of energy at a national level. By combining statistical data with primary sources (like government and privat…
Hoboes, Wheat, and Climate Precarity, 1870–1922
This article explores the role of early migrant workers (“harvest hands” or “hoboes”) in the American wheat industry. It argues that the constant threat of drought and other climatic disasters created a state of climate precarity for workers. In the variable climate of the Great Plains, these disasters could not be forecast, and employers instead shunted climatic risk onto impoverished migrants, whose contracts were ad hoc, informal, and could be…
Beyond Rainmaking
Settler colonists in the nineteenth-century American West thought humans could engineer climate change. The supposed method varied: agriculturists and boosters argued that farming moderated climates, arboriculturists that forest belts humidified the air, and popular theorists that shooting the sky with artillery could shock rain out of it. This article shows that these theories gained credibility from the ways they mimicked the language and appea…
Estimating energy flows in the long run
This article explores the methods of a prior larger research project to understand flows in the US energy economy, quantifying energy use across American history (1800–2020). As a case study, it uses a subset of this data—agricultural energy use—to examine the methods, sources, and problems around estimating the production and consumption of energy at a national level. By combining statistical data with primary sources (like government and privat…
Hoboes, Wheat, and Climate Precarity, 1870–1922
This article explores the role of early migrant workers (“harvest hands” or “hoboes”) in the American wheat industry. It argues that the constant threat of drought and other climatic disasters created a state of climate precarity for workers. In the variable climate of the Great Plains, these disasters could not be forecast, and employers instead shunted climatic risk onto impoverished migrants, whose contracts were ad hoc, informal, and could be…
Hoboes, Wheat, and Climate Precarity, 1870–1922
This article explores the role of early migrant workers (“harvest hands” or “hoboes”) in the American wheat industry. It argues that the constant threat of drought and other climatic disasters created a state of climate precarity for workers. In the variable climate of the Great Plains, these disasters could not be forecast, and employers instead shunted climatic risk onto impoverished migrants, whose contracts were ad hoc, informal, and could be…
Beyond Rainmaking
Settler colonists in the nineteenth-century American West thought humans could engineer climate change. The supposed method varied: agriculturists and boosters argued that farming moderated climates, arboriculturists that forest belts humidified the air, and popular theorists that shooting the sky with artillery could shock rain out of it. This article shows that these theories gained credibility from the ways they mimicked the language and appea…
Estimating energy flows in the long run
This article explores the methods of a prior larger research project to understand flows in the US energy economy, quantifying energy use across American history (1800–2020). As a case study, it uses a subset of this data—agricultural energy use—to examine the methods, sources, and problems around estimating the production and consumption of energy at a national level. By combining statistical data with primary sources (like government and privat…
The Future of (Environmental) History
In April 2023, eighteen scholars from nine different subjects representing the humanities, natural and social sciences came together for a one-day workshop at St John’s College, Durham. Despite our differences, all had one aim: the study of past environmental change and its effects on human societies. Talking across disciplinary divides, we discussed what environmental history is, how it may or may not contribute to tackling the climate crisis, a…
Climate Change and International History
Climate change (4 works) · Geography (4 works) · Political science (3 works) · American Environmental and Regional History (2 works) · Archaeology (2 works) · Ecology (2 works) · History (2 works) · Law (2 works) · Sociology (2 works) · Agricultural economics (1 work)