7/30/2019 Artical Review

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Shuyang Zhao

Professor Keating

Environmental History

Article Review

In the article, the weirdest of all undertakings: the land and the early industrial

revolution in Oldham, England, the author Matthew Osborn describes and analyzes the great

transformation of the ecology of Oldham and the role that market economy plays in the

commodification of nature. Borrowing the title from the book, the Great Transformation, bythe economist and social critic Karl Polanyi, Osborn focuses on Polanyis idea of the

subordination of social concern to economic concern. Osborn notes the differences between the

industrial transformation of Oldham and some of the other English towns by pointing out that the

harvest of timber and the extraction of the natural resources in Oldham were first started by the

gentry and that it was only until later when the land was sold to coal miners and industrial

capitalists for further exploitation. Osborn also makes the keen observation that the

transformation of Oldham into an industrial town was a gradual, step-by-step process, which

began with the timber felling for the purpose of making profit. In the early days of Oldham,

when it was still an agrarian community, natural resources were carefully managed and

conserved, and the land was mainly used for the purpose of subsistence. However, with the swift

arrival of advanced technology and means of transportation, the town began to gradually open

itself up to external influences. The discovery of the abundant supply of coals under the ground

of Oldham, as the author emphasizes, was one of the important factors that led to the expansion

of commerce and the division of labor that were detrimental to the traditional agrarian use of the

land. The trading network was then greatly facilitated by the construction of turnpikes and

canals, and the previously inaccessible areas of dense forests in Oldham were made accessible.

Osborn makes a significant point about the different attitude of the past and the present owner of

the estates in Oldham toward nature that the old land-owning elites treated nature with kindness

and care while the new owners saw the forests and resources as commodities for sale. This is animportant distinction between the aristocrat and the capitalists view of nature. The final nail to

the coffin of the preservation of Oldhams natural state was the acquirement of the Parliament

Act of Enclosure by the new owners of Oldham that profoundly changed the inhabitants

interaction with the environment by forbidding them to use resources freely and enclosing

parcels of land for profit-making and selling products to the capitalist market.