Although ‘Anthropocene’ is a relatively new term, the idea of anthropogenic environmental change has a long, rich, and underappreciated history. This study traces the development of a narrative of human-caused climate change in southern France in the first half of the nineteenth century that mirrored today’s rhetoric of the Anthropocene, and it exposes the interplay of social and environmental forces in the establishment of this narrative. Drawing on natural archives and instrumental data as well as traditional archival sources and contrasting these indices with literature on Alpine flooding from the period, it maps French intellectual environmental perceptions against the realities of climate and weather in early nineteenth-century Provence. In this context, concerns about humans’ influence on the climate stemmed less from actual climate change than from major social transformations, which made inhabitants of Provence increasingly aware of and susceptible to environmental forces, and flooding in particular. Through this case study, the paper exposes the importance of recognizing and accounting for human perceptions in charting environmental change. It also contributes to environmental history by identifying late Little Ice Age conditions in Mediterranean France, and it reaffirms the value of an interdisciplinary, integrative approach to the study of climate change.

中文翻译：

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创造人类世：19 世纪法国的环境焦虑和气候现实

尽管“人类世”是一个相对较新的术语，但人为环境变化的概念有着悠久、丰富且未被充分认识的历史。本研究追溯了 19 世纪上半叶法国南部人为气候变化叙事的发展，该叙事反映了当今人类世的修辞，并揭示了社会和环境力量在建立这种叙事过程中的相互作用。它利用自然档案和仪器数据以及传统档案来源，并将这些指数与该时期有关高山洪水的文献进行对比，将法国知识分子环境感知与 19 世纪早期普罗旺斯的气候和天气现实进行对比。在这种情况下，对人类对气候影响的担忧与其说是源于实际的气候变化，不如说是源于重大的社会变革，这使得普罗旺斯的居民越来越意识到并容易受到环境力量的影响，尤其是洪水。通过这个案例研究，本文揭示了在绘制环境变化图表时识别和解释人类感知的重要性。它还通过确定法国地中海晚期小冰河时代的条件为环境史做出了贡献，并重申了跨学科、综合方法研究气候变化的价值。该文件揭示了在绘制环境变化图表时认识和考虑人类感知的重要性。它还通过确定法国地中海晚期小冰河时代的条件为环境史做出了贡献，并重申了跨学科、综合方法研究气候变化的价值。该文件揭示了在绘制环境变化图表时认识和考虑人类感知的重要性。它还通过确定法国地中海晚期小冰河时代的条件为环境史做出贡献，并重申了跨学科、综合方法研究气候变化的价值。