State, Science and the Skies: Governmentalities of the British Atmosphere (RGS-IBG Book Series)

Utilizing environmental archival materials from the UK, State, Science and the Skies presents a groundbreaking historical account of the development of a state science of atmospheric pollution. Offers the most extensive historical and geographical account of atmospheric government and pollution in Britain, available todayPresents archival material from 150 years of British history that represents an original contribution to our knowledge of the history of science and governmentDevelops an innovative combination of Foucauldian history of government with a history of atmospheric scienceRaises crucial questions about the nature of state/science relations and the conditions under which environmental knowledge is produced

Contemporary concerns regarding climate change, the destruction of the ozone layer, and increased anxieties of the health risks associated with particulate air pollution, highlight the crucial importance of understanding what is happening in our atmosphere. This timely volume asserts that to comprehend contemporary atmospheric knowledge systems requires an examination of the spatial histories of the sciences and political regimes that have shaped systems of air government.

Focusing exclusively on the UK, the volume weaves together the tales of 19th-century urban smoke observers, early 20th-century visitors to clean-air exhibitions, and modern atmospheric scientists in order to reveal why we know certain things about the qualities of the air we breathe and how this knowledge has shaped collective relations with the atmosphere. In charting this history this volume combines Foucauldian-inspired accounts of the history of government with relevant works on the sociology of scientific knowledge. Utilizing extensive archival materials and informed by scholarly analysis, this groundbreaking work presents the first historical account of the development of a state science of atmospheric pollution.

State, Science and the Skies......Page 6 Contents......Page 10 List of Figures and Tables......Page 11 Series Editors’ Preface......Page 14 Preface......Page 15 Acknowledgements......Page 17 List of Abbreviations......Page 19 1 Introduction: Space, History and the Governing of Air Pollution......Page 22 2 Historical Geographies of Science and Government: Exploring the Apparatus of Atmospheric Knowledge Acquisition......Page 30 3 Science, Sight and the Optics of Air Government......Page 58 4 Governing Air Conduct: Exhibition, Examination and the Cultivation of the Atmospheric Self......Page 88 5 Instrumentation and the Sites of Atmospheric Monitoring......Page 115 6 A National Census of the Air: Spatial Science, Calculation and the Geo-Coding of the Atmosphere......Page 147 7 Automating the Air: Atmospheric Simulations and Digital Beings......Page 177 8 Environmental Governmentalities and the Ecological Coding of the British Atmosphere......Page 201 9 Conclusion: Learning Like a State in an Age of Atmospheric Change......Page 231 Notes......Page 256 References......Page 275 Index......Page 287 Introduction : space, history and the governing of air pollution Historical geographies of science and government : exploring the apparatuses of atmospheric knowledge production Science, sight and the optics of air government Governing air conduct : exhibition, examination and the cultivation of the atmospheric self Instrumentation and the sites of atmospheric monitoring A national census of the air : spatial science, calculation and the geo-coding of the atmosphere Automating the air : atmospheric simulations and digital beings Environmental governmentalities and the ecological coding of the British atmosphere Conclusion : learning like a state in an age of atmospheric change.