"An Interesting Geographical Change" : Hedin, Stein and Huntington's surveys of climate change

Abstract

Studying the contribution of the lakes of Central Asia to the discovery of global warming must touch on science policy in the early 20th century, the uneasy relationship that learned Europe used to have with the environmental history of colonial Asia, and the production and mobility of new and potentially troubling knowledge. I intend to provide an account of how three independent scholars engaged the Royal Geographical Society of London and the international geography community. I will intertwine their maps, private letters, travelogues and scientific reports from the field with the history of theorizing on climate change. My analysis of Sven Hedin, Ellsworth Huntington and Aurel Stein's interactions with their colleagues promises to challenge the current narrative on the discovery of global warming.