Summary Of Silver And Ecology

Moore, J. W. (2007). Silver, ecology, and the origins of the modern world, 1450-1640. Rethinking Environmental History: World-System History and Global Environmental Change, 123-142.

In this article, Moore aims to capture the story of how the rise of silver and its integration into the economy in the form of currency can be equated to the simultaneous rise of Capitalism. This took the early form exploitation of European lands establishing a nature-society relationship of domination. Soon afterwards, with the discovery of the America’s the exploitative tendencies of Capitalism spread overseas as well. The drive for capital through the production of silver and other goods was directly responsible for some of the most egregious environmental harm through pollution and deforestation. Silver in a way set the standard for

This article tracks the origins of non-sterling American silver flatware to the Spanish dollar, French Crowns, and American dollars and half dollars. This article can help give us an idea of what may have happened to a large portion of reales coins as well as be an interesting look into recycling of material but also the issue of global currency exchange. The use of coinage to make flatware and other products effectively means that basically that currency will be taken out of circulation forever. This also connects with a decline in the silver market within China and the making of flatware from silver coinage was a way to reduce the necessity for storage of surplus silver currency. Lastly, the article then goes into the issue of quality standards of silver and how that was connected to silver as well as flatware. Ultimately, this begs the questions, “Why does the quality of silver matter at all and how does the perceived of a metal like silver shape society's desire? Furthermore, how do these human created valuables relationship with