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The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand
Volume XII, 2020

harmful human-made climate change. He turned away from the idea that
“the world is made for man” and insisted that “everything is interaction and
reciprocal (Wulf, Andrea, 2015: 59).” Humboldt came up with the idea that

nature is a web of life and described Earth as a living organism. For him, everything
was part of the “never-ending activity of animated forces”. Nature was a “living
7
whole” (“belebtes Naturganzes”), where organisms were bound together in a
net-like complex fabric. Everything hangs together. When nature is perceived as
a web, its vulnerability also becomes obvious. Humboldt warned that meddling
with the environment could lead to unforeseeable impacts as a chain reaction on
the “future generations.”

Recently, in 2012, researchers used his measurements and reports from
Chimborazo to demonstrate how the mountain had changed in the last 210 years.
They found that there has been a big loss in the biodiversity due to climate change
and the expansion of farming. The comparisons showed the mountain’s glacier
had diminished by around 450 meters, while plants have migrated upward by
as much as 500 meters.
8

Humboldt inspired Latin America

Humboldt was a good mapmaker. His detailed maps and descriptions
of the nature and people of Latin America encouraged those in the Spanish
colonies to stand up with self-confidence and pride in their own identities
against their colonial masters. The map of Latin America today can be traced
back to Humboldt’s contribution. In his eyes, all people are equal and he reported
in his writing that the Incas, Aztecs and the Maya were advanced and equal to
any people in Europe, Africa or Asia. His investigations of colonialism, indigenous
languages and his use of local names boosted a sense of national identity. Later

he met Simón Bolívar in Paris and discussed the liberation of the colonies.
Bolívar, who afterwards led Latin-American nations to independence from

7 Ibid. 245, “Eine allgemeine Verkettung nicht in einfacher linearer Richtung, sondern in netzartig
verschlugnenem Gewebe”. In: Humboldt, Alexander von, Kosmos, Entwurf einer physischen
Weltbeschreibung, 1845-50, 1, 34.
8 Radford, Tim, Ecuador’s plants head uphill to escape warmth. In: Climate News Network,
20 September, 2015, https://climatenewsnetwork.net/ecuadors-plants-head-uphill-to-escape-
warmth/ [cited 17.12.2019]

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