The devastation of sea otters in the American Northwest: a look from eco global history and criminology (18th and 21st Centuries)

Abstract

This study deals with a socio-environmental catastrophe: the devastation of sea otters in the North Pacific by the conversion of their skins into valuable commodities in international trade during the 18th and 19th centuries. This is just one case, but throughout history many ecological harms have been caused by human activities. It is true that they have not occurred deliberately and that, in many cases, they occurred without there being a clear awareness of what was happening; today, however, we do know that many human activities disrupt the environment, and we also know that continuing along this path, life, as we know it today, in all its biodiversity, will disappear. With this concern in mind, we have come together to study some of these processes from conservation biology, green criminology and history to make them known and, above all, contribute to forming a critical consciousness that, as far as possible, contributes to the avoidance of new ecological disasters.