Katja Bruisch
@kbruisch.bsky.social
Environmental historian at Trinity College Dublin. Author of "Burning Swamps: Peat and the Forgotten Margins of Russia's Fossil Economy" (2025) & "Als das Dorf noch Zukunft war: Agrarismus und Expertise zwischen Zarenreich und Sowjetunion" (2014).
Pinned
Katja Bruisch
@kbruisch.bsky.social
· Sep 25
📣 It's publication day! 🔥Burning Swamps🔥 is out with @universitypress.cambridge.org ! My book tells the forgotten history of peat in the context of Russia’s industrialization & electrification and points to the lingering presence of past extraction 1/5
#envhist #energysky
#envhist #energysky
Really looking forward to presenting 🔥Burning Swamps🔥 next Monday at UCL/SSEES! Thanks to @vkulikov.bsky.social for the initiative and to @eglerin.bsky.social & @robertsuits.bsky.social for agreeing to discuss my work. Join us if you happen to be in London
@uclssees.bsky.social
@uclssees.bsky.social
What happens if we tell the history of the planetary emergency from the margins? Join us for this event with @kbruisch.bsky.social, Eglė Rindzevičiūtė and @robertsuits.bsky.social to find out more.
🗓️ 17 November at 6.15pm
📍 UCL SSEES
➡️ buff.ly/zYgWn4s
@universitypress.cambridge.org
🗓️ 17 November at 6.15pm
📍 UCL SSEES
➡️ buff.ly/zYgWn4s
@universitypress.cambridge.org
November 10, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Really looking forward to presenting 🔥Burning Swamps🔥 next Monday at UCL/SSEES! Thanks to @vkulikov.bsky.social for the initiative and to @eglerin.bsky.social & @robertsuits.bsky.social for agreeing to discuss my work. Join us if you happen to be in London
@uclssees.bsky.social
@uclssees.bsky.social
Reposted by Katja Bruisch
In der neuen APuZ geht es um #Wachstum und #Wohlstand, #Degrowth, #GreenGrowth und #Ungleichheit - mit Texten von Werner Plumpe, Julia Braun, @lukasscholle.bsky.social, Ulrike Herrmann, Niko Paech sowie @cmohren.bsky.social und @moritzoder.bsky.social:
www.bpb.de/apuz/wachstu...
www.bpb.de/apuz/wachstu...
November 10, 2025 at 3:47 PM
In der neuen APuZ geht es um #Wachstum und #Wohlstand, #Degrowth, #GreenGrowth und #Ungleichheit - mit Texten von Werner Plumpe, Julia Braun, @lukasscholle.bsky.social, Ulrike Herrmann, Niko Paech sowie @cmohren.bsky.social und @moritzoder.bsky.social:
www.bpb.de/apuz/wachstu...
www.bpb.de/apuz/wachstu...
Reposted by Katja Bruisch
Congratulations to Anne O’Donnell, winner of the Ed A Hewett Book Prize for Power and Possession in the Russian Revolution with Princeton University Press.
#ASEEESPrizes
See all winners: buff.ly/qNk3PSU
@princetonupress.bsky.social
#ASEEESPrizes
See all winners: buff.ly/qNk3PSU
@princetonupress.bsky.social
November 5, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Congratulations to Anne O’Donnell, winner of the Ed A Hewett Book Prize for Power and Possession in the Russian Revolution with Princeton University Press.
#ASEEESPrizes
See all winners: buff.ly/qNk3PSU
@princetonupress.bsky.social
#ASEEESPrizes
See all winners: buff.ly/qNk3PSU
@princetonupress.bsky.social
We need a critique of AI in academic publishing. Following my decision not to sign an AI addendum to my contract with Cambridge University Press, I wrote this short essay which is now out in the Dublin Review of Books.
👇
drb.ie/move-over-fo...
👇
drb.ie/move-over-fo...
Move over for AI - DRB
Katja Bruisch writes: I recently completed a scholarly monograph – an environmental, economic and energy history of peat in imperial and Soviet Russia. After years of thinking and writing, I approache...
drb.ie
October 30, 2025 at 11:01 AM
We need a critique of AI in academic publishing. Following my decision not to sign an AI addendum to my contract with Cambridge University Press, I wrote this short essay which is now out in the Dublin Review of Books.
👇
drb.ie/move-over-fo...
👇
drb.ie/move-over-fo...
Peat on air! I got to talk with Sean and Rusana from the @euraknot.bsky.social about my book 🔥 Burning Swamps 🔥. Thanks for having me! #envhist
This week we, alongside @kbruisch.bsky.social, deep-dive into Russia's crucial fuel, imperative both in industrialization and Lenin’s Electrification campaign. As the old man put it, “Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.”
patreon.com/posts/how-peat-ussr-142174549
patreon.com/posts/how-peat-ussr-142174549
October 28, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Peat on air! I got to talk with Sean and Rusana from the @euraknot.bsky.social about my book 🔥 Burning Swamps 🔥. Thanks for having me! #envhist
Reposted by Katja Bruisch
Please join us for this event to hear more about @kbruisch.bsky.social's new book 'Burning Swamps: Peat and the Forgotten Margins of Russia’s Fossil Economy' (@universitypress.cambridge.org).
Discussants: Eglė Rindzevičiūtė and @robertsuits.bsky.social.
🗓️ 17 November at 6.15pm
➡️ buff.ly/zYgWn4s
Discussants: Eglė Rindzevičiūtė and @robertsuits.bsky.social.
🗓️ 17 November at 6.15pm
➡️ buff.ly/zYgWn4s
October 24, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Please join us for this event to hear more about @kbruisch.bsky.social's new book 'Burning Swamps: Peat and the Forgotten Margins of Russia’s Fossil Economy' (@universitypress.cambridge.org).
Discussants: Eglė Rindzevičiūtė and @robertsuits.bsky.social.
🗓️ 17 November at 6.15pm
➡️ buff.ly/zYgWn4s
Discussants: Eglė Rindzevičiūtė and @robertsuits.bsky.social.
🗓️ 17 November at 6.15pm
➡️ buff.ly/zYgWn4s
Reposted by Katja Bruisch
For the last few months I've been going through public documents, permits, and satellite images to track the largest data centers in the US.
Today I published the first story about what I've learned.
🧵
www.distilled.earth/p/these-data...
Today I published the first story about what I've learned.
🧵
www.distilled.earth/p/these-data...
These Data Centers Are Getting Really, Really Big
Gigawatt-sized data centers are becoming the new normal
www.distilled.earth
October 16, 2025 at 2:52 PM
For the last few months I've been going through public documents, permits, and satellite images to track the largest data centers in the US.
Today I published the first story about what I've learned.
🧵
www.distilled.earth/p/these-data...
Today I published the first story about what I've learned.
🧵
www.distilled.earth/p/these-data...
Reposted by Katja Bruisch
10 days left to apply for this course!
Many amazing scholars will contribute to this course, including @untamed.bsky.social, @dudleymarianna.bsky.social, Abigail Harrison Moore, Alice Owen, and @andersriel.bsky.social!
#envhist #energyhistory #envhum
Many amazing scholars will contribute to this course, including @untamed.bsky.social, @dudleymarianna.bsky.social, Abigail Harrison Moore, Alice Owen, and @andersriel.bsky.social!
#envhist #energyhistory #envhum
I am really excited to announce the call for the PhD Course in Energy Humanities!
Held at the @greenhouseuis.net from 1-5 December.
Applications are welcome until 24 October.
#envhum #envhist #energyhistory
Held at the @greenhouseuis.net from 1-5 December.
Applications are welcome until 24 October.
#envhum #envhist #energyhistory
October 15, 2025 at 6:44 AM
10 days left to apply for this course!
Many amazing scholars will contribute to this course, including @untamed.bsky.social, @dudleymarianna.bsky.social, Abigail Harrison Moore, Alice Owen, and @andersriel.bsky.social!
#envhist #energyhistory #envhum
Many amazing scholars will contribute to this course, including @untamed.bsky.social, @dudleymarianna.bsky.social, Abigail Harrison Moore, Alice Owen, and @andersriel.bsky.social!
#envhist #energyhistory #envhum
Reposted by Katja Bruisch
Fellowships for doctoral candidates or postdoctoral researchers from Poland or Ukraine for a stay of up to six months in Halle. 👇
www.aleksander-brueckner-zentrum.org/forschung/au...
www.aleksander-brueckner-zentrum.org/forschung/au...
Ausschreibungen
www.aleksander-brueckner-zentrum.org
October 15, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Fellowships for doctoral candidates or postdoctoral researchers from Poland or Ukraine for a stay of up to six months in Halle. 👇
www.aleksander-brueckner-zentrum.org/forschung/au...
www.aleksander-brueckner-zentrum.org/forschung/au...
Reposted by Katja Bruisch
It sure is! Thanks to everyone who helped me make this book. I'm reminiscing today about field trips to Orkney, Shetland & the Outer Hebrides, islands which swept me up in their windy history, and offered new perspectives on 'national' narratives & global challenges. (And plotting ways to return!)
It's Electric Wind publication day!💨
Join @dudleymarianna.bsky.social for the launch of her new book, online and at @bookhaus.bsky.social.
Details on the MUP Events page🎟️👇
A cutting-edge history of wind power in Britain from the industrial revolution to the present.
Electric Wind is out now💡
Join @dudleymarianna.bsky.social for the launch of her new book, online and at @bookhaus.bsky.social.
Details on the MUP Events page🎟️👇
A cutting-edge history of wind power in Britain from the industrial revolution to the present.
Electric Wind is out now💡
October 14, 2025 at 10:54 AM
It sure is! Thanks to everyone who helped me make this book. I'm reminiscing today about field trips to Orkney, Shetland & the Outer Hebrides, islands which swept me up in their windy history, and offered new perspectives on 'national' narratives & global challenges. (And plotting ways to return!)
Reposted by Katja Bruisch
We are hiring! Prospective PhD students in environmental history, history of science, history of technology and STS interested in the climate and environmental impacts of AI look here. Please share in your networks. #envhist #histsci #AI #anthropcoene
Open PhD position at KTH: "AI Planetary Futures: Climate and environment in Silicon Valley's AI paradigm". Apply by Oct 23! lnkd.in/dCs8eZjb
The project analyzes the climate and environmental aspects of Silicon Valley-based general-purpose AI systems developed by Big Tech companies.
The project analyzes the climate and environmental aspects of Silicon Valley-based general-purpose AI systems developed by Big Tech companies.
October 11, 2025 at 5:20 PM
We are hiring! Prospective PhD students in environmental history, history of science, history of technology and STS interested in the climate and environmental impacts of AI look here. Please share in your networks. #envhist #histsci #AI #anthropcoene
Reposted by Katja Bruisch
From the current issue: “Dams and the Deep Earth: The 1967 Koyna Earthquake and Human Agency in the Anthropocene”
by Elizabeth Chatterjee and Sachaet Pandey-Geeta Mantraraj (University of Chicago)
doi.org/10.1093/past...
by Elizabeth Chatterjee and Sachaet Pandey-Geeta Mantraraj (University of Chicago)
doi.org/10.1093/past...
Dams and the Deep Earth: The 1967 Koyna Earthquake and Human Agency in the Anthropocene*
Abstract. On 11 December 1967, a large earthquake devastated the village of Koynanagar in Maharashtra, western India. Many blamed the new Koyna hydroelectr
doi.org
October 8, 2025 at 7:07 AM
From the current issue: “Dams and the Deep Earth: The 1967 Koyna Earthquake and Human Agency in the Anthropocene”
by Elizabeth Chatterjee and Sachaet Pandey-Geeta Mantraraj (University of Chicago)
doi.org/10.1093/past...
by Elizabeth Chatterjee and Sachaet Pandey-Geeta Mantraraj (University of Chicago)
doi.org/10.1093/past...
Reposted by Katja Bruisch
Generative AI, in both form and content, and whether looked on favourably or critically, seems to embody a collective hopelessness about the prospect of human learning and creativity, if not human knowledge altogether. It’s as if climate change had fans.
October 9, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Generative AI, in both form and content, and whether looked on favourably or critically, seems to embody a collective hopelessness about the prospect of human learning and creativity, if not human knowledge altogether. It’s as if climate change had fans.
Reposted by Katja Bruisch
Three excellent readings on electricity from this week's "Energy & Power in the Modern World" - case studies from Latin America, Africa & Asia which complicate narratives based on Western cases.💡⚡ Students also liked the texts for the different ways in which they present a historical argument 👇
October 8, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Three excellent readings on electricity from this week's "Energy & Power in the Modern World" - case studies from Latin America, Africa & Asia which complicate narratives based on Western cases.💡⚡ Students also liked the texts for the different ways in which they present a historical argument 👇
Reposted by Katja Bruisch
Dear colleagues, we drafted an open letter to the conference of German federal ministers of education asking for a reform of the Privatdozentur, that stage in a German academic's career where your work is not paid - a situation that can easily extend over years.
Petition unterschreiben
An die Bildungsministerkonferenz: Schluss mit dem Prekariat der Privatdozent:innen!
chng.it
October 9, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Dear colleagues, we drafted an open letter to the conference of German federal ministers of education asking for a reform of the Privatdozentur, that stage in a German academic's career where your work is not paid - a situation that can easily extend over years.
Three excellent readings on electricity from this week's "Energy & Power in the Modern World" - case studies from Latin America, Africa & Asia which complicate narratives based on Western cases.💡⚡ Students also liked the texts for the different ways in which they present a historical argument 👇
October 8, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Three excellent readings on electricity from this week's "Energy & Power in the Modern World" - case studies from Latin America, Africa & Asia which complicate narratives based on Western cases.💡⚡ Students also liked the texts for the different ways in which they present a historical argument 👇
Reposted by Katja Bruisch
It's the official publication day for ETHANOL: A HEMISPHERIC HISTORY FOR THE FUTURE OF BIOFUELS. Want to know why the US turns 40 percent of the corn crop into fuel? How the US and Brazil became the world's two largest ethanol producers? Tom Rogers and I have answers.
www.oupress.com/978080619601...
www.oupress.com/978080619601...
Ethanol - University of Oklahoma Press
Though ethanol, a liquid fuel made from agricultural byproducts, has generated controversy in recent years—good or bad for the environment? a big-ag boon o...
www.oupress.com
October 7, 2025 at 7:07 PM
It's the official publication day for ETHANOL: A HEMISPHERIC HISTORY FOR THE FUTURE OF BIOFUELS. Want to know why the US turns 40 percent of the corn crop into fuel? How the US and Brazil became the world's two largest ethanol producers? Tom Rogers and I have answers.
www.oupress.com/978080619601...
www.oupress.com/978080619601...
Reposted by Katja Bruisch
Fossil Fuel Empire: The Environment of Post-2022 Russia and the Kremlin’s Threat to Domestic and Global Stability and Sustainability www.greenpeace.org/internationa...
Fossil Fuel Empire: The Environment of Post-2022 Russia and the Kremlin’s Threat to Domestic and Global Stability and Sustainability - Greenpeace International
A groundbreaking report created from outside Russia following a Kremlin crackdown on civil society following the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine shows Russia is locked in a spiral toward terminal ...
www.greenpeace.org
October 6, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Fossil Fuel Empire: The Environment of Post-2022 Russia and the Kremlin’s Threat to Domestic and Global Stability and Sustainability www.greenpeace.org/internationa...
Reposted by Katja Bruisch
This new study in Nature provides a comprehensive update to the "doughnut" framework.
October 6, 2025 at 4:05 PM
This new study in Nature provides a comprehensive update to the "doughnut" framework.
Reposted by Katja Bruisch
@corinnegeering.bsky.social, @immorebitschek.bsky.social und Timm Schönfelder im aktuellen Heft 4/2024: Introduction to the Special Issue. Resources in Use: Visions and Practices in Late Imperial Russia and the Early Soviet Union
#JahrbücherJGO
doi.org/10.25162/jgo...
#JahrbücherJGO
doi.org/10.25162/jgo...
October 2, 2025 at 7:49 AM
@corinnegeering.bsky.social, @immorebitschek.bsky.social und Timm Schönfelder im aktuellen Heft 4/2024: Introduction to the Special Issue. Resources in Use: Visions and Practices in Late Imperial Russia and the Early Soviet Union
#JahrbücherJGO
doi.org/10.25162/jgo...
#JahrbücherJGO
doi.org/10.25162/jgo...
Reposted by Katja Bruisch
And today is that day ✨ Today we start a new journey with the launch of Germinate! @g-ehr.bsky.social is an open-access, digital publication of the American Society for Environmental History (ASEH)
October 1, 2025 at 2:28 PM
And today is that day ✨ Today we start a new journey with the launch of Germinate! @g-ehr.bsky.social is an open-access, digital publication of the American Society for Environmental History (ASEH)
What is at stake when we write Environmental History? And what is the right story? I used texts by Ted Steinberg, Stefania Barca & Erik Loomis' review of Sunil Amrith's "The Burning Earth" to discuss these questions with our M.Phil students last week. Can only recommend! #envhist
September 30, 2025 at 8:58 AM
What is at stake when we write Environmental History? And what is the right story? I used texts by Ted Steinberg, Stefania Barca & Erik Loomis' review of Sunil Amrith's "The Burning Earth" to discuss these questions with our M.Phil students last week. Can only recommend! #envhist
Reposted by Katja Bruisch
Some of you will know that I recently got funding for a project on Nitrogen in society. I am here making my application accessible for others who are thinking about applying for funding—plus some background on the funding programme and a few tips.
wondrousmachine.substack.com/p/more-and-l...
wondrousmachine.substack.com/p/more-and-l...
More and Less: Mutable Economies of Nitrogen I
An open-access grant application in German and English
wondrousmachine.substack.com
September 27, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Some of you will know that I recently got funding for a project on Nitrogen in society. I am here making my application accessible for others who are thinking about applying for funding—plus some background on the funding programme and a few tips.
wondrousmachine.substack.com/p/more-and-l...
wondrousmachine.substack.com/p/more-and-l...
Reposted by Katja Bruisch
For those in London on 17 Nov 2025: please join us for a book talk at @uclssees.bsky.social. @eglerin.bsky.social and @robertsuits.bsky.social have read the book and will share their comments. Register here: www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...
Burning Swamps: Peat and the Forgotten Margins of Russia’s Fossil Economy
A Rethinking Eastern Europe and Eurasia seminar with Katja Bruisch, Eglė Rindzevičiūtė and Robert Suits
www.ucl.ac.uk
September 26, 2025 at 2:41 PM
For those in London on 17 Nov 2025: please join us for a book talk at @uclssees.bsky.social. @eglerin.bsky.social and @robertsuits.bsky.social have read the book and will share their comments. Register here: www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...
10yo is right to ask why my book is some 110 Euros more expensive than the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I can’t get my head around this either, but I just received a discount code valid until 30 September. Use BRUISCHK25 to get 20% off. Greg’s next adventure will still be cheaper, I fear👇
September 26, 2025 at 7:39 AM
10yo is right to ask why my book is some 110 Euros more expensive than the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I can’t get my head around this either, but I just received a discount code valid until 30 September. Use BRUISCHK25 to get 20% off. Greg’s next adventure will still be cheaper, I fear👇