My name is Jeremy L. Caradonna and I am an associate professor of history at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Before moving to Canada in 2007, I studied history at The Johns Hopkins University, splitting my time between Baltimore, Paris, and a number of provincial French towns.

Moving backwards in time, I attended the University of Southern California and The University of Washington as an undergraduate student. I grew up in Seattle, Washington, where I was raised by ex-New Yorkers who escaped the East Coast in the hopes of finding a better life.

As a professional historian, my research deals with two areas of focus. The first area is early modern European history (with an emphasis on French cultural and intellectual history). The second area is environmental history and the history and practice of sustainability. I have written and published on the following subjects: participation in the European Enlightenment, the political culture of Old Regime and Revolutionary France, the history of suicide, the history of deforestation, and the concept of public opinion in European history. My first book--The Enlightenment in Practice--appeared in 2012 with Cornell University Press. It broadens our understanding of the nature and impact of the European Enlightenment via an analysis of public involvement in intellectual life and the use of 'crowd-sourcing' by the French state.

In recent years I have shifted the focus of my research toward the history of environmentalism, sustainability, and environmental consciousness. I recently completed a paper on the history of deforestation that is set to appear in a collection of essays in 2012. In the past couple of years I have also organized new courses on the history of environmental consciousness and the history, concept, and practice of sustainability. Some of the questions I'm interested in include the following: When and how did the concept of "the environment" and "environmental problems" appear in the Western world? What conditions made possible the conservationism of the 19th and early 20th centuries? How do we historicize modern environmentalism? What is sustainability and where did the concept come from? What does it enable or preclude?

Currently, I am working on a history of sustainability that is geared toward a broad public audience.

In addition to my work in the classroom, I am also active in issues relating to sustainability and alternative fuels. In past years, I have worked on political campaigns and helped establish a biodiesel fueling station. Currently, I am serving on an academic committee that is tasked with integrating sustainability into university curricula. 

As a researcher, citizen, and educator, I believe that active participation in public venues of intellectual and critical exchange is crucial to the well-being of a functional democracy. I strongly support the idea of deliberative democracy--that is, the idea that progressive change and a well-informed citizenry requires places (physical or digital) in which to exchange ideas and voice opinions. Moreover, I believe that cultural and environmental issues must be approached from an historical perspective; how do we know where to go if we don't know where we've been?