At what point did fresh water become a pressing problem? Before or after cholera outbreaks?

To what extent was the city's environment (and the bodies that populated it) an object of tension between advocates of the free market and advocates of state intervention? That's the basic tension that works out in British cities like London, where nearly every issue relating to environments is fought out on that terrain. Water, for example, is obviously dirty and making people sick, including massive cholera outbreaks, but there's tremendous resistance to state interventions to build things like sewers. The same is true with smoke; pollution had to be "invented" as Peter Thorsheim argued.

Also (since you haven't started answering questions yet and I want to get more in), one of the theoretical and methodological moves that I think is both interesting and important for environmental history is placing the body in direct dialogue with environments; environments are populated by bodies, after all, and I argue in some of my research that they are mutually constitutive on multiple levels. That the animus behind my first question, but I'm curious if you have any broader comments on this from your study of New York. Do you see particularly "bodily" environmental concerns, or particularly "environmental" body issues?

Tell me more about the pig battles!

Cronin's Changes in the Land made specific mention of the destruction caused by free-range pigs in New England, and resulting hostilities between Europeans and Native American communities on how to best to compensate/deal with swine damage to growing crops. How did New York City approach the issue? Was there a push for required fencing around crops, like in New England? Were farmers compensated for losses caused by scrounging pigs? Were there attempts to hem in pig range to prevent destruction?

Thanks so much for being here today, and for taking the time to answer questions!

Thanks for coming out today, professor McNeur! I wanted to re-post a question that someone asked a few weeks ago: What did the city smell like at various times? Has it changed?

Congratulations on an extremely well written book! How did you end up studying the environment of NYC? Were its environmental problems unique compared to other American cities at that time?

Hello Dr. McNeur! Thank you for coming out today.

I'd like to start off with four questions, if I may -- but please don't feel compelled to answer all of them!

1. Given the rising popularity (and, arguably, necessity) of modern urban agriculture, what lessons might we learn for today from how this matter was addressed in New York's past?

2. How did New York's experience in this direction compare with that of other "rising cities" of the era?

3. How did the fact that so much of the city was on an island impact the sort of decisions that were made where these issues are concerned?

4. What (if any) are your thoughts on Will Eisner's various New York stories? Many of them take place, or at least begin, around the time that you've described in your post above -- and often depict the struggles involved in seeing small farms and country homes gradually giving way to urban sprawl and tenement culture.

Thanks again for being here, in any event. Your book sounds terrific, and I hope to check it out once the current teaching term is over.

Elsewhere in the threat you said:

Early on when the city embraced the grid, the Commissioners decided not to plan for many parks because the rivers would provide most of the fresh air that the city needed.

Today we seem mostly to think of public parks in terms of amenities like playgrounds and places to run and exercise. I get the idea, however, from your comment, that urban elites of the early 19th century had very different ideas than we do about public space and public health.

As a 21st-century American, the idea that being on a river somehow reduces the need for urban green spaces seems nonsensical and illogical. How did 19th-century city planners see open public spaces? How did the ideas of the time of disease and public health influence this?

Do you know why the Commissioners in 1811 did not include alleys or places to put garbage/refuse in the grid plan? Were alleys not typically part of early 19th century plans? Or were the Commissioners trying to fully maximize the potential real estate of Manhattan's land by making larger lots without alleys? Was there contemporary critique of the plan for not including alleys? And do you think any of the environmental battles, like over roaming animals, could have been mitigated if alleys had been commonplace?

Sorry for all the questions within one

Manhattan is somewhat famously a bit of a high modernist monstrosity, being entirely urbanized and divided into neat, closely organized rectangles. How did this shape come to so thoroughly dominate any more organic form of development? Or am I wrong, and are there any signs in modern Manhattan of areas that resisted the 1811 organization?

Also, what sort of environmental (and social?) problems did the 1811 plan cause in implementing, if it did?

Thanks for doing an AMA! If you don't mind, what methods have been used to study the environment of Manhattan during this time period? Were there a number of scientific methods such as palynological analysis, or plant materials (seeds, etc) from excavations? Was coring and sedimentological reconstruction done? Or any isotope analysis? Or have was it the historical records that people left referencing the climate?

Hi Dr. McNeur! Environmental history is a fascinating subject, but I'd like to ask an unrelated question about New York City: I imagine that many new immigrants from places like Ireland would have spoken their native languages first with little to no English. How bilingual would New York have been during your period? Would your average 'native' New Yorker have had working knowledge of any immigrant language, or was there a cultural stigma against this? Would immigrants have learned other 'immigrant' languages, or would they have just spoken their mother tongue and English?

1. As a recipient of the George Perkins Marsh Prize, do you have any general thoughts or comments on his views, especially those relating to environmental determinism?

2. Can you suggest any graduate programs in the U.S. on environmental history that might be worth looking into? Professors? I am a self-proclaimed disciple of Cronon with an interest in writing who will be graduating at the end of this upcoming year.

This looks like a fascinating book which I look forward to reading. Thank you for the AMA.

What environmental history works have most influenced you?

I might be a little late but I hope you could find time to answer one more question. I was reading a comment in this thread that talked about the encroachment on farm land surrounding Manhattan as the city expanded and the shortages of housing. To what extent had the idea of building up rather than out started in antebellum Manhattan? Was it too early for it to be technologically/economically feasible? Was it even considered?