Abstract

PollSTEAM investigates the environmental impact of the transition from sail to steam, focusing on the air pollution produced by steamships in European ports between the 1830s and the 1920s. Adopting an environmental history perspective, the project re-examines a process traditionally studied primarily in technological and economic terms, demonstrating how the use of coal transformed the urban environment, working conditions and the health of seafarers.

By comparing Genoa and Glasgow – two major ports characterised by different rates of maritime industrialisation – PollSTEAM analyses six interlinked dimensions: the growth of steam-powered traffic; policies for controlling emissions in ports; public perception of pollution prior to the emergence of a codified environmentalist discourse; the socio-economic transformations of waterfronts; the identities and demands of maritime workers, with particular attention to stokers; and the relationship between exposure to coal smoke, mortality and respiratory diseases.

At the heart of the project lies the hypothesis that, as early as the late nineteenth century, the maritime trade union movement was already articulating demands relating to health and environmental working conditions. Stokers, who were particularly exposed to heat, smoke and combustion residues, provide a prime case study in this regard.

PollSTEAM combines Italian and British archival sources, quantitative analysis and qualitative discourse analysis, bringing together environmental, labour, technological, urban and medical history. The findings will be incorporated into academic publications, educational activities and third-mission initiatives, helping to reconstruct the historical roots of the relationship between fossil fuels, the port environment and health.