Natural resources are rarely alone a sufficient reason for declaring war. Nevertheless, through human history natural resources have been an important motive, target, and resource for warfare. Until recently armies lived off the land; their logistical support systems were so rudimentary that nothing else was possible. This process provides the key to much of the damage caused by wars, from pre-historic tribal wars onwards. Colonial states initiated an era of systematic global looting of natural resources that affected above all indigenous people. Industrial warfare multiplied both qualitatively and quantitatively the consumption of strategic raw materials and energy sources. Today they are targets of a global power play that cover all continents, oceans and seabed.

Existing research in urban environmental history is often characterized by a narrow viewpoint or limited material reflecting the rationalist approach typical of white, middle-aged, middle-class and educated men. This orientation risks overlooking the viewpoint of the majority of urban dwellers: ordinary men, women, children, the elderly and different ethnic groups. The article focuses on the urban environmental history of children, because childhood forms the foundation for our relationship with nature. Environmental reminiscences offer fruitful material for the study of children's urban environmental history as well as children's contemporary relationships with the urban landscape. The article integrates aspects of urban history, environmental history and evolutionary psychology.

The study examines the history of strategic decision-making concerning water protection in Helsinki, 1850-2000. We identified five major strategic decisions that occurred during the study period. The results indicate that strategic decision-making evolves in long-term policy cycles that last on average 20-30 years. New policy cycles are caused by paradigm shifts. Paradigms are shared and predominant ways of understanding reality that help when groups must act to solve common and complex environmental problems. However the internal structure and external dynamics of paradigms are contradictory. Although paradigms serve initially as means to redefine problems and find creative solutions, as time goes by each paradigm seems to become also a barrier that restricts the introduction of new ways of thinking and acting. The power of paradigms lies in the fact that they can be defined as scientific but also social, political, or cultural agreements depending on the context.