HISTORY 320

ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES

FALL 2009

 

Class Hours:    MW 4:00-5:15

Classroom:      Converse 213

Instructor:       Dr. Jeffrey Nichols

Office:             Foster Hall 417

Email:              jnichols@westminstercollege.edu

Phone:             832-2392

Office Hours:  T,W,Th 11-12, 1-2

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course explores how men and women have acted upon the land in what is now the United States, how the land has acted upon them, and how they have thought about those actions.  How have the land and its resources shaped how we live?  How has the way we view the land changed over time?  How have we changed the earth, and what are the consequences?

 

ADA COMPLIANCE POLICY

Westminster College seeks to provide equal access to the college’s programs, services, and activities to people with disabilities as defined by the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.  If you have a disability for which you will need accommodations in this class, please let me know as soon as possible.  You will also be required to provide documentation of your disability to the Services for Students with Disabilities Program in the START Center in Carleson Hall at 832-2280.

 

COURSE EXPECTATIONS/GRADING CRITERIA

Journal:                                                                                    20%

Discussion (includes personal environmental history):           20%

Midterm examination:                                                             20%

Final examination:                                                                   20%

County wilderness history:                                                     20%

 

JOURNALS: You will keep a journal (handed in each Wednesday). The journal counts for 20% of your grade and must be typed.  I will hand these back on the following Monday. 

Included in this journal will be analysis/comments/evaluations on assigned readings, lectures, and films, as well as in- and out-of-class activities of the previous week.  You should record your course-related thoughts, observations, personal insights, and other relevant comments. 

The goal of the journal is to encourage you to think in ways that facilitate analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. You will be evaluated on the quality, not just the quantity of your journal entries, although I expect that you will make entries based on all of the readings, lectures, films, discussions, research project, and other class materials.  You will, of course, not be punished for disagreement or comments that indicate opinions that differ from those of the authors, your classmates, or the instructor.

 

Suggested Format for Your Journal:

Journal entry date:

            Reading notes

                        Reading title:

                        Reactions/analysis/comments/questions:

Did the author present information new to you?  Did you agree or disagree with it (that is, did the author adequately support his/her arguments with persuasive evidence)?  If so, how? 

 

Film notes

                        Film title/production information:

                        What was the film’s subject?  How did it make its points?

                        Reactions/analysis/comments/questions:

Did the director/writer present information new to you?  Did you agree or disagree with it?  If so, how? 

 

Class lecture/discussion notes

                        What went on?

                        What were the main points of the lecture/discussion?

                        Did the lecture/discussion raise any questions in your mind?

                        Were there any points of agreement?  Disagreement?

                        Were there any unanswered questions?

                        Additional reactions/analysis/comments?

  

            County history

                        What did you and the team work on this week?

                        What problems have you encountered?

                        What is the next step(s)?

 

Synthesis and evaluation

            How do readings/lectures/films/discussions relate to:

            Information you have previously learned?  Your other courses?  Your experience?

            What other information would you like to study to make this topic more useful?

DISCUSSION

Discussion is encouraged at all times in class.  Every Monday, each of you will come to class with a current news item about an environmental issue in America that you find in a newspaper, magazine, online site, etc.  In addition, on Wednesdays (usually) we will discuss the week's readings, films, lectures, and speakers.  Each of you should be prepared to lead the discussion on any day.  Each of you will come to class with at least one typewritten question or comment for discussion for EACH READING (at least 5 when the assigned reading is an entire book), and will turn those questions in to me at the end of the discussion period.  Each of you will also find and bring to class a primary source that relates to the week’s topic.

Part of your discussion grade will be your “personal environmental history”:

Source: Carolyn Merchant, http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/departments/espm/env-hist/espm160/assignments/personal_history.html

“Write an essay of 3-4 double spaced typed pages reflecting on your personal environmental history. In formulating your response, consider the following: Going back to your grandparents’, parents’, and your own generations, characterize the environments in which they and you have lived. Where were they located? What natural resources sustained your families and their communities? To what extent were those environments "natural" or human-made, native or exotic (that is, transformed by European or other non-native species)? How have your families helped to transform their environments? Does your own ethnic and class heritage or gender play a role in the way you and your family have related to and valued the environment? How did the relationships your grandparents and parents had with their environments differ from the ones you have had in the past and wish to have in the future?”

Due: Wednesday, 23 September

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COUNTY WILDERNESS HISTORY

 

This is discussed in class, and in handouts throughout the semester.

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REQUIRED BOOKS

Carolyn Merchant, Major Problems in American Environmental History

William Cronon, Changes in the Land

Donald Worster, Dust Bowl

Chip Ward, Canaries on the Rim

Hal Rothman, Devil’s Bargains

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WEEKLY SCHEDULE/READING ASSIGNMENTS

Note: I will also provide reading handouts periodically.  This syllabus is tentative and subject to change, especially when speakers are available.

 

1.  August 26

Introduction: What is environmental history?

Reading/discussion: Merchant, pp. 1-26

County wilderness history project discussion

 

2.  August 31, September 2

Precolumbian America

Reading/discussion: Merchant, pp. 27-64

Part of discussion period will be spent in research teams; assigning responsibilities and planning

 

3.  September 7, 9

Europe meets America

Reading/discussion: Merchant, pp. 65-94

 

4.  September 14, 16

Europe meets America, continued

Reading/discussion: Cronon, all

 

5.  September 21, 23 

Farming in America

Reading/discussion: Merchant, pp. 95-165, 204-237

23 SEPTEMBER: PERSONAL ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY DUE

 

6.  September 28, 30

Exploiting the West

Reading/discussion: Merchant, pp. 238-311

 

7.  October 5 Exploiting the West, cont.

7 OCTOBER MIDTERM EXAMINATION

(no discussion questions, no journal due)

 

8.  October 12, 14

The Rise of the City

Reading/discussion: Merchant, pp. 390-426

Part of discussion period will be spent in research teams – be prepared to share results, plan further

 

9.  October 19, 21

Conservation and Preservation

Reading/discussion: Merchant, pp. 312-389

 

10.  October 26, 28

Water and the West

Reading/discussion: Worster, all

 

11.  November 2, 4

The Science of Ecology

Reading/discussion: Merchant, pp. 427-501

 

12.  November 9, 11

Challenges of the Industrial Society

Reading/discussion: Ward, all

 

13.  November 16, 18

The Shrinking World

Reading/discussion: Merchant, pp. 502-541

 

14.  November 23

A New Economy?

Reading/Discussion: Rothman, all

 

15.  November 30, 2 December

Group Project Presentations

 

16.  December 9 (Monday December 7 is Academic Friday)

Group Project Presentations (as needed), makeup, or review

 

 

FINAL EXAMINATION: Monday, 14 December, 4:00-5:50

 

 

Websites for environmental history

 

Native visions of the natural world

http://www.carnegiemnh.org/exhibitions/north-south-east-west/intro_main.html

 

 

FEDERAL AGENCIES

 

Bureau of Land Management

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en.html

 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

http://www.fws.gov/

 

The National Park Service

http://www.nps.gov/

 

The National Wilderness Preservation System

http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=fastfacts&error=404

 

USDA Forest Service

http://www.fs.fed.us/

 

UTAH ENVIRONMENTAL SITES

 

Chemical Weapons Working Group

http://www.cwwg.org/

 

Glen Canyon Institute

http://www.glencanyon.org/

 

HEAL Utah

http://www.healutah.org

 

 

Save Our Canyons

http://www.saveourcanyons.org/

 

Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance

http://www.suwa.org/site/PageServer

 

Utah Wilderness Coalition

http://www.protectwildutah.org/

 

 

GENERAL SITES

 

American Environmental photographs

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/ecology/index.html

 

American Society for Environmental History

http://www.aseh.net/

 

H-Environment website

http://www.h-net.org/~environ/

 

The evolution of the conservation movement

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/amrvhtml/conshome.html

 

The poetry of Gary Snyder

http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/s_z/snyder/onlinepoems.htm