History 4490

Major Themes in Environmental History

Dr. Thomas H. Keene

Spring 2012

Contact info: 770-423-6232 – tkeene@kennesaw.edu

Website: http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~tkeene/

Office: Social Science 4084

Hours: My classes Spring 2012 are at MW 11-12:15 and 5-6:15

Otherwise I am generally in the office M-Th 9am-6pm unless I have a meeting.

Drop by or call to make an appointment (office phone # above).

Notice: This course will be administered through GeorgiaView Vista, which is accessed at https://web.kennesaw.edu/vista/. Use the Vista email system when possible. If you must use my regular email be sure to put “HIST 2206” in the subject line, so I know your message is not spam.

Assignments and Obligations

Readings (in order of appearance):

· Jared Diamond, Collapse (Norton, 2005) Chs. 6,7_&8.

· John McPhee, “Atchafalaya” in The Control of Nature (Farrar, 1990).

· Gilbert White, The Natural History of Shelburne (no copyright; first pub.1787) letters 1-10.

· David Thoreau, “Walking” (no copyright, first pub. 1862)

· Roderick Nash, Wilderness and the American Mind, (Yale, 2001)

· William Cronon, Changes in the Land (Hill and Wang, 2003).

· Harriet Ritvo, The Dawn of Green: Manchester, Thirlmere, and Modern Environmentalism (Chicago, 2009).

· Donald Worster, Nature’s Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas (2^nd ed. Cambridge, 1994).

· Mark H. Lyle, The Gentle Subversive: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and the Rise of the Environmental Movement (Oxford, 2007).

· Elizabeth Economy, The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China’s Future (2^nd ed. Cornell, 2010).

The schedule below is subject to changes to be announced in class. Students who miss class should check with classmates on possible changes and are responsible for them.

Cl. #	Date	Topic	Assignment
1	1/9	Introduction and the Big History Framework	David Christian (18 minute Big Hist)
2	1/11	Goldilocks in Greenland?	Google: “Environmental Determinism” Diamond, skim Ch. 6, note map pp182-3. Read Chs. 7-8. See GAView "Readings" folder
	1/16	MLK DAY – NO CLASS
3	1/18	Water Control, Old and New	McPhee, “Atchafalaya” (entire) See GAView "Readings" folder
4	1/23	Gilbert White, The arcadian village	White, “Shelborne” poems + letters 1-11
5	1/25	Thoreau, Civilization and the Nature	Thoreau, “Walking” (entire)
6	1/30	The Wilderness and the Other	Nash, Prologue, Chs. 1 & 2 See GAView "Readings" folder.
7	2/1	The Wilderness and Reason	Nash, Chs. 3,4,5 See GAView "Readings" folder.
8	2/6	The Wilderness as Arcadia	Nash, Chs. 6,7,8,9 See GAView "Readings" folder.
9	2/8	Second thoughts on Thoreau	Conon, Ch.1 (read reflectively)
10	2/13	Review
11	2/15	Wilderness Exam
12	2/20	First Campus walkabout
13	2/22	New England in a “State of Nature” ?	Conon, Chs. 2 & 3
14	2/27	New England “after the Fall”	Cronon, Chs. 4,5,6
	2/29	The 90-10, 10-90 View of History
Spring Break March 3 – 11 Spring Break
15	3/12 Last Day to Withdraw without an “F”	Environmental History journal review due
16	3/14	From Wilderness to Natural Resource	Cronon, Chs. 7,8
17	3/19	Second Campus Walkabout
18	3/21	EHAP Project Groups Assigned, etc.
19	3/26	Mancunian desire and the first tree huggers	Ritvo, Chs. 1-2
20	3/28	Mancunian desire and the first tree huggers	Ritvo, Chs. 3-4
21	4/2	The Harvest of Thirlmere	Ritvo, Ch. 5
22	4/4	Project Progress Report Darwin and the Science of Ecology Worster-Darwin class outline	Worster, chs. 6-9; esp ch.9 Wordsworth poem Tennyson quote
23	4/9	Merriman to Clements and the Climax Community	Worster, chs. 10-11
24	4/11	Project Progress Report - RC Paul, KSU Director of Sustainability, Guest The Dust Bowl, the Value Varmints, the The New Ecology and the Loss of Arcadia	Worster, ch. 12-14
25	4/16	Rachel Carson	Lytle, Prologue, Chs. 1-2
26	4/18	Project Progress Report Rachel Carson	Lytle, Chs. 3-4,
27	4/23	Catch-up and Carsons
28	4/25	EHAP Project Presentations
29	4/30	St. Rachel and Review	Lytle, Epilogue
	Mon. 7 May	Final Exam: 10:30am-12:30pm !! Note early Start Time !!