The Environment In History

AY2015/2016 Semester 2

This course covers some of the most important themes in environmental history that have informed academic scholarship during the last 20 to 30 years. The course begins by examining the formation of various concepts concerning nature and environment in different cultures and temporal moments. The course will utilize seemingly mundane objects (plastic bags, Big Macs, etc.) to explore the complex relations between human activity and the environment. The bulk of the course focuses on human transformation and exploitation of the environment in various regions of the world, thematically and historically. The lectures will give students a basic yet nuanced understanding of issues pertaining to the development of agriculture, the provision of energy in the ages, natural resource acquisition and invention of new chemicals, pollution and modern environmental consciousness, population, climate change, and the relationship between environment and health. The course ultimately examines how human activity over several millennia has changed, especially in past 200 years, which have had lasting repercussions on the earth, particularly in the form of climate change and natural disasters.