Syllabus

HIST 3412 GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY
R. S. Deese
Northeastern University
Spring 2011
rsdeese@gmail.com
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday: 9:15-10:20, 153 Snell Engineering Center
Office Hours: Tuesday & Friday: 8-9:30, 213 Meserve

Course Description
This course will survey the fundamental elements of environmental history from the dawn of the Holocene epoch (approximately twelve thousand years ago) to the present. Special emphasis will be given to the emergence of environmental crises since the industrial revolution and the evolution of a global environmentalist movement since World War Two.

Required Course Materials

Anthony Penna, The Human Footprint ISBN-13: 978-1405187718
J.R. McNeill, Something New Under the Sun ISBN-13: 978-0393321838
Spencer Weart, Nuclear Fear ISBN-13: 978-0674628366
Robert Poole, Earthrise ISBN-13: 978-0300164039


Basic Ground Rules

1. Turn off all cell phones, MP3 players, etc. before all class meetings begin.

2. Always come on time to all class meetings, and participate in all discussions. Please don’t be shy about speaking up in class discussions, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Virtually all original scholarship begins by posing questions that others have overlooked or dismissed as simply not worth asking; therefore, the very question you might be afraid to ask because it seems naïve or unorthodox could well be the most interesting and groundbreaking question that anyone could raise. Don’t hesitate to ask it. Also, please remember that I am more than happy to field your questions and address your concerns via email, telephone, and during my regular office hours.

3. Always come to class prepared to discuss all readings for that week. When you do the assigned reading each week, be sure to underline passages that you see as important, and write down questions that you would like to raise in our section meetings and in my office hours.

Grade Breakdown
Attendance at all lectures is mandatory. Unless you have a documented medical or family emergency, you need to come to every lecture.
Attendance & Participation 15%
Midterm 30%
Seven Page paper and Presentation 25% PAPER DUE IN CLASS APRIL 20th
Final Exam 30%

Midterm and Final Examinations
To prepare for these exams, be sure to review the assigned readings and your notes from lectures and discussion sections. Feel free to contact me via email or during office hours concerning any questions you might have. A portion of the class prior to the midterm will be devoted to review, and I will also a hold review session prior to the final exam. Please bear in mind that these review sessions will be most profitable to those who have prepared for them by thoroughly studying the material at hand.

Paper
You are required to do a class presentation and write a Seven (7) page position paper analyzing two primary source documents and/or artifacts from different periods or different perspectives. In this paper, you will be required to develop an original thesis that relates the primary sources to each other and to their historical context. Late papers will be penalized 5% each day past the due date.

Regulations Against Plagiarism
Needless to say, the work you present must be entirely your own and all sources must be diligently credited in your footnotes and bibliography. Any attempt at plagiarism, representing the work of another person as your own, will be result in failure in this course and severe disciplinary action by Northeastern University.

IMPORTANT: Please read the Academic Conduct Code to understand policy of Northeastern University regarding plagiarism. The punishment for any form of plagiarism at this institution is, as it should be, very severe. As you are writing your term papers, please don’t hesitate to contact me beforehand if you have any questions concerning the proper citation of source materials.

Week One
January 10 Introduction
January 12 Penna, Introduction
January 13 Penna , Ch. 1: An Evolving Earth

Week Two
January 17 No class, Holiday
January 19 Penna, Ch. 2: Evolving Humanity
January 20 Penna, Ch. 3: Foraging, Cultivating, and Food Production

Week Three
January 24 Penna, Ch. 4: Populating the Earth
January 26 Penna, Ch. 5: The Making of and Urban World
January 27 Penna, Ch. 6: Mining, Making, and Manufacturing

Week Four
January 31 Penna, Ch. 7: Industrial Work
February 2 Penna, Ch. 8: Trade and Consumption
February 3 Penna, Ch. 9: Fossil Fuels, Wind, Water, Nuclear and Solar Energy
Week Five
February 7 Penna, Ch. 10: A Warming World
February 9 McNeill, Ch. 1: Prodigal Century
February 10 McNeill, Ch. 2: Lithosphere & Pedosphere

Week Six
February 14 McNeill, Chs. 3 & 4: The Atmosphere
February 16 McNeill, Chs. 5 & 6: The Hydrosphere
February 17 McNeill, Chs. 7 & 8: The Biosphere

Week Seven
February 21 HOLIDAY
February 23, McNeill, Chs. 9, 10, 11, and Epilogue
February24 Midterm Exam

Week Eight
SPRING RECESS
Week Nine
March 7 Weart, Part One: Years of Fantasy
March 9 Weart, Part Two: Confronting Reality
March 10 Weart, Part Three: New Hopes and Horrors

WeekTen
March 14 Weart, Part Four: Suspect Technology
March 16 Weart, Part Five: The Search for Renewal

March 17 Poole, Ch. 1: Earthrise
Week Eleven
March 21 Poole, Ch. 2: Apollo 8
March 23 Poole, Ch. 3: A short history of the whole earth
March 24 Poole, Ch.4: From landscape to planet

Week Twelve
March 28 Poole, Ch. 5: Blue Marble
March 30, Poole, Ch. 6: An Astronaut’s View of Earth
March 31 Poole, Ch. 7: From Cold War to Open Skies
Week Thirteen
April 4 Poole, Ch. 8: From Spaceship Earth to Mother Earth
April 6 Poole, Ch. 9: Gaia
April 7 Poole, Ch. 10, The Discovery of the Earth
Week Fourteen
April 11 Student Presentations & Discussion Leigh Concessi; Mike Tremblay; Bryan Keen;
April 13 Student Presentations & Discussion Emily Boyd; Ben Caplin; Nicole Beetle; Erika Lee;
April 14 Student Presentations & Discussion Meghan McCusker; Cory Gates; Andrew Caron; Caroline Katsiroubas
Week Fifteen
April 18 Holiday
April 20: Rosie O'Brien; PAPER DUE IN CLASS FINAL EXAM REVIEW
April 21 NO CLASS
FINAL EXAM