HST 380 - Environmental History

Examines how the environment has shaped history and how human enterprise has impacted the natural world. The course surveys early European attitudes towards nature, but focuses primarily on the United States: Native Americans’ relationship with nature; the significance of private property and the frontier; and the environmental consequences of the scientific revolution, industrialization, urbanization, and modern consumer culture. Topics include the history of public parks, water supplies, and sanitation systems in American cities, and the rise of the modern environmental movement.

(Cr: 3)