Ecology as history Navigating the site:
Environmental history in the U. S. links on this Web Site
Chronological listing of related pages in environmental and ecological history
Readings in American Environmental History
COURSE Calendar of meetings
See the printed Syllabus to see what to Read before class and assigned work:
Month and days
January
13 Maps of the place you call home. –What do you want to learn?
15 image and place in history: Merchant pp. 1-26. http://web65.rollins.edu/~jsiry/America_Early.html
20 “Beyond, Beneath & Behind the Wild Frontier" http://web65.rollins.edu/~jsiry/wilder.html
22 time and cycles of change, Merchant pp. 79-83. http://web65.rollins.edu/~jsiry/ehless1.html
27 multiple media - Images of the land Merchant, pp, 58-79, Reisner, pp. 1-14.
29 Aboriginal America Merchant, pp. 28-63, 95-104, Reisner, pp. 15-51.
3 Settlement, Merchant, pp. 105-128. Reisner, pp.52-103.
5 American revolution & nationalism, Merchant, pp. 129-164. Reisner, pp. 104-119.
10 Donald Worster, Merchant, pp. 2-9, 295-300, 457-448.
12 Darwin’s Birthday, 1809. Merchant, pp. 186-202.
17 verbal exam – responding to oral questions: Reisner, pp. 120-168.
19 Exam 70 minutes, short essay, completion, ID and matching.
24 Emerson, Bryant & promise of landscape Merchant, pp. 166—178.
26 Transcendentalism, Merchant, pp. 178-181.
3 Thoreau, ecologist, Civil Disobedience, pp. 1-18, Merchant, pp.181-184
5 Essay draft due on evidence for ecological changes. http://web65.rollins.edu/~jsiry/Mermod.html
7-15 Spring Break
17 Thoreau Civil Disobedience, pp. 19-38. Merchant, pp. 204-211.
19 Mumford The Brown Decades, pp. 1-25.
24 Essay due on evidence for ecological changes http://web65.rollins.edu/~jsiry/Mermod.html
26 Reisner and the reclamation effort Merchant, pp. 312-321. Reisner, pp. 169-254
31 Grand Canyon controversy, Merchant, pp. 321-350, Reisner, 255-305, Egan, pp.1-72.
Write up a defense or criticism of damming the Grand Canyon, 3 pages.
2 Rivers, Merchant, pp. 467-500. Egan, The Worst Hard Times, pp. 73-127.
7 Essay due on —Conservation’s origins and preservation rift. Merchant, pp.503-506.
9 Dust Bowl, Egan, The Worst Hard Times, pp. 128-312.
14 Mary Austin, Land of Little Rain, (all)
16 Rome, Bulldozer in the Countryside, pp. x-270.
21 What is worth protecting? How did conservation fail? Start of Final Exam related presentations
24 What is worth protecting? How did conservation fail? “ “ “ “ “
28 What is worth protecting? How did conservation fail? End of verbal presentations. last day of term
May 5: 11 AM to 1 PM, Tuesday is the Final Exam (essays) you must attend or fail the course.
Oral Presentations of 4 minutes, based on a written answer to:
What is worth protecting and preserving for future Americans?
Mount Greylock, Herman Melville's inspiration for his novel Moby Dick, the most profound and philosophically all-encompassing classics of American literature.
Course chronological periods.
Merchant's Chronology 1640-1992.
Biological Trends in the United States, an annotated guide.
