Environmental History
3.0
creditsAverage Course Rating
Environmental history explores the interactions between social change and environmental transformation, or the ways in which societies modify landscapes and are themselves affected by geological, climatological and changing ecological conditions. Topics include the relationship between climate change and human evolution, the environmental impacts of market-based commodity production and regional economic specialization; the relationship between urbanization and environmental change; how warfare affects and is affected by environmental conditions.
Fall 2012
Professor: Erica Schoenberger
Students liked the engaging discussion format of the class. They also liked the interesting readings and exploring a topic of their choice for the final paper. Some students thought the readings were long and dense; also, the writing assignments were graded too subjectively. They suggested going over some background knowledge before the readings so that everyone was informed for the discussion. Students should expect to do a lot of reading for this course, but it’s worthwhile for anyone who is interested in the topic.