Niagara Falls, by F. Church, Oil on Canvas, American 19th century.
American Environmental History
Course | Syllabus | Focus | Course Goals | Outcomes | Hudson RIver School | Calendar \ schedule
The American experience is a varied quilt, if not a perfected tapestry of designs, because the quilt pattern was born of the need to settle a physiographically diverse continent, by settlers of an explicity different ethnic ancestry, who inhabited often distant outposts, and connected new trading posts to the commercial networks of Europe, Asia and Africa.
As the landscape was settled, the terrain was transformed. Water, air and land were all converted to commercial advantage by extractive, industrial, transportation or residential uses. Wildlife, fisheries and and non-game species were affected by grazing, timber, and plantation agriculture, in addition to settlements. From this transformation a new set of perceptions, ideologies and values arose that led to preservation, conservation and protection of the health and ecology of the nation.
This course is about that story of conquest, dispossession, scenic monumentalism, commercial use, and regeneration of our cultural geography.
Thomas Cole, 1827, The White Mountains, New Hampshire.
ROLLINS COLLEGE
Environmental History is the study of how settlements alter ecological conditions and how those changes influence each eraÕs ideas about nature with respect to responsible resource use from one period to the next.
Syllabus
American Environmental history on-line
Joseph Vincent Siry, Ph.D., U.C. Santa Barbara. Emory University; high honors in history.
Office: Beale Bldg. –Park Ave. side–
room 105.
Phone: Do see printed syllabus for essay details & the office number.
Office Hours: T–1:30-2:30, W–1:00-3:00, Th–2:30-5:00.
Web site: http://myweb.rollins.edu/jsiry
The terms of the syllabus are subject to changes announced in class.
Goals | active learning | texts | calendar | requirements | competencies | what | grades | extended discussion of the class
Goals of this Course
Environment in the past–meaning the ecology, geography, and hydrology of our nation and its settlement–involves a most challenging of all historical policy subjects. For learners seeking lively challenges, studying AmericaÕs biota and land use may be a fulfilling inquiry because you will learn about our common natural and cultural heritage that informs todayÕs arguments over protection and use. Working together in this course we examine the subject's several layers by focusing specifically on questions that environmental history raises about the character of biomes, the relationship among nature, ethnic minorities on the land, and the moral imagination required to understand our place in the alterations of AmericaÕs landscapes, wildlife, watersheds, and economic geography.
The Connecticut River.
calendar | requirements | competencies | design | texts | focus | grades
The course is designed for students to practice writing, so you need to arrive in class with four to six questions having read the assignments before our meeting so able to discuss our texts that you pose arguments the assigned readings raised. More practically, participants will have opportunities to hone their skills in reading analytically, in expressing your ideas verbally in a supportive setting, and in articulating your ideas in writing as we all learn throughout the term. Especially in our class, I would wish, now and again, you will experience the delight and enjoyment of being so stirred by the power of ideas and well-stated prose as to stimulate your spirits, to amend your behavior, or nourish your more curious sensibilities, and even move you to responsibly act as a means to improve our world.
Texts, other
authors (Carson, Galbraith, Leopold, Reisner) e-mail & website as assigned:
Henry
David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience
Mary
Austin, Land
of Little Rain
Joseph
Siry, Marshes
of the Ocean Shore
Timothy
Egan, The
Worst Hard Times
Adam
Rome, Bulldozer
in the Countryside
Emerson, Nature, Emerson II, Olmsted, Siry III, Worster, Merchant, Leopold II, Egan, Rome
Course Requirements (see details on page 4):
- Improvement in your regular, punctual attendance
with alert & active participation in class.
- Improving preparation for and participation in
the class by bringing the texts and /or assigned questions answered to the
group for analysis on our meeting days; or by sharing the free writing we do in classes with others. Meeting with me in
a conference about your writing. 20%
- Three, –three to four page–
exploratory narrative essays – on an assigned topic a week before
they are due based on the assigned readings. (see page 4 for precise
percentages) 50%
- One, – eight to eleven pages– Final
paper with footnotes, bibliography, tables and pertinent photographical or
artistic representations with the appropriate citation of its source and a
phrase explaining their purpose. What is worth preserving of America's
natural heritage? 30%
Grades:
all assignments are
graded with careful attention to each of these criteria: {CLIFS}
1.
C clarity,
conceptual coherence, spelling, grammar & logical consistency
2.
L length
& development of your arguments, evidence, examples, or presentations
3.
I informative
value from the class discussions, texts, library research, or interviews
4.
F frequency
of illustrations from the web site, lectures, journals, notes & readings
5.
S subjects
advanced as argued in a thesis, introduction, summaries, & conclusion.
Course focus––"What natural and cultural resources are worth protecting in America for the future?"
The names and phone numbers of two other
students in the class:
1. _______________________________ 2. _______________________________
My policies:
I am here to excite, entice, and encourage you to
excel in learning new concepts, practicing your writing and speaking abilities,
and to create meaningful discourse. My purpose is to feed your inquiring
intellect with significant ideas in a coherently challenging manner. I
anticipate you will ask questions and actively work together to overcome the
challenges the course material may pose for you in achieving an excellent performance
level based on an improved grasp of reading. I urge you to discuss ideas,
passages, and assignments during class and more importantly in a conference during
my office hours.
Active
learning
Your participation in this course involves not only
alertness and contributing key ideas to the class, but also listening
respectfully without interrupting other speakers who are presenting their views
on the assigned readings. Only one person can be heard at a time, so paying close
attention to others and to me is a sign of respect that I reward in my classes.
The use of electronic media for other than class purposes is so rude that I
treat this as an absence if you are texting, surfing, e-mailing or digitally
inattentive to our discussions during class meetings. My outcome: you consistently contribute your analyses
verbally in class to enrich our discussion time together so that you develop
thorough thinking.
Late
papers
One purpose of your papers is to rewrite so you can hone
your skills & correct errors, so submit all work on the class day the
assigned work is due. Late papers cannot earn equal value as those received on
time in fairness to the punctual students. I do so because we discuss the
importance of what you have discovered and expressed on that class day when
essays are due. Always start at least a week early, continually back-up your
writing, and keep printed copies of your notes on anything you submit.
Paper
format
Practicing your writing is the focus of this class. All
essay papers are really professional documents with an accurate date of when
the work was completed and page numbers. I ask you to place a cover page with
your name, phone number, essay title and an abstract of three to five sentences covering the substance of your essay for purposes of privacy because I make
extensive comments on your work. Spelling and grammar errors are unacceptable.
All papers are to be typed double spaced in either Arial or times new roman font and should have one inch margins and
22-23 lines to the page as a minimum.
Academic
honesty and plagiarism
Cheating or copying without proper citation amounts to
plagiarism and is the most serious academic offense of novices
and professionals alike. By the use of words or ideas that are not your own and
are either insufficiently acknowledged or not acknowledged at all you commit
the offense. The consequences are that you can fail the assignment, or even the
class, since every offense is a violation of the CollegeÕs honor code. As such,
I am obliged to report violations to the Deans office.
calendar | requirements | competencies | design | texts | focus
American Environmental History
January | February | March | April | May
Schedule
Month and days
18 Grounding our nation's
past–walkabout–
delineating spaces to create a sense of places.
20 map of your home ground
introduce yourselves / values
of places Marshes, pp. 3-17.
23 Siry, Frontier-borderlands and boundaries mean what? Marshes, pp. 18-33.
25 Siry, Settlements
the county versus the township systems. Marshes, pp. 34-61.
27 Maps–surveys of the
dividing line, read William
Byrd on line pp. iv-40.
30 Land-use Game, Who owns what in America? We draw lots for
property: writing descriptions.
See Game of the Estates and Grover's Corner's township map.
1 Siry, Early National Era and manifest destiny, Read on line: America's natural heritage.
3 Hamiltonians versus Jeffersonian schisms: what we value &
6 Transcendentalism in Emerson's "Nature" & othersÐ
draft of interview essay due. Ã
See First summary page on Emerson's importance on the web site
8 Thoreau, Civil Disobedience, read
on line: The Thoreau
Reader.
10 A field experience 12-3 PM
(if you are available -- or art museum make-up).
12 DarwinÕs & Lincoln's Birthdays, 1809.
See also this week what nationalism is and is not.
15 Photography as some means of seeing into the past.
Do see this description by Susan Sontag and her criticism of images.
17 Mumford vs. DuBois dual versions of the nation's broken promise The Souls of Black Folks, 4-7.
See Second summary page on Lewis Mumford and interpreting the American landscape
20 Painting Frederick Church and photos Alfred Steiglitz, writing to uncover artistic meaning.
22 Siry: Commerce & the Public Trust, Marshes pp. 62-82.(outline to use also )
24 The
Public Trust doctrine, writing to recover
community -- class activity.
27 CFAM Protecting the past on Canvass and the GroundÐSiry: Marsh, Shaler, and
Shelford, Marshes pp. 83-111.
29 The
Organic revolt against laissez-faire:
John Wesley Powell, Reisner pp. 1-51.
January | February | March | April | May
2 day off in lieu of work day-Chelonian
Institute, Apopka, or Soldier Creek, (2-10).
3-11
Spring Break (no class meetings)
12 Mary
Austin, Land of
Little Rain. pp. 1-45.
14 Los Angeles & San Francisco: rivals in crime, Reisner, pp. 52-115.
16 The Owens Valley–select
passages from Austin to recite & write about. Austin, pp. 47-107.
19 American Frontier, Reisner's The Red Queen–to be determined. Public trust short essay due
(Marshes book outline to use also )
21 The land-use debate
Bull-Moose Progressives & 1912: A. Leopold, pp. pp- 57-64, 145-165.
23 Ecological
ethic: writing to protect what is vital. Marshes, pp. 112-133.
26 The great depression
and collapse of industrial production,
Galbraith, Affluent Society, pp. 18-78, see e-mails.
28 Texas high plains as an
agrarian dream: Egan; The Worst Hard Times, pp. 1-72.
30 A lure of wartime profits: Egan; The Worst Hard Times, pp. 73-127. Conflict
essay due!
2 Ecological needs of the land, Egan; The Worst Hard Times, pp. 128-221.
4 Egan, Hugh
Hammond Bennet & a vision of bio-realities,
Worst Hard Times, pp. 222-272.
6 Egan Franklin Delano Roosevelt's
legacy The Worst Hard Times, pp. 273-312. Summary due
9 Egan and Rome contrasts: what is the source of discontent? Bulldozer, pp. xi-13.
11 Rome, Bulldozer in the Countryside–Levitt's automated vision of affordability, pp.
15-43.
13 Rome, Post-war boom, Bulldozer, pp. 45-86.
16 Rome, consequences of
growth & mass suburbia, Bulldozer, pp. 87-118. Last draft revised due
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
(Marshes book outline to use also )
20 Carson, Rumblings of an Avalanche.
23 Siry, Legislative history:
NEPA & NESTPA, Marshes pp. 157-187.
25 Toward an Ecological Society –Siry; Marshes pp. 188-191. Rome;
Bulldozer, pp.153-219.
27 What is worth preserving
given the 14 views from class? Bulldozer. pp. 221-270.
30 revised
final essay due {the revision of the 3-16 essay that I commented on and
returned to you.
May 3: 8 AM to 10 AM, Thursday is the Final Exam which you must attend or
fail the course.
verbally present "What natural and cultural resources are
worth protecting in America for the future?"
(Marshes book outline to use also )
Changes in the Schedule
If alterations of this
published schedule must occur I will announce them in class; a revised syllabus
will be distributed to explain extensive changes should that become necessary.
If you are absent, telephone one of your classmates to ascertain that dayÕs
announced changes, if any.
calendar | requirements | competencies | design | texts | focus
What areas of competency–based on the body of knowledge in this
course–do I expect you to develop based on the documentary evidence we
examine?
1. The written capacity to
distinguish facts from myths, and "legal fictions" from opinions in
history.
2. An oral and written
ability to distinguish the key events preceding other crucial events in the
past.
3. An ability to express, in
spoken words, the plain meaning or written information, texts, or graphics.
4. The capacity to accurately
explain the point of an author's facts, commentary, logic, or arguments.
5. Express acuity in spoken
and written work, to interpret details on historical or recent maps.
6. A verbal capacity to accurately
convey defining historical & visual details in art or photographs.
7. Practice correctly
conveying descriptions of historical stories, facts, claims or legal concepts
based on accurately interpreting passages from opposing authorities.
8. Explain to others the
significance of water conservation, forestry preserves, wildlife reserves and
pollution control involving pertinent cases where struggles over land-use protection
upset an accord.
9. Verbally and graphically
convey geographical, demographic, and ecological impacts of settlement.
10. Both verbal and written
ability to describe the importance of paradoxes in national attitudes about
water, energy, atmosphere and landscape as these pertain to people, health,
wildlife & fisheries.
11. The accurate use of
vocabulary to convey both obvious and hidden ideas in an argument.
12. Improved written
expression when describing ongoing tensions between traditions of use and
protection in the economic, spiritual, and scientific aspects of land and water
use.
These dozen expectations are
assessed in your written essays as a means for you to uncover and defend what
is worth protecting in our environment. These assignments and oral
presentations to the class develop in steps from descriptive writing at the
start, to argument, & analysis at term's end.
I.
Two, –two to three page–exploratory
narrative essays: drawn from all of the readings on an assigned topic a week
before the assigned readings are discussed in class.
1.
Maps & land-use policy Essay; describe three - five maps of different scales 1/27. 10%
2.
Photographical Essay; Select 3 or 4 photographs to
compare to one I assign you. Describe in detail the depiction and context of
the photo, date and source, 2-24. 10%
II.
A 3-5 page essay on interviews & texts on the
natural features people value in America. 2/3.-2/6. By selectively interviewing
3 to 6 people ask them what natural things they think we should protect for our
future use, health or well being. Write a summary describing your findings. 20%
III.
One, – eight to eleven pages– Final paper with
footnotes, bibliography, tables and pertinent photographical or artistic
representations with the appropriate citation of its source and a phrase
explaining their purpose:
1.
two pages are due
every other week to rewrite February 13, March 19 & 30, April 6.
2.
Jeffersonian
versus Hamiltonian views & actions respecting authority: February 13.
3.
Public trust
doctrine vs. watershed–comprehensive riverine management: March 16.
4.
land-use planning
versus local laissez faire development: March 30.
5. summary page connecting your particular interest in protecting land and water tied closely to the course themes / writers. April 6. 10%
IV.
Revise the above essay including all of the descriptive
& analytical steps. 4-16 &
resubmit 4-30. 20%
V. May 3:
8 AM to 10 AM, Thursday–"What is worth protecting in America for the future" is a verbal description of what you learned revising the essay & presenting a rehearsed, 6 minute oral interpretation, with visuals (maps and photographs) of your argument at the final exam. All final exams are comprehensive & should show your understanding of all the assigned readings. 10%
What is environmental history?
Siry, Marshes of the Ocean Shore (terms defined)
William Byrd, A History of the Dividing Line
Siry on the
Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Nature" (1836)
Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience (1849)
Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. Journey ... Seaboard Slave States
FL0 go here for excerpts see there.
George Perkins Marsh, Man and Nature, (1864)
Mary Austin, Land of Little Rain
John Kenneth Galbraith, The Great Crash
Timothy Egan, The Worst Hard Times
Adam Rome, Bulldozer in the Countryside
Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
Merchant | Worster | Cronin | Reisner | Jackson | Siry | Leopold | |Diamond | Williams | Austin | Mumford | Marx
