The story of the American environment and how it got the way it is, is really important. But it’s a story most of us don't really know. Environmental historians have gathered a lot of information, but they haven’t done a great job getting it in front of the people who need it. How many people, after all, will ever sit down in a college lecture hall and listen to someone like me talk about this stuff? What we need is a way to get the story in front of the people who need to hear it.

Who needs to hear it? People who are taking Environmental Studies courses in high school or college. People who want to become environmental educators and activists, or who just want to be responsible citizens and work for change.

I think it will help you work for change, if you know how we got to where we are today. The present state of things was not inevitable. That it was the result of choice smade by individuals, businesses and the government that changed the environment — which means they changed the choices other people were able to make. This feedback loop leads from the past through the present and into the future. We’ve had successes and failures along the way. My goal is to point out the big changes, so that we’ll be able to apply this knowledge and move forward responsibly.

So, this will be a series of 18 short (15 to 20 minute) talks about the most important issues in environmental history. The viewer I’m imagining while I’m doing this is a high school, college, or home school student — although I hope anyone who’s interested in the American environment and how it got this way will find these useful. For environmental studies students or teachers interested in more information, there are pdf versions of the talks that include some suggestions for additional readings.

Drop me a line if you have questions, comments, suggestions. New chapters will be appearing every week or so.

Chapters:

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Chapter 5: Mills, Commons, and Industry (12 minutes)


Keywords: Industrialization, common resources, corporations







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Chapter 4: Early America: Farming and Commerce (13 minutes)
Chapter 4 print version (pdf)

Keywords: Pioneers, Change in Transportation, Agricultural markets






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Chapter 3: Colonial North America (19 minutes)
Chapter 3 print version (pdf)

Keywords: Scarcity & Value, Disease, Colonialism, Farming







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Chapter 2: The European Discovery of the Americas (21 minutes)
Chapter 2 print version (pdf)

Keywords: Columbian Exchange, Population, Migration






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Chapter 1: American Environmental Prehistory (14 minutes)
Chapter 1 print version (pdf)

Keywords: Ice Ages, Bering Land Bridge, Holocene Extinction, Migration






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Introduction: What is Environmental History? (5 minutes)






Coming soon (more or less on a week):
Chapter 6: Migrants and Immigrants
Chapter 7: Industrialization
Chapter 8: The Civil War
Chapter 9: Mining and Logging the West
Chapter 10: Cities
Chapter 11: Progressivism
Chapter 12: Depression, New Deal, World War II
Chapter 13: Suburbs
Chapter 14: Environmental Crisis & Response
Chapter 15: Consumerism and Globalism
Chapter 16: Peak Oil and Water
Chapter 17: Food
Chapter 18: What now?