HIST 4323: Nature & Americans

The Sixties
and the Origins of Environmentalism

SPRING 2011

Dr. Mark Stoll
Holden Hall 135 -- (806) 742-3744, leave message -- mark.stoll@ttu.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday 1:30–3:30 and by appointment
Class Webpage: http://courses.ttu.edu/mstoll/

Dig the Crazy Purpose of the Course:

This course explores the origins of the modern American environmental movement in the culture, society, politics, and tumultuous events of the 1960s. Using lecture, discussion, readings, video, and music, the instructor will create the context within which modern environmental concerns and activism first appeared. Environmentalism arose at the height of the Cold War crisis and, like the Chicano, feminist, and gay rights movements, achieved its greatest accomplishments after the civil rights and antiwar movements began to wind down. All of these movements lost steam in the second half of the 1970s, and the Reagan Administration reversed course on them in 1981. Hence, the era from 1945 to 1981 captures all the essential elements and accomplishments of both the Sixties and the environmental movement.

This is a writing intensive course. In addition to completing exams and short papers, students will focus on a particular leader, organization, or aspect of the environmental movement, and produce a research paper that puts that subject into the context of the era.

Far-Out Readings:

• Bill McKibben, American Earth
• William Kelleher Storey, Writing History: A Guide for Students or other writing guide

Online Readings:

• Stacy, Ian. "Roads to Ruin on the Atomic Frontier: Environmental Decision Making at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, 1942–1952." Environmental History (2010) 15(3): 415-448.
• Jacques Ellul, Technological Society excerpt
• Pfister, Christian. "The 'Syndrome of the 1950s' in Switzerland: Cheap Energy, Mass Consumption, and the Environment." In Susan Strasser, Charles McGovern, and Matthias Judt, eds. Getting and Spending: European and American Consumer Societies in the Twentieth Century. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998, 359-377.
• An optional updated version (in German): Pfister, Christian. "Energiepreis und Umweltbelastung. Zum Stand der Diskussion über das '1950er Syndrom.'" In Wolfram Siemann, ed. Umweltgeschichte: Themen und Perspektiven. Munich: Beck, 2003, 61-86.
• Harvey, Mark W. T. "Battle for Dinosaur: Echo Park Dam and the Birth of the Modern Wilderness Movement." Montana the Magazine of Western History 45 (Winter, 1995): 32-45.
• Smith, Thomas G. "John Kennedy, Stuart Udall, and New Frontier Conservation." Pacific Historical Review 64 (3) (Aug. 1995): 329-362.
• Lear, Linda J. "Rachel Carson's Silent Spring." Environmental History Review 17 (Summer, 1993): 23-48.
• Lutts, Ralph H. "Chemical Fallout: Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Radioactive Fallout, and the Environmental Movement." Environmental Review 9 (Fall, 1985): 211-225.
• Hazlett, Maril. "'Woman vs. Man vs. Bugs': Gender and Popular Ecology in Early Reactions to Silent Spring." Environmental History 9 (October 2004):701-729.
• Webb, Melody. "Parks for People: Lyndon Johnson and the National Park System." In Frontier and Region: Essays in Honor of Martin Ridge, edited by Robert C. Ritchie and Paul Andrew Hutton. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1997. 121-137
• Gould, Lewis L. "Lady Bird Johnson and Beautification." In The Johnson Years, Volume Two: Vietnam, the Environment, and Science, edited by Robert A. Divine. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1987. 150-180
• Melosi, Martin V. "Lyndon Johnson and Environmental Policy." In The Johnson Years, Volume Two: Vietnam, the Environment, and Science, edited by Robert A. Divine. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1987. 113-149
• Lewis Mumford, "Authoritarian and Democratic Technics," Technology and Culture 5 (Winter 1964):1-8.
• Rome, Adam. "'Give Earth a Chance': The Environmental Movement and the Sixties." Journal of American History 90 (September, 2003): 525-554.
• Ian McHarg, Design With Nature excerpt
• Frances Moore Lappé, Diet for a Small Planet excerpt
• Barry Commoner, Closing Circle excerpt
• Club of Rome, Limits to Growth abstract
• Feenberg, Andrew. "The Commoner-Ehrlich Debate: Environmentalism and the Politics of Survival." In Minding Nature: The Philosophers of Ecology, edited by David Macauley. New York: Guilford Press, 1996. 257-282
• Rome, Adam. "The Genius of Earth Day." Environmental History (2010) 15(2): 194-205.
• Dunaway, Finis. "Gas Masks, Pogo, and the Ecological Indian: Earth Day and the Visual Politics of American Environmentalism." American Quarterly 60.1 (2008): 67-97.
• John Denver, "Rocky Mountain High" lyrics
• Kirk, Andrew. "Appropriating Technology: The Whole Earth Catalog and Counterculture Environmental Politics." Environmental History 6 (July, 2001): 374-394.
• James Lovelock, Gaia excerpt
• Barrow, John C. "An Age of Limits: Jimmy Carter and the Quest for a National Energy Policy." In The Carter Presidency: Policy Choices in the Post-New Deal Era, edited by Gary M. Fink and Hugh Davis Graham. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998. 158-178.
• Stine, Jeffrey K. "Environmental Policy during the Carter Presidency." In The Carter Presidency: Policy Choices in the Post-New Deal Era, edited by Gary M. Fink and Hugh Davis Graham. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998. 179-201.

Groovy Details:

This is a writing-intensive course. Students will write one take-home midterm and one take-home final exam. In addition, students will write one research paper on a subject relating to the history of the postwar environmental movement.

Notes: Students will take notes over the reading for each week and hand in a copy at the beginning of class. Notes need not be extensive to demonstrate familiarity with the selections. Notes may be handwritten or typed.

Style: All written work will be typed, double-spaced 12-point Times New Roman, with 1" margins top and bottom and 1-1/4" margins on each side, and page numbers in the margin. Include a cover sheet. Do not add any space between paragraphs. Use footnotes and a bibliography. For style consult Turabian or Chicago Manual of Style.

Takehome Exams: Students will write two takehome exams, a midterm and a final.

Research Paper: Students will research and write a paper of at least twelve pages on a topic of their choice. In frequent consultation with the professor, students will master the secondary literature and find primary sources on their chosen subject. Students may write on one of the topics below, or come up with a subject on their own in consultation with the professor. Some possible topics include:

• Earth Day 1970
• Eisenhower and an environmental issue
• Kennedy and an environmental issue
• Johnson and an environmental issue
• Nixon and an environmental issue
• Carter and an environmental issue
• Lady Bird Johnson and the environment
• The legislative origins of the EPA or other major legislation or government agency
• The Rockefeller family and the environment
• Conservative environmentalists
• Science fiction and the environment (for example, Ursula K. LeGuin or John Brunner)
• Environmental themes in popular music
• Environmental themes in film (for example, Silent Running, Soylent Green, Chinatown, China Syndrome, Koyaanisqatsi)
• A major environmentalist, such as David Brower, Barry Commoner, Paul Ehrlich, or Lois Gibbs
• An environmental organization, such as the Sierra Club, the Nature Conservancy, Greenpeace, or other
• The Storm King controversy, or an environmental court case
• The impact of The Population Bomb, The Closing Circle, Limits to Growth, Small is Beautiful, Ecotopia, Whole Earth Catalog, or other important book
• Resources for the Future
• The first international environmental summit in Stockholm, 1972
• The 1973 oil crisis, or the 1979 oil crisis, and its effect on environmentalism
• Love Canal, "Valley of the Drums," Times Beach, Missouri, or other toxic waste controversy
• The Three Mile Island nuclear accident
• The controversy over plans for a specific nuclear power plant, such as Seacaucus or Diablo Canyon
• Nuclear testing, the environment, and human health (such as Utah residents or nearby Indian tribes)
• The Vietnam War and the environment (such as the Agent Orange controversy)
• The relationship of the environmental movement to society or to other movements (antiwar, feminism, etc.)
• The battle against a dam, such as Echo Park, Grand Canyon, or Tellico
• The controversy over DDT or another pesticide
• The rise of the organic farming movement or natural foods stores
• The counterculture and the environment
• Communes or the back-to-the-land movement
• Minorities and the environment
• The Santa Barbara oil spill
• One aspect of the fight against water pollution, such as the "death" of Lake Erie or the Hudson River cleanup
• One aspect of the fight against air pollution, such as the rise and control of smog or the Donora crisis
• The politics of the energy crisis
• The "Sagebrush Rebellion" and public lands
• Controversy over the cross-Florida canal, the Florida airport, or another major Florida development
• Preserving species or wildlife
• Making suburbs more environmentally friendly
• The movement for the development of renewable fuel sources, such as solar or wind power
• Recycling
• The fight for auto emission control

Grading: The final grade will be calculated on the following basis:

• 15% Class notes
• 25% Midterm exam
• 25% Final exam
• 35% Research paper

Students may optionally submit a re-write of their research papers, due on June 28 at 5:00 p.m., and the average of the grades of the two papers will be entered as the grade for the paper.

Plagiarism: Using text written by someone else (even in a close paraphrase) without clear and unambiguous acknowledgment is academic dishonesty and will result in an "F" for the course.

Attendance: The professor will call roll at the beginning of each class. Students with a perfect attendance record will receive three bonus points on their final grades. Students with more than two absences will receive 1.5 points off their final grades for each absence over one. The instructor will accept excuses in cases of true need if appropriately documented. Students who leave class early may be counted absent. Three tardies count as one absence. Students more than 10 minutes late will be counted absent.

Note: Students who, because of a disabling condition, may require some special arrangements in order to meet course requirements should contact the instructor as soon as possible to make necessary accommodations. Students should present appropriate verification from the Disabled Students Services in the Dean of Students Office.

The professor reserves the right to change this syllabus at his discretion. Changes will be announced in class and posted at the Web address listed above.

Last updated: Wednesday, May 04, 2011 10:46 AM