8/17

In Class

Introductions

8/22

and 

8/24

In Class

Workshops

Basic Internet Research 

Advanced Academic Internet Research

after Class

By Sunday: Send in your Worksheets 

8/29

and

9/1

In Class

Discussion: Worster the scholar, Worster the writer, Worster the environmental historian

Before Class 

Read Donald Worster, Dust Bowl. 

Write one-sentence descriptions of each paragraph in the book. Number or list your sentences. Double space. Take this exercise seriously. It’s a great low-stakes way to start training your mind to process scholarship. It’s also a great chance to work on clear and concise and declarative sentences. The basic form of academic writing.  Here are two brief samples. This assignment takes quite a long time. Plan accordingly. 

Graf Summaries for Preface, Introduction and Parts One and Two due before class on Tuesday

Graf Summaries for parts three-five and afterword due before class on Thursday

9/5

and 

9/7

In Class

Tuesday: Quiz Cronon 

Tuesday: Cronon Walkthrough

Thursday: Watch: Lorentz, The Plow that Broke the Plains

Write three-paragraph essay on interpreting the Dust Bowl 

before class on Tuesday

Read: William Cronon, “A Place for Stories: Nature, History, and Narrative”

Read: Roche, “New Deal Agonistes” 

Tuesday

9/12

and 

9/14

In Class

Presentations/Discussions of Webb, The Great Plains chapters 2,5 and 7

before class

Spend 10-15 minutes learning about this book. It’s widely considered one of the most important history books of the twentieth century. Figure out why.

Read Walter Prescott Webb, The Great Plains, chapters 2,5, and 7. Write one-sentence descriptions of each paragraph in these chapters. Number or list your sentences. Double space. Take this exercise seriously. It’s a great low-stakes way to start training your mind to process scholarship. It’s also a great chance to work on clear and concise and declarative sentences. The basic form of academic writing. This assignment takes quite a long time. Plan accordingly. 

Graf Summaries for chapters 2,5 and 7 due before class on Tuesday

Graf Summaries for chapters 8, 9 and 11due before class on Thursday

9/19

and 

9/21

In Class

Tuesday: Midterm

Before class tuesday study

Thursday: Presentation/Discussion – The Great Plains Committee and “The Future of the Great Plains 

before class Thursday read

9/26

and

9/28

In Class

Discussion – How did the U.S. Government see the problem? What were its solutions? How do governments respond to environmental disasters? 

Before class

and 

10/12

10/17

and

10/19

 in class

Read and take notes on: 

10/24

and 

10/26

10/31

and

11/2

and

11/9

11/14

and

11-16 

11/21

11/28

and 

11/30

IN CLASS

Tuesday:

Chernobyl’s Flaws

Assessment of Radiation Affects

Ball, The Lingering Chernobyl

Mercury in lake Erie 

Great Lakes Mercury Connections 

Reuterr, “Lake Erie: Past, Present, and Future”

“Temporal PCB and Mercury Trends in Lake Erie Fish Communities”

Mercury in Lake Erie Fish

Environmental Protection Agency Investigation of Mercury in the St. Clair River – Lake Erie System

Thursday

Silent Spring and Environmentalism 

Carson, A Fable for Tomorrow

DDT Advertising 1

DDT Advertising 2

Silent Spring, Posters 

Malvina, Reynolds: “DDT on My Brain” 

Thomas Dunlap, “DDT: Scientists, Citizens, and Public Policy”

Algea in Lake Erie

Yeoman, “The Algae that (Almost) Ate Toledo” 

Denchak, “Harmful Algal Blooms 101”