ENV 295-02 - Special Topic: An Environmental History of Agriculture

4 credits (Spring)

The abandonment of hunting-and-gathering and the domestication of plants and animals is a series of events that has immensely amplified the carrying capacity of Earth for humans, but at the same time altered the face of the planet more than any event since the KT boundary. The course will begin with an examination of hunter-gather economies, examine the question of whether agriculture is facultative and therefore its absence in some societies (such as the Australian Aborigines) is adaptive and not a symptom of their being “primitive,” followed by a disquieting consideration of cannibalism (both virtual and ritual) and whether it is, as well, adaptive under special circumstances. The crux of the course, however, will examine how our species’ quest for food has transformed entire landscapes into gardens; simplified ecosystems; diminished biological diversity; laid the foundations of urbanization, economics and politics; facilitated the evolution of diseases; despoiled the seas; and provided the trophic foundation of the industrial revolution. Finally, the course will enter the new millennium and explore the ethical dimensions of how Americans, Brazilians, Chinese, Indians and Pakistanis grow and use food; the geography of famine; food as fuel; the shifting agricultural panorama in a time of climate change; and the role of genetically-modified organisms in the breadbaskets of the future.

Prerequisite: Second-year standing.
Instructor: Campbell