STSC 272 Energy in American History
Cross-listed as ENVS 272
Offered:Previous Semesters
Quivik TR 3-4:30
Energy is at the center of many discussions of today’s world. How central is an apparently unlimited supply of energy to a healthy economy? What is the importance of sources of energy supply to national security? How can we expend the energy we need to foster human life as we know it without allowing climate change to disrupt the existing global environments that sustain the lives of humans and other living species in accustomed ways? How crucial is the current level of energy use to patterns of American consumption, and how willing are Americans to alter their consumption habits in order to reduce energy use? What is the connection between various sources of energy and the relationships of social, economic, and political power that exist in the U.S. today?
This course will examine changes in energy sources, energy use, and energy technologies across American history in order to help students understand how the U.S. and the world arrived at its present situation with regard to energy and to understand the complex technological, environmental, social, economic, and political challenges implicit in any effort to modify the current trajectories of energy use. It will begin with the energy basis for the lives of Indians and Europeans at the time of colonial settlement, and move along to expanded exploitation of animal, water and wind power, conversion to fossil fuels, and adoption of nuclear power. With each form of energy, we will look at implications of energy use for work, material culture, domestic life, transportation and communications, social relations, economic growth, and political power. The course will help students see the energy implications in all we do.
