U.S. Environmental History

COURSE FEATURE U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY By Matt Yang ’23

Environmentalism is much more than what catches the eye — the protection of trees, rivers, and rocks. Environmentalism affects our government policies and everyday decisions, whether we realize it or not. For example, due to a mistake made by early map makers, the Americas were seen as a magical land. Settlers did not realize the span of the North American east coast, and when they could not find each other, they assumed that the land was magical. This mistake has caused a lasting misconception of indigenous cultures and is an example of how much our current world has been impacted, and is still being shifted by, environmental history.

In CSW’s “U.S. Environmental History” course, students explore the history of New England geography and how humans have affected and been affected by the environment. Like most CSW history courses, “U.S. Environmental History” is largely discussion-based, with meaningful, thoughtprovoking classroom conversation. Through reading and classwork, students explore questions such as: “How has an understanding of nature and space shaped and defined race, economic goals, beliefs about societal structures like government, and education? And how do nature and space weave back into these concepts?”

The “U.S. Environmental History” class was created and taught in 2005 by History Teacher Brian Hamilton, who would later leave to pursue a Ph.D. in environmental history and pass the course to current dean of faculty Rachel Hirsch, who has been teaching this course for 15 years. According to Rachel, the course still maintains a lot of the original course material developed by Brian. However, it has been tweaked to match Rachel’s unique teaching style, which she says involves a lot of questioning.

“I do not want people to think that power comes from naming a solution. The power comes from asking such good questions that the solution becomes evident through exploring questions,” Rachel says. In the final weeks of the course, students are tasked with developing eight to ten questions about the environmental history of a specific place. Although seemingly simplistic, the development of these questions requires a high level of knowledge of the specific history of a topic and an overall understanding of environmental history. Can humans create nature? Can humans replace the nature we have destroyed? Are there places no humans should be allowed to visit? These are but a few of the questions students have explored.

In another project, students reconsider a current event through the lens of environmental history and write a resource guide. This project’s past and present topics have included the recent murders in Buffalo, NY, the ongoing Flint, MI water crisis, the removal of confederate monuments, and the humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. This project allows students to utilize their research, writing, and art skills to put together a sophisticated resource guide.

Ultimately, the hope is that students who take “U.S. Environmental History” will develop a deeper understanding of environmental history and embark upon a more in-depth exploration of environmental science, or rather — “a more truthful understanding of the past in which we consider the space in which events take place not as a background but as an active player in the narrative.”