Download Changing Planet, Changing Health: How the

Anth 278 Climate Change and Civilization
Spring 2012, 11-12:20 T/TH, 113 Davenport
Dr. L. J. Lucero
Office hours: 12:30-2 pm Tue/Thurs, 191 Davenport; [email protected]
It is not the strongest nor most intelligent of the species that survive; it is the one most
adaptable to change—attributed to Charles Darwin
This course examines how climate change impacts society at various levels, from
communities to political systems, past and present. With the growing need to
understand how climate change and society intersect, it is critical that we address
crucial questions about how lessons from the past can inform on present problems.
The last part of the course focuses on current trends and solutions on how to deal with
the consequences of climate change. What are the political and social roadblocks to
addressing global climate change? Will we, through technology or other means,
overcome the dramatic changes taking place (e.g., melting glaciers, rising sea levels,
increasing drought/flooding, and so on)? Students will come away from this course
better informed about the current state of climate change and what it portends for our
future. Case studies from around the world will be discussed.
Course Grading:
Daily haikus, 20 pts. each
Two exams, 100 pts. each
Group project, 100 pts. per person (peer evaluation required)
Haiku (20 pts each) write a haiku on a topic you want to discuss in class based on one
or all of the readings. To save paper, use same sheet of paper for several haikus (tear
off strip to turn in). Due at end of each class, hard copy only in class (no hard copies in
mail box, no email/Compass attachments).
Two (2) exams (100 pts each). Exams consist of short answers and an essay
question. Acceptable excuses to make up an exam: illness or death in the family
(documentation required for both—no nurse slips, include a letter from a doctor, as
well as email/phone number) and university sponsored event (documentation from
coach or professor required; include phone number/email). Notify before exam that you
are unable to take exam; the makeup exam must be taken with a week of the regularly
scheduled exam. Exams cover lectures, text, handouts, and movies.
Group Projects: 30-minute presentation (100 pts total); select from these topics:
• Conduct research on impact of climate change in the Champaign-Urbana area
• Create a lesson plan for a K-12 classroom education project on climate change
• Conduct a campus-wide survey of climate change awareness and attitudes on campus
• Other activities proposed by group members (needs to be approved by me); examples
previous student groups projects: a resource guide for high school teachers on climate
change; Going green on campus; UIUC student farm; Green week at school; Polls on
belief in scientist; A sustainable campus; Profiting from climate change, etc.
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Include citations/links on slides/documents, and a bibliography
Groups will be assigned in week 3 (Feb. 2)
Groups will meet outside class at least once a week; you are expected to commit about
three hours per week to the projects. This project will be due Tuesday April 10; no late
projects accepted. You each will grade your project members on a confidential form in
via Compass 2g.
Students with disabilities: If you have a disability, you may wish to identify yourself. You
can do so by providing documentation to the Division of Rehabilitation Education
Services Office (DRES) on campus (http://www.disability.illinois.edu/). Appropriate
accommodations will then be provided for you.
To learn about UIUC’s Non-Discrimination Policy and complaints of discrimination,
including sexual harassment, visit http://cam.illinois.edu/ix/ix-a/ix-a-22.htm
Resources:
From a book called What the World Eats by Faith D'Aluisio and Peter Menzel
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519,00.html
Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian new educational website,
“American Indian Responses to Environmental Challenges”
Changing Planet, Changing Health: How the Climate Crisis Threatens Our Health and
What We Can Do About It, Paul R. Epstein and Dan Ferber, U of CA Press, 2011
http://climaterealityproject.org/
http://earththeoperatorsmanual.com/broadcast_info
Schmidt, Gavin, and Joshua Wolfe (editors)
2009 Climate Change: Picturing the Science. W. W. Norton, New York.
Climate Literacy: http://www.globalchange.gov/resources/educators/climate-literacy
Planet U video archives: http://www.planetu.illinois.edu
Blue Men on Global Warming:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8453442377878175440
Green Inc.: http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/
Greenhouse gases: http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2006/greenhouse-gas-in-blackballoons/
Global Warming art: http://www.globalwarmingart.com/
Consumer video: http://storyofstuff.com/
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): http://www.ipcc.ch/
From ‘An Inconvenient Truth:’ http://www.climatecrises.net/
Lost Generation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA
Global Drought Monitor:
http://drought.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/drought.html?map=%2Fwww%2Fdrought%2Fweb_pages
%2Fdrought.map&program=%2Fcgibin%2Fmapserv&root=%2Fwww%2Fdrought2%2F&map_web_imagepath=%2Ftmp%2
F&map_web_imageurl=%2Ftmp%2F&map_web_template=%2Fdrought.html
Global Floods: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~floods/
Rising sea levels predictions: http://flood.firetree.net/
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http://www.americasclimatechoices.org/
Schedule and Assigned Readings
SUBJECT TO CHANGE
Readings available the Compass website, https://compass2g.illinois.edu/
Week 1: Jan. 17/19: Introductory remarks on the impact of climate change on
society
‘An Inconvenient Truth,’ film by Al Gore
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/big-idea/05/carbon-bath
Fagan, Brian
2008 The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilization.
Bloomsbury Press, New York, chapter 1
Jonathon P. Schuldt, Sara H. Konrath, and Norbert Schwarz
2011 “Global warming” or “climate change”?: Whether the planet is warming depends
on question wording. Public Opinion Quarterly 75(1):115-124.
David Scott Yeager, Samuel B. Larson, Jon A. Krosnick, and Trevor Tompson
2011 Measuring Americans' Issue Priorities: A New Version of the Most Important
Problem Question Reveals More Concern About Global Warming and the
Environment. Public Opinion Quarterly 75 (1):125-138.
Week 2: Jan. 24/26: Climate Change and Human History
deMenocal, Peter B.
2001 Cultural Responses to Climate Change during the Late Holocene. Science
292:667-673.
Ruddiman, William F., and Erle C. Ellis
2009 Effect of Per-capita Land Use Changes on Holocene Forest Clearance and CO
2 Emissions. Quaternary Science Reviews, doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.05.022.
Ruddiman, W. F., J. E. Kutzbach, and S. J. Vavrus
2011 Can Natural or Anthropogenic Explanations of Late-Holocene CO2 and CH4
Increases Be Falsified? The Holocene 21:865-879.
van der Leeuw, Sander E.
2008 Climate and Society: Lessons from the Past 10,000 Years. Royal Swedish
Academy of Sciences 14:476-482.
Bar-Yosef, Ofer
2011 Climatic Fluctuations and Early Farming in West and East Asia. Current
Anthropology 52(S4):S175-S193.
Week 3: Jan. 31/Feb. 2: The Classic Maya
Fagan, Brian
2011 Elixir: A History of Water and Humankind. Bloomsbury Press, New York,
chapter 13
Hodell D. A., M. Brenner, and J. H. Curtis
2007 Climate and Cultural History of the Northeastern Yucatan Peninsula, Quintana
Roo, Mexico. Climatic Change 83:215-240.
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Lucero, Lisa J.
2002 The Collapse of the Classic Maya: A Case for the Role of Water Control.
American Anthropologist 104:814-826.
Week 4: Feb. 7/9: Southeast Asia: Angkor
National Geographic, July 2009
Coe, Michael D. (read English sections)
2008 Urbanism and the Classic Khmer. In Urbanism in Mesoamerica, edited by A.
Guadalupe M., R. H. Cobean, A. Garcia C., and K. G. Hirth, pp. 715-731. Instituto
Nacional de Antropología e Historia and Pennsylvania State University, Mexico.
Fletcher, Roland, et al.
2008 The Water Management Network of Angkor, Cambodia. Antiquity 82:658-670.
Stone, Richard
2006 The End of Angkor. Science 311:1364-1368.
Buckley Brendan M., Kevin J. Anchukaitisa, Daniel Penny, Roland Fletcher, et al.
2010 Climate as a Contributing Factor in the Demise of Angkor, Cambodia. PNAS
107:6748-6752.
Week 5: Feb. 14/16: Ancient Andean societies
Fagan, Brian
2008 The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilization.
Bloomsbury Press, New York, chapter 9
Nasca lines: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/03/nasca/hall-text
Dillehay, Tom D., and Alan L. Kolata
2004 Long-term Human Response to Uncertain Environmental Conditions in the
Andes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101:4325-4330.
Billman, Brian R., and Gary Huckleberry
2008 Deciphering the Politics of Prehistoric El Niño Events on the North Coast of
Peru. In El Niño, Catastrophism, and Culture Change in Ancient America, edited by
D. H. Sandweiss and J. Quilter, pp. 101-128. Dumbarton Oaks and Harvard
University Press, Washington D.C.
Week 6: Feb. 21/23: The Pre-Columbian United States
Fagan, Brian
2008 The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilization.
Bloomsbury Press, New York, chapters 6, 7
Cahokia: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/cahokia/hodges-text
Benson, Larry V., Timothy R. Pauketat, and Edward R. Cook
2009 Cahokia’s Boom and Bust in the Context of Climate Change. American
Antiquity
Hegmon, Michelle, Mathews A. Peeples, Ann P. Kinzig, Stephanie Kulow, Cathryn M.
Meegan, and Margaret C. Nelson
2008 Social Transformation and Its Human Costs in the Prehispanic Southwest.
American Anthropologist 110:313-324.
Week 7: Feb. 28/March 1: Harrapan and Mesopotamia societies
E. Kolbert
2005 The Climate of Man - II. The New Yorker (May 2, 2005)
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Wright, Rita, Reid A. Bryson, and Joseph Schuldenrein.
2008 Water Supply and History: Harappa and the Beas Settlement Survey. Antiquity
82:315:37-48.
Wright, Rita P.
2010 The Ancient Indus: Urbanism, Economy, and Society. Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge. Chapter 2.
Possehl, Gregory
2000 The Drying Up of the Sarasvati: Environmental Disruptions in South Asian
Prehistory. In Environmental Disaster and the Archaeology of Human Response,
edited by G. Bawden and R. M. Reycraft, pp. 63-74. Anthropological papers No. 7.
Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, Albuquerque.
Week 8: March 6/8:
First exam, Tuesday March 6
Thurs: DVD TBA
Week 9: March 13/15: Ancient Egypt
Fagan, Brian
1999 Floods, Famines, and Emperors: El Niño and the Fate of Civilizations. Basis
Books, New York. Pp. 99-117.
Hassan, Fekri
1994 Population Ecology and Civilization in Ancient Egypt. In Historical Ecology:
Cultural Knowledge and Changing Landscapes, edited by C. L. Crumley, pp. 155181. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe.
Hassan, Fekri
2007 Extreme Nile Foods and Famines in Medieval Egypt (AD 930–1500) and their
Climatic Implications. Quaternary International 173-174:101-112.
March 17-24 SPRING BREAK!!!
Week 10: March 27/29: The Roman Empire and Climate in Europe
Fagan, Brian
2008 The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilization.
Bloomsbury Press, New York, chapter 2
Crumley, Carole L.
1994 The Ecology of Conquest: Contrasting Agropastoral and Agricultural Societies’
Adaptation to Climatic Change. In Historical Ecology: Cultural Knowledge and
Changing Landscapes, edited by C. L. Crumley, pp. 183-201. School of American
Research Press, Santa Fe.
Gunn, Joel, Carole L. Crumley, and Elizabeth Jones
2004 A Landscape Analysis of Western Europe during the Early Middle Ages. In
The Archaeology of Global Change: The Impact of Humans on Their Environment,
edited by C. L. Redman, pp. 165-185. Smithsonian Press, Washington, D.C.
Büntgen, Ulf, et al.
2011 2500 Years of European Climate Variability and Human Susceptibility. Science
331:578-582.
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Week 11: April 3/5: Societal responses to climate change
Oster, Emily
2004 Witchcraft, Weather and Economic Growth in Renaissance Europe. Journal of
Economic Perspectives 18:215-228.
Wood, Gillen
2008 The Volcano Lover: Climate, Colonialism, and the Slave Trade in Raffles's
'History of Java'. Journal of Early Modern Cultural Studies 8: 33-55.
Scheffran, Jurgen
2008 Climate Change and Security. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 64(2):19-25, 5960.
Zhang, David D., Peter Brecke, Harry F. Lee, Yuan-Qing He, and Jane Zhang
2007 Global Climate Change, War, and Population Decline in Recent Human
History. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104:19214-19219.
Week 12: April 10/12: Solutions: Grass roots, religion, and politics
Projects due Tuesday April 10; no late projects accepted, period. Send email or
bring on flashdrive (will be returned) or CD
Attendance mandatory for presentations; 20 points subtracted if absent without
acceptable excuse (my definition)
Kolbert, Elizabeth
2006 Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change.
Bloomsbury, New York. Pp. 67-87.
Guttman-Bond, Erika
2010 Sustainability Out of the Past: How Archaeology Can Save the Planet. World
Archaeology 42:355-366.
Week 13: April 17/19: Global climate change: What lies ahead
Fagan, Brian
2008 The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilization.
Bloomsbury Press, New York, chapter 13
Diamond, Jared A.
2005 Collapse: How Societies Choose or Fail to Succeed. Viking Press, New York.
Chapter 16, ‘The World as a Polder: What Does it all Mean to Us Today?, pp. 486525.
Thursday, April 19: Presentations (Groups 1, 2); attendance mandatory (20 points
subtracted)
Week 14: April 24/26: Presentations (attendance mandatory, 20 points subtracted)
Tues: Groups 3, 4
Thurs: Groups 5, 6
Week 15: May 1: Presentations (Groups 7, 8) (May 3 is Reading Day); attendance
mandatory (20 points subtracted)
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Final Exam, 1:30-2:40 pm, Monday, May 7
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