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School of Culture History and Language · ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
Course Dates for 2025: The intensive classes for this course will run from 30 June to 11 July and includes a compulsory field trip (approx $20). Pollution, often seen as a modern challenge, has deep roots in history. Understanding its legacy is the key to creating a cleaner and more sustainable future. This course unveils how historical pollution has been a force of transformation, both in the environment and in the shaping of societies. Students will not only acquire historical knowledge but also uncover the valuable lessons that centuries of pollution hold for us today. This course will take students to the realms of ancient empires such as Rome and China, the Inca civilization, and the era of modern colonisation, enabling us to uncover the environmental footprints they left behind. As the course delves into these case studies, questions that transcend time will be discussed: How has pollution impacted the rise and fall of civilizations? Were chemicals ever used with sinister intent for social or political gains? What makes one pollutant unacceptable in one era while another is tolerated in a different context? And how do societies balanced their economic pursuits with environmental preservation? In this course students will engage in basic laboratory analyses, gaining firsthand experience in simple scientific techniques used to uncover traces of pollution from centuries past. Upon completion of this course, students will have built a strong foundation in environmental history, achieved through an engaging exploration that bridges history and science, contributing to the betterment of our environment's future.
Online quizzes (10 quizzes worth 3% each)
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Oral presentation (20 minutes): Present a case study of pollution in the past that led to major environmental damage.
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3
Oral presentation (20 minutes): Present a case study of pollution that resulted in significant environmental policy change.
Learning outcomes 1, 3, 5
Final tutorials’ report (word limit 1800 words)
Learning outcomes 1, 4
This course requires a total of 130 hours commitment, which includes: - 20 hours of synchronous classes, including theoretical and practical classes (intensive week) - 10 hours of reading and writing reports (before and after the intensive week) - independent study The course will consist of a mix of lectures (concepts, theories), discussion of case-studies to be presented by students, and practical exercises that will be given during the lectures. They will be practical tutorials and students will learn how to track metal pollution using a range of geochemical and palaeoecological proxies (i.e. tree rings, sediment). Other Information As a multidisciplinary course, the instructor will provide a foundational understanding of each discipline. No extensive prior knowledge in any of the disciplines is necessary. A strong desire for learning, curiosity, and motivation are highly encouraged.
All materials will be available on wattle prior to the start of the course. Preliminary Reading · Schneider, L., Shulmeister, N., Mariani, M., Beck, K.K., Fletcher, M.S., Zawadzki, A., Saunders, K.M, Aquino-López, M.A., Haberle, S.G. Colonialism and the environment: The pollution legacy of the Southern Hemisphere’s largest copper mine in the 20th century. The Anthropocene Review 9, no. 1 (2022): 3-23. · Steffen, W., Grinevald, J., Crutzen, P., & McNeill, J. (2011). The Anthropocene: conceptual and historical perspectives. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 369(1938), 842-867. · The Human Planet: How We Created the Anthropocene, by Lewis, S.L and Maslin, M.A.Pelican (ISBN978-0-241-28008-1, 1st Edition).