GEO 399 (Special Topics: Environmental Policy in Twentieth Century America, offered Spring 2004  -- CRN 33108)  focuses on changing perceptions of the environment B and solutions to environmental problems B in recent history.  Among the issues we explore: how was conservation defined at the turn of the century?  What values were upheld and advocated at various times through the twentieth century?  Towards what ends were natural resources maintained?  How were environmental policy decisions made?  What criteria were used to evaluate critical scientific issues?  How did the American experience compare to other parts of the world?  What challenges do we face in 2004? 

We will look at John Muir=s campaign for conservation values during the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, the Dust Bowl, controversies involving forests and the Columbia River system, pesticides policy and the reception of Rachel Carson=s Silent Spring, the Green Revolution, and the contemporary politics of global warmingB among other issues.