Write an essay summarizing the history of climate change science, politics, and policy in the American context. Questions to consider: How did the scientific understanding of the problem of global warming/climate change evolve in the post-WWII period? Who were the key individuals who brought concern about the long-term threat of global warming to the U.S. government? What events did they set in motion? When and how did opposition coalesce to question scientific certainty about global warming? Who was behind this opposition? How did the debate over climate change reflect the growing polarization in American society over environmentalism? What policies did they bring about, or fail to bring about? Is climate change related to the larger “ecological crisis” identified by many environmentalists in the 1960s and 1970s, or is it a unique and unprecedented environmental problem in American history? Please consult the following assigned materials in writing your essays, as well as your notes from class discussions on 11/19, 11/21, 12/5, 12/10, and 12/12 (you will have PPTs to consult for the 12/10 and 12/12 classes). You are not required to cite every single one of these sources, but your essay should be informed by a majority of them. • Nathaniel Rich, Losing Earth: A Recent History • Roger Revelle, Testimony Before the House Appropriations Committee, May 1957 (PDF in Canvas) • James Hansen, Testimony Before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, June 1988 (PDF in Canvas) • Climate Investigation Center, “Exxon Knew” Documents,
Exxon Knew• ExxonMobil, Climate Change, https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/energy-and-environment/environmental-protection/climate-change. • Patrick Allitt, “Anti- and Counter-Environmentalists,” in A Climate of Crisis (PDF in Canvas) • S. Fred Singer, “The Costs of Environmental Overregulation” (1993) (PDF in Canvas) • Chris Mooney, “When Did Republicans Start Hating the Environment?” Mother Jones (August 12, 2014),
When Did Republicans Start Hating the Environment?• Patrick Allitt, “Deep and Radical Ecology,” in A Climate of Crisis: America in the Age of Environmentalism (2014) • Tyler Priest, “Oil on the Edge: The Interrelated Histories of Oil in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Alaskan Arctic” (Draft) (PDF in Canvas)
