AS.100.369: Fossil Fuels and Imperial Futures

Take a stand: Who do you find most convincing? Steinberg or Friedman? Or neither? Thoughts on the future of America's empire over the planet's natural resources--is the answer in green liberalism and green capitalism? Other thoughts for our final discussion (perhaps some other big issues that we haven't considered and you would like to address)?

AS.100.369: Wildlife Protection in the Era of Decolonization

So I guess I'll pigging back onto the subtitle of the Goldberg article: In the particular case of this American couple, the Owens, do you think these conservationists went too far? What social, cultural, or ideological factors might have motivated them? Was Russell Train's approach different? Does Train or the Owens have anything in common with Teddy Roosevelt generations earlier? Thoughts? (don't feel like you have to answer all of these questions, but maybe we can hit on all of them in discussion)

The Owens in Zambia, circa late 1970s.

AS.100.369: Ecocide in Vietnam?

Having read this week's texts and comparing them to texts from the Panama Canal Zone, Philippines occupation, and the early Cold War, how have attitudes changed among some American scientists towards the uses of military power, the imperative of technological solutions, and the relationship of human beings with nature? Let's speculate on what might have been driving these changes. Is the use of the term "ecocide" itself significant of a broader transformation in American environmental consciousness by the end of the 1960s and early 1970s?

AS.100.369: Unleashing the Insect War

Having read various views of the American war on insects from 1944 to 1962, what do you think ultimately was behind the war--i.e. what motivations or values propelled these relentless campaigns of extermination? Did Americans just flat out hate "bugs" during the period? Or was there something else going on here? Other thoughts?