The climate crisis is one of the most urgent issues of our time. In recent years, changes to the planet’s temperature have precipitated floods, hurricanes, wildfires, and other natural disasters which have wrought global devastation, including facilitating the spread of dangerous diseases. Communities experiencing inequalities at the intersection of race, class, ability and other vectors of identity have felt these consequences most starkly—a reality that activists from around the world have mobilised to address. Taking to the streets, lobbying governments and generating publicity, diverse communities have demanded that political leaders take steps to reverse global warming and tackle its unjust effects. Such multifaceted responses to the human cost of environmental change are not new, but have a long history rooted in broader struggles for civil rights, human rights, and social justice.

This course aims to give students the knowledge and tools to analyse contemporary struggles over the environment and place them in their historical context. It examines how environmental issues have shaped large historical developments such as the founding of nations, the outcomes of war, and the rise and fall of empires, as well as the ways in which people seeking power have weaponized the environment for political gain and how communities have resisted mistreatment at the grassroots. Focusing predominantly on the USA and the UK, it also takes a global and transnational approach that traces these themes and trends across national borders.