HIST 110F: CLIMATE HISTORY ICE

University of California, Santa Barbara

Before the onset of the present-day anthropogenic climate crisis, the world had a different problem with ice. Some had too much of it, others could no t have enough of it. How did people in the past overcome the challenges ice posed as a hindrance to mobility? How did they exploit it as a useful reso urce? As a coveted luxury? Is icebreaking no longer relevant in an age of g lobal warming and melting polar icecaps, or does it still concern us today? In this course, we will explore how the history of ice can be understood a s a history of how human beings not only adapt to natural environments but alter them for various ends amidst changes in the climates they inhabit.