Environmental History of the Twentieth Century. An Introductory Didactic Course

Abstract The present manuscript presents the view point of the author for providing a course on environmental history for chemistry students and secondary school pupils. Special attention is paid on the societal developments in the twentieth century when the anthropogenic impacts on the environment have become especially deep and devastating. The course of lectures is focused on the environmental changes in each environmental phase (lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere) as well as in the society as a whole. The process of environmental changes is illustrated by various examples from each natural system in consideration and the anthropogenic factor for each one of them is defined and discussed. The presented material is an example for organization of an environmental history course of lecture which could be subject of additional information and conclusions related to the social attitude to the problem of environmental pollution and environmental risk assessment.