Humans have so affected the planet since the 1800s that evolutionary scientists have given our era a new name: the Anthropocene. In this class we will explore the origins of the Industrial Revolution and its ramifications in just the last two centuries. We will have a look at Isaac Newton, James Watt, Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo, and a host of very interesting political and economic figures from the 18th and 19th centuries. And of course we will have to look at some new inventions: telegraphs, telephones, trains, automobiles and planes to name a few. Students will read from primary sources.