“The Burning Earth” with Dr. Sunil Amrith
Thursday April 23rd, 2026 | 6:00PM MST
The Idea of Nature public lecture series presents: “The Burning Earth” with Dr. Sunil Amrith, Renu and Anand Dhawan Professor of History and Professor of the Environment, Yale University.
Sunil Amrith twins the stories of environment and empire, of genocide and eco-cide, of an extraordinary expansion of human freedom and its planetary costs. Drawing on an extraordinarily rich diversity of primary sources, he reckons with the ruins of Portuguese silver mining in Peru, British gold mining in South Africa, and oil extraction in Central Asia. He explores the railroads and highways that brought humans to new terrains of battle against each other and against stubborn nature. Amrith’s account of the ways in which the First and Second World Wars involved the massive mobilization not only of men, but of other natural resources from around the globe, provides an essential new way of understanding war as an irreversible reshaping of the planet. So, too, does his book reveal the reality of migration as a consequence of environmental harm. The imperial, globe-spanning pursuit of profit, joined with new forms of energy and new possibilities of freedom from hunger and discomfort, freedom to move and explore, has brought change to every inch of the Earth.
2026 sponsors of The Idea of Nature Lecture Series:
The Nature Conservancy
Southern Idaho Mushroom Club
Ada County Soil and Water Conservation District
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
Idaho Humanities Council
Boise State University: College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, College of Education, School of Public Service, College of Health Sciences, School of the Environment, Department of English Literature, The Humanities and Social Sciences Initiative (HSSI)This lecture is sponsored in part by: The Nature Conservancy, Southern Idaho Mushroom Club, Ada County Soil and Water Conservation District, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Idaho Humanities Council, Boise Co-op Market and Boise State University’s College of Business, College of Education, College of Health Sciences, School of the Environment, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of English Literature and The Humanities and Social Sciences Initiative.
Recordings of many past lectures and the promotional materials can be streamed or downloaded on our ScholarWorks website at: