The Hagley Fellows at the University of Delaware invite paper proposals for "Consumption and the Environment," the 2001 Hagley Fellows Conference. Joel Tarr, Richard S. Caliguiri Professor of Urban and Environmental History and Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, will give the keynote address on "Environment, Consumption and the Urban Hinterland." The conference will explore the interaction between consumption and the environment in an historical context. We believe that such an approach provides a way to integrate studies of production and consumption and to highlight the social implications of seemingly personal decisions. What does each act of consumption mean for the neighborhood, the city, the region, the planet? How have industrial societies shaped the urban and natural environments to make possible new kinds of consumption? And how has our understanding of the environment -- as polluted city, boundless source of energy, or pristine site of recreation -- shaped our consumption choices?

We solicit papers from a wide range of disciplines, including but not limited to environmental history, history of consumption, industrialization, urban studies, and others. Contemporary public policy research falls outside the conference's historical focus. Proposals, including an 800-word abstract and one-page CV, should be sent by December 1st, 2000 to Hagley Fellows (contact information below).