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Since the unification of modern Germany in 1871, the history of German environmental movements has been beset with political, cultural, and racial tension. Some of the earliest environmental activists, such as the composer and conservationist Ernst Rudorff, explicitly conceived of conservation as Heimatschutz; or, protection of the homeland. While Rudorff opposed jews and women from participating in the founding of his Heimatschutz organization, the creator of the modern Umwelt concept, the theoretical biologist Jakob von Uexkill, became an early supporter of the Nazi regime. How do we interrogate this disturbing alliance between racial purity, environmental protection, and nation? What does the history of concepts such as Uexkill's Umwelt or Alexander von Humboldt's natural monument, or Naturdenkmal, have to teach policymakers and intellectuals today in the face of environmental crisis? How does does the relationship between race and environment inform current issues about conservation and energy policy in the present? Taught in English with some readings in German.