Periods and Events in the Emergence
of American Environmentalism
  1. Colonial period
    1. Motivations
      1. Availability: Europeans perceived the new world as unclaimed.
      2. Competition: Resources could be converted to power in the struggle among European nations.
      3. Mercantilism: The world was essentially a pie, and the powers were competing to get it.
    2. Life in colonies
      1. Image of nature: It was a God-given duty to convert the land to a useful and civilized state.
      2. Survival: N. Amer. was a challenging place, a threat to survival of those living there.
    3. Attitudes to wilderness
      1. Well expressed by William Bradford, who, off of Mayflower, stepped into what he called a "hideous and desolate wilderness."
      2. Psychological meanings
    4. Early scientific interests in nature - 1700's - English Colonists. How we moved from seeing Nature as obstacle and instrument for our uses to something to be appreciated, studied, admired, and eventually the object of the conservation movement.
      1. European background:
        • Carl von Linné (Linnaeus) 1707-1778
        • Gilbert White 1720-93
        • Alexander von Humboldt 1769-1859
        • Charles Lyell 1797-1875
      2. American continent:
        • Mark Catesby
        • John Bartram 1699-1777
        • Peter Kalm
        • William Bartram - son of J. Bartram 1739-1823
        • Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790
        • Jean de Crevecoeur
        • Alexander Wilson
      3. Summary:
        • A very small group, Philadelphia, elites; had the leisure to go out and look at the land.
        • Represented the beginning of natural sciences in America. Led to the scientific and artistic interest in the 19th Century, and later to conservation.
        • Nonetheless the dominant attitude about the new world was that it offered superabundance: it would never run out of resources. Understandable in light of the population and technology of the time.
  2. The Revolution
    1. Consequences of American revolution
      1. Aim of the revolution was to throw off the yoke of Mercantilism.
      2. Land Ordinance of 1785: Townships (E-W running rows, 6 miles "tall") and Ranges (N-S running 6-mile wide tiers, numbered E and W of a central meridian). Together define blocks of 36 square miles, each with smaller subdivisions.
    2. Expansion
  3. Early - mid 1800's - Exploring the continent
    1. Lewis & Clark expedition
    2. Jim Bridger
    3. Steven Harriman Long expedition
    4. Thomas Say
    5. Ferdinand Hayden expedition
    6. Summary:
      • Scientific appreciation and interest in nature, among a minority who explored and described it.
      • Realization dawned that it must NOT be an infinite environment on the continent. Emergence of this idea.
  4. Progressivism
    1. Political-Economic Context of Post Civil War - the "Gilded Age"
      1. all-out competition; economic expansion
      2. Worship of wealth
      3. Monopolies and fortunes
        • J. P. Morgan
        • John D. Rockefeller
        • Andrew Carnegie
        • James Mellon
      4. Corporations protected as "persons" under Fourteenth Amendment
    2. Progressive Response
      1. "3rd American Covenant": first- Freedom; second- Equality; third- Fraternity
      2. Social democracy
      3. Responsibility for the common good
    3. Use federal laws to gain control of resources and control monopolies.
      1. Forest Reserve system
      2. Commissions to regulate Railroads and other businesses
      3. Public health tradition
    4. Professionalism in public management: Application of science & planning
    5. SETTLEMENT HOUSE MOVEMENT
      1. Waves of European immigrants moving to US
      2. Very degraded working & living conditions: Child labor; Working hours; Sweating system; Industrial poisons
      3. Jane Addams, 1860-1935. In 1889, founded Hull House, in S. Chicago, with Ellen Gates Starr
      4. Social and environmental issues not separate
      5. Social services
      6. 1893 Factory Act -- Florence Kelly
      7. Dr. Alice Hamilton
        • Illinois Comm. on Occupational Diseases
        • Lead, CO poisoning
        • Worker and community health
  5. POST-WWII
    1. BOOM IN CONSUMPTION
      1. BABIES
      2. AUTOMOBILES
      3. BUILDING & SUBURBS
      4. INCREASED DEMAND FOR RECREATION
    2. MYTH OF TECHNOLOGICAL SUPREMACY & OPTIMISM
      1. ATOMIC POWER PROMOTION
      2. CHEMICAL INVENTION AND PRODUCTION
      3. MEDICAL CARE STARTS WORLD-WIDE DECLINE IN INFANT MORTALITY; POPULATION INCREASE
    3. SIGNS OF TROUBLE - ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS
      • 1948 - Donora Pennsylvania sulfurous fog
      • 1952 - killer London fog, 5-10 December
      • 1957 - fire in Windscale nuclear plant
      • 1950's & 60's - "Minamata disease" from mercury pollution
      • 1967 - tanker Torrey Canyon wrecks
      • 1969 -
        • Cuyahoga River catches fire near Cleveland
        • DDT contamination
        • Bald Eagle near extinction
        • Union Oil rig blows out off Santa Barbara
      • 1979 - Three Mile Island
      • 1984 - Union Carbide plant disaster in Bhopal, India
      • 1986 - Chernobyl catastrophe
  6. 1960'S - RESPONSES TO MATERIALISM & ITS ENVIRONMENTAL DISCONTENTS:
    1. Renewed interest in science, nature & ecology
      1. JOHN MUIR INTEREST
      2. NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY - A. ADAMS
      3. CARSON'S SILENT SPRING
      4. SYSTEMS ECOLOGY
    2. Population & the age of limits
      1. POST-WAR US BOOM
      2. INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL & AGRIC AID
      3. Neo-Malthusians:
        • 1948 BOOKS BY VOGT; OSBORN
        • EHRLICH, THE POPULATION BOMB (1968)
        • HARDIN, LIFEBOAT ETHICS. (cf "Spaceship Earth" metaphor)
    3. THE ATOMIC AGE - FIRST IN WIDE REACTION TO UNINTENDED NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES TO TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS
      1. DEVELOPMENT OF BOMB DURING WAR YEARS
      2. COLD WAR AND SECRECY
      3. EISENHOWER & "ATOMS FOR PEACE"; "TOO CHEAP TO METER"; Atomic Energy Commission
      4. NUCLEAR BOMB TESTING
        1. 1945-1962: 423 DETONATIONS
        2. OPERATION CROSSROADS
        3. 1963 PARTIAL NUCLEAR TEST BAN TREATY
        4. DECREASED RESISTANCE
      5. OPPOSITION TO NUCLEAR POWER
        1. 1970'S - SHIFT FROM TECHNICAL & PERMITTING CHALLENGES TO DIRECT ACTION
        2. CLAMSHELL & ABALONE ALLIANCES
        3. Three Mile Island The China Syndrome
        4. AMALGAMATION OF SEVERAL CONSTITUENCIES
      6. End of Cold War; NEW CONCERNS - GROUNDWATER, AIR, SOIL
    4. UN Stockholm Conf. on Human Envt, 1972
      1. LDC's concern with poverty, devel.; skeptical of non-growth phil
      2. Meadows & Meadows' The Limits to Growth - released just before
      3. Agenda broadened to include envt
      4. Creation of UNEP
      5. Envt as dimension of development
    5. Wider Cultural Movements
      1. FREE SPEECH, CIVIL RIGHTS, WOMEN'S, ANTI-WAR MOVEMENTS INCREASE CITIZEN PARTICIPATION
      2. COUNTER-CULTURAL MOVEMENT
        1. MURRAY BOOKCHIN
        2. PAUL GOODMAN
        3. HERBERT MARCUSE, One Dimensional Man
        4. LYNN WHITE, "The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis"
      3. SEARCH FOR NEW NON-MATERIAL AMENITIES
    6. ENVIRONMENT AS A CONSENSUS ISSUE
  7. BOOM IN PUBLIC AWARENESS OF POLLUTION
    1. 1960'S - NOT IN POLLS
    2. MAINSTREAM GROUPS BROADEN EFFORTS
    3. SOCIAL WELFARE VS. ENVIRONMENT
    4. POLL DATA: ENVT. ONE OF 3 NATIONAL PROBLEMS:
      1. 1965 -- 17%
      2. 1970 -- 53%
    5. EARTH DAY 1970
    6. NEW MAINSTREAM GROUPS:
      • Environmental Defense Fund, 1967
      • League of Conservation Voters, 1970
      • Environmental Action, 1970
      • Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, 1971
      • Natural Resources Defense Council, 1971
  8. EMERGENCE OF BIPARTISAN CONGRESSIONAL PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL COALITION
  • Major Federal Environmental Legislation:
    1. Wildlife and Endangered species
      1. Migratory Bird Conservation Act, 1929
      2. Fish & Wildlife Coordination Act, 1934
      3. Endangered Species Preservation Act, 1966
      4. Endangered Species Conservation Act, 1969
      5. Marine Mammal Protection Act,1972
      6. Endangered Species Act, 1973; Amds, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1984, 1988
    2. Air
      1. Air Quality Act, 1960, 1967
      2. Clean Air Act, 1963; Amds, 1970, 1977, 1990,
    3. Water
      1. Water Pollution Act, 1948
      2. Water Pollution Control Act (Amds), 1956
      3. Water Quality Act, 1965
      4. Clean Water Restoration Act, 1966
      5. Water Quality Improvement Act, 1970
      6. Federal Water Poll. Control Act (Amds) 1972
      7. Safe Drinking Water Act, 1974
      8. Clean Water Act, 1977
      9. Federal Water Poll. Control Act (Amds) 1977
    4. Solid & Hazardous wastes
      1. Solid Waste Disposal Act, 1965
      2. Resource Recovery Act, 1970
      3. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, 1976
      4. Comprehensive Env. Response, Compensation & Liability Act (CERCLA), 1980
      5. Hazardous and Solid Waste Amds, 1984
      6. Superfund Amds and Reauthorization Act, 1986
      7. Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act, 1986
    5. Pesticides & Toxics
      1. Federal Insecticide, Fungicide & Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), 1972; Amds 1988
      2. Toxic Substances Control Act, 1976
      3. Environmental Pesticide Control Act, 1978
    6. Noise
      1. Noise Control Act, 1972
      2. Quiet Communities Act, 1978
    7. Forests, Parks & Land Use
      1. Multiple Use-Sustained Yield Act, 1960
      2. Wilderness Act, 1964
      3. Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, 1971
      4. Land Use Policy Act, 1974
      5. Strip Mining Act, 1974
      6. National Parks and Recreation Act, 1978
      7. National Forest Management Act, 1976
      8. Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, 1977
      9. Alaskan National Interest Lands Conservation Act, 1980