Environmental History: An Overview

1. Environmental History: An Overview G. Tyler Miller’s Living in the Environment 13th Edition Chapter 2 Dr. Richard Clements Chattanooga State Technical Community College Modified by Charlotte Kirkpatrick

2. U.S. Environmental History Tribal and Frontier Era • Early Conservation Era • The Environmental Era • Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic

3. Cultural Changes and the Environment: Hunter-Gatherer Culture • Hunter-gatherers: Early and Advanced societies • Nomadic: seasonal movement • Limited and local environmental impact: Small population size, low resource use/person, migration, lack of technology • Generally work with natural processes

4. Comparing Earlier to Advanced Hunter Gatherers. Earlier Hunter-Gatherers Knowledge of surroundings Discovered which plants and animals to use Where to find water Plant changes throughout the year Game animal migrations High infant mortality, short life-span = slow growth Advanced Hunter-Gatherers Greater impact on the environment Used more tools and fire to convert forestlands Contributed to the extinction of large animals Altered the distribution of plants

5. Warm Up #2 How is a planetary management worldview different from an Earth wisdom world view? Why do we say early hunter gatherers are more earth wise than we are today? What is slash and burn cultivation?

6. Cultural Changes and the Environment: The Agricultural Revolution (10,000-20,000 years ago) • Agriculture: plant cultivation and animal domestication • Slash and burn/shifting cultivation (See Fig. 2-2 p. 23) • Essentially sustainable resource use • Increased environmental impact Refer to Connections on p. 24

7. Slash and burn/shifting cultivation (See Fig. 2-2 p. 23) 2 1 3 4

8. Cultural Changes and the Environment: The Industrial Revolution • Industrial Revolution (mid-1700’s spread to U.S. in 1800’s) • Shift to dependence on non-renewable resources: Coal, Oil, Natural Gas • Led to movement from handmade small-scale, localized production to machine-made goods in large centralized factories. • Dramatic increase in environmental impact Refer to Connections onp. 25

9. Industrialization outcomes Good News: Mass production of many useful and affordable products Increase in Agricultural productivity Decrease in infant mortality Decrease in population growth rate increase in health, birth control methods, and education Methods for controlling pollution Greater average income and old-age security **Bad news: Our environmental problems of today were caused by the rise of industrialization

10. Cultural Changes and the Environment: The Information Revolution/Globalization • Information Revolution • Rate of information increase and speed of communication: Scientific Information doubles every 12 years general information doubles every 2.5 years • Globalization • Decrease in cultural diversity

11. Environmental History of the United States: The Tribal and Frontier Eras • Tribal Era: Native Americans • Native Americans generally low-impact hunter-gather or agricultural societies • Frontier Environmental Worldview: European Settlement (1607-1890) • Significant impact as wilderness frontier was “tamed”

12. Buffalo range depletion 1500 1850 1870 1880 1906

13. Environmental History of the United States: The Early Conservation Era • Period: 1832-1960 • Concern over resource use • Preservation of public lands • Public health initiatives • Environmental restoration projects

14. Important Figures During The Early Conservation Era (1832-70) • Henry David Thoreau Writer and naturalist: Walden Pond; sought self-sufficiency, simple lifestyle, and a harmonious coexistence with nature • George Perkins Marsh Scientist and member of Congress from Vermont; Man and Nature; questioned availability of resources;scientific studies and case studies to show use and misuse of resources; formulated basic resources conservation principles.

15. Important Figures During The Early Conservation Era (1870-1930) • John Muir Geologist, explorer, naturalist; studied Yosemite Valley and Northwest; helped to establish the Yosemite National Park; Founder Sierra Club and leader of the preservation movement • Theodore Roosevelt 26th President of U.S.; Conservationist; persuaded Congress to allow president power to designate public land as federal wildlife refuges; Established the U.S. Forest Service to manage and protect the forest reserves (Gifford Pinchot, chief, used sustainable use and multiple use); Antiquities Act (Which created the Grand Canyon as a protected area)

16. Important Figures During The Early Conservation Era (Early 1900’s) Public Health Improvements • Alice Hamilton Expert in industrial medicine, investigated occupational Hazards; Industrial poisons in the Unites States; opposed lead in gasoline Jane Addams Established Hull house, public health boards, etc.

17. Important Figures During The Early Conservation Era (1930-1960 • Franklin Roosevelt • Brought the country out of the Great Depression • Established many programs to provide jobs and • promote environmental restoration: • Low-cost purchase of large tracts of public land • from cash-poor landowners • Established the Civilian Conservation Corps(CCC) • Established the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) • Built and operated many large Dam products in the • Western U.S., including Hoover Dam • Enacted the Soil Conservation Act of 1935

18. Early Conservation Era (1940-60) 1940s and 50s preoccupation with WWII and recovery 1933-1960 improved health care: -public health boards -public education about health issues -vaccination programs -reduced waterborne infectious diseases due to increased sanitation and garbage collection

19. Environmental History of the United States: The Environmental Era • Period: 1960-2000 • The environmental movement • The science of ecology • Spaceship Earth worldview • 1980’s: anti-environmental movement • 1990’s: environmental awareness

20. Important Figures During The Environmental Era – Part 1 (1960’s) • Rachel Carson: Silent Spring (1962)(See Individuals Matter on p. 33) • World Wildlife fund established (1963) • Wilderness act establishes National Wilderness • System (1964) • Environmental Defense Fund established(1967) • Land and Water Conservation Act(1965) • Clean Air Act begins (1963) updated in 1965,1970, • and 1990 • Cuyahoga river catches fire (1969) • Paul Ehrlich: The Populaiton Bomb; Garrett Hardin: • The Tragedy of the Commons • Spaceship Earth Worldview fig. 2-8p.30

21. Important Figures During The Environmental Era – Part 1 (1970’s) • Richard Nixon: EPA; ESA; Celebrated 1st Earth Day April 20, 1970; 1972 Lots of other acts and the UN conference on Human Environment in Stockholm Sweden OPEC oil embargo; CITES Treaty(1973) Roland and Molina discover CFC’s depleting Ozone; safe drinking water act(1974) • Jimmy Carter: DOE, Superfund Clean Water Act; Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act; Amory Lovins: The Soft Energy Path(1977); Love Canal (1978); Three Mile Island (1979); Preserved public lands in the National Park system and National Wilderness system

22. Important Figures During The Environmental Era – Part 1 (1980’s) • Ronald Reagan: anti-environmentalist Appointed officials opposed to most of the existing environmental and public land use laws and policies; Increased energy, mineral development; cut funding on energy conservation and renewable energy resources eliminated solar energy tax incentives; lowered auto gas mileage standards and relaxed water and air quality Led to Wise –Use Movement Other environmental issues of the 80’s: Bhopal India pesticide leak; ozone hole discovered; Chernobyl nuclear reactor explosion; Montreal Protocol; greenhouse gases increasing; Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska

23. Important Figures During The Environmental Era – Part 1 (1990’s) • Bill Clinton: environmental concerns a priority Even with opposition in a Republican Congress he was able to veto many anti-environmental bills; Protected many more public lands; SUV’s required to follow same air pollution standards as regular cars; forest health priority; increase in awareness of environmental issues.

24. Important Figures During The Environmental Era – Part 1 (2000’s) • George W. Bush Jr.: environmental concerns not a priority Opposes participation in Kyoto treaty; cut funding for EPA; relaxed water and air quality standards; Opposed increasing gas mileage standards to conserve energy; repealed or tried to weaken many environmental measures put in place by Clinton, Allowed drilling in ANWR.

25. Case Study: Aldo Leopold and His Land Ethic • Individuals are interdependent • Ethics: respect for land • Shift from conqueror to member • Problems arise when land viewed as a commodity • Preservation of the integrity, stability, and beauty of land is right