The Environmental Movement in the US John Muir (1838-1914)

1. The Environmental Movement in the US • John Muir (1838-1914) • Called for preservation of natural wilderness • Founder of Sierra Club (1892) • Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946) • First head of US Forest Service (1905) under Theodore Roosevelt • Staunch advocate of conservation • Multiple use, sustainable yield • “Greatest good of the greatest number in the long run” • Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) • “Land Ethic” • People responsible for maintaining environment and repairing damage • Restoration ecology

2. The Environmental Movement in the US • Rachel Carson (1907-1964) • “Silent Spring” (1962) • Negative environmental impacts of pesticides • Galvanized modern environmental movement • Paul Ehrlich (1932-present) • “The Population Bomb” (1968) • Described potential environmental consequences of rapidly expanding human population • Garrett Hardin (1915-2003) • “Tragedy of the Commons” (1968) • “Lifeboat Ethics” (1974) • David Brower (1912-2000) • Executive Director of Sierra Club (1952-1969) • Advocate of radical environmentalism • Founder of Friends of the Earth (FOE)

3. Important Environmental Legislation and Events • 1872 – Yellowstone designated as first national park • 1963 – Clean Air Act (CAA) • 1964 – Wilderness Act • 1970 – National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), EPA & OSHA formed, revised CAA, First Earth Day • 1972 – Clean Water Act (CWA), Ocean Dumping Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act; DDT banned in U.S. • 1973 – Endangered Species Act (ESA) • 1974 – Safe Drinking Water Act • 1976 – Toxic Substances Control Act, Fishery Conservation and Management Act • 1980 – Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, & Liability Act (CERCLA/Superfund) • 1987 – Montreal Protocol • 1988 – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) • 1992 – UN Conference on Environment & Development (Earth Summit); Biodiversity Treaty • 1997 – Kyoto Protocol • 2005 – Kyoto Protocol in effect

4. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) • Purposes are • “…to declare a national policy which will encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment; to promote efforts which will prevent or eliminate damage to the environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of man; to enrich the understanding of the ecological systems and natural resources important to the Nation” • Requires federal agencies to • Integrate environmental values into decision making processes • Consider • Environmental impacts of proposed actions • Reasonable alternatives to those actions • Evaluate Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) or Environmental Assessment (EA) • EPA reviews and comments on EIS’s • Public comment period on EIS’s • EPA assures compliance with NEPA

5. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) • Consequences • Not following NEPA procedures can lead to • Denial of federal funding • Project delay/additional expense • Lawsuit(s) • Led to similar legislation • State • Ex: California Environmental Quality Act • Local • Foreign

6. Modern Environmentalism • Organizations • File lawsuits • Natural Resources Defense Council • Environmental Defense Fund • Educate, lobby, demonstrate, purchase land • National Wildlife Federation • Friends of the Earth • The Nature Conservancy • World Wildlife Fund • Sierra Club • Perform research • Wildlife Conservation Society • Conservation International

7. Radical Environmentalism • Espouses “direct action” to achieve goals • Civil disobedience • Ex: Sit-ins, chaining people to equipment/trees • Greenpeace boats drove between whalers and whales • Julia Butterfly Hill lived in Luna (redwood) for >2 years • “Ecotage”/Eco-terrorism/Monkeywrenching • Ex: Tree spiking, damaging equipment, arson • 1998: Resort near Vail (CO) – ELF • 1999: Boise Cascade corporate HQ (OR) • 2003: Condo complex in San Diego (CA) • 2003: SUV/Hummer dealerships in Los Angeles (CA) • 2005: Townhouse development in Hagerstown (MD) • Reaction to perceived passivity of mainstream environmentalism • Backlash