Environmental History

1. Environmental History Learning from the Past

2. Case Study: Near Extinction of the American Bison

3. 60,000 12,000 mid 1700s 1950 present Hunter-Gatherer Agricultural Industrial Information Earliest Hunter-Gatherers- 60,000 years ago • Diet: plants, meat, fish • Communities: small, fewer than 50 • Nomadic – moved seasonally • Lifespan: 30 – 40 years • Hunted large game cooperatively

4. 60,000 12,000 mid 1700s 1950 present Hunter-Gatherer Agricultural Industrial Information Advanced Hunter-Gatherers • Used more advanced tools • Altered distribution of plants • Environmental Impact: limited • Small population • Low resource use • Migration

5. Hunter-Gatherers 60,000 12,000 mid 1700s 1950 present Agricultural Industrial Information Hunter-Gatherer • Had only three energy sources: • Sunlight in captured plants • Fire • Their own muscle power • Very little impact on environment • See Jared Diamond

6. 60,000 12,000 mid 1700s 1950 present Hunter-Gatherer Agricultural Industrial Information Agricultural Revolution-10,000-12,00 years ago • Cultivated Wild plants • Slash-and-burn cultivation • Shifting cultivation • Impact: limited • Small population • Primitive tools • Abundant land

7. Slash and burn / shifting cultivation

8. Agricultural Revolution • Slash-and-burn • Cutting down trees and other vegetation and then burning the underbrush to clear small patches of land • Subsistence Farming • Family grew only enough food to feed itself.

9. Agricultural Revolution • Agricultural Revolution • Cultural shift that began in several regions of the world • Involved a gradual move from a lifestyle based on nomadic hunting • Agroforestry • Planting a mixture of food crops and tree crops

11. 60,000 12,000 mid 1700s 1950 present Hunter-Gatherer Agricultural Industrial Information Industrial – Medical Revolution • Shift from renewable resources to nonrenewable resources -increase in per capita energy consumption • Development of cities- economic growth • Increased crop yields

12. Industrial- Medical revolution • Began in England in the mid- 1700s and spread to the US in the 1800s. • Dramatic increase in environmental impact • High standard of living • Greatly increased agricultural production • Lower infant mortality • Increase in population growth

14. 60,000 12,000 mid 1700s 1950 present Hunter-Gatherer Agricultural Industrial Information Information – Globalization Revolution • Global access to information • Faster response time to environmental problems • Potential overload of data • Decrease in cultural diversity

16. The Environmental History of the United States Tribal Frontier Conservation Environmental

17. Tribal & Frontier Conservation Environmental Tribal Era (for at least 10,000 years before 1600’s) • 5 – 10 million Native Americans • Hunting, gathering, burning/clearing, planting crops • Deep respect for nature • Low environmental impact Frontier Era (1607 – 1890) • Inexhaustible resources • Wilderness to be tamed and conquered

18. Tribal Frontier Conservation Environmental Conservation Era (1832 – 1960) • Protection of land as legacy for future • Henry David Thoreau & George Perkins Marsh • 1892: John Muir and preservationist movement • 1901-1909: Theodore Roosevelt (Golden Age of Conservation)

19. Early environmental philosophers • The industrial revolution inspired reaction. • John Ruskin: Criticized polluted 19th-century cities, and “desacralizing” nature. • Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau: Transcendentalists viewed nature as divine, and opposed materialism.

20. The preservation ethic • John Muir (right, with President Roosevelt at Yosemite) advocated preserving unspoiled nature, for its own sake and for human fulfillment.

21. The conservation ethic • Gifford Pinchot advocated using natural resources, but exploiting them wisely, for the greatest good for the greatest number for the longest time. He advocated a sustainable-yield and multiple-use policy. • 1st head of forestry service

22. The land ethic • Aldo Leopold urged people to view themselves as part of nature, and to strive to maintain “the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community.” • Wrote A Sand County Almanac which was published after his death in 1949.

23. Tribal Frontier Conservation Environmental Environmental Era (1960 to present) • 1960s: Rachel Carson & Silent Spring • See Individuals Matters on page 27 • 1970s: Earth Day and the EPA • Richard Nixon: EPA; ESA • 1980s: Anti-environmental movement • Jimmy Carter: DOE, Superfund • Ronald Reagan- self proclaimed Sagebrush rebellion which advocated to reduce federal ownership of lands. • 1990s to present: Fighting for what was established in ’60s and ’70s

24. Rachel Carson and Silent Spring • Carson’s 1962 book brought attention to pesticide dangers, and catalyzed environmental awareness.

25. Earth Day • Earth Day began in 1970 … …and is bigger than ever today. Gaylord Nelson was the principle founder

26. EPA and NEPA • In 1970, President Richard Nixon: • Signed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) into law • Created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by executive order

27. First wave of environmental policy in the U.S. • Laws to promote land settlement and resource extraction; for example: • General Land Ordinances, 1785, 1787 • Homestead Act, 1862 • Mineral Lands Act, 1866 • Timber Culture Act, 1873

28. Land settlement • U.S. policy encouraged settlers like these in Nebraska, circa. 1860, to move west.

29. Resource extraction Logging in Washington Mining in Alaska

30. Second wave of environmental policy in the U.S. • To address impacts of the first wave; for example: • • Creation of national parks • • Creation of national forests • • Soil conservation policy • • Wilderness Act, 1964

31. Third wave of environmental policy in the U.S. • Modern environmental activism and policy arose in response to pollution and other problems. • • Silent Spring • • Earth Day • • EPA and National Environmental Policy Act • • Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act

32. EPA ( Environmental Protection Agency) Was directed to: • Conduct and evaluate research • Monitor environmental quality • Set and enforce standards (e.g., for pollutants) • Assist states in meeting standards • Educate the public

33. NEPA ( National Environmental Policy Act) • Created the Council on Environmental Quality • Mandated environmental impact statements for public projects and has: • Prioritized understanding our impacts on the environment • Slowed down or prevented environmentally destructive development • Given citizens a say in the policy process

34. Key environmental protection laws, 1963-1985

35. Environmental justice (EJ) • Poor people and minorities suffer more than their share of environmental problems, EJ advocates say.The EJ movement began with a protest against a toxic waste dump in an African-American community in North Carolina.

36. Environmental justice and the Navajo Navajo miners were not warned of radiation risks nor provided protection by the industry or the U.S. government when they went to work in uranium mines.