History of Environmentalism
Conservation
Vs.
Preservation
CONSERVATION
• Managing and protecting natural
resources and using them
sustainably.
• Focus on instrumental value
Teddy Roosevelt’s
Administration- early 1900’s
• Creation of the US
Forest Service
• Expansion of
National Forest
holdings
• Establishment of
53 wildlife refuges
National Forest Service
• Created 1905
• Multiple, Sustainable
Use Policy
• To be “used for
the greatest good,
for the greatest
number for the
longest time”
Gifford Pinchot
• 1865-1946
• First American-born
Forester
• Began his career at
Biltmore Estate
• Appointed First
Chief of the U.S.
Forest Service
Carl Schenck
• German-born
Forester hired to
manage Biltmore
Estate Forest Land
now known as Pisgah
National Forest.
• Developed the First
American Forestry
School 1895
George Perkins Marsh
• Man and Nature
published in 1864
• Called attention to
the destructive
impact of human
activity on land,
especially through
deforestation.
• Advocated
conservation
PRESERVATION
• Protecting natural environments
from human development
• Focus on intrinsic value
• “nature deserves to exist for its
own sake regardless of its
usefulness to us.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Wrote Nature 1836
• A Unitarian Minister,
he believed that nature
was the manifestation
of the spiritual world.
• “Mystical unity of
nature” basis for
transcendentalism
Henry David Thoreau
• Wrote Walden
Pond
• Utopia
• Called for the
establishment of
“national
preserves” of
virgin forest
John Muir
• Believed in
preservation of
pristine wilderness
areas
• Founded the Sierra
Club in 1892
• “Father of National
Parks”
Frederick Law Olmstead
• Father of
American
Landscape
Architecture
• Developed Central
Park in 1857
• Worked
extensively on
Biltmore Estate
Olmstead’s Words
• Served as the foundation for legislation
establishing the National Park Service:
“To conserve the scenery and the natural
and historic objects and the wildlife
therein and to provide for the enjoyment
of the same in such manner and by such
means as will leave them unimpaired for
the enjoyment of future generations..”
National Park Service
• Founded in 1916
• To preserve for the
benefit, use, and
inspiration of present
and future
generations…
Creation of National Parks
• 1872
• Yellowstone
• World’s First
National Park
1930’s Ecology and Economy
Clash
• Hetch-Hetchy Valley
• Civilian Conservation
Corps (CCC)
• Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA)
• Soil Conservation
Service (SCS)
Post WWII
• Strong economic and Population Growth
• Dramatic increase in recreation in National
Parks
1940
1950
1960
16 million
33 million
79 million
Science and Awareness
Scientific
research
documented
the effects of
humans on the
environment.
Major popular books:
• Aldo Leopold’s Sand
County Almanac 1949
• Rachel Carson’s Silent
Spring 1962
• Paul Ehrlich’s
Population Bomb
1968
Rachel Carson
• Alerted the general
public in 1962 to the
dangers of pesticides
in her book Silent
Spring.
• This work led to the
banning of DDT in
1972.
Polarization
Continued urban growth and associated
pollution caused divergence of:
1. Those who supported and profited from
industrialization (‘industry’).
2. Those who worried about the effects of
pollution (‘environmentalists’).
The Rise of National Green
Organizations (NGO’s)
• World Wildlife
Federation
(WWF) 1961
• Environmental
Defense Fund
1967
Catalysts
• 1969 Burning
of the
Cuyahoga
River, OH
Catalyst
• 1969 Santa
Barbara Oil
Spill
New Legislation
The Federal Government Responds:
• 1963 Clean Air Act
• 1965 Water Quality Act
• 1966 Endangered Species Conservation
Act
• 1968 National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
Issues of the 1960’ and 1970’s
Human
Population
Growth
Fossil Fuel
Drilling
Nuclear
Weapons
Testing
Recycling
Nuclear Power
Water
Pollution
Wilderness
Protection
Landfilling
Waste
Air Pollution
1970’s The Environmental
Decade
The Federal Government Responds:
• 1969 National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA)
• 1970 Creation of EPA by Nixon
• 1970 Clean Air Act amended
• 1973 Endangered Species Act
• 1977 Clean Water Act
Earth Day
April 22, 1970
The Empire Strikes Back?
Industry responds to new regulations:
• Form research groups
• Develop educational materials
• Enhance public relations
Industry successfully battles NGO’s in
the courts.
Shifting Strategies
Broadening issues
weakens NGO’s
Rise of Radical
Environmentalism
• Greenpeace 1971
• Sea Shepherd
1977
• Earth First 1980
Deregulation
•
•
•
•
Reagan Administration 1980-1988
Goal to minimize federal regulations
CEQ: 1 member and a small budget
Reagan used White House councils
to sidestep the EPA
Environmental Disasters
These disasters kept focus on the environment.
• Love Canal 1978
• Ixtoc I 1979
• Three Mile Island 1979
• Bhopal 1984
• Chernobyl 1986
• Exxon Valdez 1989
Global Awareness
1990’s: elevation of environmental issues
• Scientific evidence of ozone hole, global
warming, declining resources.
• 1990 Earth Day; 1992 Earth Summit
• Strong environmental policy of ClintonGore Administration (1992-2000)
Global Awareness
Photo taken
of the Earth
from the
Apollo 17
mission to
the moon.
st
21
Century
Environmental issues low priority
• Bush-Chaney Administration
• Economic downturn
• Energy issues
• Terrorism and National Security
• War