Chapter 2:
History of Environmental Science
Conservation vs. Preservation
Modern Environmental Movement
Key Players and Viewpoints
Cultural Changes & the Environment
Human Impact on Environment
Hunters & Gatherers 12,000 years ago
Agricultural Revolution
10,000 – 12,000 Years Ago
Agricultural Revolution
A. Slash & Burn Cultivation
Agricultural Revolution
B. Shifting Cultivation
Industrial Revolution
1700s – England, 1800s- U.S.
Industrial Revolution
1. Rapid expansion of production, trade, and
distribution of goods
2. Shift from renewable wood to nonrenewable
fossil fuels
3. Human population – sharp increase due to
reliable food supply and longer life span
Human Population Growth
Information & Globalization
Revolution ~ 60 Years Ago
Cultural Changes & the Environment
Results
1. More energy & technologies to alter &
control planet
2. Expansion of human population; increase
food supply & lifespan
3. Increase environmental impact because of
an increase in resource use, pollution and
environmental degradation
Environmental History of US
Divided into 4 Eras
1.
2.
3.
4.
Tribal
Frontier
Conservation
Environmental
Tribal Era
TRIBAL
(up through 1600s)
• low environmental
impact due to small
pops, little
technology, lack of
infrastructure, little
mobility, small
footprint, high
death rate
Frontier Movement
• FRONTIER (1600s – 1890s)
• Colonists begin settling North America
• Transfer of land from public to private, idea
of privatization of resources
• Natural resources seemed inexhaustible,
exploited quickly
• Massive deforestation of the West as it was
settled cheaply
Frontier Settlement
Conservation Movement
Alarmed at the rate of degradation, urged for
protection of resources for future generations
(1864) Man and Nature
by George Marsh,
discussed human impact
as agents of global
environmental change
Conservation Movement
Alarmed at the rate of degradation, urged for
protection of resources for future generations
(1854) Life in the Woods/Walden by Henry David
Thoreau, in tune with nature
Conservation Movement
Alarmed at the rate of degradation, urged for
protection of resources for future generations
(1872) 1st National Park created = Yellowstone
(1873) US establishes National Forest Reserves
(resources for future generations)
(1892) John Muir
1st President of the Sierra Club
 argued nature should exist for its own sake
 leader of the preservationist movement
1905 US Forest Service Created
(1905) President Roosevelt
and Gifford Pinchot
 argued that forests should
be saved not for beauty or
habitat BUT to provide homes
and jobs for people, for the
“greatest good of the people”
 Pinchot was first chief of US
Forest Service based on
principles of sustainable yield
and multiple use
(1906) Antiquities Act
allowed president to protect areas of interest
on federal lands as national monuments, Devils
Tower, Wyoming, 1st Natl. monument
Hetch Hetchy Valley
(Yosemite National Park)
Early 20th Century US Conservation movement
Split
- Wise use/Conservationist School – Roosevelt
& Pinchot
- All public lands managed wisely – use resources
- Preservationist School – Muir
- Wilderness areas on public lands left untouched
• (1916) National Park Service created (idea
advocated by Muir + preservationists)
• (1949) A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
– advocate of land ethic perspective
MODERN ENVIRONMENTALISM
(1962) Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
 awakened public to threats of pollution and
chemicals to species
 warned of indiscriminate use of chemical
pesticides (DDT)
 advocated preservation of quality of resources
(1968) The Population Bomb
by Paul Ehrlich
 damage to Earth’s support system from
human population explosion
(1970) First National Earth Day, EPA was established
Global Environmentalism
 concerned with life support systems of the
planet not just one particular issue
(1972) UN Conference on Human Environment in
Stockholm, Sweden
(1992) UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro
 discussed effects of human activities on
environmental systems
June 2012, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Sustainable
Development Government
1980s
- Anti-environmental movement
- Reagan not popular with environmental &
resource policies
- Wise-use movement (industry-backed, antienvironmental)
1990s
- Clinton promised national and global
environmental leadership
- Criticized for failing to push hard enough
5 Most Important Environmental
Issues to be Faced in 21st Century
1. Threat of climate change and
ecosystem/economic disruption from
warming
2. Growing water shortages & political
conflicts over water
3. Continuing population growth
4. Continuing biodiversity loss
5. Continuing poverty