Homosapien
Development
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During most of their 60,000-year
existence, humans were hunter-gatherers.
Their environmental impact was limited
and local
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Mobile
Small tribes families
Covered large areas.
Sustaniable
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The agricultural revolution began 10,000
to 12,000 years ago. Early growers relied
on slash-and-burn cultivation and shifting
cultivation, which had a low environmental
impact. More advanced agriculture has
increased food supplies
slash-and-burn cultivation

Cutting down trees and other vegetation in a
patch of forest, leaving the cut vegetation on the
ground to dry, and then burning it. The ashes
that are left add nutrients to the nutrient-poor
soils found in most tropical forest areas. Crops
are planted between tree stumps. Plots must be
abandoned after a few years (typically
2&endash;5 years) because of loss of soil
fertility or invasion of vegetation from the
shifting cultivation
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Clearing a plot of ground in a forest, especially
in tropical areas, and planting crops on it for a
few years (typically 2-5 years) until the soil is
depleted of nutrients or the plot has been
invaded by a dense growth of vegetation from
the surrounding forest. Then a new plot is
cleared and the process is repeated. The
abandoned plot cannot successfully grow crops
for 10-30 years
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The industrial-medical revolution began in
England in the mid-1700s and spread to
the United States in the 1800s.
industrial-medical revolution
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Use of new sources of energy from fossil
fuels and later from nuclear fuels, and use
of new technologies, to grow food and
manufacture products
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We are currently in the midst of a new
cultural shift, the information and
globalization revolution.
information and globalization
revolution
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Use of new technologies such as the
telephone, radio, television, computers,
the Internet, automated databases, and
remote sensing satellites to enable people
to have increasingly rapid access to much
more information on a global scale
The Early Conservation Era (18321960)
Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt's term of office has
been called the country's "Golden Age of
Conservation." He established the first
National Wildlife Refuge, created the
National Forest Service, and used the
1906 Antiquities Act to protect the Grand
Canyon and other areas that later became
National Parks.
Environmental History of the
United States: The
Environmental Era (1960-2004)
Silent Spring

In 1962, Rachel Carson published Silent
Spring, which contributed to the beginning
of the modern environmental movement.
The 1960s saw an increased awareness of
the science of ecology.
Nixon
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The first annual Earth Day was held in
1970, the same year that
Richard Nixon established the
Environmental Protection Agency 1970 .
Nixon also supported the passage of the
Endangered Species Act of 1973.
Carter
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Jimmy Carter (president 1977-1981)
created a Department of Energy and a
Superfund to clean up hazardous waste.
Reagan/Bush 1
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The administrations of Ronald Reagan and
George Bush, Sr. allowed some
environmental laws to be undercut and
supported exploitation of resources on
public lands.
in
Clinton
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During Bill Clinton's administration (19932001), environmentalists were appointed
to key positions