Going Green
Birth of the Environmental
Movement
21.4
Early American Efforts
Teddy Roosevelt
created first
National Parks
 Urban Parks
created at the turn
of the 1900’s
 Hippies go “back
to nature” to avoid
modern society

Early Activists
Organize
Sierra Club – founded
by John Muir in 1892
 Wilderness Society founded in 1935


Focused on
Conservation
originally, later
expanded into all
areas of environment
The World Is Stunned

1952 – coal smog floats
through London
 12,000 Killed by
asphyxiation!!!


1962 – Wrote
Rachel Carson
“Silent Spring”
 Described impact
of pesticides on
plants, animals
and people
 Claimed people
were impacting
the environment
Public Shocked!!!
Carson’s Object Lesson
1969 – Cleveland’s
Cuyahoga River
catches fire
(industrial waste &
oil sludge)
 Activists organize
around this event,
fired up over
pollution…

Lake Erie Dead Zones
Congress Takes Action

Bans DDT
for use as a
pesticide
Birth defects
 Soft Eggs
for birds

Earth Day
WI senator
Gaylord Nelson
creates to bring
issues to govn’t.
 20 Million take
part in action

First Earth Day
Nixon: the
new Teddy
Roosevelt
1970 – Environmental
Protection Agency
 Protect the entire
ecological chain
 The Clean Air Act
 The Clean Water Act
 Endangered Species Act


1974 - Ford continues w/
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission
The Carter Years: Green Gets Dirty

Love Canal – Toxic waste
from NY chemical plants
caused birth defects &
cancer in children
 Homeowners take EPA
officials hostage until
Carter buys their homes
 1980 - Congress creates
“Superfund” to clean up
environmental hazards
March, 1979 – Three
Mile Island nuclear
plant in PA began to
meltdown iCue Three Mile Island
 Reactor shut down &
Pres. Carter toured
plant to reassure public
 US TERRIFIED of
nuclear power
 Gov bans new plants

The China
Syndrome
Cold War Politics
& the Environment

Communist economies create
environmental disasters:
No incentive to change
production methods
 Unresponsive to demands so
unconcerned w/ public outcry
 Lack of free press to inform
 Fear of failing govn’t demands

Pollution in China
Pollution in China
Pollution in China
Pollution in China
Pollution in China
Environmentalism In Your Era
Exxon Valdez - 1989
 Global Cooling then
Global Warming
 Climate Change now

Oil Drilling: ANWR
 Sea Level Change
 Mass Extinctions as
seas & land warms

BP
Gulf Coast
Oil Spill
April
2010
206 million gallons spilled
Present Day Japan
Terror-2011
•During a visit to
the doctor to check
for cancer you will
be exposed to a
maximum of 4
Rads
The predicted
range of the
nuclear fallout if
the Fukushima
Daiichi plant has a
meltdown
The Debate
Is it happening at all?
 Private Property Rights
vs. Public Health
 Is this a natural cycle
caused by solar cycles
or man made?
 How should US gov.
behave if it puts US
business in competitive
disadvantage w/ world?
