MODERN PERIOD Major inspiration from Silent Spring Emphasis on the inadvertent, non-obvious problems of the food web Displacement 1Temporal displacement 2Spatial displacement

“History of life on earth has been a history of interaction between living things and their surroundings” “within the moment of time….has one species - man- acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world” “the most alarming of all man’s assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and lethal materials

“Similarily chemicals (add radiation) sprayed on croplands or forests or gardens lie long in the soil, entering into living organisms passing from one to another in a chain of poisoning and death” “even if there were enough time to adjust (a miracle) it would be futile for the new chemicals come from our labs in an endless stream, almost five hundred annually find their way into use in the USA alone”

Average levels DDT 1970

‘PUSHES’ ALONG THE WAY 1964Stuart Udall - The Quiet Crisis 1966Canadian Council of Resource Ministers - pollution and air conference 1966Cuyahoga River declared a fire hazard 1966Kenneth Boulding The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth 1968Concept of ZPG

1969Barry Commoner - science and survival 1969Pollution Probe started 1970Paul Ehrlich Population, Resources, Environment 1970USA - Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Air Act 1970Canada Water Act and the Ontario EPA 1970Greenpeace incorporates, 1971 first activities

DETERENTS Old spectre - resource shortages of the 70’s (oil, coffee, sugar) –demand or politically created –question of lifestyle, solutions and environmental degradation –example of Reagan - gutting of Clean Air Act so as to allow for emissions from power plants and automobiles rationale that the cause of acid rain is not known and needs to be further studied (delay)

JAMES WATT Regan appointed Watt to head up the Department of the Interior (resources, parks- 770 million acres) “My responsibility is to follow the scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns. I do not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns” –use it now in other words

Watt was in charge of resource preservation He championed the corporate rights of oil companies and other entrepreneurs 1982One million Americans sign a petition against Watt as head of the Department of the Interior 1983Watt resigns

UNCERTAINTY Concerns for lifestyle - price tags (cost, jobs, taxes) attached to alternate strategies for resource usage Survey in early 80’s in Ontario –69% believed that Ontario was not facing energy shortages in the future (lack of support for conservation measures) –no commitment for conservation when it involved their cars or required spending on their homes

–Ontario residents believed that a cut in consumption would seriously restrict their lifestyles In the 80’s the conservation movement hung on –partially fueled by fear (Love Canal as an example) Lack of focus changes with increasing concern for personal health and lifestyle –plus larger issues - Ethiopia, Acid Rain, Ozone