Historical Overview of the Modern Environmental Movement

In the beginning… ~10,000 years ago the human population began to rise after the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution. –Humans settled to become farmers instead of local hunter-gatherers. –This meant managing local resources (food, water, fuel) sustainably around the settlement

Industrial Revolution Began in the early 1800s Produced goods and services for nearly all, but demanded the burning of large amounts of trees and coal. Required large-scale mining. Land was cleared, natural waterways were polluted, cities became crowded and smoky.

James Fenimore Cooper 1820s Wrote Last of the Mohicans, The Pioneers, and The Prairie. Natural resources are not infinite. Nature must be preserved for future generations. Pollution and other activities endanger life on Earth.

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau Wrote about a reverence for the natural world. Described an almost mystical experience. Transcendentalists. Not a scientists.

Environmental Awareness Grows

Theodore Roosevelt U.S. President Instrumental in founding the U.S. Forest Service and National Parks. Believed the health of the nation depended upon the health of the land.

John Muir Perhaps the first preservationist. Believed that nature for be preserved for its own sake, not to provide resources for humans. Said nature is a mirror reflecting the Creator. Founded the Sierra Club in Fought for the preservation of Yosemite National Park.

Roosevelt and Muir in Yosemite 1903

Gifford Pinchot A conservationist. Believed that forests should be used both to conserve the environment and to provide resources for humans. Muir and Pinchot disagreed over the Hetch Hetchy Dam project.

William Hornaby 1913 – wrote the influential book, Our Vanishing Wildlife – Martha, the last passenger pigeon, died in the Cincinnati Zoo.

The Dust Bowl In the 1930s, in the grass plains of North America. Drought and winds turned the farms into dust and ruined agriculture. Likely caused by a combination of poor farming practices and a severe drought.

The Green Revolution 1940s – 1960s Modern agriculture boosted food production significantly. Required machinery and tremendous amounts of fossil fuel. New crops varieties were developed and fertilizer and pesticide use rose sharply. World population grew to about 3 billion.

Aldo Leopold Wrote A Sand County Almanac in Widely considered the most important environmental book ever written. Argues that we have an ethical responsibility to be good stewards of the land.

1960s Modern Environmental Movement Gains Momentum in U.S.

Rachel Carson Wrote Silent Spring. Warned of the effects of pesticides. As a result, DDT was banned. May have been a mistake, as DDT is an effective means to prevent malaria.

1970s The movement goes global. A number of prominent NGOs (private organizations) were formed. Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace were both established in The first UN Earth Summit was held in Stockholm, Sweden in CITES Treaty – 1975 Many controversial environmental ideas were explored.

1980s 1984: Union Carbide pesticide plant released 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate gas, immediately killing nearly 3,000 and ultimately killing 15,000+ people. 1986: Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine exploded. 4,000 immediate deaths, estimated 30,000+ deaths ultimately.

1980s 1987: Montreal Protocol was signed, requiring nations to reduce CFC emissions. 1988: UN forms the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 1989: Exxon Valdez runs aground and spills 10.8 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay.

1990s 1992: Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Focused on global warming and global economics. Green awareness became widespread in developed nations. Captain Planet and the Planeteers. Green Party gains power in Europe. Ecotourism thrives.

2000s 2002: Earth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa was largest to date. Focused on 5 areas: –Water and sanitation –Energy –Health –Agriculture –Biodiversity Kyoto Protocol became a legal requirement in 2005.