1. Chapter 24 Section 4 Notes The Birth of Modern Environmentalism

2. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962)
Book that warned of danger in pesticides
Bad for birds and fish (probably people too)
Sold 500,000 copies in 6 months
Chemical companies threatened lawsuits
Impact
Caused govt. to be more interested
Eventually outlawed many
DDT, Agent Orange
Why? caused cancer, birth defects

3. 1st Environmental President = Nixon

4. Earth Day Begins (April 22nd, 1970)
Brings attention to 3 main things
All forms of pollution (air, water, soil)
Toxic Waste (What to do about it)
Depleting Natural Resources (esp. oil)
Encourage Air, Water, and Solar power
Celebrated Globally now

5. Environmental Protection Agency (1970)
Established for 3 main purposes:
set and enforce pollution standards
Conduct environmental research
Global warming
Help states in emergencies

6. Environmental Legislation
Clean Air Act (renewed in 1990)
fines for businesses that didn’t follow
EPA would investigate
Endangered Species Act
Safe Drinking Water Act
Limitations on strip mining
Began protecting Alaskan wilderness
Over 200 million acres protected by 1980
Mainly from drilling for possible oil.

7. Nuclear Energy Debated
Why people support it?
Cheaper and cleaner than oil or coal if everything goes right
Why people oppose it?
Potential for disaster exists (accident or terrorist attack)
What to do about the nuclear waste?

8. Three Mile Island (Pennsylvania, 1979)
Biggest accident in U.S. History
Nuclear reactor overheated
Small radiation leak
No direct deaths (birth defects, $15 mil. pd to families)
100,000 people evacuated
Health studies still being conducted
14 yrs to cleanup
Cost $1 Billion
Unit 2 never used
Again
No new permits given
for nuclear power
plants in U.S. til 2011.
No new construction
allowed since
Japan tsunami.
President Carter toured the facility 4 days after the accident to ease the minds of those that lived nearby.

9. Chernobyl (Soviet Union, 1986)
Biggest nuclear accident in history
Nuclear reactor exploded
Large radiation leak
30 direct deaths
Thousands die later from
overexposure to radiation.
The entire city (14,000)
was evacuated
Nobody lives there still