1. Counterculture and Environmental Movement
Ch. 21 Sec. 1/4

2. The Counterculture Rises
Arose in the 1960s
Challenged the values of mainstream American society and reasserted traditional values
The Beat Movement and Civil Rights movement prompted people to question traditional boundaries
Restrictions on rights
Cultural norms (dress/hairstyles)

3. “Don’t trust anyone over 30”
Distrust of authority
Valued youth, spontaneity, and freedom of expression
Hippies-
peace, love, and freedom
New dress/music
New attitude towards sexual relationships
Increase in recreational use of drugs
Generation gap- Lack of understanding and communication between the older and younger generations

5. Defining Counterculture
Rock-and-roll
Beatles
Bob Dylan
Protest songs highlighted civil rights and peace movements
Communes- small communities in which the people have common interests and share resources
Younger generation did not oppose premarital sex and rejected many sexual traditions- “sexual revolution”

7. Defining Counterculture
Haight-Ashbury (district of San Francisco) became the center of counterculture
Timothy Leary preached that drugs could free the mind and encouraged youths to “tune in” to drugs and “drop out” of mainstream society
High rates of drug abuse which led to increased crime

8. Counterculture Ends Drug addictions/overdoses increased
Violence contradicted the values of “peace and love”
Rolling Stones concert the Hells Angles provided security and stabbed to death a young black man when he approached the stage
Values became shallow and self-centered
But….
The ways of protest would influence the growing “rights revolution”

9. Environmental Activists Speak Out
Public awareness of environmental issues prompted questions about the gov’s role in environmental regulations
Toxic waste- smog/acid rain are produced when nuclear power is generated
1962- Rachel Carson writes Silent Spring
Described the deadly impact pesticides have on birds and other animals
Insisted human activity changes the environment and human had a responsibility to protect it
Her work compelled congress to restrict the use of the pesticide DDT

11. Environmental Actions
Earth Day
Nationwide protest to “force this issue onto the national agenda”
April 22, million people took part in Earth Day
Attracted the support of civil/women’s rights groups
Nixon began to support environmental reforms
Environmental Protection Agency- clean/protect the environment and limit/eliminate pollutants that posed a risk to health
Clean Air Act- combated air pollution and emissions from factories and cars
Clean Water Act- limit the pollution of water
Endangered Species Act- protection of endangered animals/plants

12. Environmental Setbacks
Love Canal- EPA determined illnesses were caused by thousands of tons of toxic chemicals dumped into the ground
Congress established Superfund- restore sites in ways to provide economic or environmental benefits to communities
Three Mile Island- nuclear reactor began to melt and the plant threatened to release radioactive gas
It was shut down the incident was contained with no health risks and gov temporarily stopped building new nuclear power plants

14. Environmental Setbacks
Began to wonder if the gov enacted too many regulations
Conservatives felt they stripped individuals of their property rights
Worried that too much regulation would hamper business and jobs by diverting funds to cleaning up
Americans remained divided on the role of gov