1. Environmental History of the US: Some Important Thinkers
                                                                                                                                                                                    
A Middle-Aged John Muir at His Desk John Muir National Historic Site. E1-21
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A Middle-Aged John Muir at His Desk John Muir National Historic Site. E1-21
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Environmental History of the US: Some Important Thinkers
                    
From Frontier Worldview to the Environmental Movement
Names to Know:
Henry David Thoreau
John Muir
Theodore Roosevelt
Rachel Carson
Aldo Leopold

2. The Frontier Era (1607-1890) Frontier Environmental Worldview:
Vast & “Inexhaustible” Resources
Hostile, Dangerous Wilderness to Be Conquered
1890 – Frontier “Closed” – no longer a line where the population density was less than 2 people per square mile

3. American Bison/American Buffalo – hunted almost to extinction during the 1800’s.

4. Early Alarms (1832-1870) Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
Concerned with Species Loss in E. Massachusetts.
Life in the Woods (1854)
George Perkins Marsh ( )
Scientist, Member of Congress from Vt.
Man and Nature (1864) – deforestation -> desertification, Earth will look like the moon.
Used Science, Case Studies (Mediterranean)
Need for Resource Conservation

5. Government and Citizen Involvement (1870-1930)
Forest Reserve Act, 1891
Fed Gov’t Responsible for Protecting Public Lands (Harrison, Cleveland, McKinley) – Forest Lands
John Muir ( )
Founded Sierra Club
Forest Preservation
Yosemite (1890) and Sequoia National Park, Muir Woods
Proposed National Park System

6. Government and Citizen Involvement (1870-1930)
Theodore Roosevelt ( )
President
Gained Power to Designate Public Lands as Wildlife Refuges.
Tripled Size of National Forest Reserves.
1905: US Forest Service (193 mil acres forests and grasslands)
1906: Antiquities (ruins and artifacts)
Act -> Grand Canyon (protect public lands from destruction, excavation, etc)
Later:
1916: National Park Service (manages all parks, monuments and historical properties)

8. Great Depression and War (1930-1960)
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Land Purchases From Private Owners
Jobs Programs 1930s
Civilian Conservation Corps (1933)
Unemployed work planting trees
Developing/maintaining parks
Waterways, dams

9. Environmental Awakening (1960-1980)
Rachel Carson ( )
Biologist
Sea Around Us, 1951
Silent Spring, 1962
Effects of Widespread DDT Use
Beginning of Modern Environmental Movement in US

10. Environmental Awakening (1960-1980)
Wilderness Act (1964)
Muir Idea
Undeveloped Land to be Protected
Earth Day April 20, 1970
Environmental Protection Agency (1970)
Endangered Species Act (1973)
Protection for species and habitats

11. Environmental Awakening (1960-1980)
Bureau of Land Management (1978)
Restricts Uses of Public Land
Maintain health, diversity and productivity
Creates Friction (regulations of use, population growth)
Push Back – Wise Use Movement (1988) (more private, less government control)
Department of Energy (1977)
Develop Long Range Energy Strategy
Superfund (1980)
Task of Cleaning Up Abandoned Waste Sites

12. Recent Past Less Large Scale (really? 2010) Big Idea Activities
Kyoto Protocol (1997)
Objective to Slow Global Warming
US Withdraws 2001

13. Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) Professor Sand County Almanac (1949)
Land Ethics, Environmental Ethics, Nature and Wildlife Preservation

14. All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts.
That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology, but that land is to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics.
The land ethic changes the role of Homo Sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it.
We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a commodity to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.
Anything is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community.
It is wrong when it tends otherwise.