What are the historical roots of the environmental movement

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• What are the historical roots of the
  environmental movement?

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Transcendentalism

• Perhaps the deepest root.
• Nature is sublime, awesome, awe-inspiring.
• Nature is a source of wisdom and healing. We can
  find self-renewal by breaking away from society
  and opening ourselves up to the vast panorama of
  nature.
• Nature should be contemplated, not analyzed or
  commodified.
• A type of romanticism in reaction to modernity.
• A chain of thinkers from Thoreau to today.

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Henry David Thoreau
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• Cho-looke
• The Yosemite Fall
• Albert Bierstadt
• 1864

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John Muir (1838-1914)
Champion of national parks Founder of Sierra
Club and wilderness movement Opponent of Hetch
Hetchy
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Ansel Adams (1902-1984)
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David Brower(The Archdruid)

• Directed Sierra Club
• Opponent of dam construction
• I believe in the wilderness for itself alone. I
  believe in the rights of creatures other than
  man.
• We don't inherit the earth from our ancestors, we
  borrow it from our children.

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Frontier Mentality

• The earth is an unlimited bank of resources.
• When the supply runs out, move elsewhere.
• Life will be better if we add to our material
  wealth.
• The economics of materials, energy, and labor is
  all that matters.
• The practical and material exploitation of nature
  for the use and enjoyment of humans is primary
  (Utilitarian values).
• Nature is to be overcome, subdued, controlled
• We are above nature and superior to it
  (Dominionistic values).

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Conservation orScientific Management

• Close of the frontier (1893)
• Rise of federal scientific agencies
• Depts. of Interior, Agriculture
• Gifford Pinchot, U.S. Forest Service (1905)
• "The fundamental idea of forestry is the
  perpetuation of forests, by use."
• "The object of forest policy is not to preserve
  forests because they are beautiful... or because
  they are refuges for wild creatures of the
  wilderness... but the making of prosperous homes."

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Conservation Preservation

• Pragmatic, Utilitarian Idealistic, Elitist
• Resources can no longer be Nature should be
  considered inexhaustible, preserved unspoiled
  must be managed as for recreation
  and commodities. spiritual renewal.
• Gifford Pinchot John Muir
• Foresters, ranchers, Naturalists, writers,
  hunters, scientific managers artists
• Dept. of the Interior Sierra Club
• Hetch-Hetchy reservoir Yosemite National
  Park

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Post-World War II Lifestyle Issues

• Consumerism
• Growth of Leisure Industries
• Outdoor recreation
• Scenery, vacation home sites
• Quality of life issues
• Concerns about risk reduction
• Butlittle emphasis on rights of other species

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Ecological Ethics

• A thing is right when it tends to preserve the
  integrity , stability, and beauty of the biotic
  community. It is wrong when it tends
  otherwise. Aldo Leopold, A Sand County
  Almanac (1949)
• Rachel Carson Silent Spring (1962)

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Dominant Metaphors

• Balance of Nature (pre 1859)
• Nature Red in Tooth and Claw (Darwinian)
• Complex Systems (Current)

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Rise of Environmental Awareness

• Atmospheric Nuclear Testing (1945-1963)
• R. Carson, Silent Spring (1962)
• P. Erlich, Population Bomb (1968)
• G. Hardin, Tragedy of the Commons (1968)
• Detergent foams on streams
• Cuyahoga River catches fire (1969)
• Santa Barbara oil spill (1969)
• Death of Lake Erie
• Possible extinction of Bald Eagle due to DDT
• First Earth Day 1970

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Ooh!
Yuck!
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Ozone Depletion

• Satellite observations often reveal known
  phenomena and processes to be more complex than
  previously understood.
• This brings to the fore the indisputable benefits
  of multiple synergistic observations, including
  orbital, suborbital, and surface measurements,
  linked with the best models available.

Antarctic Seasonal Ozone Depletion 1992 from TOMS
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• Global mean sea level change
• from Topex/Poseidon and Jason 1 from1992 to
• the present http//sealevel.colorado.edu/

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• Arctic Sea Ice Extent

Antarctic Sea Ice Extent
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Space Weather
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• National Academy of Sciences
• Earth Observations from Space
• The first 50 years of scientific achievements
• http//www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id11991

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Library of Congress Headings

• Q Science (General), QA Mathematics, QB
  Astronomy, QC Physics (QC851-999 Meteorology,
  Climatology), QD Chemistry, QE Geology, QH
  Natural history Biology, QK Botany, QL Zoology,
  QM Human anatomy, QP Physiology, QR Microbiology
• T Technology, TD Environmental technology,
  Sanitary engineering
• G Geography, GE Environmental Sciences, GN
  Anthropology, GR Folklore, GT Manners and
  customs, GV Recreation and Leisure

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A typology

• Science
• Technology
• Environmental Science
• Environmental Studies
• Environmental History
• Environmental Philosophy
• Environmental Sociology
• Environmental Economics
• Environmental Health

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Part of STS involves Environmental Issues

• Science
• Technology
• Environmental Science
• Environmental Studies
• Environmental History
• Environmental Philosophy
• Environmental Sociology
• Environmental Economics
• Environmental Health
• STS views science and technology as complex
  enterprises in which cultural, social, economic,
  political, and historical forces shape the
  processes of discovery and invention.