Environmental History: Learning From The Past

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Environmental History Learning From The Past

• Chapter 2

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Humans Were Hunter Gathers

• Homo sapiens have existed for 160,000 years.
  Modern homo sapiens have existed for 60,000
  years.
• Humans were mostly hunter-gathers. Their
  environmental impact was limited and local.
• Hunter Gathers -
• Colleted plants, hunted, fished
• Were nomadic, lived in small groups
• Population growth was slow due to high infant
  mortality and shorter life expectancy
• Advanced Hunter Gatheres -
• Had a larger environmental impact, but still had
  low resource use
• Used tools and fire
• Altered the distribution of plants and animals

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Three Major Changes Since Hunter - Gathers Have
Increased Environmental Impact

• Agricultural Revolution (10,000 - 12,000 years
  ago)
• The Industrial Medical Revolution (about 275
  years ago)
• Information and Globalization Revolution (about
  50 years ago)

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Agricultural Revolution

• Provided food for longer, healthier living, but
  increased environmental degradation
• People settled into communities and cultivated
  plants and domesticated animals.
• Slash and burn cultivation developed in some
  regions.
• More advanced agriculture meant
• that food was available for healthier,
  longer-lived people
• Towns and communities formed
• Habitat destruction began, soil erosion, and
  overgrazing
• Pollution of natural resources

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Industrial - Medical Revolution

• Began in England in the 1700s and came ot the US
  in the 1800s.
• Shift from renewable resources to nonrenewable
  fossil fuels
• People lived longer and developed a higher
  standard of living
• Factories developed and mass-produced goods.
• Led to air pollution
• Dangerous work conditions
• Reductions of farmers needed to produce
  sufficient food --gt more people moved to towns.

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Information and Globalization Revolution

• We can understand and respond to environmental
  problems
• Maps and models of environmental systems are
  available
• Information overload can lead to confusion and
  hopelessness
• The lost of biological and cultural diversity
  might create a more uniform environment.

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Environmental History of the United States

• Four Eras
• Tribal
• Frontier
• Conservation
• Environmental

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Tribal Era

• Five to ten million native americans had a low
  environmental imapact for at least 10,000 years.
• They were hunter-gathers with sustainable
  agriculture.
• They had a deep reverence for nature and did not
  believe in land ownership.

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Frontier Era

• View of the colonists They considered the land a
  frontier to conquer and settle.
• Resources were though to be inexhaustbile.
• This attitude is still prevalent as a part of
  American culture.

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Early Conservation Era (1832 - 1960)

• Between 1832 - 1870 Some became alarmed at the
  scope of depletion of resources in the US.
• Conservationists urged protection of public
  wilderness areas.
• Henry David Thoreau - Life in the Woods
• George Perkins Marsh - Man and Nature

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Early Conservation Era (1832 - 1960) Continued

• Between 1870 - 1930 The government and newly
  formed environmental groups tried to protect more
  of the nations natural resources.
• Forest Reserve Act (1891) - established that the
  federal government was responsible for protecting
  public lands from exploitation.
• Sierra Club (1892) - Founded by John Muir
• Let the Preservationist Movement
• Established Yellowstone National Park in 1890

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Early Conservation Era (1832 - 1960) Continued

• Early conservationists focused their attention on
  resource depletion and degradation in the United
  States.
• President Theodore Roosevelts term of office --
  Golden Age of Conservation
• Established Federal Wildlife Reserves
• Created the National Forest Service
• Used the 1906 Antiquities Act to protect ares of
  scientific or historical interest such as the
  Grand Canyon
• National Park Service Act was passed in 1916

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Early Conservation Era (1832 - 1960) Continued

• In the 1930s, Franklin Roosevelt established
  conservation and public health projects to help
  protect the countries public lands provide jobs,
  irrigation water, cheap electricity, and flood
  control
• Tennessee Valley Authority
• Civilian Conservation Corps
• In the 1940s/50s, there were few changes due to
  WWII and recovery.

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Environmental Era (1960 - Current) - 1960s

• Rachel Carson - 1962 - Silent Spring
• Wrote about air, water, and pesticide pollution
• Key environmental turning point.
• Wilderness Act - 1964 - Public awareness grew
  concerning the harmful effects of pollution and
  habitat loss

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Environmental Era (1960 - Current) - 1970s

• Laws were passed to improve environmental quality
  and conserve natural resources.
• First Earth day
• EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) established
  
• Endangered Species Act - 1973
• Under Jimmy Carter, the Department of Energy was
  created
• Cleaned up abandoned hazardous waste sites under
  a Superfund of the Comprehensive Environment
  Response, Compensation, and Liability Act

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Environmental Era (1960 - Current) - 1980s

• There was an environmental backslash where
  anti-environmentalists tried to weaken and
  rescind the laws from the 60s and 70s.
• President Regan increased private energy and
  mineral development and timber cutting on public
  lands
• Decreased federal funding on energy conservation
  and renewable energy
• Wise-use Movement was formed in 1988 to
  weaken/repeal environmental laws
• George H.W. Bush continued to support the
  exploitation of valuable resources on public laws
  

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Environmental Era 1990s - Current

• Currently, we are trying to hold the line
• Efforts in 1990s have included trying to keep
  anti-environmentalists from weakening or
  eliminating laws passed in the 1960s - 1970s.
• Bill Clinton
• Gave key positions in environmental and resource
  agencies
• Protected more public land as national monuments
• Global warming and Ozone Depletion are met with
  resistance.
• Grassroots environmental groups with an increased
  awareness of complex environmental issues.
• George W. Bush
• Has weakened many environmental and public land
  use laws and policies
• Increasing use of fossil fuels and relaxation of
  air and water quality standards.

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Aldo Leopold

• Member of the US Forest Service
• Founded the profession of game management
• Founder of the Wilderness Society
• Founder of the Conservation and Environmental
  Movements of the 20th century.
• Strong proponent of land ethics - humans have an
  ethical responsibility to preserve wild nature