Environmental History

1
Environmental History

• Learning from the Past

2
Cultural Changes and the Environment

• 3 major changes have occurred since we were
  hunter-gatherers
• 1) The agricultural revolution
• (10000-12000ya)
• 2) The industrial-medical revolution (275ya)
• 3) The globalization revolution (50ya)

3

• Problems resulting from changes
• More energy and technology available to alter the
  planet
• Human population increased dramatically
• Pollution, increased resource use, and
  environmental degradation occur

4

• Hunter-gatherers had a small impact on the earth
• They lived in small groups and moved ith seasons
• They had expert knowledge of their natural
  surroundings
• Population growth was slow due to high infant
  mortality and a shorter life expectancy

5

• Agricultural revolution provided food for longer,
  healthier living, but increased environment
  degradation
• -people settled and began cultivation of plants
  and animals
• -some used slash and burn, especially tropical
  regions
• -others used sustainable cultivation, such as
  crop rotation

6

• Agriculture led to
• -more food available for longer and healthier
  lives
• -formation of towns and villages
• -habitat destruction began to occur
• -beginning of soil erosion and overgrazing of
  areas
• -pollution of natural resources began

7

• Industrial-medical revolution meant higher
  standard of living coupled with environmental
  degradation
• Began in England in 1700s and came to US in 1800s
• Shift from reliance on renewable resources to
  nonrenewable fossil fuels
• Fossil fuel use in factories led to pollution
• Working conditions often dangerous
• Exodus from rural areas to towns

8

• Early Conservation Era (1832-1960)
• - Few people warned of resource degradation
• Henry David Thoreau wrote Life in the Woods, an
  environmental classic that told of his
  observations of nature over 2 years in the
  Massachusetts wilderness
• George Perkins Marsh, a scientist and Vermont
  legislator, published Man and Nature, presented
  studies showing the need for resource conservation

9

• 1870-1930, role of federal government and private
  citizens increased to protect natural resources
• 1891 Forest Reserve Act established that the
  federal government was responsible for protecting
  public lands from exploitation
• John Muir, geologist and founder of the Sierra
  Club, lobbied for conservation laws
• 1) led movement to limit use of public
  wilderness to hiking and camping
• 2) lobbied for national park system
• 3) responsible for establishing Yosemite
  National Park in 1890

10

• President Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)
  established wildlife reserves and tripled size of
  national forest reserves
• Persuaded congress to give the power to designate
  public land as federal wildlife reserves
• US Forest Service created with Gifford Pinchot as
  first chief in1905
• Antiquities Act of 1906 allows president to
  protect areas of scientific or historical
  interest as national monuments

11

• National Park Service Act passed in 1916
• Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover promoted
  resource removal from public lands at low prices
  to stimulate economic growth
• Hoover proposed selling all public lands to
  private interests for economic development
• The Great Depression was devastating for the
  Nation, but forestalled the purchase of public
  lands by private interests

12

• - 1930s the government bought land and hired
  workers to restore the countrys degraded
  environment
• President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the
  Civilian Conservation Corp in 1933
• - 2 million people obtained work restoring
  degrade environments, building dams, etc.
• - CCC provided jobs, flood control, irrigation
  water, and cheap electricity
• - Few changes were made during 1940s and 1950s
  due to WWII and economic recovery after the war

13

• Environmental Era 1960-2004
• 1960s were beginning of modern environmental
  movement
• Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring documenting the
  harmful effects of pesticides on air, water, and
  wildlife
• 1964 Congress passed Wilderness Act
• Public awareness grew concerning the harmful
  effects of pollution and habitat loss for
  wildlife species

14

• 1970s
• First annual Earth Day April 20, 1970 celebrated
  by 20 million people
• President Nixon established the EPA in 1970
• Endangered species Act passed in 1973
• Federal Land Policy and Management Act passed in
  1978 gave the Bureau of Land Management its first
  real authority to manage public lands

15

• 85 of public lands are in 12 western states
• sagebrush rebellion was a campaign by miner,
  ranchers, loggers, developers, farmers, and
  others that wanted to greatly reduce government
  regulation and persuade legislators to sell or
  lease lands to private interests at low prices
• This was return of thinking to President Hoovers
  idea

16

• President Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)
• Persuaded congress to create the Department of
  Energy with the task of reducing the countrys
  dependence on imported oil
• Appointed environmentalists to key positions and
  consulted on resource policy
• Helped create the Superfund as part of the
  Comprehensive Environmental Response,
  Compensation, and Liability Act (used to clean up
  abandon hazardous waste sites)
• Tripled land in National Wilderness system and
  doubled land in National Park system

17

• 1980s- Environmental Backlash
• President Regan greatly increased private energy
  and mineral development and timber cutting on
  public lands
• Federal funding for research on energy
  conservation and renewable energy resources were
  drastically cut
• Many of Regans policies were challenged,
  strongly opposed in Congress, and caused public
  outrage
• wise-use movement formed by coal, oil, mining,
  automobile, timber, and ranchers

18

• George H. W. Bush elected in 1989 promised to be
  the environmental president
• Continued to support exploitation of valuable
  resources on public lands and allowed some
  environmental laws to be undercut

19

• Bill Clinton elected in 1993
• Appointed environmentalists to key positions in
  environmental and resource agencies
• Protected more public land in the lower 48 states
  than any other president
• George W. Bush became president in 2001
• Proceeded to weaken many environmental and public
  land use laws and policies
• Policies rested on increasing use of fossil fuels
  and relaxation of air and water quality standards

20

• President Obama
• Immediately reversed Bush policy that refused to
  allow California to enact stricter car emission
  standards

21

• The species Homo sapiens sapiens has lived on
  Earth about _____ years
• 4,000
• 12,000
• 30,000
• 60,000
• 90,000

22

• Agricultural societies resulted in all of the
  following changes to humans except
• Growth of villages
• Specialized occupations and long distance trade
• Increased competition for resources
• Equal work distribution among people
• Urbanization

23

• A major stimulus for the Industrial Revolution
  was
• The bubonic plague
• The European Wars
• A shortage of wood
• poverty
• Famine

24

• The OPEC oil embargo and energy crisis occurred
  in
• 1963
• 1973
• 1983
• 1993
• 2003

25

• Benefits bestowed on most citizens of
  industrialized countries are least likely to
  include
• More affordable material goods
• An increase in average agricultural production
  per person
• A higher average life expectancy
• Continued exponential growth of the human
  population
• Lower infant mortality rates