Environmentalism

THE LATE 19th and early 20th centuries witnessed growing concern in the United States over the fate of pristine wilderness areas, particularly in western states, as well as the need for conservation of such areas throughout the country. In 1854, Henry David Thoreau's Walden advocated a return to a more simple and natural existence. John Muir's travels and writings in the late 19th century were instrumental in setting aside large areas of land for preservation, most notably Yosemite National Park. Muir was also a cofounder of the Sierra Club.

Others, such as Gifford Pinchot, appalled at the rapid exploitation of resources, advocated the need for conservation through the “wise-use” and management of wilderness areas. By the beginning of the 20th century, the concerns of conservationists and preservationists such as Muir and Pinchot were addressed in part by Theodore Roosevelt in the creation of the U.S. Forest Service. Although this new agency did effectively counter much of the wanton destruction of natural wilderness areas, it has historically sided with conservationists and the disagreement between the two sides over preservation and conservation continues in various forums up to the present day.

The period between World War I and the end of World War II saw a marked decrease in public concerns over the state of America's wilderness areas. Such areas were increasingly earmarked for the war efforts and other privatized uses. The economic boom following World War II brought forth rapid technological and industrial growth, increasing consumption, and most notably [Page 155]the rise of an automobile culture. With these changes, however, came few concerns over the environmental effects of such progress. By the end of the late 1950s and early 1960s, with little regulation concerning the use of petrochemicals, automobile and industrial emissions, nuclear power, and increased consumption, serious environmental degradation was occurring not only in America's wilderness areas or its slums, but in all areas of American life.

Greenpeace environmental activists try to stop a fishing vessel from operating in the Dogger Bank Marine Preserve (North Sea) by attaching a big plastic buoy to the boat–s net.

In the context of burning rivers, polluted air and water, chemical poisonings, and nuclear radioactivity, Rachel Carson published her now seminal book, Silent Spring. Although not solely responsible for the already growing concern over environmental degradation, Carson's bestselling work linked growing environmental problems to the multiplying health problems of Americans, as well as to the problems facing all living creatures in an increasingly polluted and toxic ecosystem. In the years immediately following her work, environmental concerns flourished. Importantly, as historian Adam Rome has argued, these increasing concerns were undoubtedly linked to other political and social changes in the 1960s, including the rise of the New Left, the increasing disenchantment of middle-class women, and the growth of student counterculture movements. By the latter 1960s, the environmental movement was able to distinguish itself clearly enough to draw some 20 million Americans to the first Earth Day in April 1970.

Throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and Audubon Society were so successful in gaining public support that they sponsored and influenced significant legislative environmental protections on the federal, state, and local levels. The most important of these were the Water Quality Act of 1965 and the Clean Water Acts of 1966 and 1972, the Wilderness Act of 1964, the National Environmental Protection Act of 1969, and the establishment in 1970 of the Environmental Protection Agency. These “mainstream” environmental groups utilized public support to effect change through policy. Other [Page 156]groups and movements, however, moved toward more personal or “direct” types of involvement and action.

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