The Environmental Movement in the US

1

• The Environmental Movement in the US
• John Muir (1838-1914)
• Called for preservation of natural wilderness
• Founder of Sierra Club (1892)
• Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946)
• First head of US Forest Service (1905) under
  Theodore Roosevelt
• Staunch advocate of conservation
• Multiple use, sustainable yield
• Greatest good of the greatest number in the long
  run
• Aldo Leopold (1887-1948)
• Land Ethic
• People responsible for maintaining environment
  and repairing damage
• Restoration ecology

2

• The Environmental Movement in the US
• Rachel Carson (1907-1964)
• Silent Spring (1962)
• Negative environmental impacts of pesticides
• Galvanized modern environmental movement
• Paul Ehrlich (1932-present)
• The Population Bomb (1968)
• Described potential environmental consequences of
  rapidly expanding human population
• Garrett Hardin (1915-2003)
• Tragedy of the Commons (1968)
• Lifeboat Ethics (1974)
• David Brower (1912-2000)
• Executive Director of Sierra Club (1952-1969)
• Advocate of radical environmentalism
• Founder of Friends of the Earth (FOE)

3
Important Environmental Legislation and Events

• 1872 Yellowstone designated as first national
  park
• 1963 Clean Air Act (CAA)
• 1964 Wilderness Act
• 1970 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA),
  EPA OSHA formed, revised CAA, First
  Earth Day
• 1972 Clean Water Act (CWA), Ocean Dumping Act,
  Marine Mammal Protection Act DDT banned in
  U.S.
• 1973 Endangered Species Act (ESA)
• 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act
• 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act,
  Fishery Conservation and
  Management Act
• 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response,
  Compensation, Liability Act (CERCLA/Superfund)
• 1987 Montreal Protocol
• 1988 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
  (IPCC)
• 1992 UN Conference on Environment Development
  (Earth Summit) Biodiversity Treaty
• 1997 Kyoto Protocol
• 2005 Kyoto Protocol in effect

4
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

• Purposes are
• to declare a national policy which will
  encourage productive and enjoyable harmony
  between man and his environment to promote
  efforts which will prevent or eliminate damage to
  the environment and biosphere and stimulate the
  health and welfare of man to enrich the
  understanding of the ecological systems and
  natural resources important to the Nation
• Requires federal agencies to
• Integrate environmental values into decision
  making processes
• Consider
• Environmental impacts of proposed actions
• Reasonable alternatives to those actions
• Evaluate Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) or
  Environmental Assessment (EA)
• EPA reviews and comments on EISs
• Public comment period on EISs
• EPA assures compliance with NEPA

5
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

• Consequences
• Not following NEPA procedures can lead to
• Denial of federal funding
• Project delay/additional expense
• Lawsuit(s)
• Led to similar legislation
• State
• Ex California Environmental Quality Act
• Local
• Foreign

6
Modern Environmentalism

• Organizations
• File lawsuits
• Natural Resources Defense Council
• Environmental Defense Fund
• Educate, lobby, demonstrate, purchase land
• National Wildlife Federation
• Friends of the Earth
• The Nature Conservancy
• World Wildlife Fund
• Sierra Club
• Perform research
• Wildlife Conservation Society
• Conservation International

7
Radical Environmentalism

• Espouses direct action to achieve goals
• Civil disobedience
• Ex Sit-ins, chaining people to equipment/trees
• Greenpeace boats drove between whalers and whales
• Julia Butterfly Hill lived in Luna (redwood) for
  gt2 years
• Ecotage/Eco-terrorism/Monkeywrenching
• Ex Tree spiking, damaging equipment, arson
• 1998 Resort near Vail (CO) ELF
• 1999 Boise Cascade corporate HQ (OR)
• 2003 Condo complex in San Diego (CA)
• 2003 SUV/Hummer dealerships in Los Angeles (CA)
• 2005 Townhouse development in Hagerstown (MD)
• Reaction to perceived passivity of mainstream
  environmentalism
• Backlash