Environmentalism
The energy and sensibility that fueled the civil rights movement, the counterculture, and the New Left also stimulated an environmental movement in the mid-1960s. Many were aroused by the publication in 1962 of Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring, which alleged that chemical pesticides, particularly DDT, caused cancer, among other ills.
Public concern about the environment continued to increase throughout the 1960s as many became aware of other pollutants surrounding them — automobile emissions, industrial wastes, oil spills — that threatened their health and the beauty of their surroundings. On April 22, 1970, schools and communities across the United States celebrated Earth Day for the first time. “Teach-ins” educated Americans about the dangers of environmental pollution.
Few denied that pollution was a problem, but the proposed solutions involved expense and inconvenience. Many believed these would reduce the economic growth upon which many Americans’ standard of living depended. Nevertheless, in 1970, Congress amended the Clean Air Act of 1967 to develop uniform national air-quality standards. It also passed the Water Quality Improvement Act, which assigned to the polluter the responsibility of cleaning up off-shore oil spills.
The modern day environmental movement in the United States began in the in 1960s and 1970s. This movement was originally focused on a few prominent environmental issues and disasters. Environmentalism evolved to become a multifaceted movement in the United States. In the United States today, environmentalism is not a singular movement. Environmentalism intersects local, state and federal politics. It impacts business practices, art and the media, education and health in the United States. There is still a great deal of environmental activism, but over five decades environmental concerns have become more ingrained in the consciousness of the American population.
The rise of the modern environmental movement in America can be traced to several widely publicized events in the 1960s and the 1970s. These events included concern over hydrogen bomb testing on Bikini Atoll, oil spills off of the coast of California, and the use of insecticides and other chemicals. In the 1960s, the pollution of the Great Lakes became a rallying point for environmentalism in the United States. The pollution of Lake Erie and its nearby waterways was so great that debris on the Cuyahoga River caught fire and created thousands of dollars of property damage. The so-called Lake Erie Fire became a media sensation and helped push environmentalism into the public consciousness. The idea of a waterway so polluted that it caught fire inspired the Randy Newman song “Burn On”. Lake Erie was so symbolic of environmental destruction that Dr. Seuss mentioned it by name in his environmental awareness book The Lorax.
Also, in 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created by Pesident Richard Nixon as an independent federal agency to spearhead the effort to bring abuses under control. During the next three decades, the EPA, bolstered by legislation that increased its authority, became one of the most active agencies in the government, issuing strong regulations covering air and water quality.
In the 1960s and 1970s Americans became concerned over the environment in several ways. The first area of environmental concern was more traditional sense of preservation. Oil spills, lake fires, and other environmental disasters lead to a push for continued and increased preservation of America’s wilderness and natural landscapes. The book Silent Spring focused on the impact of the chemical DDT and other insecticides on animal populations, in particular that of various species of birds.
The bald eagle was one species of bird whose population suffered from the use of DDT. The pesticide thinned the egg shells of the bird, which contributed to a reduction in the population size. The endangerment of the bald eagle garnered particular media and public attention, since the bald eagle is the national bird of the United States. This concern over preservation and America’s wild spaces led to laws such as the Endangered Species Act.
Another thread of environmental concern was over the impact of environmental damage on the human population. There was an increased awareness of how environmental degradation could cause public health threats. Two areas of particular concern were air and water pollution. The Clean Water Act of 1972 is the basic framework legislation on water regulations in the US. This act regulates water quality and also how pollutants are discharged in water. The Clean Air Act of 1970 focuses on the control of air pollution. One of the more significant aspects of the law is the ability for the Environmental Protection Agency to establish air quality standards to protect public health and welfare.
The environmental movement evolved significantly over five decades. Today, many of the rallying points of the environmental movement have become ingrained into American society. Air and water quality standards are regulated for the public good, endangered and threatened species are protected, and chemicals and products go through a rigorous testing process to determine potential health and environmental threats. There is still an active environmental movement in the United States; it has built on the activism of previous decades.
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