Chronology of Americans and the Environment

Chronol ogy of Americans and the Envir onment Chronol ogy of Americans and the Envir onment ChrisJ. Magoc Copyright...

Author: Chris J. Magoc

92 downloads 1991 Views 2MB Size Report

This content was uploaded by our users and we assume good faith they have the permission to share this book. If you own the copyright to this book and it is wrongfully on our website, we offer a simple DMCA procedure to remove your content from our site. Start by pressing the button below!
Report copyright / DMCA form

DOWNLOAD PDF

Chronol ogy of Americans and the Envir onment

Chronol ogy of Americans and the Envir onment ChrisJ. Magoc

Copyright2011 by ABC-CLIO, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Magoc, Chris J., 1960– Chronology of Americans and the environment / Chris J. Magoc. p . cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-59884-411-5 (hard copy: alk. paper)—ISBN 978-159884-412-2 (ebook) 1. Environmentalism—United States— History. 2. Environmental policy—United States—History. 3. Human ecology—United States—History. 4. United States—Environmental conditions—History. I. Title. GE195.M335 2011 304.20973—dc22 2010041208 ISBN:978-1-59884-411-5 EISBN:978-1-59884-412-2 15 14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5 This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit www.abc-clio.com for details. ABC-CLIO,LLC 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America

CONTENTS Preface and Acknowledgments Abbreviations ix Pre-Columbian Era 1 Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries Seventeenth Century 7 Eighteenth Century 13 Nineteenth Century 19 Twentieth Century 59 Twenty-First Century 145 Glossary 155 Bibliography 161 Index 167

vii

5

PREFACE AND

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Chronology of A mericans and the E nvironment offers students and general r eaders a compr ehensive chr onological o verview of significant dev elopments in American environmental history. This annotated timeline traces the key events, persons, ideas, and laws that together document the human relationship with the natural world over time in the United States. The book’s chronological scope is vast. It begins in the preColumbian era, tracks swiftly through the colonial and early national eras of U.S. history, and then concentrates in the period when human impact on the envir onment accelerated and intensified in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The book follows four main curr ents of change: the effects of human activity on natural resources and the environment; the evolving cultural response of Americans to both natur e and to envir onmental transformation; the maturation of scientific and philosophical approaches to environmental problems; and the historic political struggle to forge adequate policy solutions to mounting envir onmental pr oblems that have threatened ecological systems, human health, and incr easingly, the futur e of civilization itself . These broad subthemes of the chr onology encompass much of the immense field of envir onmental histor y. The theme of envir onmental change includes, for example, landmar k events in the histor y of logging and defor estation, agricultural settlement, impacts on waterways, and the driving force of technological innovation in environmental history. Environmental cultural history embraces literary figures from Henry David Thoreau to J ohn Burroughs to Annie D illard whose works spoke to Americans’ evolving aesthetic sensibilities regarding “nature,” as well as some of the influential visual and cinematic art that likewise reflected and shaped American attitudes toward the environment. The political story is especially wide in scope, featuring the history of more than three centuries of legislative developments, as well as the incr easingly important role of local grassr oots and national envir onmental organizations in advocating and shaping environmental policies. Within this str ucture of natural, cultural, and political histor y, readers will find each event denoted by 1 of mor e than 50 categories. Any attempt to tax onomically separate events by subject in a volume such as this is fraught with gr eat difficulty, as many key moments in environmental history could be consigned under two or more

viii

Preface and Acknowledgments

categories; in such cases, I hav e tried to denote the ev ent by the categor y that best defines its significance in environmental history. The chronology includes a number of sidebar primary sources that enrich the reader’s appreciation for select ev ents. From Thomas Morton’s 1637 descriptions of the natural resource bounty of “New Canaan” to Supreme Court Associate Justice William O. Douglas’s eloquent dissent on the legal “rights of nature,” these excerpts provide a small window into the hearts and minds of those who make up this history. A few brief acknowledgments are in order. Although this chronology draws most heavily on my 20 y ears as a scholar of envir onmental history, I found it impossible to proceed without consulting previously published timelines of envir onmental history. Two were especially helpful: the annotated timeline in B ill McKibben’s American Earth (2008), and William Kovarik’s Web-based Environmental History Timeline (www.environmentalhistory.org). (Full citations are found in the bibliography.) These excellent resources proved invaluable, helping to ensure that key events of American political-environmental history were not left out of the volume. I am also grateful to former ABC-CLIO/G reenwood Press editor M ichael Hermann for soliciting my par ticipation in this pr oject. He and his successor M ichael Millman have exercised patience and understanding as I labored under some difficult personal circumstances to complete the book. A debt is owed to my research assistant on this project, Elizabeth McMullen, one of the finest students I hav e had the good for tune to teach and learn fr om over my two decades in the classr oom. For several months of her senior y ear at M ercyhurst College, Beth painstakingly researched dates and ev ents I assigned to her , reporting back frequently with thoroughly documented drafts of inclusions for the chronology. She fur ther combed thr ough v olumes of envir onmental histor y seeking out other events I had missed and also provided suggestions for primary source additions. The meticulous and pr ofessional quality of B eth’s work went well beyond what authors often receive from research assistants. I offer her only this final note of gratitude, and my best wishes for a promising career in public history. Whatever contribution this volume may make to the study of the American environment I share willingly and gratefully with the good folks noted abo ve. However, any errors, of omission or otherwise, I claim as my own. I can complete no writing project, no matter how modest, without acknowledging those closest to me who have made my life as a historian both possible and so richly rewarding. Stephen and F rances Magoc, my par ents, are ultimately r esponsible for imbuing me with a love of this country, of history, and of the natural world. To Mary Ellen Magoc, my lo ving wife and trav eling companion thr ough this world, I o we nothing less than all that my life has been for the past 25 y ears. And to our children Ethan and Caroline, you—far more than the events chronicled in this book—sustain my audacious belief that trying to forge a more secure and sustainable future is both possible and urgently necessary.

ABBREVIATIONS AGRI AIRP ANML ANTI ARTS BIOD CATT CLIM CONS DAMS DISA ENDG ENRG ENVJ ENVM EXPL FISH FOOD FOR FUR HOR IND INL

Agriculture/Soils Air Pollution Animal Welfare Antiregulatory Art of Nature (Visual and Popular) Biological Diversity Cattle Climate Change/ Atmosphere Natural Resource Conservation Dams/Flood Control Disasters Endangered Species Energy Environmental Justice Environmental Movement Exploration and Settlement Fishing/Fisheries Food Safety Forests Fur Trade Horses Industry/Industry-Backed Action International/ Intergovernmental Actions

IRR LAND LAW LIT MINE NATI NATP NATU NUCL NUCW OCCH OCNS PEST PHIL POP PCUL PRSV PUBH SBRB SCI SOIL SUST SWST TECH

Irrigation and Reclamation Land and Land Development Environmental Law/Court Decisions Literature of Nature Mining and Minerals Native Americans National Parks Naturalists Nuclear Power/Waste Nuclear Weapons Occupational Health Oceans Pesticides and Insecticides Environmental/Ecological Philosophy Population Popular Culture Preservation Public Health Suburbanization Science and Ecology Soil Conservation Sustainability Solid Waste Technology/Engineering/ Innovation

x

Abbreviations

TOXS TOXW TRNS URBP WAR

Toxic Substances Toxic Waste Transportation Urban Parks/Planning War

WATQ WATR WILD WLDL

Water Quality/Pollution Water Rights Wilderness Wildlife/Wildlife Conservation

PRE-COLUMBIAN ERA ca. 2 million–60,000 BCE POP. Modern homo sapiens (humans) evolve from archaic humans in east Africa and expand outward to southern Africa and southw est Asia and ev entually to E urope. By 60,000 bce world population stands at around 600,000.

ca. 15,000–13,000 BCE NATI. Following their migration into nor theastern Siberia, human big-game hunters move into North America by way of the Bering Plain, a narrow land bridge that emerged as sea lev els dropped near the end of the last major ice age (75,000 bce — 60,000 bce ).These first Paleoamericans further migrated thr oughout the Americas and culturally ev olved into hundr eds of distinct peoples. The B ering P lain migration contrasts sharply with the oral traditions of the peoples descended fr om the Paleoamericans—the indigenous peoples of the Americas, whose tribal cr eation myths each hold that their people emerged from their particular place in the natural world. Creation mythologies shared fundamental tenets that linked people to place, spiritually, and materially. Animistic beliefs held no distinction betw een the human and the natural world, and ev ery par t of the cosmos is sacr ed and aliv e and to be respected. These pr ecepts, together with an understanding of the limits of natur e acquired through experience over time, prove fundamental to maintaining generally stable populations.

ca. 13,000–10,000 BCE BIOD. Large N orth American mammals become extinct at the end of the P leistocene Epoch. Scientists r emain divided o ver a definitive reason for the extinction but generally point to some combination of thr ee factors: climate change at the end of the P leistocene, excessive hunting b y humans, and disease br ought by migrating humans from Asia. Whatever the cause, North American Pleistocene megafauna that

2

Chronology of Americans and the Environment

disappeared include tapirs and giant sloths, giant beavers and armadillos, mastodons and wooly mammoths, and the American saber-tooth cat.

ca. 9500–2000 BCE NATI. Clovis people (found at several sites in western North America) fish and hunt with a flexible wooden spear tipped with a stone projectile. By 5000 bce Athabascanspeaking peoples are living in rock shelters and subsisting on a diet of small animals and plants. A mix of foraging, hunting, and fishing allows permanent settlements to take hold along the P acific Coast. I n parts of the futur e Midwest, other peoples forage for wild plants and begin burning v egetation to enhance game hunting and cultivation.

ca. 3000–1200 BCE AGRI. By 3000 bce , northeastern peoples ar e grinding amaranth and marsh elder into flour. C ultivation of a wide v ariety of maiz e begins in central M exico and migrates northward. Cultures adapting agriculture become more sedentary and complex in their division of labor and also mor e spiritually center ed on the turning of the seasons. A complex calendar of festiv als and rituals str engthens the pantheistic spirituality of maize-centered cultures, particularly in the Southwest. Elaborate irrigation systems in that arid region allow a succession of peoples, particularly the Anasazi (around 1200 bce ) of the Colorado Plateau region, to establish flourishing societies.

ca. 2850–2000 BCE FOR. The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest takes root. Located in the I nyo National Forest of the White Mountains east of California’s Sierra Nevada at between 10,000 and 11,000 feet, these r emarkable trees are 40 centuries old. Among them is a tr ee named Methuselah, the oldest kno wn living inhabitant on Ear th (outliving biblical Methuselah five times over).

ca. 1000 BCE –1000CE NATI. Beginning with the Adena (centered in present-day Ohio), Woodland Period cultures flourish. Bounded on the west by the Mississippi River and the eastern edge of the G reat Plains and extending to the eastern peoples of the G reat Lakes r egion and as far south as the Gulf of Mexico, Woodland cultures lived in highly developed urban settlements, subsisting on hunting, foraging, and farming of such v egetables as pumpkin and squashes. Woodland peoples often are associated with the extensive building of earthwork mounds used variously as burial or cer emonial sites, and cultural or historical markers. Adena people crafted fine works of art that often evoked the animal world, suggesting that the w earer could assume some of the attributes or power of various creatures.

Pre-Columbian Era 3

The Ancient P ueblo people of the S outhwest lived in cliff dwellings like these seen at M esa Verde, Colorado. (Library of Congress)

ca. 200 CE AGRI. Tobacco migrates from Mesoamerica to North America, where it is used similarly by native peoples for medicinal and ceremonial purposes.

ca. 900–1130 CE NATI. The Ancient P ueblo cultures of the S outhwest (generally r eferred to b y the Navajo wor d, Anasazi, meaning “ Ancient E nemies”) experience their golden age. Residing in adobe and stone dw ellings built along cliff sandstone walls, the Ancient Pueblo peoples enjo y a warm climate and r elatively consistent rainfall in this era, allowing for the success of agriculture. Beginning in the mid-12th century, the ancient Puebloans disperse and migrate to v arious other locations in the r egion, eventually merging with modern-day Pueblo cultures of Arizona and New Mexico.

ca. 1100 CE NATI. Oraibi is founded b y the Hopi people of the r egion that became nor theastern Arizona. One of nine H opi villages extant at the time of the S panish arrival in North America, O raibi is one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the United States. A matrilineal cultur e with deep r everence for the natural world,

4


the Hopis have practiced intensiv e subsistence agricultur e for nearly a millennium. They use essentially the same sticks and hoes to plant and maintain their small plots as their ancestors. Farming is centered on nutrient- and water-conserving varieties of maize (corn), beans, and squash, as well as a native species of cotton adapted to their arid environment. Cultural and spiritual beliefs ar e deeply grounded in a pr ofound respect for every part of nature—from the “corn mother” that sustains them, to the rock upon which they grind their corn meal and to which they leav e offerings and prayers of gratitude.

FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES ca.1400 NATI. The gr eat ancient city of Cahokia, located on the M ississippi Riv er near present-day S t. Louis, is abandoned. Established ar ound 650 ce during the Late Woodland Period, Cahokia developed into the largest urban center in the Americas by the 12th and 13th centuries. With a peak population of nearly 40,000, no American city surpasses it until P hiladelphia in the early 1800s. Cahokia was the hear t of an immense trading networ k of Mississippian peoples extending fr om the Great Lakes to the G ulf Coast. Scholars debate a complex of factors that may hav e been responsible for Cahokia’s collapse, including internal political turmoil, disease, deforestation, and overhunting.

1491 POP. The population of Native American indigenous peoples in the Western Hemisphere, descendants of those who first crossed the Bering Plain, is estimated at around 75 million. Population estimates for the region north of the Rio Grande range from 2 to 20 million.

October 1492 EXPL. The first voyage of G enoese explorer, navigator, and coloniz er Christopher Columbus arrives in the Bahaman archipelago on an island he names S an Salvador. Columbus’s four expeditions (1492–1502) launch the momentous “Columbian Exchange” between the Eastern and Western hemispheres of plants, diseases, animals, and human populations, which dramatically shape the social and environmental history of E urope and the Americas. N orth American tomatoes, potatoes, and maiz e, for example, become essential staples in E uropean and Asian diets, while cattle and horses ultimately change for ever the liv es of American nativ e peoples. G lobal trade patterns ar e affected similarly. Weeds and fungi carr y unintended negativ e consequences in the long run. More immediately and far more tragically, diseases brought

6


from E urope to vulnerable human populations with no pr evious exposur e pr ove catastrophic. Smallpox, measles, and cholera sev erely ravage native populations b y as much as 90 per cent. Furthermore, Columbus inaugurates the era of determined Spanish effort to find gold in the Western Hemisphere, a desperate and often violent quest that includes massive enslavement, torture, and murder.

1493–1498 HOR. On his second voyage, Columbus brings back the horse to theWestern Hemisphere, an animal that had disappeared during the major extinction at the end of the Pleistocene.

1524 EXPL. Seeking a route to the Pacific Ocean, French King Francis I sends Giovanni da Varrazano to explore North American lands between Newfoundland and Florida. The expedition opens the door to more than two centuries of French fur trading with native populations fr om the A tlantic Coast to the G reat Lakes interior. Frenchmen exchange metal tools, guns, and color ful fabrics with N ative American traders who bring increasing volumes of furs for shipment to the European market.

1539 POP. S panish explor er and conquistador H ernando D eSoto’s expedition into the Southeast brings livestock and men carrying diseases that prove devastating to natives of the region, eventually taking 75 percent of the population.

1540 HOR. In a doomed sear ch for the fabled “S even Cities of G old,” Spanish explorer and conquistador F rancisco de Cor onado arrives in the American S outhwest with 300 men and 1,500 horses—the first of the latter to arriv e in the trans-M ississippi West. Over the ensuing two centuries, S panish horses breed and migrate into ev ery locale of the American West, assuming a central place in the liv es of indigenous peoples throughout the region. They prove particularly vital and sacred to the tribes of the Great Plains, allowing greater mobility and efficacy in their hunting of North American bison (buffalo), as well as in warfare.

1598 CATT. On April 30, Spanish explorer and conquistador Don Juan de Onate arrives at El Rio del Norte (river of the north, or Rio Grande) to declare the conquest of the S outhwest. Beyond the bloody consequences of his arriv al for the Pueblo Indians, Onate also brings the first cattle to the S outhwest. The hoofed cr eatures ev entually supplant the North American bison on the Great Plains, with colossal environmental consequences.

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 1600s BIOD. Approximately 60 million North American beavers inhabit the continent as the century begins. Now understood as an impor tant “keystone” species, the beaver creates watery, biologically rich habitat for a great number of species and protects the steady supply of clean ground and surface water. However, with fur-bearing animals nearly extirpated fr om Europe, soft, pliable, and water-r esistant beaver pelts pr ove especially attractive for shaping into a variety of European hats. The beaver hunt intensifies throughout the 17th century in much of New England and Upper Canada, with Natives and Metis French doing most of the hunting. Between 1636 and 1652, Englishman William Pynchon, who controlled the beaver trade on the Connecticut River and became one of the richest men in N ew England, ships 4,000 to 6,000 pounds of beaver annually to E urope (2,000 to 3,000 animals). N ative Americans receive a bounteous return of knives, iron tools, glass beads, brass and copper kettles, brightly colored cloth, and other E uropean goods. As one M icmac Native told a J esuit missionary, “In truth, my br other, the B eaver does ev erything to per fection. He makes for us kettles, ax es, swords, knives, and gives us drink and food without the tr ouble of cultivating the ground.” However, the price paid by Native Americans is tragically exorbitant. Contact with Europeans exposes Native Americans to smallpox and other diseases, resulting in the decimation of many native populations. Native peoples also become increasingly dependent on European goods and engage in greater tribal warfare in a desperate fight for hunting gr ounds and ultimately their v ery survival. By 1675, the beaver population of New England is essentially wiped out, with resulting changes throughout the r egion in str eam flow, underground aquifers, and riparian and edge habitat—the latter leading to reduced biological diversity.

1603–1615 EXPL. French explorer, geographer, and cartographer Samuel de Champlain establishes a lucrativ e fur trade with the M icmac Native peoples of the A cadia (Maine) region and later the Algonquians of the eastern Great Lakes.

8


1607 EXPL. On May 14, English explorers from the Virginia Company land at Jamestown Island on the J ames Riv er 60 miles fr om the mouth of Chesapeake B ay to establish the first permanent English settlement in North America. Largely devoid of big game, the swampy island proved inhospitable to settlement, particularly in the midst of a pr olonged drought (1606–1612). S ettlers trade with N ative Americans of the Powhattan Confederacy and engage in modest farming. I n 1609, incr easingly hostile relations with settlers and intensified drought leads to a Powhattan campaign to starve the English out of Virginia—the “Starving Time” winter of 1609–1610, which took the lives of all but 60 of 601 colonists.

1611–1614 AGRI. Virginia Company leader J ohn R olfe cultiv ates and expor ts the first cr op of tobacco from Virginia to England. The plants are grown from seeds obtained illicitly from the Spanish colony Trinidad. Nicotiana tabacum was a v ariety of tobacco sw eeter (and more nicotine-laden) than that smoked by the natives and proved a smashing commercial success for the str uggling colony, foreshadowing its central r ole in the social, economic, and political life of the southern American colonies. Tobacco farming pr oved intensely exhaustive of the soil, extracting nitr ogen and potash with ev ery planting and leaving trace toxic elements behind. Several crops of tobacco eventually compel farmers throughout the Upper South to clear more forest lands to establish large tobacco plantations.

1617–1619 NATI. Smallpox and other diseases brought by English fishermen destroy 90 percent of the Native American population along the N ew England coast. Puritan preacher John Winthrop later declar es that the epidemics ar e a pr ovidential sign that “G od hath her eby clear ed our title to this place. ” By this time, 90 to 95 per cent of the Mesoamericans aliv e befor e Columbus ’s arriv al hav e been wiped out b y disease. North American Indians along the East Coast and the Great Lakes interior will suffer a similar fate over the ensuing century and a half.

1619 AGRI. A Dutch warship arrives at Jamestown carrying “20 and odd ” pirated slaves from the Portuguese colony of Angola. The captured slaves come at a fateful moment when the population of J amestown is a meager 1,000 and the tobacco cr op is in desperate need of cultivation and harvest. By the early 18th century, nearly 700,000 black slaves perform nearly all of the work on southern tobacco plantations.

1620 WILD. I n D ecember, S eparatist P rotestants, who later came to be kno wn as “Pilgrims,” land near the disease-rav aged former Wampanoag-Pawtuxet village on

Seventeenth Century 9

the Eastern S hore of what became M assachusetts and establish the beginnings of Plymouth colony. R eflecting the deeply embedded Western vie w of an untamed landscape, Gov. William Bradford would later (1647) describe what they found as “a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men.”

1623 AGRI. Plymouth’s “Division of Land, ” written b y William Bradford, declares that each colonist is to r eceive one acr e each for the raising of “ as much corn as possible . . . for pr esent use.” This edict marks a clear separation betw een the colonists ’ worldview about individual property rights and the collective views of Native peoples regarding land rights. Although initially confounded b y the appar ently unruly pattern in which the nativ es planted their cr ops, Plymouth colonists ev entually adopt the “three sisters” mix of beans, corn, and squash and learn its v alue in suppressing weed gr owth, conser ving moistur e and fixing nitr ogen. They also begin fer tilizing their crops with dead fish as Native Americans instruct them.

1624 CATT. In March, the ship Charity arrives in P lymouth Colony bringing thr ee red Devon heifers and a bull—the first cattle br ought to N ew E ngland. D espite the colonists’ fencing of land for their liv estock, cattle inv ariably trample o ver Native American farm fields—one issue among many that brings conflict between natives and settlers.

In 1637, English colonist Thomas Morton wrote in his New English Canaan of the virtues of Native American life in New England, including the following excerpt regarding their management of the landscape through fire: The S alvages ar e accustomed, to set fire of the Countr y in all places where they come; and to burne it, twize a yeare, vixe [viz.] at the Spring, and the fall of the leafe. The reason that moves them to doe so, is because it would other wise be so o vergrown with under weedes, that it would be all a copice wood. . . . And this custome of firing the Country is the meanes to make it passable, and b y that means the tr ees gr owe here, and there as in our par ks: and makes the Countr y very beautifull, and commodious. Source: Thomas Morton, “The New English Canaan,” in Tracts and Other Papers Relating Principally to the O rigin, Settlement, and P rogress of the Colonies in N orth America from the Discovery of the Country to the Year 1776, 4 vols., ed. Peter Force (Washington, DC: Peter Force, 1838), 2:36–37.

10


1641 WLDL. Massachusetts Bay colony adopts the first law in the Western Hemisphere imposing humane treatment of animals: “Libertie 92” prohibits “any Tirrany or Crueltie towards any bruite Creature which are usually kept for man’s use.”

1643 IND. After seeing bog iron ore taken from Saugus, Massachusetts, Joseph Jenks, Sr. and his two sons arrive to establish an iron-smelting and foundry operation in Lynn, Massachusetts, the first successful iron works in British colonial America.

1646 WLDL. O n F ebruary 4, the to wn of P ortsmouth, Rhode I sland, or ders a closed season on deer hunting fr om the first of M ay thr ough O ctober. I n just one generation, overhunting b y colonists and incr easingly trade-dependent N ative Americans had diminished the numbers of deer along the eastern seaboar d. Although not well enforced, the Portsmouth ordinance sets a precedent that is replicated by other municipalities and states through the 17th and 18th centuries.

ca.1650 BIOD. A whaling settlement is established along the coast of Long I York.

sland, N ew

1670 FUR. The British establish the H udson’s Bay Company, which dominates the fur trade of both northern Canada and the Oregon Territory for a century and a half.

1681 LAND. On July 11, Proprietor and Gov. William Penn offers his “Concessions to the Province of Pennsylvania,” in which he stipulates that “in clearing the gr ound, care be taken to leav e one acre of trees for every five acres cleared, especially to pr eserve oak and mulberries, for silk and shipping.” Other articles of the document accorded Native Americans legal rights in any land disputes with settlers and prohibited longterm absentee monopolization of prime farmland.

1691 FOR. The Massachusetts Bay Charter includes a “Broad Arrow Policy” that prohibits cutting of large mast-grade tr ees (24 inches and up in diameter , 12 inches fr om the gr ound) b y colonists, with those tr ees to be r eserved for use in shipbuilding. The policy is violated by colonists and because the British Royal Navy then received

Seventeenth Century 11

most of their timber fr om the Baltic region, is not w ell enforced. By the early 18th century, however, British naval demand for N orth American tr ees increases. Parliament imposes expanded timber-r estrictive policies in 1711, 1722, and 1772. The laws lead to furious resistance among colonists, highlighted by the Portsmouth, New Hampshire’s White Pine Tree Riot of 1772, consider ed to be a peripheral cause for the American Revolution.

1699 NATU. John Bartram (1699–1777), America ’s first great native-born naturalist, is born May 23 near P hiladelphia. Although he r eceives no formal education bey ond the local public school, Bartram becomes a self-educated master of American botany, collecting plants and seed specimens and sending many of them to Carolus Linnaeus, the renowned Swedish botanist and physician. H is study of American botany and horticulture includes extensiv e trav el thr oughout the colonies. H e is best r emembered for his scientific study of North American shrubs and flowering trees.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 1720s AGRI. Family land holdings begin to shrink across New England. In the 1600s, the average size of a family farm in the region had been 200 to 300 acres; by the second half of the 18th centur y, it would be 40 to 60 acr es. Population pressures by then contribute to the inex orable demand of E uropean Americans for lands acr oss the Appalachian Mountains.

1723 PUBH. A Boston commission inv estigating New England rum distillers finds that lead in local stills is causing N orth Carolina consumers to be “poisoned, [given the] Dry Bellyache,” according to a later account of the incident b y Benjamin Franklin, who in 1767 becomes similarly concerned with lead poisoning.

1739 PUBH. Citing “ many offensive and unwholesome S mells,” B enjamin F ranklin (1706–1790) and fello w Philadelphians petition the P ennsylvania Assembly to ban slaughterhouses and tanneries fr om the city ’s commer cial district and to ban the dumping of the tanneries’ toxic waste. Tanners cry interference with property rights, while Franklin’s forces cite the right of the public to clean air and water . Operators agree to self-regulate, which proves largely ineffective.

1743 AGRI. On May 25, Benjamin Franklin and a gr oup of learned scientists and other men in P hiladelphia establish the American P hilosophical S ociety, which among other things promotes the advancement of scientific agriculture, including improved farm production and animal husbandry.

14


1748 SOIL. Jared Eliot (1685–1763), a Connecticut minister and physician, publishes Essays on Field Husbandry in N ew E ngland, a book that documents the connections between intensiv e farming of the same crops year after year on sloping, er oding fields and r educed soil fer tility. E liot’s experiments and published wor k generally ar e regarded as the bir th of soil conservation in the United States. Following the American R evolution, Eliot’s obser vations ar e follo wed by those of J ohn Taylor, a gentleman farmer fr om Virginia who also wr ote widely r ead essays on the need for soil conservation. Among his numerous accomplishments, Benjamin Franklin was an early and effective adv ocate for improvements in public health. (Library of Congress)

1773

NAT. I n the spring, naturalist William B artram (1739–1823), son of botanist John Bartram, begins a four-year expedition to the southern colonies. The younger Bartram had spent much time with his father collecting and drawing ornithological specimens and tending the expansiv e botanical gardens nearPhiladelphia. Bartram ’sfindings from his 1773–1777 journey are compiled in Travels and other Writings. Published in 1791, the book is a rich mix of botanical science, landscape narrativ e, and nature philosophy. His exhaustively detailed cataloging of the flora and fauna of the Southeast, along with anthropological observations of the Native American populations of the region, impress scientists from Philadelphia to London. Travels becomes one of the first great works of botanical natural history in the United States. LIT. Phillis Wheatley (1753–1784), a highly educated slav e living in Boston, publishes Poems on Various Subjects, the first book of poetr y b y an African American. Many of the poems reveal a deep appreciation for the natural world.

1781 LIT. Thomas Jefferson compiles his Notes on the S tate of Virginia. Expanded on in 1782–1783 and published initially in limited form in 1784, the book counters the argument of a great French naturalist at the time that plant, animal, and human life in America is degenerate and inferior in form to that of the O ld World. Jefferson ’s book, beyond putting forth a detailed understanding of his political philosophy, is an

Eighteenth Century 15

As seen in this excerpt from Travels and Other Writings, William Bartram evinced an ecocentric philosophy that anticipated the writings of 20thcentury ecologists: Solemnly and slo wly mo ve onwar d, to the riv er’s shor e, the r ustling clouds of the E phemera. H ow awful the pr ocession! I nnumerable winged beings, voluntarily verging on to destruction, to the brink of the grave, where they behold bands of their enemies with wide open jaws, ready to receive them. . . . With what peace, love, and joy, do they end the last moments of their existence! The impor tance of the existence of these beautiful and delicately formed little creatures, whose frame and organization are equally wonderful, more delicate, and perhaps as complicated as those of the most perfect human being, is w ell worth a few moments contemplation; I mean particularly when they appear in the fly state. And if we consider the very short period of that stage of existence, which we may reasonably suppose to be the only space of their life that admits of pleasur e and enjoyment, what a lesson doth it not afford us of the vanity of our own pursuits! Source: William Bartram, Travels and other Writings . . . Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, Travels in Georgia and Florida, 1773–1774: A Report to Dr. John Fothergill, Miscellaneous Writings (Philadelphia: James and Johnson, 1791), 80–83.

erudite and comprehensive travel guide of sorts to the natural features, demography, and potential productivity of his belo ved state. The future president also ar ticulates the “agrarian ideal,” the belief that the strength and future of the new republic lay in its growing number of landed farmers.

1785 LAND. On May 20, the Land O rdinance of 1785 is adopted b y Congress, establishing the means by which lands in the Northwest Territory are to be divided and subdivided into to wnships, sections, and subsections and made av ailable for sale to settlers and speculators. B y establishing the foundation of federal land policy , the Land O rdinance accelerates the means b y which ultimately 1 billion acr es of federal land into the West are to be sur veyed and dev eloped. The law opens the floodgates to settlement and land speculation throughout the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. Land cessions by numerous Native American tribes follow, as would resistance.

16


1786 NATU. On July 18, painter and naturalist CharlesWillson Peale (1741–1827) opens the Philadelphia (later P eale) Museum—the first such institution in America. The museum exhibits Peale’s voluminous collection of American botanical, ornithological, and archaeological specimens—most famously, the reconstructed skeleton of an immense North American Mastodon .

1787 LAND. The Northwest O rdinance is passed, pr oviding the means b y which ne w states will be cr eated out of w estern lands and admitted into the U nion. The law disingenuously pledges to pr otect Native American land rights in the West, even as it simultaneously char ts a course for the political organization of those v ery same lands.

1787–1790s TECH. After designing a prototype for a steamboat, John Fitch (1743–1798) begins testing the vessel on the Delaware River. Fitch’s commercial success is limited by the steamboat’s speed of seven to eight miles per hour.

1790 POP. O n A ugust 2, the first U.S. Census authoriz ed b y Congr ess counts nearly 4 million people living in the United States. Ninety percent of Americans are farmers and nearly 700,000 are slaves.

1793 TECH. Eli Whitney (1765–1825) develops a “gin” for the rapid processing of shortstaple cotton. Whitney’s inv ention comes at a time when tobacco lands ar e being rapidly exhausted in the S outh and lando wners are desperate for a means to make short-staple cotton economically viable; the long-staple v ariety gr ows only along the coast, wher eas short staple cotton can be planted in the upland interior of the South and southw est. Beyond its r ole in expanding the slav e trade, the cotton gin revolutionizes the nation’s textile industry and makes cotton “King” in the South. It heightens demand for expansion into the S outhwest, ultimately contributing to the growing sectionalism of the nation. Ov er the long r un, the monocultur e of cotton farming spurred by the cotton gin leads to depleted soils and boll w eevil–infested lands, which in turn produces an agricultural regime heavily dependent on ar tificial fertilizers and chemicals. PUBH. In August, amid one of the hottest summers onecord r in Philadelphia, an epidemic of yellow fever sweeps the city. Forcing the evacuation of much of the nation’s largest city, the epidemic kills 10,000—one-quarter of Philadelphia’s population. The

Eighteenth Century 17

The cotton gin transformed the textile industr y and led to long-term consequences for both people and land in the S outh, as suggested in this early 20th-centur y image. ( J. C. Coovert/ Library of Congress)

event triggers public investment in a municipal water supply. Benjamin Franklin had long advocated such an investment, leaving in his 1789 will a bequest to the cities of Boston and Philadelphia for that purpose. By 1815, city residents’ wells and cisterns mostly are replaced by the municipal water system.

1795 LAND. The Yazoo Land Fraud scandal in Georgia highlights early America’s speculative land hunger.

1799 WATQ. Inspired in part by events in Philadelphia, the Manhattan Company forms in New York City to construct a sanitary city water supply. The company evolves into the Chase Manhattan Bank.

1799–1831 FOR. Several acts of Congress provide for the protection of oak and other species of large trees growing on federal lands for use b y the U.S. Navy—a policy that follows the British Broad Arrow.

NINETEENTH CENTURY 1801 NATU. Scottish-American poet, naturalist, ornithologist, and painter Alexander Wilson (1766–1813) meets botanist J ohn B artram, who incites Wilson’s inter est in American ornithology. Over the ensuing sev en years, Wilson travels extensively, studying and painting N orth American bir d life and collecting subscribers for a planned book on the subject. He succeeded. Published from 1808 to 1814, the ninevolume American Ornithology illustrated 268 species of American bir ds, more than two dozen of which pr eviously had not been identified. He is w ell regarded as the greatest American ornithologist until J ohn J ames A udubon, whom he meets and inspires while traveling in Kentucky in 1810. WLDL. Creek chieftain Mad Dog complains to a British trader, “our deer and game is almost gone.” The scarcity of deer in the Southeast is the result of decades of overhunting by settlers and increasingly trade-dependent Native Americans.

1802 DAMS. On March 16, the U.S. Army Corps of E ngineers is reestablished and stationed at West Point by President Thomas Jefferson. In its first century, the Corps focused its work on mapping and sur veying for road and canal constr uction; building dikes and lev ees for flood control; and er ecting bridges, lighthouses, and other navigation works. By the 20th century, it would focus increasingly on dam building, often competing with the B ureau of R eclamation in the race to build ev er-larger dams and irrigation projects in the West.

1803 LAND. On July 4, President Thomas Jefferson announces the signing of the Louisiana Purchase Treaty with France, which adds 828,800 squar e miles to the U nited States, doubling the geographic expanse of the young nation at a cost of $15 million (about $0.40 per acre).

20


EXPL. A t 11:00 a.m. on A ugust 31, Capt. M eriwether Le wis embar ks fr om Pittsburgh in a 50-foot keelboat with a par ty of 11 men—the first group of what became the 33-member Corps of D iscovery, led b y Lewis and William Clark. Part of their mission had been in J efferson’s mind for mor e than a decade: to locate the mythical Northwest Passage, a supposed watery route linking the continental United States with the Pacific Ocean and the commercial riches of the Far East. In addition, Lewis and Clar k are to establish diplomatic r elations with N ative American tribes, stake a U.S. claim to the O regon country, and gather scientific data. In April 1805, the Corps of D iscovery deliv ers to J efferson a boatload of mineral, botanical, and zoological specimens fr om the first leg of the journey . Over the course of the twoyear expedition, the Corps of D iscovery produces extraordinary documentation of the region’s Native American populations, its flora and fauna, as w ell as the riv ers, lakes, and mountains of the upper G reat Plains and Pacific Northwest. Sacagawea, a Shoshone woman, joins the par ty at “Fort Mandan.” Her extensive knowledge of edible roots, berries, wild ar tichokes, and apples encounter ed along the way pr ove invaluable. G iven the journey ’s momentous long-term impact on w estern, N ative American, and environmental history, the disappointing discovery that a Northwest Passage is blocked by the Rocky Mountains seems a minor historical footnote.

1804 AIRP. According to an official in Pittsburgh, smoke from coal furnaces thr oughout the city is “affecting the comfor t, health . . . and harmony ” of residents. With burgeoning iron and glass industries and an abundant and cheap supply of bituminous coal, the response is to build smokestacks a little higher.

1805 TECH. Millwright and inventor Oliver Evans (1755–1819) drives a steam engine hitched to a large boat on wheels thr ough the streets of Philadelphia, proving that large objects could be hauled by steam power. Aimed at deploying James Watt’s steam power technology on land, Evans’s innovation ultimately helps transform the American landscape. NATI. P resident J efferson, ackno wledging an ecological r eality, tells chiefs of the Chickasaw nation that “your country, like all those on this side the M ississippi, has no longer game sufficient to maintain y ourselves, y our women and childr en, b y hunting.” The president urges the chiefs to take up farming—ev en as he indicates, ominously, that his own countrymen are hungry for their lands, and that his preference is to r esettle the Native Americans on lands r ecently purchased by the United States across the Mississippi.

1806 WLDL. A massiv e dar k cloud of passenger pigeons—estimated at 2.2 billion birds—is reported over the state of K entucky. At one time the most populous bir d

Nineteenth Century 21

in North America, the passenger pigeon would face an onslaught of for ces over the course of the 19th century.

1806–1807 EXPL. Lt. Z ebulon Pike (1779–1813) leads an expedition into the southern and western portions of the Louisiana Territory. He describes the western Great Plains as “thick with game” but dominated by “vast sandy deserts” with “not a stick of timber” in sight. Pike’s account helps form a popular view that the trans-Mississippi region is unsuitable for farming.

1807 FUR. St. Louis merchant Manuel Lisa begins organizing fur-trading expeditions into the upper Missouri region. In 1809, he founds the St. Louis Missouri Fur Company, aiming for control of the beaver fur trade on the upper Missouri. TECH. On the afternoon of A ugust 17, moving against the current of the Hudson River at an unheard-of five miles per hour, Robert Fulton’s steam-powered Clermont embarks on a 100-mile trip from New York City to Albany. The event heralds a new era of steam power. No longer will one-way river currents and slow-moving keelboats govern the flow of commerce and development of the American interior . Wherever they venture in the y ears ahead, steamboats (and soon steam locomotiv es on land) bring increased settlement and associated environmental change.

1808 FUR. With suppor t fr om President Jefferson, on A pril 6 fur trade magnate J ohn Jacob Astor organiz es the American F ur Company with a goal of dominating the entire N orth American fur trade. S ubsidiaries help Astor establish near-complete control of the mar ket from the G reat Lakes to the P acific Coast—this despite his never having trapped a single beav er. The North American Beaver makes Astor one of the richest men in the history of the United States.

1810–1820 LAND. Following the defeat of the Creeks, the non–Native American population of Alabama explodes by 1,300 percent. Alabama fever rages, bringing a wave of yeoman farmers and large planters from the east to take up fertile lands for the production of America ’slargest staple crop.

1812–1815 WAR. The War of 1812 cripples Native American resistance in the Ohio River valley and further opens the Gulf of Mexico region to white settlement.

22


The death of the great Shawnee Chief Tecumseh at the Battle of the Thames in 1813 enlarged the defeat suff ered by Indians in the War of 1812, his visionary attempt to form a pan-tribal confederacy extending from the Great Lakes to the G ulf region coming to an end. H is remarks to N orthwest Territory governor William Henry Harrison on A ugust 11, 1810, pr otesting the sale of Native American lands r eflect the fundamental philosophical diff erences between native views of the natural world and those of European Americans: The only way to stop this evil [of land sales] is for all the r ed men to unite in claiming an equal right in the land. That is how it was at first, and should be still, for the land never was divided. . . . No group among us have a right to sell, ev en to one another, and surely not to outsiders who want all, and will not do with less. Sell a country! Why not sell the air, the clouds, and the Great Sea, as well as the earth? Did not the Great Spirit make them all for the use of his children? Source: F irst P eople, http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Wisdom/Tecumseh.html (accessed July 16, 2010).

1815–1816 CLIM. On April 13, Mount Tombora in Indonesia explodes in a stupendous volcanic eruption, sending enormous boulders and ash high into the sky and leading to temporary global climatic change. “The bright sun was extinguish ’d,” wrote British poet Lord Byron. In New England, it snows during every month of the y ear 1816. Harvests and liv estock are decimated, and communities str uggle to fend off starvation. Many families look westward to escape not only grim climatic conditions, but also the region’s thin, rocky, and overworked soils.

1819–1820 EXPL. I n July 1819, explor er and inv entor M aj. S tephen H. Long (1784–1864) joins Gen. Henry Atkinson’s Yellowstone Expedition up the Missouri River. By spring 1820, Long’s new command from President James Monroe orders him to explore the southern and western portion of the Louisiana Territory that bordered Spanish territory. Long ’sofficial report on the expedition declares the middle portion of the Great Plains to be “unfit for cultivation and of course uninhabitable by a people dependent upon agriculture.” He urges that the r egion between the M ississippi River and the Rocky Mountains—famously labeled the “G reat Desert” on his map—be used as a buffer to guard against encroachment by European powers.


1820 POP. On August 7, the fourth U.S. Census puts the nation’s population at more than 9 million, of whom 1,538,022 are slaves. AGRI. Cotton pr oduction in the U nited States r eaches 400,000 bales, a four fold increase since 1800. By the middle of the 19th century, the value of the U.S. cotton crop exceeds that of all other U.S. exports combined. It is the engine of the American economy, driven by chattel slavery.

1822 FUR. Gen. William Ashley (1778–1838), lieutenant governor of Missouri Territory, issues a call for “enterprising young men to ascend the M issouri River to its source” in search of beaver. Intended to eliminate American dependency on Native American trappers in the fur trade, Ashley ’s appeal meets huge success. Legendar y “Mountain Men,” such as James Beckwourth, Jim Bridger, and Jedediah Smith, capture both the regional fur trade and the imagination of Americans who learn of their extraordinary adventures in the western wilderness.

1822–1824 WATR. In the Merrimack River valley of New England, the Proprietors of Locks and Canals on the Merrimack River rebuilds the 9,000-foot canal around the Pawtucket Falls at Middlesex Village. The canal is deepened and widened to improve transportation and to serve the burgeoning textile mill town of Lowell. Hydrological engineering of the Merrimack and the Concord rivers drives the engines of industr y but has deleterious consequences for farmers, small mill o wners upstream, and fish populations. More significantly perhaps, by the 1830s, the company sells “ mill powers”— units of water released to those would-be users of “its” water. These events represent a stunning development in the commodification of nature.

1823 NATI. In the landmark case of Johnson v. M’Intosh, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall firmly establishes the legal principle that Native Americans had only “aboriginal” title to the lands of the continent—the right to use and occupy them—until such time as the nation holding the “rights of conquest” sells and disposes of the lands. LIT. James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851) publishes The Pioneers, the first of his five popular “Leatherstocking” tales of life on the American frontier. The books romanticize an ethical and sagacious frontiersman named Natty Bumpo and ennoble Native Americans under siege fr om the adv ance of civilization. Cooper’s wor ks assail the profligate and r eckless “ wasty ways ” of American wood choppers and backwoods hunters who take more than they need without looking to the future.

24


1825 TRNS. On October 26, constr uction of the E rie Canal is completed, mar king one of the transformational ev ents in the early expansion of the nation. B egun in 1817, the Erie Canal faced such daunting engineering challenges that P resident Jefferson once called the idea a “little shor t of madness.” The 363-mile-long canal linked the eastern seaboard with western New York, helps make New York City a leading center of global commerce by the mid-19th century, and dramatically accelerates the movement of resources and goods into both New York and the Old Northwest. The canal ’s success leads to a canal-building fr enzy thr oughout the nation. Wherever they ar e built, attendant environmental impacts follow: transformed local hydrology, increased population density and commercial centers, and expanded agricultural productivity. LIT. Romantic poet, journalist, and editorWilliam Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) publishes “A Forest Hymn,” in which he asserts that “the groves were God’s first temples.” The poem is one of many B ryant wrote throughout his long car eer proclaiming the moral and spiritual power of the American “woody wilderness.” His later travel writings mourn the impacts of civilization on wild places on the American landscape. ARTS. Romantic painter Thomas Cole (1801–1848) arrives in New York and soon begins painting landscapes of the nearb y Catskill M ountains. Cole ’s landscapes ar e distinguished in part by the absence or diminutive presence of humans, signaling the sublime grandeur and moral power of the wilderness. Cole is regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School of painting—a constellation of ar tists, including Frederic Church, Asher B. D urand, and Alber t Bierstadt, whose work further enshrines the primal American wilderness as the font of an emerging national cultur e. Cole is critical of what he sees as an o verly exploitative impulse of the American people, a pr opensity to destr oy the v ery element—the untouched wildness of the natural world—that gives it supremacy over the well-worn and abused Old World.

1826 TRNS. Col. J ohn Stevens (1749–1838) demonstrates the feasibility of land-based steam locomotion at Hoboken, New Jersey. His steam locomotive runs on a circular track at 12 miles per hour.

1827 PHIL. I n D ecember, J oseph S mith (1805–1844) begins translating The Book of Mormon, which urges followers never to harm animals, unless in self-defense and in desperate need of food. Smith writes, “I think it is wicked for men to thirst in their souls for to kill almost everything which possesses animal life.”

1828 ANML. The New York state legislature passes the first modern statute prohibiting cruelty to animals. Specifically aimed at preventing ill treatment of horses and livestock,


it suggests that animals are more than private property and possess an innate “right” to decent treatment.

1829 MINE. Ten thousand white pr ospectors pour into Cher okee lands in G eorgia in search of gold. “The Great Intrusion,” as Cherokees call it, is soon followed (May 26, 1830) b y congr essional passage of the I ndian R emoval A ct, for cing thousands of Cherokee and Native Americans of the other “Five Civilized Tribes” of the Southeast onto the Trail of Tears destined for Native American Territory.

1830 POP. On June 1, the population of the U nited States is reported to be 12,866,020 persons, more than 2 million of whom are slaves. ARTS. G erman-American painter Alber t B ierstadt (1830–1902) is born on J anuary 8. A veteran of the Hudson River School, Bierstadt’s lavishly romantic paintings of the American West are instr umental in forming the vie w that the West possess landscapes worthy of national comparison to those of E urope. Like the works of his contemporary Thomas M oran (1837–1926) and landscape photographer William Henry Jackson (1843–1942), such dramatic visual renderings build support for federal preservation efforts. TRNS. On August 28, inventor and philanthropist Peter Cooper (1791–1883) races his newly designed Tom Thumb , the first American-built steam locomotive to be operated on a common carrier railroad (The Baltimore and Ohio), against a horse-drawn train. ENRG. Approximately 95 percent of America’s energy needs are supplied by timber.

1831 LIT. Naturalist, ornithologist, and painter J ohn James Audubon (1785–1851) publishes the first volume of Birds of America. Born on his father’s sugar plantation in Haiti, Audubon long “felt an intimacy with [birds] bordering on frenzy.” After emigrating to the United States in 1803, Audubon settled on a family farm nearValley Forge, Pennsylvania, where he immersed himself in the observation of nature. Partly under the tutelage of a French naturalist, he became a skilled taxidermist and gathered an impressive collection of North American animal specimens, complemented by extensive field notes and sketches and paintings. In 1808, he moved to Kentucky where he encountered the great ornithologist and illustrator Alexander Wilson. A shor t stint at a Cincinnati museum further developed his taxidermy and painting skills, r endering his specimens in their natural habitat and often in motion. The landmark Birds of America is a four-v olume collection of mor e than 700 life-siz e hand-colored prints of American ornithological species produced from copper engravings. The United States Gazette declares it to be “the most magnificent illustrations of natural history that has ever been produced.”

26


URBP. Mount Auburn Cemetery opens in Boston. R omantically designed with a mix of enchanting groves, ornamental plantings, winding pathways, and inspiring monuments and chapels, the cemeter y generally is consider ed the first consciously designed public landscape in the countr y, in effect, the first urban par k. M ount Auburn inaugurates a nationwide mo vement for “ garden cemeteries ” that ser ve crowded cities as places of spiritual repose and restful recreation.

1832 NATP. On April 20, the U.S. Congr ess enacts legislation establishing the mineral hot springs gushing out of Hot Springs Mountain in Arkansas as a “national reserve.” Although the state is given no means by which to manage the site, the law stands as the first federal pr eservation statute of any kind—pr edating Yellowstone National Park by 40 years. Without government oversight, a period of commercialized capture of the springs follo ws, prompting the Congr ess in 1849 to place administration of the site in the hands of the Department of Interior. The area becomes a national park on March 4, 1921. NATP. Ar tist George Catlin (1796–1872) becomes the first American to formally propose the creation of a “magnificent park” in the West to preserve the last remaining vestiges of both Native Americans and animals that he believ es are disappearing in the face of “the deadly axe and desolating hands of cultivating man.”

1833 IND. Lowell, Massachusetts employs more than 5,000 workers at eight large textile mill complex es. M ore than 5,000 bales of slav e-picked cotton ar e pr ocessed into 6.5 million yards of fabric annually. Powering the large mill turbines is an elaborate system of locks and canals that transforms the hy drology of the M errimack River valley. SBRB. B alloon frame housing is dev eloped, making home constr uction mor e affordable for an expanding middle class. Factory-produced nails and two-by-four studs positioned 16 inches apart form the essential structure of the new building type that will become the standar d for American suburban home constr uction. The popularity of pr efabricated balloon frame housing accelerates the gr owth of logging in the G reat Lakes states and defor estation nationwide o ver the next century and a half.

1834 AGRI. Cyrus McCormick (1809–1884) patents the grain r eaper, which revolutionizes the cutting and har vesting of grain. Allo wing 2 men to do the wor k of 15, the reaper hastens the agricultural development (and ultimately, intensified exploitation) of the Midwest and eventually the Great Plains.


1836 LIT. In September, philosopher, essayist, and poet RalphWaldo Emerson (1803–1882) publishes his first essay, Nature, the seminal work of the intellectual movement known as transcendentalism. E merson espouses the idea that, unlike in E urope, natur e in America must be seen anew—as a revelatory and instructive force undefined by human history. “The happiest man,” he writes, “is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.” The essay further positions nature as the inspirational font for much of the great American literature and poetry that emerges from the mid-19th century.

1837 AGRI. Using a br oken steel sawmill blade, blacksmith J ohn Deere (1804–1886) fabricates the first steel plo w. This simple but clev er inno vation allo ws farmers to cut thr ough the thick soils and tall grass prairie of the M idwest far mor e effectively that the old ir on plo w, which r equired paddles to constantly wipe off the clay soils. Together with the M cCormick r eaper, D eere’s plo w accelerates w estward mo vement and dramatically incr eases farm pr oduction— developments ultimately bearing both positive and deleterious social and environmental consequences.

1840 POP. The population of the United States is 17,069,453—an increase of more than 32 percent since 1830. The figure includes nearly 2.5 million slaves.

1841 LAND. Congress passes the P re-emption Act, which allo wed settlers to essentially squat on unsurveyed federal land. When the land is surveyed, that individual is given the first opportunity to purchase up to 160 acres of the land for $1.25 per acre.

1842 SBRB. Landscape ar chitect Andr ew J ackson D owning (1815–1852) co-publishes with Alexander Jackson Davis Cottage Residences, a book that enshrines r ural living as an early suburban middle-class r omantic ideal. The book urges the planting of particular plants and or chards and illustrates the pr oper method of so wing gardens and tending to the countr y lawn. Downing asserts that charming rural cottages and well-tended horticulture would ameliorate the effects of urban living, reinforcing the home as a vir tuous refuge. Although modified, the popularity and the essential elements of the Downing landscape extend into the 21st century. PUBH. N ew York City physician and Boar d of H ealth inspector J ohn G riscom (1809–1874) writes The Sanitary Condition of the Laboring P opulation of N ew York City, his official report on the abysmal sanitary conditions of the working poor of the

28


city. A pioneering wor k in the field of public health, the r eport links a complex of diseases suffered by the poor to their living and working conditions. Contrary to contemporary mainstream opinion, the book argues that the essential humanity of the poor demanded better treatment by their landlords and employers. Griscom appeals to the self-interest of the city’s upper classes, suggesting that improved pay and living conditions result in healthier and more productive workers and fewer charity and tax demands upon them. G riscom is ignor ed and is soon r emoved from his inspector ’s position. WATQ. New York City, searching for a supply of sanitary potable water for a growing city, opens the Croton Aqueduct, which transports water from Westchester County more than 40 miles away.

1845 FOR. The legendary John Chapman ( Johnny Appleseed) (b. 1774) dies. Early in his life, Chapman annually trav els hundreds of miles on foot fr om Massachusetts to Pennsylvania and O hio and I ndiana and I llinois, along the way planting and tending nurseries of apple tr ee seedlings. H e is b y all accounts a tr ue lover of the natural world. LIT. O n July 4, author , naturalist, abolitionist, and transcendentalist philosopher Henry David Thoreau moves into a small cabin he built himself at the edge ofWalden Pond on land o wned by his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson. Here he begins his twoyear experiment in self-sufficient austere living that ultimately r esults in his gr eatest work, Walden, or Life in the Woods.

1846 FISH. The U.S. whaling fleet reaches its all-time peak of 736 vessels, with the largest number sailing out of N ew England coastal towns. New Bedford, Massachusetts— the “city that lit the world”—leads the fleet at mid-century with more than 400 ships. Although whaling had ancient r oots, the hunt for the animal takes on epic pr oportions during the first centur y of the I ndustrial Revolution. Oil extracted fr om the animal’s blubber illuminates the nation’s streets, homes, and businesses and lubricates the machinery of New England textile mills. In addition, whalebone (baleen) is used for a great number of products from combs and children’s toys to corsets and buggy whips.

1847 IRR. Mormons begin digging communal irrigation ditches, dams, and canals in the harsh and arid conditions ar ound the G reat Salt Lake. Their cooperatively orchestrated effort to irrigate the deser t is so successful that it becomes a model for J ohn Wesley Powell in his 1878 recommendations on irrigating the Southwest.


TRNS. The Illinois-Michigan Canal opens, linking the Chicago and I llinois rivers and opening up the forests of the Great Lakes states to the logging industry.

1848 PUBH. The American Medical Association is formed, with one of its two goals being the survey of sanitation conditions in urban areas across the United States. MINE. On January 24, gold is discovered by carpenter James Marshall at John Sutter’s Mill on the S outh Fork of California’s American River. The gold r ush that follows constitutes one of the gr eatest migrations in human histor y as the non–Native American population of California soars from 14,000 in 1848 to nearly 250,000 by 1852 (and the Native American population suffers a corresponding devastating collapse over the next half-centur y). Beyond its transformational impact on state and national history, the California gold r ush also has enormous envir onmental consequences. Initial effects are relatively benign—unsanitary conditions in the cr owded miners’ camps, mur ky str eams and riv ers, modest defor estation—but they soon intensify.

1849 LAND. On March 3, the Department of the Interior is established. The expansion of federal lands having grown enormously as a result of the Mexican War, the longstanding pr oposal to cr eate a go vernment agency to o versee land- and r esource-related matters finally succeeds. Once called the “Great Miscellany” for the sprawling nature of its administrativ e responsibilities, Interior remains the largest land-management department of the federal go vernment, o verseeing in the 21st centur y mor e than 500 million acres of public real estate. PUBH. I n June, cholera strikes N ew York City, killing 5,000, mostly poor I rish. Arriving by ship, the disease spr eads quickly thr oughout the city , especially in the overcrowded slums where quarantine is impossible and medical attention is bey ond the reach of the poor. Although many blame the habits of the “dirty Irish” and other poor of the city for their demise, the cholera outbr eak leads to the first serious calls for urban environmental reform, including implementation of the city ’s first streetcleaning program and the banishing of pigs from city streets. LIT. Henry David Thoreau self-publishes A Week on the Concor d and Merrimack Rivers. The book is based on Thoreau’s 1839 boat trip to the White Mountains with his brother John. Thor eau deplores the transformation wr ought on the water ways of his beloved New England by the digging of canals and locks to po wer the region’s textile industry. “Salmon, shad, and alewives were formerly abundant here, and taken in weirs by the Indians,” Thoreau writes, “until the [Billerica] dam, and after ward the canal at Billerica, and the factories at Lo well, put an end to their migrations hitherward.” He further muses mischievously about what “ a crow-bar [might do] against that B illerica

30


dam”—alluding to the then-waning legal right of farmers to take do wn dams whose impoundments are damaging their farms and the water way commons long held for public use.

1850 POP. The seventh U.S. Census documents 23,191,876—an incr ease of 36 per cent since 1840, and the soaring slave population now tops 3 million. PUBH. Publisher, statistician, and public health innovator Lemuel Shattuck (1793– 1859) of Boston publishes a city sanitation erport decrying avoidable health problems attributable largely to unsanitary living conditions. Shattuck’s lead recommendation, to create a state boar d of health to inv estigate and addr ess sanitation issues, is not acted on until 1869. LAND. The federal Swamp and Overflowed Lands Act is signed into law, authorizing the free transfer of federally owned wetlands to individuals willing to drain the land. The law stipulates that federal land that can be trav eled by boat can be acquir ed by any individual pledging to drain and cultiv ate it. A decade later in the Central Valley of California, land speculator H enry Miller shrewdly exploits the law to acquir e much of his million-acre agricultural domain. Under the law, millions of acres from Louisiana and Florida to Michigan are drained for agricultural cultivation as well as mosquito and flood control.

Early1850s AGRI. Desperate for an answ er to soil exhaustion caused b y intensive cotton farming, southern planters rush to harvest bird guano from Peru and other places in South America and the Pacific.

1851 OCNS. The Limitation of Shipowners Liability Act is passed by the Congress, allowing the owner of a ship to restrict his liability in the event of a disaster at sea resulting in contamination of waters if he could sho w lack of prior kno wledge of the conditions resulting in the accident. The law becomes controversial a century later in an age of increased water pollution, particularly from oil tankers. INL. Following the outbreak of severe cholera epidemics in Europe and in New York City, the first international confer ence on public health is held, in P aris. Subsequent meetings produce the International Sanitary Convention (1907) and the Health Organization of the League of Nations (1920) to track and attempt to contain communicable diseases. The World Health Organization (1948) absorbs and supplants these pr evious bodies in its mission to adv ance public health worldwide.


1852 FOR. I n the Calav eras (County) G rove of nor thern California, a team of men hired b y businessman G eorge G ale cuts an ancient sequoia tr ee 92 feet in circumference at the base and mor e than 300 feet in height. The task takes 25 days to accomplish and ev en then the per fectly straight and balanced tr ee r efuses to fall until a windstorm blo ws through the ar ea; the crash is hear d 15 miles away . Gale orders a 50-foot section of the bar k (two feet thick in places) cut and then reassembles it for display ar ound the countr y. A slice of the old tr ee is cut and exhibited, illustrating its sur vival through 2,520 y ears of dr ought, forest fire, and insect assault. Reaction to the display of what is called the “M other of the Forest” is decidedly mixed. Some gawkers believe it to be a fake, while for many the fate of the Mother of the Forest symbolizes the reckless pace of defor estation around the country. It fuels gr owing calls b y preservationists to pr otect nearby giant sequoia groves in the Yosemite Valley.

The felling and display of the ancient sequoia called “Mother of the Forest” served as a symbol for many Americans of the rapid pace of deforestation taking place in many parts of the country in the mid-19th century. (Library of Congress)

32


1853 MINE. I n N evada City, California, in M arch, gold miner E dward E. M atteson devises a hydraulic-powered hose that tears away mountainsides and exposes the gold veins hidden within the S ierra Nevada Mountains. The invention transforms gold mining in the West for an entire generation—and leads to widespread environmental degradation. “Hydraulicking” entails stripping away the excess gravel, soil, and rocks with water fr om mountaintop r eservoirs. The gold is sluiced off through elaborate, hundred-mile long channels. Whole for ests ar e lev eled in the pr ocess. The excess overburden of mountain spoils fills streams and riv erbeds to the point at which it not only destroys farmers’ crops and orchards but also impedes navigation and causes flooding in riv er valley communities. F armers initially ar e reluctant to contest the damage, because they profited from the development of gold mining in the state, but sentiments begin to change by the 1870s.

1854 LIT. H enry D avid Thor eau publishes Walden, or Life in the Woods. Part transcendentalist meditation, part natural histor y, Walden is revered in par t for its timeless critique of the ex cesses of an incr easingly harried and materialistic society. The book raised pr ofound questions about the impact of the headlong impulse to acquisitiv e economic gr owth. Thor eau questions the inex orable push to cluttered complexity in daily affairs, as well as to bigger, faster, more powerful machines that he believ es are well on the way to o verwhelming our very humanity: “do we ride the railroad or does the railroad ride on us?” he queries. TECH. Daniel Halladay (1826– 1916) intr oduces the first comThe celebrated author and naturalist H enry D avid mercially successful windmill in Thoreau, whose two-year experiment in self-sufficient the United States, used to pump living resulted in his work Walden ,published in 1854. water from underground aquifers. (Library of Congress) The windmill has a self-governing design that enables it to turn and adjust speed for changing wind dir ection and strength. Halladay’s water-pumping windmills pr ove vital to the agricultural dev elopment of the West as they


At Walden Pond, Thoreau positioned himself on the edge of civilization and nature to gain clear, sharper insight into both worlds: I went to the woods because I wished to liv e deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, disco ver that I had not liv ed. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life. . . . Still we live meanly, like ants, . . . Our life is frittered away by detail. . . . Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! Source: Henry David Thoreau, “Where I Lived and What I Lived For,” in Walden, or Life in the Woods (Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854).

alleviate water shor tages and encourage settlement in the mor e arid r egions of the Great Plains.

1855 SWST. Chicago adopts the first citywide sewer plan in the United States. The earlier system simply had hollo wed-out logs that used gravity to drain stormwater do wn to Lake M ichigan, while human waste settled in privies and leaching cesspools. With mounting public health problems, the city devises a comprehensive system of “combined” sewers (used for both stormwater and sewage) that drain into the Chicago River. Building the se wage system r equires the city to impr ove vertical flow by raising streets 10 to 15 feet so gravity can drain the pipes, with the se wer pipes then laid directly on the ground and earth and new streets laid over top. Although problems continue to afflict the city drinking water supply, other cities soon adopt similar joint networks of piping for sewage and stormwater disposal. TECH. The Bessemer blast furnace method for steel production is introduced at Wyandotte, Michigan. The revolutionary process developed and patented by English inventor and engineer Henry Bessemer makes steel the material of choice in the building of modern America. As the second wave of the Industrial Revolution unfolds in the second half of the 19th century, steel production explodes, as does the necessar y extraction of iron ore from Minnesota and coal from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky.

1857 FISH. A study on depleted fish populations in the Connecticut River is completed by Vermont Railr oad commissioner, G eorge Perkins M arsh (1801–1882). M arsh

34


castigates the impacts of overfishing, industry, and especially deforestation on fisheries and climate. SBRB. New York businessman Llewellyn Haskell (1815–1872) establishes the community of Llewellyn Park in West Orange, New Jersey. Considered the first planned residential suburban community in the nation, the r omantic landscape of Llewellyn Park features circuitous pathways, ornamental trees and shrubs, and eventually ornate country estates designed by some of America’s premier architects. URBP. The New York state legislature appoints a New York City Central Park Commission to oversee the creation of the 700-acre Central Park in the center of M anhattan— the first landscaped public park in the United States. In 1858, the Commission’s design competition for the park is awarded to Frederick Law Olmsted (1822–1903) and Calvert Vaux (1824–1895), a former partner of renowned landscape design maven Andrew Jackson Downing. Olmsted is a successful journalist but after meeting Downing in 1851 and traveling extensively to English gardens, he teams up with Vaux to submit their “Greensward” plan for Central P ark. Olmsted and his sons go on to design urban par ks, state capitol grounds, suburban communities, and college and univ ersity campuses ar ound the country. No single individual leav es a gr eater imprint on the beautification of the American landscape than Olmsted. In Central Park, the Greensward Plan calls for a picturesque mix of open meado ws, wooded areas, and undulating terrain. P aths and trails and nearly 40 stone bridges are constructed to separately carry pedestrians, carriages, and horse traffic. Nearly 20,000 workers use dynamite to blast away r ocky escarpments and moved almost 3 million cubic yards of soil in reshaping a landscape that provides beauty, rest, spiritual uplift, and recreational opportunity for urban residents.

1859 ENRG. O n A ugust 25, “Colonel ” E dwin D rake successfully drills for oil near Titusville, Pennsylvania, inaugurating the global Age of O il. Oil drilling efforts in the 1840s near Pittsburgh (Tarentum), associated with the salt industr y, are successful but short-lived. The oil from Drake’s well is marketed primarily as an illuminant, replacing increasingly expensive whale oil and other v egetable-based oils. The strike in Titusville, drawn from a 69-foot well, soon leads to discoveries in Texas and Oklahoma, which become centers of production in the United States. Even after the internal combustion engine and the automobile cause oil consumption to explode, the United States produces far more oil than it needs until well into the 20th century.

1860 POP. The population of the U nited States is mor e than 31 million, having nearly doubled from 17 million since 1840. Nearly 4 million live in slavery. AGRI. Nicholas Sorsby, a southern planter , publishes Horizontal Plowing and H illside Ditching, a widely circulated pamphlet that advocates agricultural reform methods aimed at curbing the incr easingly severe problem of soil er osion in the S outh.


Sorsby’s reforms include contoured horizontal plowing along the sides of ridges and hills, gully rehabilitation, and drainage ditches to impr ove irrigation and arr est erosion. Too far ahead of their time for most farmers, decades later , Sorsby’s ideas ar e influential in the federal Soil Conservation Service.

1861 WAR. On April 12, Union troops fire on Fort Sumter, plunging the nation into Civil War (1861–1865). The emphasis in the South on cotton and tobacco and its underproduction of vegetables and livestock are historically underappreciated factors in the defeat of the Confederacy. The war’s environmental legacy includes improvements in sanitation, medicine, and public health generally, as well as the end of the slave-based agricultural economy of the South. In addition, a Civil War tax on beverage alcohol (including alcohols used to cr eate various fuels) driv es the pr oduction of ker osene made from Titusville oil, hastening the development of the oil industry.

1862 AGRI. On May 15, President Abraham Lincoln signs legislation establishing the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The President calls it “the people’s department,” symbolizing the fact that 90 percent of the American people are engaged in farming. LAND. On May 20, President Lincoln signs the H omestead Act. Intended to settle western lands once belonging to N ative American tribes, the law offers 160 acr es of free federal land to any farmer willing to inv est five years settling the land. With its roots in the Jeffersonian vision of a nation of freeholding yeoman farmers, the Homestead A ct comes with gr eat pr omise. M ore than 400,000 families in the late 19th century eventually “prove” (realize) their claims and receive their acreage. According to critics, however, just 1 out of 10 of all ne w farms (4 million) that are settled between 1862 and 1900 come under the H omestead Act. The vast majority of farms ar e purchased at higher prices from speculators and railroads (who in many areas control the best and most geographically desirable lands by virtue of generous federal land grants). Like previous land laws, the Homestead Act is ripe for exploitation and abuse. Ther e are no limits on speculators buying up land under false claims, and then reselling it at inflated prices. AGRI. O n J uly 2, P resident Lincoln signs the M orrill Land G rant Colleges A ct authorizing 30,000 acr es of federal land to be sold b y the states with the pr oceeds going to the formation of colleges focused on agricultur e and the “mechanical arts.” Cooperative Extension Services of the colleges are added in 1914 to facilitate the dissemination of agricultural knowledge to farmers and the general public.

1863 SCI. President Lincoln approves the congressional charter for the National Academy of Sciences, a select group of scientists charged with solving scientific challenges confronting the nation.

36


1864 CONS. G eorge Perkins M arsh publishes Man and N ature, or P hysical Geography as Modified by Human Action, one of the seminal wor ks in the dev elopment of modern conservation. A native of Vermont, Marsh has a storied and varied career, having served as a farmer, congress member, Vermont fish commissioner, linguist, philologist, lawyer, businessman, minister to Turkey and I taly, and Vermont railway commissioner . His career travels in the Mediterranean and his lifelong experiences and careful observations of the New England landscape lead him to write Man and Nature . The book sounds a warning to Americans r egarding the impact of r eckless natural resource exploitation on the fate of great civilizations. Marsh makes a compelling case that defor estation, in particular, contributed significantly to the decline and fall of ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean. The felling of for ests, says M arsh, leads to subsequent changes in climate, soils, hydrology, and the pr oductive capacities of r egional environments. His more fundamental argument is one that w e generally associate with late 20th-centur y environmentalism: that the building of a prosperous society cannot be severed from the impact those actions have on the natural world. Marsh is well ahead of his time, but his ideas are instrumental in the maturation of scientific forestry in the United States and in the movement to preserve vast tracts of remaining wilderness for the long-term social and economic benefits such protection will have on the health of regional watersheds. NATP. O n J une 30, P resident A braham Lincoln signs legislation granting a portion of the Yosemite r egion to the state of California to “be held for public use,

In this brief ex cerpt from Man and Nature, George Perkins Marsh labels man “a disturbing agent” of the natural world and its ability to heal itself: Man has too long forgotten that the ear th was giv en to him for usufr uct alone, not for consumption, still less for profligate waste. . . . But man is everywhere a disturbing agent. Wherever he plants his foot, the harmonies of natur e are turned to discor ds. The pr oportions and accommodations which insur ed the stability of existing arrangements are overthrown. . . . There ar e, indeed, br ute destr oyers, beasts and bir ds and insects of prey—all animal life feeds upon, and, of course, destr oys other life,–but this destruction is balanced by other compensations. . . . Man pursues his victims with reckless destructiveness; and, while the sacrifice of lower animals is limited by the cravings of appetite, he unsparingly persecutes, ev en to extirpation, thousands of organic forms which he cannot consume. Source: George Perkins Marsh, Man and Nature, or P hysical Geography as Modified by Human Action (New York: Charles Scribner and Sons, 1864), 35–37.


resort, and recreation, inalienable for all time.” Although Yosemite does not become a national park until 1890, the 1864 measure is regarded as the first action even taken by the U.S. government for the specific purpose of establishing parkland. It sets the precedent for the establishment of the first national par k in Yellowstone in 1872. In the 1850s, white miners and militar y men had stumbled into Yosemite’s Giant Sequoia gr oves, immense granite cliffs, and majestic water falls. The ar ea r eceives national attention with an 1862 exhibition at a New York City art gallery of Carleton Watkins’s large photographs of the v alley’s stunning featur es. A gr owing chor us of Yosemite boosters from California trumpet the theme of American cultural nationalism, while also warning of gr owing threats to the region from commercial interests, including George Gale’s taking of the “Mother of the Forest.”

1866 PUBH. New York City establishes the Metropolitan Board of Health, the first municipal public health authority in the U nited S tates. The boar d adv ocates impr oved working conditions in industries permeated by toxic emissions, orders the removal of hundreds of thousands of tons of horse manure from city streets, and initiates home inspections with authority to remove threats to public health. CATT. Jesse Chisholm (ca. 1805–1868) leads the first long cattle driv e nor th out of Texas. The Chisholm Trail gives aspiring ranchers access to the wide-open federal rangelands of Colorado, M ontana, and Wyoming, linking their her ds to a gr owing network of railroads from which cattle can be shipped east to a burgeoning beef market. From 1866 to 1886, more than 10 million cattle are moved along the Chisholm, Western, and G oodnight-Loving trails. Cattle driv es facilitate the dev elopment of ranching as a way of life in the West and an important element of the regional economy, but also carr y long-term envir onmental consequences. After supplanting the more environmentally benign bison herds of the West, millions of head of cattle overgraze the grasslands, often pollute waterways with fecal matter, and greatly diminish the biological diversity of one of the most extraordinary biomes on Earth. Moreover, cattlemen come to be the primary beneficiaries of western water projects, their herds overwhelmingly the main users of scarce western water. ANML. On April 10, Henry Bergh (1811–1888) founds the American S ociety for the Prevention of C ruelty to Animals (APSCA). The ASPCA, inspir ed by a similar organization in E ngland, advocates for state anticr uelty laws and dir ectly aids their enforcement.

1867 WATQ. Chicago opens a new waterworks system that draws water from Lake Michigan at a point two miles offshore. The system is necessitated b y the contamination of the lake (b y sewage and other pollutants) at a pr evious intake location 600 feet offshore. Other cities soon follow the Chicago model.

38


AGRI. Large phosphate mines open in S outh Carolina, signaling the bir th of the commercial fertilizer industry.

1869 TRNS. On May 10, the first transcontinental railroad is completed with a ceremony celebrating the meeting of the two tracks at P romontory Point, Utah. Beyond their economically transformational r ole in late-19th-centur y America, railr oads, particularly the transcontinental lines, ar e at the center of envir onmental change: they ar e the largest consumers of wood and coal; they ar e the driving for ce behind the ir on and steel industries; armies of railway builders in the late 1860s ar e fed bison and once completed, the railroads carry millions of buffalo hides back east in refrigerated cars. In addition, railroads direct the development of millions of acres of land generously granted to them by the federal government. The Northern Pacific Railroad, for example (completed 1883), establishes subsidiary companies to advance the extractive exploitation of mineral, timber, and agricultural r esources lying within its 47-million-acre right-of-way. EXPL. Under the auspices of the Smithsonian I nstitution, M aj. John Wesley Powell (1834–1902), a Civil War veteran who lost an arm at the Battle of Shiloh, leads a scientific expedition down the Green and Colorado riv ers of the American Southwest. On May 24, Powell and a crew of 10 men set out down the Green River from southwestern Wyoming on a harrowing trip that makes them the first white men to journey into the G rand Canyon and r eveal to the nation the scientific and natural wonders of the Colorado Riv er basin. F our of his men leave the expedition as the rapids become ev er-more tr eacherous thr ough the cany ons. O n August 30, the sur viving six r each the mouth of the Virgin Riv er After leading his celebrated journey down the Coloand the end of the journey . Powrado Riv er in 1869, soldier , explor er, and scientist ell soon becomes a celebrated figJohn Wesley P owell adv ocated the cr eation of the U.S. Geological Survey (which he came to dir ect in ure. Through the 1870s he writes 1881) as well as a conservation-oriented approach to and lectures widely on the natural irrigating the arid lands of the S outhwest. (Library features and scientific wonders of the Colorado River. In addition to of Congress)


confirming Powell’s theories about the geological origins of the r egion’s remarkable landscape, this journey and a second one in 1871 adv ance his thinking about ho w the development of the entire arid region of the country should proceed. Powell’s call to consolidate and reorganize rival surveys of the West leads to the establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey in 1879. It is in his position as director from 1881 until 1894 that Powell attempts—ultimately unsuccessfully—to pursue an irrigation and “reclamation” strategy for the arid West that recognizes the region’s natural limits. WILD. Clergyman William H. H. “ Adirondack” M urray (1840–1904) publishes Adventures in the Wilderness: or, Camp-Life in the Adirondacks, which helps popularize the Adirondack region of New York as a haven for upper-class sportsmen and recreation seekers form New York City. Murray is among the first to call for the protection of the Adirondacks from logging. WLDL. Congress designates Alaska ’s Pribilof Islands as a “ national reservation” for the protection of fur seals. The Department of Treasury is given authority for managing the reservation.

Late1860s WLDL. Organized hunts of North American bison on the southern Great Plains begin, resulting in the decimation of a population numbering in the millions at mid-centur y.

In the 1860s and 1870s, pleasure hunting for buffalo proved popular among the upper classes. In addition, the buffalo robe fashion, the disco very of industrial uses for v arious bison parts, and the military’s belief that decimation of the buffalo herds would compel Plains Indians to live on government reservations all combined to hasten the slaughter of the N orth American bison population. (Library of Congress)

40


By the late 1860s, the market for bison commodities—hides, meat, tongues, and bones— has grown; buffalo robes are the fashion rage in Eastern cities and E urope. Hides also now can be processed for the industrial leather belts needed to drive eastern machinery. Railroads provide the transportation needed to move the heavy hides and carcasses more easily and efficiently. In addition, bison ar e highly prized by sportsmen and would-be sportsmen. Railroads often invite travelers to stand atop obser vation cars and take aim at the r oaming bison—leaving their bodies to r ot. Rather than tr y to curb the hunt, the federal go vernment suppor ts it as militar y officials believ e that extermination of the bison will compel N ative Americans to liv e on the r eservations. Wright Mooar, a buffalo-hunting dentist from Nebraska, brags that he receives most of his ammunition from the army and that he killed 20,000 over the course of his career.

1870 POP. The population of the U.S. no w stands at nearly 40 million, a 22 per increase in a decade.

cent

MINE. In the wake of the A vondale Mining Disaster of September 6, 1869, which kills 179 miners of suffocation and asphyxiation, the P ennsylvania state legislatur e passes the first coalmine safety law in the nation. A t the time, 15 men ar e killed for each 1 million ton of coal produced. The Pennsylvania law calls for modest regulation and ventilation of mines, but enforcement is minimal. WLDL. In July, Congress passes a law to “ prevent the extermination of fur-bearing animals in Alaska,” and the Department of Treasury is assigned the task of regulating such hunting. ENRG. In Cleveland, John D. R ockefeller incorporates the S tandard Oil Company, which soon becomes the largest oil refining company in the world. Vertical integration and ruthless predatory practices allow Standard to control 88 percent of refined oil in the United States. Justice Department action in 1909 under the Sherman Antitrust Act, affirmed in 1911 by the Supreme Court, forces the breakup of Standard Oil into smaller companies (one of which becomes Exxon, the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey).

1871 LIT. Naturalist John Burroughs (1837–1921) publishes Wake Robin, his first collection of nature essays. Burroughs is best known for his perfection of the nature essay, a genre of writing that emerged from romantic era figures such as 18th-century English naturalist Gilbert White. Inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson and encouraged by Walt Whitman, Burroughs begins writing after the Civil War. Burroughs’s prolific body of work is characterized by extraordinarily careful attention to the details of the natural world and an ability to find in nature revelatory insight into human experience. FOR. In October, the Great Peshtigo Fire in nor thern Wisconsin demonstrates the damaging and danger ous effects of defor estation—destroying 2,400 squar e miles


The literary style of John Burroughs was eminently inviting and y et firmly grounded in car eful scientifi c observation, as seen in this ex cerpt on “The Bluebird” from Wake Robin: When Nature made the bluebird she wished to pr opitiate both the sky and the earth, so she gave him the color of the one on his back and the hue of the other on his br east, and ordained that his appearance in the spring should denote that the strife and war between these two elements was at an end. He is the peace-harbinger; in him the celestial and terrestrial strike hands and are fast friends. He means the furrow and he means the warmth; he means all the soft, wooing influences of the spring on one hand, and the retreating footsteps of winter on the other. It is sure to be a bright March morning when you first hear his note; and it is as if the milder influences up above had found a voice and let a word fall upon your ear, so tender is it and so pr ophetic, a hope tinged with a regret. Source: John Burroughs, Wake Robin (1871; reprint, Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press, 1913), 189–190.

of land, devastating 12 communities, and killing betw een 1,200 and 2,500 people. Wasteful logging practices at the time leaves as much as a quarter of the trees on the ground, and loggers and settlers often set small unattended fires to burn away the leftover “slash” and sawdust. In addition, cutting away the upper canopy of the forest creates a dried-up tinderbo x on the gr ound. On October 8, a windstorm blo ws in on one such landscape and carries small fires across the r egion. Small isolated fires rapidly join and become large firestorms, traveling quickly and destroying everything in their path. As the flames reach nearby marshlands, methane gas begins exploding, worsening the blaze. The fire is so intense it jumps the waters of Green Bay. Although often forgotten in history books in favor of the Great Chicago Fire that occurred the same day, the G reat Peshtigo Fire warns of the dangers of rampant defor estation, which has been taking place in the Wisconsin “Big Woods” region and throughout the upper Midwest. The tragedy accelerates interest in scientific forest management, fire prevention, and reforestation programs. FISH. On February 9, the U.S. Fish Commission is formed with a mission of studying the decline of coastal fisheries. From 1871 to 1903, the Commission r eports annually to Congress on the condition of U.S. fisheries and the status of other aquatic animals in coastal and inland lake waters. They scr utinize par ticular fishing techniques believed to be responsible for the decline in certain species, make recommendations for arresting those declines, and initiate recovery efforts.

42


1872 NATP. On March 1, Congress passes and President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Organic Act establishing Yellowstone National Park, the first national par k in the world. I t calls for 3,472 square miles of land—most of it in nor thwest Wyoming, with slivers extending into eastern Idaho and southern Montana—to be “reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy, or sale . . . dedicated and set apar t as a public par k or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” Home to the world’s greatest concentration of geysers and other geothermal wonders, along with an astonishing variety of wildlife and dozens of spectacular waterfalls, the region had been the home and hunting ground for various Native American tribes for thousands of years. The first white men to travel through Yellowstone are the mountain men in the first decades of the 19th century. Beginning in the late 1860s a series of organized expeditions into the r egion, the last of them bankr olled by the Northern Pacific Railroad, lead to the first official governmental exploration of the r egion’s wonders in 1871 led b y Ferdinand V. H ayden, head of the U.S. G eological Survey. With H ayden’s recommendation and the influence of po werful Northern Pacific backers, the law is passed with little contr oversy. Administering the park is another matter. With no funds awarded to the Interior Department for protecting Yellowstone, the park’s first decade and a half is r eplete with battles betw een railroad and mining inter ests and other speculative forces on one side and par k preservationists on the other. The latter are led by men such as Sen. George Graham Vest, Gen. Phil Sheridan, Forest and Stream editor George Bird Grinnell, and Theodore Roosevelt. In 1886 they succeed in placing federal custody of the park in the hands of the U.S. Cavalry, which polices the park until the creation of the National Park Service in 1916. PUBH. The American Public Health Association is established with a primary mission of advocating government adoption of the latest means of improving sanitation to fight communicable diseases and improve public health, particularly in the nation’s cities. WATQ. A Newark, New Jersey, newspaper conducts an investigation into city water sources that reveals a “shocking degree of contamination” caused by dead animal and human carcasses, industrial pollution, and raw sewage. MINE. On May 10, the G eneral Mining Law of 1872 is passed b y Congress and signed by President Grant to encourage the mining and settlement of the western territories. The law allows individuals and corporations to search for minerals in public domain lands and pur chase mining rights for $5.00 per acr e if a deposit is found. Although the frontier closes at the end of the 19th century, the law has changed very little since 1872. Requiring virtually no environmental cleanup, its abuse has caused major envir onmental pr oblems thr oughout the West. Tens of thousands of abandoned mines scattered across the landscape have polluted 40 percent of the headwaters of western watersheds. More than 16,000 miles of riv ers and streams have been poisoned by harmful runoff from mining operations established under the law, with a cleanup cost estimated in the tens of billions of dollars.


FOR. On April 10, more than 1 million trees are planted in Nebraska on the first “Tree Planting (later Arbor) Day,” initiated by J. Sterling Morton (1832–1902). A newspaper editor who often uses his position to spr ead agricultural information, M orton understands the importance of trees. In January, Morton proposes to the State Board of Agriculture a day dedicated to planting trees, encouraging individuals as well as civil groups and organizations to get involved. Prizes are offered to companies and individuals who plant the greatest number of trees. In 1874, Governor Robert Furnas designates “Arbor Day” a public holiday in Nebraska. Soon other states begin passing legislation to observe Arbor Day, which eventually is observed nationwide on the last Friday of April.

1873 CATT. I llinois farmer J oseph G lidden (1813–1906) inv ents barbed wir e, which becomes a major for ce in transforming the open grasslands of the West into cattle ranches. B efore the inv ention of barbed wir e, all types of fencing had pr oven ineffective or impractical in the West. G lidden’s design—a simple barb wrapped around a strand of wire with a second strand for reinforcement and stability—makes it efficient, cost effective, and practical. The deployment of barbed wire to section off land means the end of the open range, the long cattle drives, and the cowboy lifestyle. Known as the “devil’s rope,” barbed wire also hastens the demise of the Plains Indians’ nomadic way of life and, over time, exacerbates overgrazing in the West.

1875 AGRI. Bonanza farming begins in the Red River valley of Dakota Territory. The largest wheat farms in the country, ranging in size from 3,000 to 65,000 acres, are created when the N orthern Pacific Railroad begins selling off tracts of land to inv estors in an attempt to r ecover from overwhelming debt that has plunged the company into bankruptcy and the U.S. economy into a depr ession. From 1875 to 1890, Bonanza farms prove quite profitable with the use of new machines—seeders, harrowers, binders, and thr eshers designed specifically for wheat pr oduction—and large cr ews of cheap hired labor. The Bonanza Farms prove a harbinger of the corporate agribusiness operations that come to dominate American agriculture in the 20th century. WLDL. President Ulysses Grant vetoes a bill protecting buffalo and other wildlife. With many more eastern preservationists calling for an end to the wanton and wasteful slaughter of the bison on the southern Great Plains, Congress advances its efforts to save the bison by passing a bill that could curb the reckless destruction. President Grant’s military commanders, ho wever, are engaged in the P lains Indian wars and have been adv ocating extermination of the bison to help for ce subjugation of the Native Americans. As Columbus Delano, Grant’s secretary of the interior, writes: “I would not seriously regret the total disappearance of the buffalo from western prairies, in the effect upon the Indians. I would regard it rather as a means of hastening their sense of dependence upon the products of the soil and their own labors.”

44


FOR. P hysician and hor ticulturalist John Aston Warder (1812–1883) founds the American Forestry Association (later American F orests) to pr omote the planting of trees nationwide. Warder is an early pr oponent of planting tr ees in shelterbelts on the Great Plains.

1876 ENRG. S wedish-born inv entor and nav al engineer J ohn E ricsson (1803–1889), famous for his design of the ir on-armored Civil War battleship the USS Monitor , designs a “sun motor,” a solar-po wered engine. I nitially hopeful about its potential to power California’s growing irrigation needs, Ericsson’s optimism for the project is soon overwhelmed by the growing dominance of coal as the main energy sour ce in the nation. Ericsson warns his countr ymen repeatedly that the coal fields of Europe and the U nited States one day will be exhausted and spends his last y ears (1880s) designing various solar-powered steam generators. PEST. The U.S. E ntomological Association, established b y Congr ess, inv estigates a plague of infestation afflicting crops in the West and advocates the application of lead- and arsenic-based pesticides to eliminate various insects. WLDL. Three G eorgia counties pass laws r estricting hunting betw een A pril and October—a response in part to diminished populations of game species but also an effort by planters to control the lives of newly freed former black slaves. MINE. Marcus Daly (1841–1900), reconnoitering silver deposits in the area around Butte, Montana, on behalf of California “silver kings,” discovers rich copper deposits lying beneath the silv er. In the late 1870s the electrification of the nation begins, a development that r equires endless amounts of copper . Daly immediately brings up the most promising copper mines in the area, builds a copper smelter at Anaconda, as well as coalmines and power plants to fuel his furnaces, and commandeers surrounding forests to supply the necessary timber. Butte, Montana, becomes the “richest hill on earth,” providing jobs to countless immigrant wor kers and building the for tunes of Daly, the “copper king.” The environmental costs are severe. Arsenic- and sulfurladen smoke is so thick that streetlights are lit at midday. Vegetation on the surrounding hillsides disappears. By the 1980s, much of the region surrounding the mine and smelter operations becomes a national Superfund toxic waste site.

1876–1877 FOR. The American Association for the A dvancement of Science (AAAS) and scientist, physician, and historian Dr. Franklin B. Hough (1822–1885) call for a concerted federal effort to pr otect the nation ’s remaining forest resources. By 1876, the for ests of the east have been devastated by lumbermen who then move on to the pine for ests of the Great Lakes states. In 1873, Hough presents a paper to the AAAS,On the Duty of Governments in the Preservation of Forests. Like George Perkins Marsh, Hough cites the


history of Mediterranean deforestation and calls for government action to avoid a similar fate in the United States. An AAAS committee chaired by Hough lobbies Congress, and in August 1876, Congress authorizes $2,000 for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study the condition of the nation ’s forests and names H ough special agent in charge of the effort. His extensive travels over the next year result in a 650-page Report on Forestry, 25,000 copies of which ar e printed and disseminated. P rompted by the Hough report and the work of the AAAS, in 1881, Congress establishes the Division of Forestry within the Department of Interior, and names Hough its first chief.

1877 OCCH. In response to the M assachusetts State Labor B ureau’s call for fire protection, elev ator safety, adequate v entilation, and machine guar ds to pr otect wor ker safety, Massachusetts passes the first factory safety and health law in the nation. Other states soon follo wed suit, borr owing heavily fr om the M assachusetts law. By 1879, Massachusetts establishes a factory inspection force. These efforts signal an important beginning for occupational reform in the United States. IRR. The Desert Lands Act is signed into law, offering 640 acres of land in the arid West for $1.25 an acr e with only $0.25 an acr e down, conditional upon the buy er irrigating the land and making it pr oductive. The law is an ackno wledgment that lands lying w est of the 100th meridian cannot be made agriculturally pr oductive without irrigation. I ts vaguely written terms, ho wever, invite fraud. Virtually all of the lands claimed under the shor t-lived Desert Lands A ct come thr ough cheating, with cattlemen and speculators the chief beneficiaries. ANML. The American Humane Association (AHA) is formed to promote the welfare of both children and animals. I n its early y ears, the organization campaigns for the protection of the nation’s remaining bison, birds, and livestock. Since 1940 the AHA, through its Film and Television Unit, is best known for its monitoring of Hollywood filmmakers’ treatment of animals and the associated disclaimer , “No animals w ere harmed in the filming of this movie.”

1878 IRR. In April, John Wesley Powell delivers to Congress his Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States. Based on more than a decade of first-hand scientific observation, Powell’s document offers an envir onmentally visionar y and politically controversial vision for how “reclamation”—that is, development in the arid West— can proceed. Powell becomes convinced that the land laws that heretofore guided the nation’s development, centered on 160-acre parcels, are not practical in the arid West that receives fewer than 20 inches of rainfall annually . He also asserts correctly that land laws had led to incr eased monopolization of land. D ivision of land into linear squares, Powell further urges, makes little sense in a region in which such parcels are not likely to include access to water . Powell argues instead that irrigation districts

46


conformed to watershed boundaries should be the central organizing principle in the region, and that dam impoundments, irrigation channels, and agricultural activities be carefully managed to ensure the long-term viability of the region. He believes that small farmers and ranchers should be the primar y beneficiaries of w estern reclamation projects. As director of the U.S. G eological Survey from 1881 to 1894, Powell works earnestly but in vain for the implementation of his recommendations. TECH. In New York City, Thomas Edison (1847–1931) and a gr oup of financiers including J. P. Morgan form the Edison Electric Light Company (later General Electric). He also perfects and patents his incandescent light bulb, which he demonstrates for the public on D ecember 31, 1879, in M enlo Park, New Jersey. “We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles,” Edison prophesies. WLDL. Iowa enacts the first state “bag limit” law in the nation, r estricting hunters to 25 game birds per day. WLDL. The last of the southern G reat Plains bison her ds are slaughtered. The buffalo hunt heads north.

1880 POP. The resident population of the United States tops 50 million.

1881 FOR. The Division of Forestry is established in the Interior Department. AIRP. Chicago, where “the smoke was so thick you could almost lie down on it,” joins Cincinnati in establishing the nation ’s first municipal air pollution laws. P ittsburgh (1892) and St. Louis (1893) follow, although in every case the ordinances prove to be extremely ineffective. Enforcement is difficult largely because fines are minimal and rarely handed out, inspectors often ar e paid off by polluters, and many Americans come to accept that the “nuisance” of smoke is part of the cost of prosperity. CLIM. Ar chitect, astr onomer, and aer onautics pioneer S amuel P. Langley (1834– 1906) ascends California ’s Mount Whitney to study the impact of atmospher e and altitude on solar heating. His calculations prove important to the developing study of the Earth’s “Greenhouse Effect.” SWST. N ew York City establishes a D epartment of S treet Cleaning, although it proves ineffective for its first decade. PEST. After failed experiments with pyr ethrum seeds as an insecticide, the U.S. Department of Agriculture turns increasingly to lead- and arsenic-based insecticides and pesticides.


1882 FOOD. M assachusetts passes the first pure food laws, inspired by the investigations of Ellen H. Swallow Richards (1842–1911). The first female graduate of M assachusetts Institute of Technology, Richar ds is the first American scientist to apply the concept of “ ecology” to the human environment by studying sanitation, food chemistry, and pollution in the home envir onment. (“O ecologie” is coined in 1866 b y G erman ecologist E rnst Haeckel who had been inspir ed by Charles D arwin’s 1859 Origin of the S pecies.) S wallow Richar ds gathers thousands of water and food samples for the M assachusetts State Board of Health, which uses her findings to draft what become the first pure food, sanitation, and factor y inspection laws in the nation. S he also plays a key role in dev eloping one of the first effective sewage treatment systems in the U nited S tates, in Lo well, Massachusetts.

Ellen H. S wallow Richar ds was the first woman to graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), earning her degr ee in chemistry in 1873. Richards was a pioneer in the study of the home environment, and her scientific findings led to the establishment of some of the first clean food and water standards in the United States. (Hayward and Blanche Cirker, eds., Dictionary of American Portraits ,1967)

ENRG. On September 30, the world’s first hydroelectric power plant starts operation on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin. The “Vulcan Street Plant” uses a system of belts and gears to link a water wheel in the river to a generator that turns mechanical energy into electricity. ANML. Caroline Earle White (1833–1916) founds the American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS). In the late 1860s, along with her husband, M. Richards Muckle, White organizes the P ennsylvania Society for the P revention of C ruelty to Animals (PSPCA). As a leader of the Women’s B ranch of the organization, White leads the effort to found the first animal shelter in the United States. In 1883 she meets British feminist and antivivisectionist Frances Power Cobbe and determines to form the AA VS, an organization specifically focused on the need to end the abuse of animals in laboratory research, testing, and education programs. White’s organization also fights against the cruel treatment of human subjects in medical testing.

48


1883 WLDL. The last of the northern Great Plains bison herds is slaughtered. In September 1882 in Dakota Territory, more than 10,000 bison are killed during just one hunt lasting only a few days. By 1884 an estimated 325 wild bison r emain in the United States, including a small “herd” of 25 inside Yellowstone National Park.

1884 MINE. Federal Circuit Court Judge Lorenzo Sawyer’s decision in Woodruff v. N orth Bloomfield Mining Company effectively ends hydraulic mining in California. Since the 1850s, hydraulic mining has been a great boon to the California mining industr y, but also has proved devastating to the environment. Hydraulic mining diverts and depletes freshwater sources (the North Bloomfield mine uses 40 million gallons of water daily in its operation), destroys mountainsides, and deposits massiv e amounts of debris in the rivers. Major flooding in some ar eas follow, particularly in the Yuba and S acramento River valleys. By the 1880s the bed of the Yuba River has risen 25 feet. The town of Marysville is devastated by a June 1853 flood, which ultimately is caused by the North Bloomfield mine operation. In his 225-page ruling, Sawyer argues that while he cannot ban hydraulic mining, the mining companies ar e forbidden to allo w debris or r unoff to enter the rivers because of its destructive impact on private property. He hears from 2,000 witnesses and compiles 20,000 pages of written testimony in the case. S awyer’s decision is regarded as the first federal court ruling favoring environmental protection. PUBH. A t B eekman P lace in N ew York City in N ovember, a small gr oup of middle-class house wives form the Ladies H ealth P rotective Association. They

Theodore R oosevelt, who arriv ed in D akota Territory on S eptember 7, 1885, for a buff alo hunt, off ered a eulog y of sorts that year for the N orth American bison: Gone forever are the mighty her ds of the lor dly buffalo. A few solitary individuals and small bands are still to be found scattered here and there in the wilder parts of the plains; and though most of these will be v ery soon destroyed, others will for some years fight off their doom and lead a pr ecarious existence either in r emote and almost deser t por tions of the country near the M exican frontier, or else in the wildest and most inaccessible fastnesses of the Rocky Mountains; but the great herds, that for the first three quarters of this century formed the distinguishing and characteristic feature of the Western plains, have vanished forever. Source: Theodore R oosevelt, Hunting Trips on the P rairie and in the M (New York: Putnam, 1885), 106–108.

ountains


Although it pr oved to be an extr emely effective and lucrativ e mining technique, hy draulic mining dev astated the envir onment. Until a federal judge effectively halted the practice in 1884, “hydraulicking” depleted and polluted fresh water, destroyed mountainsides, and led to the devastation of valley communities in California’s gold country. (Library of Congress)

advocate effectively for significant improvement in the administration of the city ’s Department of Street Cleaning.

1885 FOR. On May 15, the N ew York state legislatur e establishes the A dirondack Forest Preserve—an area of 715,000 acr es of upstate N ew York where logging is to be limited. In holding the water like a sponge and slo wly releasing it into lakes, riv ers, and streams, the heavily for ested Adirondack Mountains serves as the gr eat regulator of the hy drological and climatic systems upon which N ew York City depended. But logging—for the paper , tanning, and char coal industries—has taken a toll on the Adirondack woods since the 1850s, leading to incr eased erosion, flooding, and changes in the flow and quality of water in the H udson Riv er watershed. P ublic concern emerges from powerful economic interests in New York City, as well as from a genteel class of spor tsmen who see one of their primar y hunting and r ecreation

50


grounds being threatened by logging interests. The call for pr otection of the timber resource leads to the area being designated as a preserve that “shall forever be kept as wild forest lands.” ENRG. At nearly 40 per cent, coal becomes the principal sour ce of energy in the United States, surpassing wood for the first time. In Pittsburgh, more than 100,000 homes are being heated with plentiful and cheap but dir ty bituminous coal. Industrial cities like Pittsburgh and St. Louis increasingly are being powered by coal and blanketed with solid par ticulate coal waste that falls annually fr om the skies in tons. BIOD. On March 3, Congress appropriates $5,000 for the promotion of “economic ornithology, or the study of the interrelation of birds and agriculture, an investigation of the food, habits, and migrations of bir ds in r elation to both insects and plants. ” Led by zoologist, ornithologist, entomologist, and ethnographer Clinton Hart Merriam (1855–1942), the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammology studies the value of bir ds in contr olling pests. I n 1905 the agency becomes the B ureau of Biological Survey, forerunner to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

1886 ENVM. Sportsmen, naturalist, and Forest and Stream magazine editor G eorge Bird Grinnell (1849–1938) founds the N ational Audubon Society, named for the gr eat ornithologist and painter John James Audubon. Originally focused on the protection of endangered birds, the organization dissolves after just one year (only to be revived, permanently, a decade later). WATR. In Lux v. Haggin, the California Supreme Court decides that landowners are not permitted to divert water from those who already have established their usage— and thus, their rights—to the water . The case has r emained a pillar of California water law. FOR. Bernard Fernow (1851–1923), a German-born and European-trained forester who emigrated to the U nited States in 1876, becomes the thir d chief of the U.S. Department of Agricultur e’s Division of Forestry. Informed by the ideas of G eorge Perkins M arsh and G erman for estry exper ts, F ernow vie ws for ests as essential to maintaining regular and continuous flow of water within a watershed and thus makes protecting the o verall ecological health of for ests the primar y goal of the D ivision. Fernow goes on to establish the nation’s first four-year university program in forestry at Cornell.

1887 ENVM. The Boone and C rockett Club (named for America ’s most famous fr ontiersmen) is founded in N ew York City b y Theodore R oosevelt (1858–1919) and


sportsmen, naturalist, and Forest and S tream magazine editor G eorge B ird G rinnell. The organization, made up primarily of spor tsmen, emerges in response to the destruction and near extinction of many wildlife populations, including the buffalo. The Boone and C rockett Club suppor ts education and r esearch programs aimed at wildlife conservation, as well as scientific forest management. Members decry market hunting—that is, hunting for “the pot” (food) by immigrants—and instead promote what they called the “ sportsmen code” of hunting pr evalent among the elite. Their primary concern is saving big game animals. A significant early battle is fought inYellowstone National Park, where members confront an attempted incursion by railroad and mining interests, and wage verbal war on Shoshone Indians, whom they charge with continued “poaching” of big game within the park. CATT. The great “cattle die-off” of millions of cattle on the N orthern Plains occurs following years of overgrazing, and is compounded by drought and the worst winter in recorded history. NATI. The General Allotment (or D awes) Act is passed, dividing collectiv ely held Native American tribal lands into individual family allotments of 160 acr es, and opening up the balance for sale and land grabbing to settlers, speculators, and corporations. The law proves a disaster for Native American tribes and dramatically accelerates the pace of envir onmental change in the West. Eighty percent of the N ative American land base will be gone b y the time the law is terminated with the I ndian Reorganization Act in 1934.

1888 ENRG. S amuel P. Langley publishes The N ew A stronomy in which he describes a future powered by solar energy as coal supplies have been exhausted.

Based on lectures delivered before Boston’s Lowell Institute, Langley’s book was a prophetic call to imagine a futur e in which the dominant fossil fuel would be gone: If the heat [fr om the sun ’s rays] w ere all conv erted into [horse-po wer], it could all be utiliz ed to driv e all the steam-engines in the world. . . . It is pr egnant with suggestion of the futur e, if w e consider the gr owing demand for power in the world and the fact that its stock of coal is strictly limited in the sense that when it is gone we can get absolutely no more. Source: S amuel P. Langley , The New Astronomy (Boston: Ticknor and Company , 1888), 112.

52


1889 DISA. On May 31, more than 2,000 residents of Johnstown, Pennsylvania are killed when the S outh Fork Dam of the Conemaugh Riv er, situated 14 miles upstr eam, gives way after a torrential downpour and years of ongoing neglect of the dam’s maintenance. Although officially declared an “act of God” by the courts, many survivors and outside critics fix blame for the disaster on 50 Pittsburgh industrialists and financiers led b y Henry Clay F rick and Andr ew Carnegie who constitute the ex clusive membership of the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club. Club members enjoy the pleasures of Conemaugh Lake held back b y the dam, and say critics, ar e responsible for the faulty dam’s improper maintenance. TECH. Thomas Midgley (1889–1944) is born on May 18. Among the many inventions of this mechanical engineer and chemist ar e chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and tetraethyl leaded gasoline—among the most envir onmentally damaging scientific innovations of the 20th century.

Early1890s MINE. Minnesota’s Mesabi region becomes the number one pr oducer of ir on ore. On November 16, 1890, the Lewis Merritt family of Duluth finds the first body of soft iron ore on the Mesabi Range. Soon towns are being founded all over the range as other individuals begin making discoveries and large-scale mining companies flock to the area.

1890

Conser vationists Theodore Roosevelt (left) and John Muir (right) stand on G lacier P oint at Yosemite National Park in 1906. (Library of Congress)

ENVM. The G eneral F ederation of Women’s Clubs is founded at a convention organized by author and journalist J ane C unningham (“Jennie J une”) C roly (1829– 1901) on A pril 23–25. C roly, a professional New York journalist, invites women’s clubs from across the nation to the confer ence and 63 clubs r espond. The Federation organizes on an array of environmental issues, ranging fr om the killing of bir ds that adorn women’s hats to urban par ks and playgrounds. Women ’s Clubs are at the center of the women ’s “municipal housekeeping ” mo vement that sees the “ environment” as a natural extension of women ’s


traditional role as moral ste ward and guardian of the home. As J ennie June Croly puts it, “While we have none of that gr eediness which is characterized as wanting the earth, the earth seems really desirous of placing itself in our charge.” The Federation’s committees on waterways, rivers, and harbors lobbies for action locally and nationally aimed at purifying the drinking water supply. Club activists educate the public and challenge often-corr upt local power structures on public health issues, and promote the emergence of a pr ofessional class of technical exper ts and engineers to solve seemingly intractable urban environmental problems. Women’s clubs also lobb y for occupational health r eform, teach sanitation and ecology courses, and spearhead wilderness preservation campaigns. NATI. The population of the United States is near 63 million, including fewer than 250,000 Native Americans. Centuries of disease, broken treaties, wars of extermination (including the final slaughter by the U.S. Cav alry that December at Wounded Knee, South Dakota), starvation, cultural genocide, and containment on reservations has taken a sev ere toll on N ative American tribes. The other notable finding in the 1890 Census is the disappearance of the historic fr ontier line separating American civilization from “wilderness.” The West has so filled in with settlers that the frontier, according to the Census Bureau, has ceased to exist. NATP. Following a campaign led by John Muir, Congress passes legislation establishing Yosemite as the nation ’s second national par k, preserving 1,500 squar e miles of Yosemite wilderness. H aving been raised on a farm in Wisconsin, Scottish immigrant, naturalist, and author John Muir (1838–1914) first arrives in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains in 1868. Although he intends California to be a brief stop on his way to the Amazon, Muir never leaves, spending much of the r est of his life hiking, camping, and studying the r egion’s stunning geological featur es and rich biological diversity. In the 1870s and 1880s, M uir calls for incr eased protection of Yosemite from v arious threats, including o vergrazing b y sheep (“hoofed locusts, ” Muir calls them) and logging of the ar ea’s Giant Sequoia groves. With support from Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson (1853–1937), Muir leads the lobbying effort that finally succeeds in 1890. As in Yellowstone, the U.S. Cav alry arrives in 1891 to provide federal protection.

1891 FOR. The first N ational F orest P reserves ar e established b y P resident B enjamin Harrison following passage of the F orest Reserve Act in M arch. The law authoriz es the president to set aside “forest reserves” (later National Forests) from public domain lands and to have them managed by the Department of Interior. The Forest Reserve Act is made possible in part by growing public understanding of the vital role forests play in regional climatic and hydrological systems, and with the precedent established by the state of New York in the Adirondacks. Two large tracts of land—one bordering Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and the other in Colorado—are set aside in Presidential Proclamations as the nation’s first forest reserves.

54


ENRG. Baltimore inventor and entrepreneur Clarence Kemp becomes the first man to patent a commer cial solar water heater . K emp’s device sells w ell along the East Coast, particularly in Florida, but also finds a strong market in California; b y 1900 one-third of the homes in Pasadena, California, have solar water heating.

1892 AGRI. The boll w eevil migrates fr om Mexico to Texas and ev entually to Louisiana by 1904 and South Carolina by 1917. The insect leaves a path of destruction across the cotton fields wherever it goes. In the short run, the boll weevil drives farmers to increase their use of artificial fertilizer to speed up crop yields before the insect has its way with their fields. It also quickens the pace of early insecticide applications. Over time, however, the boll w eevil’s impact on cotton leads to gr eater diversification of southern agriculture. PEST. The U.S. Department of Agriculture distributes lead arsenate as an insecticide for the first time. Although arsenic compounds had been used in agricultur e for centuries, lead arsenate is first applied that summer to control gypsy moths in Massachusetts. Frequent reports of illness and death from eating sprayed fruit are dismissed by government and industry officials as “absolutely without foundation.”

1893 ENRG. George Westinghouse demonstrates a system for generating and transmitting alternating electric current, propelling the widespread application of electricity. Despite opposition fr om Thomas E dison and other pr oponents of dir ect curr ent, Westinghouse and inventor Nikola Tesla prove the superiority of an alternating current system by lighting the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago—one of the truly remarkable wonders of the age. LAND. On July 12 at Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition, historian Frederick Jackson Turner delivers his landmark lecture on the “S ignificance of the Frontier in American History” at a meeting of the American H istorical Association. H is central thesis—that America’s frontier past, its continuous movement into wilderness, is the key to understanding American histor y and “American character”—has sparked debate for more than a century among historians. Turner speaks with sanguine confidence at the end of the American continental conquest of land and peoples, ignoring or minimizing the social and envir onmental costs of w estern histor y. The address pronounces the virtues of American democracy that hav e been shaped in impor tant ways by the nation’s conquest of wilderness, but reinforces an imperious spirit that by the end of the decade pr opels the nation to o verseas adventures in search of natural resources, cheap labor, and new markets. PUBH. The Michigan Board of H ealth publishes Shadows from the Walls of D eath warning the public about the health dangers of vividly green-colored wallpapers that


are laced with arsenic. A number of deaths and illnesses ar e reported from exposure to the arsenical wallpapers.

1894 PUBH. Col. G eorge Waring, Jr., newly appointed commissioner of the N ew York City Department of S treet Cleaning, r eorganizes and r evolutionizes city sanitation by implementing new techniques and technologies as well as rallying public support (helped here by the Ladies Health Protective Association, see 1884, PUBH). Waring instills a sense of pride in his sanitation wor kers and issues them bright white uniforms, which earn them the name “the White Wings.” FOR. New York state v oters approve Article 7, S ection 7 enshrining into the state constitution the pr ovision to keep “ forever wild ” the A dirondack Forest P reserve. First designated with mor e limited pr otection in 1885, the A dirondack Forest Preserve ultimately encompasses 6 million acr es of public and priv ate land and is the only constitutionally protected wilderness in the nation. WLDL. On March 13, Cooke City, Montana resident Edgar Howell is apprehended in Yellowstone National Park’s Pelican Valley for having killed six of the park’s surviving buffalo in violation of par k regulations. Since 1886, U.S. Cav alry officers who are charged with policing Yellowstone hav e caught numer ous poachers but their authority has been r estricted to expelling the offenders. Howell’s capture is brought to the attention of the nation through the fortuitous presence in the park of Emerson Hough, a field correspondent for Forest and S tream, along with par k photographer Frank Jay Haynes. Grinnell immediately publishes an illustrated story and rallies the influential membership of the Boone and C rockett Club to pr ess for legislation to more stringently protect park wildlife. The result is the National Park Protective Act (or Lacey Act—not to be confused with the 1900 law of the same name) introduced by Iowa congressman John F. Lacey to “protect the birds and animals in Yellowstone National Park and to punish crimes in said par k.” Two years in prison and a fine of $1,000 are now the penalties for wildlife poaching inYellowstone. The law establishes the precedent for more federal wildlife protection measures to follow.

1890s–1910 URBP. The City B eautiful M ovement aims at urban envir onmental planning and reform to r emedy pr oblems such as sanitation, crime, and o vercrowding pr evalent among the exploding urban populations. nI spired in part by the 1893 Chicago Columbian World’s E xposition, r eformers within the City B eautiful M ovement often ar e middle- and upper-class citizens who believe that improved environmental conditions will inspire moral virtue among the lower classes and entice the upper classes to maintain a pr esence in the city center . The movement advocates creation of urban par ks, redesign of urban centers, impr oved sanitation, and aesthetic impr ovements such as planting trees and flowers, paving streets, and installing street-side water fountains.

56


1896 ENVM. H arriet Hemenway (1858–1960), a w ealthy Bostonian, founds the M assachusetts Audubon Society. The primary purpose of the organization is to campaign for legislation to stop the hunting and shipping of bir ds used in the millinery trade. At the height of the G ilded Age, plumes fr om a dizzying v ariety of bir ds adorned women’s hats. A t first perceived to be a sign of beauty and vir tue, the plumed hats soon ar e targeted as an abomination against womanhood, in par t because of the killing of mother bir ds taken fr om their nests. The General Federation of Women’s Clubs (see 1890) campaigns avidly against the bird hats. CLIM. S wedish physicist and chemist S vante A ugust Arrhenius (1859–1927) advances the theory that rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere will lead to a global rise in temperatures. Drawing in part on the earlier scientific calculations of the “greenhouse effect” performed by Samuel P. Langley (1881) and others, Arrhenius formulates the first modern theor y of human-induced global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

1897 FOR. The Forest Management Act is passed b y Congress, establishing commer cial use of the national for est reserves and also br oad guidelines for for est management that will be used until the 1960s. The law clearly establishes the for ests as wor king landscapes that will be used, as the language states, “ for the purpose of securing favorable conditions of water flows, and to furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use and necessities of citizens of the United States.” Beyond sustained timber production, management of the for ests also allows cattle and sheep grazing, mining of precious metals, and recreational activities. AIRP. The first smoke abatement ordinance in the city of St. Louis, enacted in 1893, is ruled unconstitutional by the Missouri Supreme Court.

1898 FOR. In May, Gifford Pinchot (1865–1946) becomes head of the I nterior Department’s Division of Forestry. Often considered the father of American for estry, Pinchot studies scientific for est management in G ermany and then applies what he learns to the B iltmore Estate of Cornelius Vanderbilt in Asheville, N orth Carolina, before taking the position of for est chief. His tenure is the most influential in the agency ’shistory. AIRP. S teel magnate Andr ew Carnegie tells a P ittsburgh Chamber of Commer ce meeting that intense air pollution is driving people to “leav e Pittsburgh and r eside under skies less clouded than ours. . . . The man who abolishes the Smoke Nuisance in Pittsburgh . . . [will earn] our deepest gratitude. ” Carnegie mo ves to N ew York City in 1900.


PCUL. Ernest Thompson Seton (1860–1946) publishes Wild Animals I Have Known , which helps popularize the genre of animal fiction.

1899 WATQ. The Rivers and Harbors Act is passed by Congress in March, marking the first federal recognition of the problem of water pollution. The act prohibits any obstruction or intrusion over or into interstate navigable waterways—such as bridges, dams, causeways, wharfs, piers, or jetties—without congressional approval. The Refuse Act, which is part of the law, prohibits the dumping or discharge of refuse into navigable bodies of water without a permit issued b y the Army Corps of E ngineers. The law also empowers individual citiz ens to help enfor ce the law b y offering bounty payments for their assistance in prosecuting violators. WLDL. I ndustrialist E dward H arriman (1848–1909) char ters an expedition to Alaska, inviting a number of scientists, naturalists, and artists to study and document the extraordinary wildlife and habitat that will be protected some 80 years later. Biological Survey Chief C. Hart Merriam directs the scientific study.

TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900 POP. The nation’s population r eaches 76 million, an incr ease of 21 per cent in the previous decade. An estimated 3 million horses ar e wor king in American cities, producing an av erage of 20 pounds of manur e daily—most of which is left in the streets. WLDL. The second (see 1894, WLDL) Lacey A ct, the first federal law pr otecting wildlife nationwide, is signed by President William McKinley in May. Named for I owa congr essman and conser vationist J ohn F. Lacey (1841–1913), the law was largely pr ompted by a decade-long national campaign b y women’s clubs and the A udubon S ociety to cur tail the killing and mounting of bir ds as decorativ e plumes on women’s hats. Enforced by the Department of Agriculture’s Biological Survey, the Lacey Act prohibits the interstate shipment of wildlife killed in violation of state wildlife pr otection laws. The law achieves its limited goals of ending the bird hat fashion in the milliner y trade and r educing commercial exploitation of wildlife. It fails, however, to confront the continued loss of hundreds of animal and plant species that r esults from other thr eats such as habitat degradation and pollution. WATQ. The Sanitary District of Chicago engineers a reversal of the flow of the Chicago River to direct sewage and other wastes away from Lake Michigan, from which the city draws its drinking water . The reversal sends the pollution into the Chicago Sanitary and S hip Canal, for cing it to flow southward into the D es Plaines River, and ultimately the M ississippi. The State of M issouri immediately sues I llinois and the Sanitary District of Chicago for polluting the M ississippi River. The Supreme Court in 1906 rules in favor of the defendant. The justices acknowledge the pressing societal question of pollution that cr oss political boundaries, but decline to answ er it, concluding that as the law stood, “the discharge of sewage into the Mississippi by cities and towns is to be expected.”

60


1901 NATP. John Muir publishes the popular Our National Parks, more firmly than ever establishing the reputation of the Sierra Club founder as the eloquent champion of the v alue of wilderness and par ks to an urban industrial society . As he writes, “ Thousands of tir ed, ner ve-shaken, o ver-civilized people ar e beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain par ks and r eservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating riv ers, but as fountains of life. ” The book sees a doz en printings. PRSV. I n N ew York, the American Scenic and H istoric P reservation S ociety is founded with a mission to advocate preservation of both American scenic places and historic sites. PRSV. On December 3, following the (September) assassination of William McKinley, P resident Theodore R oosevelt deliv ers his first message to Congr ess in which he outlines a vigor ous agenda of both pr eservation of wilderness, par ks, and wildlife, as well as scientifically managed conser vation and wise dev elopment of natural resources. During his nearly two terms in office, Roosevelt places more than 230 million acr es under federal management. The gr eat conser vationist pr esident cr eates 150 national for ests, establishes 51 federal bir d reservations (later national wildlife refuges), designates four national game preserves, designates five new national parks, and recognizes18 national monuments.

1902 IRR. The Newlands Reclamation Act is passed by Congress on June 17, establishing the U.S. Reclamation Service (later the Bureau of Reclamation) to direct the irrigation of the American West. Named for Francis Newlands of Nevada, the Reclamation Act specifies that all proceeds from the sale of public lands sold in 60-acre allotments will go toward a fund to constr uct dams and irrigation pr ojects. The agency is successful in building mor e than 600 major dams, pr oviding hy droelectric po wer to millions, creating several thousand miles of irrigation canals, and delivering water to millions of acr es of farmland and urban r esidents throughout the West. Such projects take a toll, ho wever. The irrigation pr ojects are not financially self-sustaining, requiring large amounts of taxpay er money to meet their budgets. I n stark contrast to the vision of J ohn Wesley Powell, the law leads to gr eater concentration of land and the growth of corporate agribusiness and further weakens the family farm. Environmentally, the impoundment and div ersion of water disr upts the ecology of riv er ecosystems thr oughout the West, causing a major decline in fish populations and riparian habitat degradation. Salinization of the soil over time is another by-product. Intensive irrigation projects also accelerate the gr owth and expansion of large cattle operations in the West, which in turn pr oduce a range of envir onmental problems of their own.

Twentieth Century

61

NATP. On May 22, Congress passes a bill establishing Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. Created 7,700 years ago by the volcanic eruption of Mount Mazama, Crater is the deepest lake in the U nited States and, at 1,934 feet, is the sev enth deepest in the world. The call for its pr eservation first comes fr om William Gladstone Steel, a postal carrier from Portland. After first visiting Crater Lake in 1885, Steel began circulating a petition recommending the creation of a public park. Despite opposition from sheep herding and mining inter ests, Crater Lake finally received some protection in 1892 as par t of the Cascade Range F orest Park. Steel, however, continued to dedicate his life and financial savings to national par k designation, which came a decade later. PCUL. Author and wildlife artist Ernest Thompson Seton establishes the League of Woodcraft Indians, an outdoor y outh organization that ser ves as the for erunner to the Boy Scouts of America, which Seton co-founds in 1910. Seton is a leading figure in the literary genre of animal fiction, harshly criticized by John Burroughs in 1903 for conveying sentimental and false images of animals (the so-called “ nature fakers” controversy).

1903 WLDL. O n M arch 14, P resident Theodore R oosevelt signs an ex ecutive or der creating the first National Bird Reserve on P elican Island, Florida, a thr ee-acre island 45 miles south of Cape Canaveral. The destruction of the pelican and other bird populations on the island b y plume hunters had outraged P aul Kroegel, a local boat-builder who established a shop acr oss fr om the island to enjo y the birds. With the help of wildlife conservationists, Kroegel fights for the protection of the island and becomes the sanctuar y’s first superintendent (at a salar y of $1 per month). P elican Island marks the beginning of what becomes the N ational Wildlife Refuge System, which now consists of 551 refuges totaling 150 million acres. AIRP. P lanning for the Louisiana P urchase E xposition in 1904 str engthens the smoke abatement mo vement in S t. Louis. F or many y ears, St. Louis has been one of the worst cities in the countr y in terms of air pollution. With millions of visitors expected to visit the city, the Smoke Abatement Association of St. Louis proposes to make the city smokeless for the duration of the exposition. NATU. In an essay for the Atlantic Monthly titled “Real and Sham Natural History,” celebrated naturalist John Burroughs attacks popular natur e writers Ernest Thompson Seton and William J. Long (1857–1952) as “nature fakers.” Seton and Long lead a new school of nature writers who tell romantic tales about animals and nature. Burroughs has dedicated his life to writing scientifically grounded accounts of the natural world and cannot abide the cr eative writings of Seton and Long. Regarding Seaton, Burroughs writes: “[The] line between fact and fiction is repeatedly crossed and . . . a deliberate attempt is made to induce the r eader to cr oss too. . . . Mr . Thompson

62


Seton says in capital letters that his stories ar e true and it is this emphatic asser tion that makes the judicious grieve.” LIT. Novelist Mary Austin (1868–1934) publishes Land of Little Rain, a collection of nature essays fixed on the most unlikely of landscapes: the deser t country of the far southwest—one of the most arid, desolate, and uninviting places on Ear th. Austin’s classic work reveals the beauty and the essential will to survive that defines the experience of all living things in that desert environment. LAND. On October 22, P resident Theodore Roosevelt appoints the P ublic Lands Commission, the recommendations of which lead to the modest regulation of public grazing lands.

1904 PUBH. I n an ar ticle published A pril 20 b y the Australasian M edical G azette , J. Lockhart G ibson links childhood lead poisoning to lead-based paints. Childhood lead poisoning had r eached epidemic pr oportions, y et the cause seemed unclear . Lead had become so integrated in the ev eryday life of many middle-class Americans that the cause of poisoning in some childr en but not others is perplexing. G ibson’s research points to the lead paint on the walls and railings of individuals ’ homes and sparks awareness of the dangers of lead-based paints. FOOD. Upton Sinclair’s (1878–1968) The Jungle is published, exposing the horrible conditions of industrialized meat-packing plants. H is book, full of sensor y descriptions of the sight of rotting meat and smell of pungent odors, leads to a public outcry for reform and convinces President Theodore Roosevelt to send federal investigators to Chicago immediately. Sinclair’s vivid descriptions appall: “It was too dark in these storage places to see well, but a man could run his hand over these piles of meat and sweep off handfuls of the dried dung of rats. These rats were nuisances, and the packers would put poisoned br ead out for them; they would die, and then rats, br eads, and meat would go into the hoppers together.” Ironically, Sinclair aimed to engender sympathy among the public to r eform living and wor king conditions for slaughterhouse workers; the response of the public, however, is directed largely at food safety. “I aimed for their hearts and hit their stomachs,” he later says ruefully. FOR. Endothia parasitica, the Chestnut blight, is first discovered on chestnut tr ees at the New York Zoological Garden (Bronx Zoo). Believed to have arrived on Asian chestnut trees imported as nursery stock, the fungus quickly spreads to eastern forests and decimates the belo ved American chestnut tr ee—once the queen of American forests from Maine to Mississippi to the Midwest. The fruit and timber of the stately, broad-spreading, and fully crowned American chestnut trees are essential elements of local economies, particularly in the Southern Appalachian Mountains where the trees have grown to heights of 100 feet. By mid-century, despite heroic efforts to arrest its spread, the chestnut blight wipes out the American chestnut.

Twentieth Century

63

1905 FOR. Urged by Gifford Pinchot and the American F orest Congress (which gathers that year and is heavily dominated b y timber, mining, grazing, and irrigation interests), Congress votes to transfer the D ivision of F orestry from the D epartment of Interior to the Department of Agriculture where it becomes the U.S. Forest Service. Similarly, in 1907, to legitimize their status and purpose, forest reserves are renamed national forests. Under the ne w U.S. F orest Service, Gifford Pinchot becomes the chief and works to manage federal forests and grasslands in the interests of “sustained yield” timber production, balanced against the protection of wildlife habitat, watershed protection, and recreation. SOIL. George Washington Car ver (1864–1943) publishes How to B uild Up Worn Out Soils, one of 44 bulletins he writes while wor king at the Tuskegee Experiment Station. In this bulletin, Car ver advises farmers to raise peanuts as a way of putting much-needed nutrients back into soils badly depleted b y r uinous planting of cotton year after y ear. Through an extension ser vice he initiates, Car ver also pr omotes diversification and crop rotation of protein-rich legumes and sweet potatoes that can restore productivity to worn-out soils. Over time, Carver devises 300 possible applications for the peanut as one strategy for economic self-sufficiency for small farmers (many of them former slav es) facing soil exhaustion, shar ecropping debt, and the infestation of the boll weevil. His larger objective at the Tuskegee Experiment Station is to help small southern farmers create healthier, more productive farms and to foster a sense of independence among them. WLDL. P resident Theodore R oosevelt establishes the Wichita F orest and G ame Preserve—the nation ’s first big game animal r efuge. In 1936 the ar ea is named the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge. ENVM. G eorge B ird G rinnell r eorganizes the N ational A udubon S ociety, named for ornithologist and ar tist J ohn J ames A udubon. U nlike the earlier attempt, the organization endur es, becoming one of the most influential wildlife conser vation organizations in the nation.

1905–1910 SWST. J unior sanitation leagues, many spor ting white uniforms r eminiscent of George Waring’s sanitation cr ews in N ew York City, become incr easingly prevalent in American cities.

1905–1912 ENRG. I mportant strides ar e made in the dev elopment of solar thermal energy . American solar energy visionar y Frank Shuman (1862–1918) forms the S un Power Company with the intention of producing large-scale power with a system that uses mirrors, collector bo xes, and lo w-pressure steam engines. S human subsequently

64


(1912) builds the world ’s first solar-po wered thermal station in M eadi, E gypt. A 60-horsepower pumping station draws 6,000 gallons of water fr om the Nile to irrigate adjacent cotton fields. I n 1909 at N eedles, California, inv entor H. E. Wilsie devises a system to stor e solar thermal energy , driving a motor with sulfur dio xide heated by trapping solar energy under large panes of glass. That same year William J. Bailey patents a system that addresses the problem of nightly heat loss in solar water heaters. By 1918, Bailey has sold mor e than 40,000 units in California. B y the late 1930s, a similar design makes its way to F lorida and, b y 1941, mor e than half of the population of M iami is using solar water heaters and 80 per cent of ne w homes are built with solar hot water. World War I, the discovery of cheap oil in the Middle East, and po werful economic inter ests ultimately shor t-circuit these dev elopments and postpone the full development of solar energy.

1905–1913 WATR. William M ulholland (1855–1935), superintendent of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, oversees construction of the 233-mile Los Angeles Aqueduct, which carries water fr om the Ow ens Riv er v alley to Los Angeles. The project is laced with briber y and corr uption on a grand scale. I n 1924 outraged Owens Valley farmers and ranchers, whose w ell-watered r egion once was dubbed the “Switzerland of California,” sabotaged the aqueduct with dynamite. R esistance proves futile, as Los Angeles controls 90 percent of the Owens River by 1928 in one of the greatest water heists in history.

1906 AGRI. John L. Co wan publishes Dry Farming—The Hope of the West, A M ethod of Producing Bountiful Crops Without Irrigation in Semi-Arid Regions .The book helps to popularize “dryland” farming as a means of contending with the semiarid envir onment of the G reat P lains following a series of dr oughts. Widespread malnutrition and starvation hit the r egion, triggering abandoned farms and population losses of up to 75 per cent. Dry farming r elies on the use of dr ought-resistant grain cr ops in conjunction with deep plo wing, quick cultivation after a period of rain, and mulch application to reduce or eliminate r unoff and evaporation, and increase soil absorption and retention. Although dry farming brings some success, it still requires about 15 inches of rain annually and thus fails in dr y years. As one farmer puts it dr yly, “dryland farming works best when it rains.” PRSV. On September 14, P resident Theodore Roosevelt issues a pr esidential proclamation establishing D evil’s Tower in Wyoming, a stunning 1,267-foot tall r ock formation overlooking the Belle Fourche River, as the nation’s first National Monument. Roosevelt is empowered to do so under the American Antiquities A ct passed by Congress earlier in the y ear that authorizes the president to set aside and pr otect as national monuments “ sites of historic, pr ehistoric and scientific interest.” Other spectacular natural ar eas, including G rand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and the G rand

Twentieth Century

65

Tetons, will be designated first as national monuments befor e being elev ated to national parks. The law symbolizes the growing sense among many pr eservationists that protection of natural areas and cultural and historic sites is linked. PRSV. Concerns over the diversion of water from Niagara Falls prompts Congress to pass a resolution authorizing American representatives to work with Canadian counterparts in a joint international commission aimed at limiting b y treaty (later signed in 1909) the amount of water that can be channeled for power generation. FOOD. Inspired by public outcry after the publication of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle , in June the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act are passed to regulate slaughterhouses and the food pr ocessing industry. The Federal Meat Inspection Act mandates the inspection by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) of livestock and postmortem carcasses, and provides explicit regulations and sanitary standards for slaughterhouses. By 1907, the USDA has hired 2,200 inspectors conducting oversight at 700 establishments. Because of alleged close ties between the USDA and industry, enforcement is suspect fr om the beginning. F lorence Kelley (1859–1932) of the N ational Consumers League appoints Car oline Bartlett Crane (1858–1935) to a committee to monitor the enforcement of the new laws. Crane discovers USDA regulations that defy the law ’s intent to pr otect consumers by allowing diseased and unfit carcasses rejected by foreign inspectors to be passed on to American markets. NATP. On June 11, Yosemite National Park is enlarged b y incorporating the 1864 Yosemite Grant that had assigned the Yosemite Valley and the M ariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias to the state of California for protection.

1906–1907 NATP. F orest S ervice Chief G ifford P inchot pr epares legislation (two attempts) that will transfer the national par ks to the administration of the U.S. F orest Service where they will be opened for managed extractive purposes, such as timbering. Congressman and conservation leader John F. Lacey leads the successful opposition that defeats the bills. The fight fuels the desir e of pr eservationists to establish a separate agency to manage the parks.

1907–1913 DAMS. John Muir leads an ultimately failed effort to pr event damming of H etch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park. For more than two decades, engineers had envisioned damming the lo wer end of the Tuolumne Riv er in the H etch H etchy Valley to cr eate a r eservoir to ser ve the gr owing population of S an Francisco. Outbreaks of typhoid in the city, along with the terrible 1906 earthquake, give the project renewed urgency. Despite the fact that the v alley lay inside Yosemite, dam pr oponents, led by Gifford Pinchot, argue that the benefits to come from the project for the many citizens of a growing city outweigh the recreational benefits of an undammed

66


In November 1909, the Sierra Club published a 22-page pamphlet making the case for the protection of the Hetch Hetchy Valley. In this brief excerpt, John Muir makes an impassioned plea for the spiritual benefi ts of leaving the valley in its pristine condition and r ails against the cr ass commercial interests represented by dam advocates: Garden- and par k-making goes on ev erywhere with civilization, for everybody needs beauty as w ell as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul. It is impossible to overestimate the value of wild mountains and mountain temples. They are the greatest of our natural resources. God’s best gifts, but none, however high and holy, is beyond the reach of the spoilers. These temple destr oyers, devotees of rav aging commercialism, seem to have a perfect contempt for Nature, and instead of lifting their ey es to the mountains, lift them to dams and town skyscrapers. Dam Hetch-Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people’s cathedrals and chur ches, for no holier temple has ev er been consecrated b y the heart of man. Source: J ohn M uir, “The E ndangered Valley: The H etch-Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park,” in Let Everyone Help to Save the Famous Hetch-Hetchy Valley and Stop the Commercial Destruction Which Threatens Our National Parks [pamphlet] (San Francisco: Society for the P reservation of National Parks, 1909), 14–17; r etrieved from the S an Francisco Museum Web site, http://www .sfmuseum.org/john/muir10.html (accessed June 13, 2010).

Hetch Hetchy. Leading the opposition, John Muir and Robert Underwood Johnson identify engineers who argue that other sour ces of water are available. Furthermore, they allege that behind the dam lay priv ate interests who stand to pr ofit from the control and sale of water at the expense of the public interest of a protected national park. For several years a steady stream of letters, telegrams, and newspaper and magazine editorials written by civic groups, scientists, and travelers oppose the project. In the end, however, on December 6, 1913, the U.S. S enate passes the Raker A ct that authorizes construction of the O ’Shaughnessy Dam to flood Hetch Hetchy Valley (completed in 1923). The battle is J ohn Muir’s last, as he succumbs to pneumonia one year after the law’s passage.

1908 CONS. On May 13–15, the Confer ence of G overnors meets at the White House to discuss the challenges of natural r esource conservation. Members of the Supreme

Twentieth Century

67

Court, Roosevelt’s cabinet, scientists, and national conser vation leaders alsoparticipate in the meeting, which pr oduces a declaration suppor ting a national conser vation effort. State conservation commissions soon follow. CONS. President Theodore Roosevelt appoints the National Conservation Commission. Chaired by Gifford Pinchot, the Commission is to conduct an inventory of the nation’s natural r esources. The report will be published in J anuary 1909 and, v ery much in the Progressive-Era approach to conservation, features recommendations for efficient and scientifically managed development of the nation’s water, forests, lands, and minerals. WATQ. The first continuous chlorination system in the United States begins operation on September 26 in Jersey City, New Jersey. Within a decade, the chlorination of drinking water has spread to many towns and cities across the United States. AGRI. President Roosevelt appoints Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858–1954) to chair of the National Commission on Country Life. Bailey is a renowned botanist, horticulturalist, and prolific writer and editor who, as a leader of the “Countr y Life” movement, advocates for the preservation of the family farm as a cornerstone of American life. CLIM. Svante Arrhenius publishes Worlds in the M aking, a widely r ead book that includes his conclusion that human industrial activity is warming the planet. According to his studies, the carbon dio xide (CO 2) produced from industrial burning of coal and petr oleum will lead to an incr ease of the av erage temperatur e b y 5°C to 6°C. He estimates, incorrectly as it turns out, that it will take appr oximately 3,000 years for CO2 levels to be high enough to produce significant warming. Rather than express concern, he is pleased that people in the future will “live under a warmer sky and less harsh environment.” PUBH. Progressive reformer and municipal sanitation expert Caroline Bartlett Crane begins city and state “sanitary surveys” aimed at civic improvements in public health and sanitation. A r esident of Kalamaz oo, M ichigan, her first out-of-state sanitar y survey is conducted in Erie, Pennsylvania. At the request of community organizations and public officials, she examines the water supply, sewage systems, street sanitation, food supply and pr oduction, schools, hospitals, tenements, playgr ounds, and other dimensions of public health. Survey results are then shared with city officials and citizens at a large public meeting and in the newspaper. Over the next decade and a half, Crane travels to more than 50 cities from New York to Kentucky, her visits spurring an impressive number of civic improvements. NATI. The U.S. S upreme Court rules in Winters v. United States that water rights for Native Americans ar e implied and legally pr otected rights in tr eaties establishing Native American reservations. The landmark ruling pertains to the Fort Belknap reservation of the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine peoples but has broader implications for the assertion of federal power regarding Native American rights and western water

68


law more generally. The decision does not quantify native water rights, however, leading to the continued slow erosion of Native American water sovereignty.

1909 CONS. In February, the N orth American Conser vation Conference convenes at the White H ouse. F ive days of meeting pr oduce a joint statement of five core conservation principles. P resident R oosevelt hails the confer ence and calls for a similar international meeting. His term ends and no such meeting takes place until 1972. WATQ. The deteriorating condition of the G reat Lakes leads the U nited States and Canada to sign the Boundar y Waters Treaty, which leads to the formation of the International Joint Commission (IJC) given broad responsibility (but little authority) to reduce the flow of pollution into the jointly shared waters. Little movement on this front occurs until the 1970s. SWST. More than half of the 180 municipal garbage incinerators built since 1885 are abandoned in fav or of mor e cost-effective and less technologically pr oblematic landfills.

1909–1910 ENDG. Thirty-seven bison are brought to the National Bison Range on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana. The Bison Range was established in 1908 b y Congress at the urging of P resident Theodore Roosevelt. The small herd grows to mor e than 500 by the end of the century.

1910 POP. The resident population of the United States now stands at more than 92 million persons. MINE. I n M ay, two and a half y ears follo wing the worst coalmining disaster in American history, Congress establishes the U.S. B ureau of M ines. The explosion at the Consolidated Coal Company mine in M onongah, West Virginia, on December 6, 1907, had killed 362 men and bo ys. Probably caused by ignited “black damp” or methane, the blast trapped wor kers in the mine and shut do wn the ventilation systems. Growing calls for federal mine regulation lead Congress to establish the agency, charged with directing research on mine safety problems and to conduct inspections, albeit with limited enforcement power and inadequate resources. OCCH. As a member of the I llinois Occupational Disease Commission, D r. Alice Hamilton (1869–1970), the first U.S. physician to dev ote herself to the study of occupational health and safety, investigates the “dangerous trades” of the Illinois lead industry and in the pr ocess pioneers the mo vement for occupational health r eform.

Twentieth Century

69

Having liv ed since 1902 at H ull House in Chicago, Hamilton often treats poor immigrants for diseases resulting fr om hazar dous wor king conditions, par ticularly lead dust. At the time no laws regulate health and safety in the wor kplace. The commission in Illinois is appointed by the governor of Illinois to study industrial sickness and death rates linked to lead exposur e, as w ell as carbon mono xide poisoning prevalent among steelwor kers and mercury poisoning among hatters. Worker compensation laws r esult from the Commission ’s findings. Hamilton then is asked b y Charles Neill, the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor S tatistics, to undertake a similar nationwide survey. Hamilton examines the hazards posed to workers from exposure to Beginning with the lead industr y, Dr. Alice Hamil- lead, arsenic, mercury, organic solton was the first U.S. physician to dev ote her work vents, and radium. S he holds the to the study of occupational health. Her findings led unpaid position from 1911 to 1921 her to pioneer occupational health r eform. (Library when her program is cancelled after of Congress) Republicans regained control of the White House. Nevertheless, in the decades ahead her landmar k work would inspire reforms throughout the country to improve the health of workers. OCNS. French explorer, scientist, ecologist, author, and filmmaker Jacques Cousteau (1910–1997) is born on June 11. No figure in the 20th century is more important in educating Americans and people ar ound the ar ound the world about the biological diversity of the oceans. Popular films, books, and a television series make the case that protection of life in the sea is critical to the fate of humanity.

1910–1911 OCCH. In January, the U.S. B ureau of Labor publishes a list of industrial poisons prepared for the International Association of Labor Legislation. S imultaneously, the agency’s examination of U.S. match-making factories r eveals that the majority of workers are exposed to white phosphor us fumes that can lead to poisoning. I n July 1911, a Bureau of Labor Bulletin reveals that in a 16-month period covering January 1910 to A pril 1911, 388 cases of poisoning in the lead industries hav e resulted in 60 deaths.

70


1910s TECH. California farmers incr ease more than four fold their use of the centrifugal pump (first developed in the 1890s) to tap the state ’s voluminous supply of groundwater. The number of pumps incr eases from 739 in 1910 to nearly 4,000 b y 1920. Once deep enough to flood the entire state of California to a height of seven feet, the state’s aquifers are virtually drained within a few decades.

1911 ENDG. In July, the United States, Great Britain, Russia, and Japan sign the N orth Pacific Fur Seal Treaty banning pelagic seal hunting for 15 years and hunting for the animals on land for five years. Seal populations, once numbering several million, had fallen to around 300,000. The treaty launches a successful recovery.

1913 ENDG. Congress passes the Migratory Bird Act, giving the federal go vernment the right to r egulate the hunting of migrator y birds. Three years later, the Conv ention Between the U nited S tates and G reat B ritain (for Canada) for the P rotection of Migratory Birds is signed, and then in 1918, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act is passed to implement the Convention’s provisions. ENDG. Zoologist, conservationist, and author William T. Hornaday (1854–1937) publishes Our Vanishing Wildlife: Its E xtermination and P reservation, a critical and popular examination of the histor y of animal extinction in the U nited States, along with efforts then under way to preserve notable species, such as the North American bison. Hornaday, who revolutionizes the art of exhibiting animals in museums while serving as the chief taxidermist at the Smithsonian (placing them in more naturalized habitat-like settings), plays a significant role in campaigns to save a number of species in the wild, including bison and seals. PCUL. O n A ugust 4, J oseph Kno wles tr eks off alone, naked and unarmed into Maine’s Dead River Countr y for a two-month sojourn to demonstrate the vir tues of wilderness living. The Boston Post commissions him to take the adv enture and report daily on his exploits. Although accused b y some of faking it, his adv enture is followed avidly b y Americans acr oss the countr y, and his published account, Alone in the Wilderness, is enormously popular—a reflection of the appetite in the popular culture for wilderness stories among urbanizing middle-class Americans.

1914 ENDG. On September 1, Martha, the last surviving passenger pigeon, dies in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo. The extinction of the wild passenger pigeon in 1900 came as a shock to those Americans who could r emember in their youth flocks of passenger pigeons that blackened the sky . Decades of ex cessive market and spor t hunting and destruction of their natural habitat are the driving forces behind the stunningly

Twentieth Century

71

abrupt demise of the passenger pigeon. Easy to catch and kill, the passenger pigeon is an essential food source for Native American tribes and early settlers and is the center of ritualistic community celebrations during “ pigeon years.” However, although there was ex cess and waste in this earlier subsistence hunting, mar ket hunting and target shooting takes a much greater toll as the 19th centur y wears on. And because passenger pigeons ar e nomadic bir ds that nest in large, expansiv e colonies, habitat destruction due to industrial development is disruptive of the bird’s ability to sustain their fragile reproductive capacity (they laid just one egg a y ear), and their numbers continue to tumble. S oon the bir d that had flown through the sky b y the billions is gone from the wild. The death of elderly Martha merely marks its final extinction.

1914–1925 AGRI. A relatively wet period and the economic boom of World War I bring high wheat prices, accelerating the “Great Plow-up” of the Great Plains. A total of 17 million acres of prairie are plowed under in just over a decade; the amount of cultivated land in Montana alone jumps fr om 250,000 acres to 3.5 million acr es in just a fe w years.

1915 PHIL. Cornell hor ticulture pr ofessor and countr y and agrarian life adv ocate Liberty Hyde Bailey publishes The Holy Earth, an impor tant treatise calling for mor e conscientious human ste wardship of the natural world. “I f God created the ear th,” writes Bailey, “so is the earth hallowed; and if it is hallowed, so must we deal with it devotedly and with care that we do not despoil it, and mindful of our relations with all beings that liv e on it.” The book ser ves as inspiration for Aldo Leopold ’s master work, the more influential A Sand County Almanac a generation later. Bailey’s call for a scientifically grounded, “biocentric” ethical r elationship between man and natur e is groundbreaking. WLDL. Supported by a congressional appropriation and urged on by big cattlemen and other livestock interests, the Bureau of Biological Survey commences a massiv e campaign to kill predator animals (particularly wolves and coyotes) on public lands.

1916 NATP. On August 25, the N ational Park Service is cr eated by an act of Congr ess. Housed in the D epartment of I nterior, the NPS becomes the administrativ e steward of the nation ’s growing system of national par ks, national monuments, national historic sites, and national battlefields. Stephen Mather (1867–1930), a Sierra Club member who opposed J ohn Muir on the H etch Hetchy dam contr oversy, becomes the first director of the agency whose mission is to “ conserve the scener y and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”

72


POP. On October 16 in Brooklyn, birth control activist and eugenics advocate Margaret Sanger (1879–1966) opens the first birth control clinic outside of the Netherlands. At the time, birth control is a secret of the upper classes with little information disseminated among those who needed it most—the poor . With doctors prohibited from sharing contraceptive information with patients, ther e are an estimated 2 million illegal abor tions in the U nited States annually, many of them fatal. M ore than 100 women visit the clinic on the first day and more than 400 before it is shut down 10 days later b y the N ew York City Vice Squad. The crackdown and S anger’s subsequent arrest eventually lead to a 1918 r uling by a New York appellate judge that allows doctors to giv e contraceptive advice to any woman desiring it to pr otect her health. SCI. Pioneering ecologist Frederic Clements (1874–1945) publishes Plant Succession: An Analysis of the D evelopment of Vegetation, a path-breaking work in the field of ecological science. Clements establishes the theory of plant succession, the idea that simple and fragile communities of plants ev olve over time in a giv en place, ultimately r eaching a state of matur e and complex equilibrium. H uman inter vention that simplifies complex local ecologies, such as the modern agricultural regime unfolding on the Great Plains, may pose long-term threats from which ecosystems find it difficult to recover. SWST. Americans living in cities are generating between 1,000 and 1,600 pounds of waste per year, an estimated 80 percent of which is coal and wood ash. WLDL. At the Grand Canyon National Game Preserve on Arizona’s Kaibab Plateau, federal game managers commence an intensiv e effort to extirpate predatory animals who ar e limiting the population of big game desir ed b y spor tsmen. For the next decade and a half, several thousand animals—coyotes, mountain lions, bobcats, and wolves—are killed by hunters engaged by the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey. The population of deer , which was 4,000 in 1916, explodes to mor e than 100,000 b y 1924. However, the strategy backfires when the animals begin star ving to death in massive numbers. The population crashes. The folly of managing nature for the production of one species is fully realized with the Kaibab episode, signaling a beginning in the shift in thinking about managing public lands.

1917 WAR. World War I leads to shortages of certain raw materials, prompting the federal government to establish the Waste Reclamation Service to galvanize a national conservation effort. With a motto of “Don’t Waste Waste—Save It,” Americans are encouraged to save such items as old rags and paper for production of new goods like paper.

1918 FOR. Prompted by the destruction of acres of ancient redwood forest along the northern California coast because of highway constr uction, naturalists John C. Merriam,

Twentieth Century

73

Madison Grant, and Henry Fairfield Osborn organize the Save the Redwoods League. They raise funds to pur chase groves of ancient S equoia and eventually give most of the acreage to the state of California to be preserved as state parks.

1919 ENVM. The National Parks Association (renamed National Parks and Conservation Association [NPCA] in 1970) is formed under the leadership of r etired N ational Parks Education Division chief and writer and wilderness champion Robert Sterling Yard (1861–1945). The NPCA goes on to adv ocate for the expansion, pr otection, and enjoyment of the parks.

1920s SWST. American cities begin dumping garbage, ash, and other solid waste materials into wetlands as a means of expanding the acreage available for industrialization and other forms of urban development. TRNS. Throughout the decade, tr emendous expansion of the automobile, oil, and gasoline industries, along with a proliferation of highway construction projects, transforms the American landscape and launches the era of automobile dominance in U.S. transportation. By 1929, nearly half of all American families own an automobile. The 1921 Federal Road Act also contributes to the auto boom by establishing the Bureau of Public Roads, creating a plan for a network of highways and investing more than $10 billion in roadways nationwide by the end of 1929. IND. The electrification of manufacturing accelerates as adv ances in electrical machinery continue to replace the steam engine. By 1929, electricity powers 70 percent of all industry. Americans’ consumption of new electrical appliances also intensifies electricity demand.

1920 POP. The U.S. Census B ureau reports a population of mor e than 106 million. F or the first time, more Americans live in cities than in rural areas. DAMS. The Federal Water Power Act (renamed Federal Power Act in 1935) is signed on June 10, authorizing federal hy droelectric projects and dev elopment on public land. Despite a pr ovision for the consideration of wildlife and the environment in the issuance of licenses, implementation of the law leans heavily in favor of development interests that push heavily for mor e hydropower, particularly from the 1930s through the 1950s. ENRG. The M ineral Leasing A ct is passed, giving the B ureau of Land M anagement authority to lease public lands for (minimal) r ental or r oyalty fees to priv ate

74


companies or individuals for the extraction of coal, natural gas, and petr oleum, and to regulate production.

1921 PUBH. G eneral Motors r esearchers r ecommend tetraethyl lead ( TEL) as an antiknock gasoline additive after its development on December 9. By 1923, leaded gasoline goes on the mar ket despite warnings fr om scientists like D r. Alice H amilton about its dangers, as w ell as centuries of human experience with the negativ e health effects caused b y lead exposur e. Charles F. K ettering, vice pr esident of r esearch at General Motors, his assistant Thomas A. Midgley (despite his o wn battle with lead poisoning), and other ex ecutives from their par tners at S tandard Oil and D uPont defend their new product and claim that no alternative antiknock additives are available. This is a dubious asser tion, given that ethanol—high-octane alcohol pr oduced from farm crop surplus—seems for many (including H enry Ford) to be the answ er, either as a gasoline additive or as straight fuel. The Public Health Service requests an investigation by the Bureau of Mines, the contents of which will be thor oughly vetted and controlled by corporate officials. The Bureau also is compelled to refer to the compound as “ethyl” in order to keep the word “lead” out of the public eye. Leaded gasoline will be marketed and sold for the next half-century, with detrimental effects to public health, especially that of children. WATQ. On May 2, the U.S. S upreme Cour t, in New York v. New Jersey and P assaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners, decides against the state of N ew York, allowing continued discharge of waste into New York Bay by the state of New Jersey and the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission. Among its findings, the court determines that until such time as better methods of sewage disposal are adopted by legislative bodies, dilution is a legitimate and approved means of treatment. SWST. The first advertisements for Kotex, a disposable feminine napkin made from a wood pulp material called Cellucotton, appear in magazines. O riginating from a World War I bandage material, disposable napkins slowly grow in acceptance, signaling another step toward a disposable society.

1922 WATQ. During the summer, the Army Corps of E ngineers asks its harbor masters from acr oss the countr y to r eport on the extent of r egional coastal pollution and degraded fisheries. The reports are grim. In New Orleans, “no beach [is] considered suitable for r ecreation.” Officials in G louster, Massachusetts, describe a thick scum that “has caused serious damage to fish and sea life . . . [and] much discontent and complaint from tourists.” States in ev ery region have failed to contr ol problems of increasing oil and industrial waste, sewage dumping, and harbor fires; legislative remedies to confront these problems are virtually nonexistent.

Twentieth Century

75

WATQ. O n A ugust 10–11, the N ational Coast Anti P ollution League forms at a conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey, to advocate for legislative solutions to meet the water pollution. As the Army Corps of E ngineers reports make clear, the damage to pr operty values, beach r ecreation, and the fishing industry from pollution is extensive. DAMS. On November 24, the Colorado River Compact is signed among the seven states of the Colorado Riv er basin—Ariz ona, California, Colorado, N evada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. The representatives from these states meet with Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to negotiate an agreement dividing the Colorado Riv er into an upper and lo wer basin, and to call for massive federal dam building to adv ance industrial and agricultural dev elopment in the region. Ultimately, the Colorado River Compact offers stability within the basin, while laying the groundwork for the construction of the Hoover Dam and a host of other water projects that indeed accelerate development of the West but also bring a range of environmental problems. WLDL. California’s last-known surviving grizzly bear is shot and killed b y a Fresno County rancher. The grizzly, the state ’s official animal and an enduring symbol on the state flag, once thriv ed thr oughout California with a population o ver 10,000. Although primarily v egetarians, the giant grizzlies that gr ow as large as 8 feet and weigh 2,000 pounds ar e consider ed a danger ous thr eat and ar e killed b y miners, ranchers, and spor t hunters. The population explosion of the California gold r ush spells doom for the great bear; by 1924, the animal is officially extinct in the state. ENVM. The Izaak Walton League is formed in Chicago, named for I zaak Walton (1593–1683), the “ father of fly fishing.” Early on, the organization focuses on the protection of the aquatic life of the I llinois and M ississippi rivers, in par t by challenging an Army Corps of E ngineers’ dredging project in the Mississippi River. The establishment in 1924 of the U pper M ississippi Riv er National Wildlife and F ish Refuge is an early achievement of the League. TRNS. Henry Ford (1863–1947) declares that the F ord Motor Company “[wants] the man who buys one of our cars nev er to hav e to buy another .” The scheme of “planned obsolescence” devised by his competitors at General Motors a decade later renders that idea quaintly archaic. Americans—nearly half of whom own an auto by the time of World War II—soon are desiring and buying a new car every three or four years, with their old cars (along with their embodied energy and materials) incr easingly deposited in landfills.

1923–1925 TRNS. As manufacturing of tetraethyl leaded ( TEL) gasoline begins, a total of 17 production wor kers die, some “ violently insane ” fr om lead poisoning. The worst episode occurs at a plant in D eepwater, New Jersey, where eight wor kers die fr om

76


September 1923 to the winter of 1925. D eepwater wor kers r efer to the plant as “The House of Butterflies” for the hallucinations they experience as a r esult of lead exposure. An incr easing number of scientists begin to question the safety of TEL and several cities and states begin to ban leaded gasoline. H owever, ethyl, a “ gift of God” according to TEL officials, will be sold for the next six decades in most of the country.

1924 WILD. On June 3, the U.S. F orest Service, at the urging of Aldo Leopold (1887– 1948), an official at the Gila National Forest in southwest New Mexico, designates 755,000 acres of the for est as the G ila Wilderness—the first wilderness area in the world. Leopold argues that a planned expansion of the for est’s network of roads be scrapped in favor of leaving the area roadless and undeveloped, a place where urbanized Americans can enjo y a backcountr y wilderness experience. I t is the beginning of a nationwide system of wilderness ar eas that will begin to fully matur e in the 1960s. WATQ. A w eak Oil Pollution Act is passed b y Congress with minimal r egulations and penalties for offenders. The law prohibits the discharge of oil into coastal navigable waters within the thr ee-mile limit fr om any oil burning or oil transpor ting vessel, except in cer tain cases of accident or emergency . The Oil Pollution Act does not monitor pollution of inland navigable waters and does not penaliz e parties for accidental spills. The War Department and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are given responsibility for monitoring water ways under the act, but limited manpo wer and authority make enforcement difficult at best. ENRG. The Teapot Dome oil leasing scandal is exposed. The scandal involves the illegal leasing of federal oil reserves in California and Wyoming by President Harding’s secretary of the interior, Albert Fall in exchange for personal gifts and loans.

1927 NUCL. On May 18, five New Jersey women, dubbed “The Radium Girls,” file lawsuits against their former emplo yer, U.S. Radium Corporation, for negligence in creating dangerous working conditions. The five women ar e dial painters for U.S. Radium, using a luminescent radium compound composed of water , glue, and radium powder to paint the dials of watches, clocks, and other instruments. Better paid than the average factor y worker, the women nev er realize they ar e being poisoned. The girls are to keep the tips of their camel hair br ushes pointed with their lips and ar e told “not to worr y if you swallow any radium, it ’ll make your cheeks rosy.” Factory owners and scientists, ho wever, are careful to avoid exposure themselves by wearing protective masks and using lead scr eens and tongs. The workers develop a variety of mysterious and increasingly dreadful symptoms, including severe bone deterioration, teeth falling out, and painful abscesses in their jaws. In 1928 U.S. Radium settles out

Twentieth Century

77

of court for $10,000 each plus medical expenses and an annuity. Unfortunately, all of the girls die prematurely of radiation-induced cancer. The case establishes a precedent for individual workers to sue their employers for damages caused by unsafe working conditions and strengthens industrial safety standards.

1928 DISA. At midnight on March 12, the St. Francis Dam, part of William Mulholland’s grand plan to keep Los Angeles supplied with enough water to adv ance its gr owth in perpetuity, gives way, sending 12.5 billion tons of water in a 140-foot wav e down the San Francisquito Canyon, killing more than 600 people. Built between 1924 and 1926, the dam is designed as a local (40 miles fr om Los Angeles) reservoir in case the aqueduct that steadily brings water to Los Angeles fr om the Owens Valley somehow is damaged or sev ered (perhaps b y angr y Ow ens Valley farmers and ranchers—see 1905–1913, WATR). A landslide that night sends 1.5 billion tons of ear th cascading against the dam, which soon gives way. As one Los Angeles paper reports, “Death and devastation continued last night to star e back from the sodden wastes of S anta Clara valley upon a horror-stricken world, mute with the knowledge of appalling loss of life and property in the greatest disaster in the history of Southern California.” In the aftermath of the tragedy, the city pays out more than $14 million in damages and the government orders a safety inspection and review of all current dams and mandates that all future dam projects receive more rigorous scrutiny from engineers and geologists. AIRP. The U.S. Public Health Service begins conducting surveys to quantify air pollution in eastern U.S. cities. Among the grim er sults: sunlight in New York City is cut by 20 to 50 percent due to air pollution, and the average soot falling in Pittsburgh is approximately 1,000 tons per square mile per year. OCCH. In what will become perhaps the worst industrial disaster in American history, 3,000 wor kers—the majority of them African Americans fr om the S outh— begin digging a three-mile-long tunnel under Gauley Mountain near Gauley Bridge, West Virginia, as part of a hydroelectric power project for Union Carbide. The tunnel is designed to divert the New River from the town of Hawk’s Nest to a hydroelectric power station three miles away near Gauley Bridge. Once they penetrate the mountain, workers encounter silica and ar e told to begin mining the mineral for use in steel manufacturing. Although supervisors and managers visiting the site wear masks and br eathing apparatuses, wor kers ar e nev er pr ovided such pr otection. Almost immediately, workers begin contracting debilitating silicosis fr om inhaling the silica dust. Within months, workers begin to get seriously ill and many die. The bodies are buried in unmar ked graves, and sur vivors report that many of the dead simply ar e dumped into the river. More than 2,000 workers are made ill. Although the company admits to just 109 deaths, r eports of the actual number killed range fr om 476 (the estimate of a later congressional inquiry) to more than 1,000. A Fayetteville law firm takes up the workers’ case and begins the long fight to win compensation for the victims by arguing that the company did not take proper precautions for workers when

78


it realized they were tunneling into silica rock. A meager settlement of $130,000—3 percent of the $4 million sought—is r eached following a deadlocked first trial. B y 1937, 46 states hav e enacted laws co vering wor kers afflicted with silicosis, which authorities afterward consider an occupational disease.

1928–1930 SWST. The plastic materials cellophane, polyvinyl chloride, and polystyr ene ar e developed, signaling the acceleration of the plastics r evolution in American material culture. Initially thought to have limited value, plastics in the 1930s come to be increasingly accepted and used for an ev er-expanding number of applications. They also bring environmental ramifications, including mountains of b y-product hazardous waste generated in their pr oduction, as w ell as postconsumer plastic waste that consumes a growing share of landfill space.

1930 POP. The population of the United States is nearly 123 million persons and the mean geographic center of the nation is now Greene County, Indiana. FOR. Dutch elm disease is first reported in trees in Cleveland and Cincinnati, Ohio. The disease causes leaves to wilt, curl, and yellow before the tree itself dies. First discovered in the Netherlands in 1919, it spr eads quickly throughout Europe. Despite attempts to stop it, “elm death” makes its way to North America on European shipments of unpeeled v eneer logs and spr eads rapidly, devastating the elm tr ee in both forested and urban areas.

1930s–1960s NATI. As the B ureau of R eclamation and the Army Corps of E ngineers engage in a bur eaucratic str uggle to build the highest and largest and most expensiv e dams and water projects in the country, they coincidentally will hasten the degradation of Native American lands and cultural life. Sacred burial grounds, productive farms, and vital subsistence hunting and fishing grounds are impounded or otherwise destroyed in places ranging fr om the N avajo of the S outhwest, to the salmon-based tribes of the Snake and Columbia River basin in the Pacific Northwest, to Eastern Cherokee lands in the Tennessee Valley, to the loss of sacred Seneca land caused by the Kinzua Dam in Pennsylvania.

1931 SOIL. The D ust Bo wl begins as “black blizzar ds” of dust blo w thr ough por tions of the southern G reat P lains. A decade and a half of intensiv e and ev er-widening plowing under of the grasslands for wheat cultiv ation, combined with o vergrazing of cattle, and no w an expanding dr ought in the r egion pr oduce the dust storms

Twentieth Century

79

that darkens the sky that summer . They prove to be an ominous harbinger of mor e powerful storms to come. ARTS. Western photographer and wilderness enthusiast Ansel A dams (1902–1984) stages his first major solo exhibition, at the S mithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Although A dams’s classically star k photographs enshrine an iconic image of American wilderness that comes to appear to some critics as r omantically oblivious to the transformation of an industrial American landscape, without question, his prolific body of wor k for the next four decades does much to suppor t the cause of wilderness preservation.

1933 CONS. On March 31, P resident Franklin D. R oosevelt authorizes creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the signatur e conservation initiative of the New Deal administration. For nine y ears, mor e than 2.5 million y oung unemployed men— “the CCC bo ys”—live in 2,000 militar y-style camps set up all o ver the countr y where they are put to wor k on a v ariety of conser vation and public wor ks projects. The CCC works with agencies, such as the National Park Service, the Forest Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Soil Conservation Service. CCC men build par k trails, r oads, bridges, fire towers, and cabins in state and national parks. They plant 3 billion trees aimed at curbing soil erosion, and they fight forest fires. They also engage in some practices later r egretted in the envir onmental era, including insect, rodent and predator control. DAMS. President Roosevelt’s New Deal administration lends suppor t to the construction of the Central Valley Project to deliv er water to California ’s agriculturally rich Central Valley through a series of impoundments and canals. A t the time, the largest water project in history, it has reaped a very mixed environmental legacy. CONS. On May 18, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is established under the New Deal administration of P resident Franklin Roosevelt. Charged with the social and economic development of America’s most severely impoverished region, the TVA directs projects toward three broad goals: conser vation and preservation of soil and timber; control of the riv ers; and generation of electrical po wer. To combat exhaustion and er osion of soils, the TVA develops fertilizers, educates farmers about ne w planting techniques, and helps to replant forests that stemmed erosion and improved soil quality. The TVA is best kno wn, however, for the doz ens of dams it builds to control flooding, improve navigation, and produce hydroelectric power. The electricity generated b y these dams brings po wer to people who nev er have experienced it and brings job-pr oducing industry to the r egion. The dams also, ho wever, displace thousands of people fr om their homes and farms, and flood graveyards and Cherokee archaeological sites. Moreover, in its mission to continue pr oducing energy, the TVA later begins leasing ex cess lands seiz ed by eminent domain to coal companies and other industrial operations that cr eate jobs but also wreak havoc on the region’s environment.

80


As directed by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Civilian Conservation Corps members weed loblolly pine beds near Wilson Dam in Alabama. TVA’s laudable goals were to conserve and preserve soil and timber , control the riv ers, and generate electrical po wer. By the 1950s and 1960s, the TVA’s impact—upon both the people and environment—grew more troubling. (Arthur Rothstein/Library of Congress)

FOR. Robert Marshall (1901–1939), wilderness enthusiast and official (and increasing critic) of the U.S. Forest Service, publishes The Arctic Village, a best-selling account of his experiences living in the remote town of Wiseman, Alaska, and The People ’sForests, a book that attacks what he sees as the incr easing capture of the national forests by timber corporations, which he asser ts are engaged in massiv e and unsustainable deforestation. M arshall also adv ocates for est pr eservation near population centers where they can be mor e democratically accessible to the industrial wor king classes with whom he identifies. SOIL. On September 1, the S oil Erosion Service is established in r esponse to the emerging crisis of the D ust Bowl. The forerunner to the S oil Conservation Service, the agency is headed b y Hugh Hammond Bennett (1881–1960), one of the central figures in soil conser vation history. In the 1920s, B ennett had been writing a series of influential publications for the U.S. D epartment of Agricultur e (USDA) about soil erosion. He makes soil conser vation education among American farmers a top priority of the USDA. In 1944 he founds the Soil Conservation Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the cause.

Twentieth Century

81

Robert Marshall’s passion for the defense of wilder ness is seen in this brief excerpt from an essay he wrote in about 1930: There is just one hope of erpulsing the tyrannical ambition of civilization to conquer every niche on the whole ear th. That hope is the organization of spirited people who will fight for the freedom of the wilderness. In a civilization which requires most lives to be passed amid inordinate dissonance, pressure and intrusion, the chance of retiring now and then to the quietude and priv acy of sylvan haunts becomes for some people a psychic necessity. . . . Just a few more years of hesitation and the only trace of that wilderness which has exerted such a fundamental influence in molding American character will lie in the musty pages of pioneer books. . . . To avoid this catastrophe demands immediate action. Source: R obert M arshall, “I mpressions fr om the Wilderness,” Nature M agazine , 44 (1951): 481; accor ding to R oderick Nash, Wilderness and the A merican Mind (1967; reprint, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1982), 201, the essay is from ca. 1930. The full Marshall quotation is available at http://wilderness.org/content/quotes-wilderness (accessed June 17, 2010).

1934 SOIL. On May 9–10, a massiv e dust storm (eight miles high in places) blo ws out of the Great Plains—first, into the Midwest where ultimately 12 million tons of dirt fall like snow on the city of Chicago—and then all the way to cities along the eastern seaboard, including Washington, D.C. S ubsequent dust storms in 1935 and 1938 blow dirt from Oklahoma and South Dakota to the decks of ships in the Atlantic. A total of 350 million tons of soil fr om 50 million acr es of degraded land ar e carried away in the dust storms—wrought by decades of abuse of the once-fertile grasslands. The human-exacerbated disaster of the Dust Bowl prompts a number of conservative measures, including passage of the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 (see 1934, L AND) and establishment of the Soil Conservation Service (1935). LAND. Signed by President Roosevelt on June 28, the Taylor Grazing Act tries to stop the overuse and soil deterioration of public lands by, first, withdrawing the last remaining 80 million acres of federal land from settlement, and, second, by establishing grazing districts on federally o wned land and contr olling the number of cattle on those lands through a system of leasing rights. B y June 1935, 65 million acres have been placed in grazing districts under the management of the D epartment of I nterior’s D ivision of G razing (later the B ureau of Land M anagement). Grazing r eform on N ative American r eservations such as the N avajo generally fails as go vernment biologists, ignoring N ative American leaders and so vereignty,

82


introduce new, invasive plant and animal species that bring unintended ecological consequences. SWST. In June, canned Kr ueger Beer is test-mar keted in Richmond, Virginia. The metal cans are lined with a plastic called Vinylite that eliminates what brewers called the taste of “metal turbidity” that had prevented canned beer from appealing to brewing companies. A Wisconsin br ewer begins to mar ket thr owaway bottled beer in 1939 to compete with the disposable canned product. OCNS. On July 1, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds a lower court ruling that enjoins New York City from dumping municipal garbage into the Atlantic Ocean. The order, requested by communities along the N ew Jersey shore, does not apply to industrial or commercial waste. OCCH. In November, Francis Perkins, the U.S. secr etary of labor , establishes the Division of Labor S tandards to promote improved workplace conditions—through voluntary means. Under Perkins, the Division of Labor Standards strengthens factory inspection and makes worker health an increasingly important priority. WLDL. President Franklin Roosevelt appoints a Committee on Wildlife Restoration, whose r eport will r ecommend the acquisition b y the federal go vernment of lands that can help ensur e the survival and recovery of various species of water fowl, game animals, and migratory and song birds. WLDL. On March 16, the M igratory Bird Hunting and Conser vation (“the Duck Stamp”) A ct is passed b y Congr ess and signed b y P resident R oosevelt. The law requires ev ery hunter of water fowl to pur chase a federal stamp . The stamps originally ar e sold for $1.00. R evenues go to the M igratory B ird Conser vation F und, which aims to pur chase, lease, and pr eserve vital nesting and br eeding grounds for endangered waterfowl. Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling (1876–1962), a Pulitzer Prize– winning political car toonist and spor tsman conser vationist, designs the first Duck Stamp. Darling also is appointed by Roosevelt in 1934 to head the Bureau of Biological Survey. Under Darling’s leadership, the bureau moves aggressively on a pr ogram to protect diminishing wildlife habitat across the country.

1935 WILD. In January, the Wilderness Society is founded in Washington, D.C., b y a group of influential wilderness activists led b y Robert Marshall, but also including Robert Sterling Yard; Benton MacKaye (1879–1975), considered the “Father of the Appalachian Trail”; wildlife ecologist Aldo Leopold; for ester B ernard F rank; and Harvey Broome, a lawyer and wilderness activist who worked with MacKaye on the Appalachian Trail pr oject. The S ociety aims to pr omote the vir tues of wilderness recreation and to establish a national system of wilderness ar eas that will be within geographic reach of all Americans.

Twentieth Century

83

SOIL. On April 27, the S oil Conser vation Service (SCS) is established under the direction of Hugh Bennett as part of the Department of Agriculture. The SCS directs extensive conservation programs and adv ocates soil-conserving farming techniques, such as crop rotation, contour plowing, planting drought-resistant crops, and paying farmers to implement such practices. ENRG. On May 11, President Franklin Roosevelt signs an executive order establishing the Rural Electrification Administration to bring electricity to Americans living in rural areas. At the time, fewer than 10 percent of rural Americans are wired with electrical power, whereas their European counterparts are near 90 percent. Congressional action the follo wing y ear pr ovides federal loans and administrativ e suppor t that allow farmers to establish r ural cooperativ es thr ough which they can manage their electrical distribution systems. The electrification of rural America helps make possible the explosiv e growth of the energy-intensiv e agricultural r egime that takes hold in the postwar era. SWST. The gable-top paperboard milk carton is first employed by American dairies to package and deliv er milk—another landmark on the way to disposability. Before paperboard milk car tons, glass milk bottles made an av erage 22 r oundtrips fr om dairy to the consumer. DAMS. Hoover Dam, then the largest hydroelectric power plant and concrete structure in the world, is dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on September 30. Completion of the dam in 1936 and the filling of Lake M ead power much of the American Southwest, accelerate the development of industrialized agriculture in the region, and contr ol the historic flooding of the Colorado Riv er. The dam, one of the great engineering mar vels in human histor y, also transforms the ecology of the river forever. Plants and aquatic life that have evolved over eons of time to the Colorado ’scyclic flooding suddenly are imperiled or simply vanish. The dam has devastating impacts for fish populations below the impoundment. The Colorado delta—once a biologically rich saltwater-freshwater estuarine zone that stretched south for nearly 50 miles—is r endered by the H oover Dam (and b y the numer ous additional dams and diversion projects that follow it in the ensuing decades) a pathetic remnant of its former self with mere pockets of wetlands surviving.

Mid-1930s AGRI. Although P resident Franklin D. R oosevelt’s New Deal agricultural policies encourage conservation, they also favor large landowners and industrial single-staple crop farming over smaller family-run, poly-crop farms. The Agricultural Adjustment Act is cr eated in 1933 and sets contr ols on supplies and price suppor ts on commodities to boost farm incomes and corr ect structural problems in the mar ket. The policies disproportionately subsidize larger landowners who own more land and generate higher yields, but whose practices tend to be more punishing of soils and other natural resources.

84


1936 ENVM. F rom F ebruary 3–7, the N orth American Wildlife Confer ence is convened b y President R oosevelt in Washington, D.C. The idea for the confer ence came fr om J ay N orwood “D ing” D arling, whom R oosevelt appointed to head the Bureau of B iological Survey in 1934. M ore than 2,000 hunters, anglers, and conservationists from across the nation attend the conference where they agree to work together in a new organization called the General Wildlife Federation to promote conservation and fund projects through the sale of hunting licenses. Unlike many conser vation organizations, the ne w gr oup—later r enamed the N ational Wildlife Federation—does not seek to abolish hunting, but rather to pr otect it through regulation and the adoption of scientifically grounded wildlife management practices.

1937 CLIM. G eographer G lenn Thomas Trewartha (1896–1984) intr oduces the term “greenhouse effect” in his book An Introduction to Weather and Climate. He compares the Earth’s atmosphere to a gr eenhouse in which the heat generated b y the sun or solar lights ar e contained b y the gases in the atmospher e, which act as insulation, much like a pane of glass in a gr eenhouse does. This insulation causes the temperatures on the sur face of the Ear th or inside the gr eenhouse to be higher than they otherwise would be. WLDL. On September 2, the F ederal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act is passed b y Congress, extending an existing tax on sporting arms and ammunition and reappropriating those funds to assist states in wildlife pr eservation and restoration projects. Over the years, these projects have helped numerous species to rebuild their populations, including the wild tur key, mountain lion, beav er, North American elk, and black bear. AIRP. The Air Pollution Survey of New York City, organized by the New Deal Works Progress Administration, reports that health conditions in the city hav e worsened, resulting from persistent and growing sources of “smoke, soot, fly-ash, cinders, acid gases, fumes, and other polluting elements.” WATQ. On June 13, Congress passes the Stream Pollution Act, which merely authorizes the U.S. Public Health Service to conduct further investigations into the condition of American navigable water ways. Conser vation organizations condemn it as woefully inadequate. TECH. D iethylstilbestrol (DES), an ar tificial gr owth-enhancing estr ogen, is first synthesized. I mplanted in feedlot cattle, it incr eases the w eight of steers b y up to 20 percent. Despite increasing warnings fr om biologists about possible dangers to human health, DES is not banned until 1979.

Twentieth Century

85

1939 AIRP. A severe smog incident in S t. Louis blocks out the sun midday on N ovember 28. For a week after “Black Tuesday,” as it comes to be kno wn, the citizens of St. Louis hav e to use their v ehicle headlights to see during the day . Smoke always has been a pr oblem for the city which uses soft, soot-pr oducing I llinois coal for industry and r esidential heating. B lack Tuesday prompts local officials to pass the antismoke legislation that citiz ens groups such as the Citiz ens’ Smoke Abatement League have long been adv ocating. On April 8, 1940, S t. Louis becomes the first city in the nation to adopt a stringent and effective smoke control ordinance. The landmark law defines acceptable smoke and ash emissions, regulates quality of coal, monitors the sale of combustible devices, and cr eates a Division of Smoke Regulation. Improvements soon can be seen in the quality of air, the cleanliness of buildings, and r educed respiratory problems. By 1941, other cities such as P ittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Chicago begin moving toward their own programs based on the St. Louis model. NUCW. O n O ctober 19, P resident Franklin D. R oosevelt r esponds to an A ugust 1941 letter fr om Nobel Prize–winning physicist Alber t Einstein (1879–1955). The letter, co-written with physicist and fello w European émigré Leo Szilard, warns the president that N azi Germany has initiated r esearch into the dev elopment of a ne w and powerful weapon employing the latest adv ances achieved by German scientists in nuclear physics. Roosevelt’s reply to Einstein informs him that he has established a committee of civilian and military officials to study the possibility of producing an atomic weapon using uranium. It is the first official step in the creation of the Manhattan Project to build the world’s first atomic bomb.

1940 POP. U.S. population exceeds 132 million. WLDL. On June 8, U.S. Congr ess passes the B ald Eagle P reservation Act, which makes it illegal to disturb, capture, shoot, kill, sell, purchase, import, or export a bald eagle—alive or dead—as well as its nest or eggs. Violators originally are given a fine of $5,000 or imprisonment for no longer than one year. Although an important step in curbing the illegal wanton killing of the iconic emblem of the nation, the law fails to address a looming threat to its survival that emerges in the postwar era: indiscriminate use of Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and other pesticides. WLDL. The B ureaus of B iological S urvey and F isheries, having been transferr ed the y ear befor e fr om the depar tments of Agricultur e and Commer ce r espectively, are combined into a new agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In addition, an executive order signed b y President Roosevelt changes nearly 200 wildlife “ reservations” into Wildlife Refuges, within which it is “unlawful to hunt, trap, capture, willfully disturb, or kill any bird or wild animal.”

86


In 1940 the St. Louis Post Dispatch, which had championed the cause of clean-air legislation and played a signifi cant role in the movement toward cleaner air in the city , received a P ulitzer Prize—the fi rst ever for what would soon be called envir onmental reporting. The paper commented in celebratory fashion on this impor tant tur ning point in the histor y of air pollution: A great city has washed its face, and neck, and its ears too . St. Louis is no longer the grimy old man of American municipalities. The plague of smoke and soot has been so w ell wiped off, if not completely removed, that the shining countenance of the M issouri metropolises is no w the envy of other cities still subject to the winters outpouring of dir t and fumes from thousands of chimneys. Source: J ohn B achmann, “ Air Today, Yesterday, and Tomorrow: An Air Q uality Management Primer,” prepared for the Office of Air and Radiation (Washington, DC: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2008), http://www .epa.gov/air/caa/Part1.pdf .

1941 WILD. To slake its seemingly insatiable thirst for water , the city of Los Angeles begins to div ert the waters feeding M ono Lake, an ancient saline body of water 350 miles to the nor th covering more than 70 squar e miles. A critical habitat for migratory birds, the Mono Lake watershed encompasses ecological zones and is home to 400 vertebrate species and 1,000 plant species. In 1941, the lake holds 4.3 million acre-feet of water . It is drained of r oughly half of its water o ver the next 40 y ears. The lake declines 45 feet in depth and the sur face area of the lake is r educed from 54,923 acres in 1941 to 37,688 acres in 1982. The diversion greatly affects the lake’s ecology: streams dry up affecting fisheries; wetlands and lagoons, important habitats for waterfowl, soon diminish; and the brine shrimp and alkali flies that millions of migratory birds depend on begin to vanish. With the exposure of the lake bed, environmental problems such as er osion, increased salinity of the land and water , and poor air quality begin to plague the area. Since the late 1970s, efforts have been made to restore the lake and it has recovered 11 feet. LIT. Rachel Louise Carson (1907–1964) publishes Under the Sea Wind, the first in her trilogy of sea books. As an aquatic biologist for the U.S. B ureau of Fisheries in 1936, Carson begins writing a steady stream of articles and brochures for the public about ocean life. I n July 1937, the Atlantic Monthly publishes “Undersea,” an essay about life on the ocean floor originally written for the B ureau but not published because her super visor thought it too fine a piece of writing. S imon and Schuster encourage her to develop a book and the result four years later is Under the Sea Wind ,

Twentieth Century

87

which wins critical praise but sells poorly . Consider ed one of the classic wor ks of American natur e writing, the book tells the stor y of aquatic cr eatures and of seabirds in vivid narrative form, assigning species character names drawn from scientific nomenclature and gr ounding the stor y line firmly in car eful scientific observation. Written to appeal to both childr en and adults, the book later finds the audience it deserved when it is republished and Carson has by then won greater fame. ENRG. An estimated 25,000 to 60,000 r ooftop solar water heaters ar e being used in Florida and California. The growth of the solar industr y is stunted b y restricted copper availability during World War II, as well as by the growing influence of utility interests determined to drive up long-distance transmission of electricity.

1941–1945 SWST. America’s entrance into World War II and the resulting shortfall in materials needed to win the war pr ompts a nationwide r esource recycling, rationing, and conservation campaign. Americans rally to save everything from bacon fat to rags and ne wspaper to mountains of scrap metals. The war also speeds dev elopment of synthetic materials, especially plastics, to make up for the loss of natural resources such as tin and r ubber controlled by the J apanese. Thin polyethylene film emerges and will replace cellophane as America’s preferred food wrap in the postwar era.

1942 NUCW. In August, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers creates the Manhattan Engineer District to coor dinate all r esearch and engineering of the pr oject to build the atomic bomb. Col. Leslie Groves (1896–1970) is promoted to brigadier general and given command of the M anhattan Project. I n November he appoints physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967) to lead the bomb research and design laboratory. Oppenheimer chooses a remote boys’ ranch at Los Alamos in northern New Mexico to build the laboratory where the final stages of research, design, and construction of the bomb will take place. NUCW. O n D ecember 2, M anhattan P roject scientist and I talian émigr é E nrico Fermi (1901–1954) produces the world’s first self-sustaining controlled nuclear chain reaction on a squash court beneath the University of Chicago’s football stadium. On December 28, President Roosevelt gives final authorization for funding (ultimately $2 billion) to build the world’s first atomic bomb.

1942 DAMS. An Army Corps of E ngineers proposal to build dams in Cook F orest State Park in Pennsylvania for the benefit of the logging industr y meets r esistance and is defeated. The Brackett dams would have artificially flooded land along the banks of

88


Tom’s Run to float logs down to the Clarion River. Wilderness advocates and sportsmen oppose the pr oject, fearing irr evocable damage to some of the last stands of Pennsylvania ’sold growth forest.

1943 WLDL. The first Audubon Nature Center opens in G reenwich, Connecticut. The 295-acre sanctuary contains seven miles of trails, hardwood forest, meadows, a lake, streams, and v ernal ponds, as w ell as historic r emnants such as stone walks, an old apple or chard, and original N ew E ngland homestead buildings. The sanctuar y at Greenwich soon becomes a model for the natur e centers that will be established across the country in the postwar era as the nation becomes more suburbanized after World War II.

1944 TECH. B ecause of the r ubber shor tage, a D ow Chemical chemist uses extr uded polystyrene to devise Styrofoam, a rubber-like substitute that can be used as a flexible insulating material in war-related production. Following the war, disposable expanded polystyrene products from coffee cups to plates to packing materials—called S tyrofoam by the general public—begin to flood the mar ket and fill American landfills. The rubber shortage brings other innovative applications, including the development of substitute materials made from Midwestern corn, to produce ultimately more than half of the tires employed by the U.S. military. INL. From July 1–22, the Bretton Woods Conference takes place in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. Conferees aim to establish financial mechanisms and institutions that can stabilize and strengthen an increasingly global economy. The most important are the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (replaced in the 1990s by the World Trade Organization, which becomes a target of environmental activism for its subversion of environmental protection), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the International Bank for R econstruction and D evelopment—later incorporated into the World Bank. The World Bank has American financing and leadership fr om the start and its economic dev elopment mission is modeled in par t on the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Together with the IMF, the World Bank goes on to provide loans to more than 100 nations. Consequently, the institutions have shaped much of the economic development that has taken place in the developing world, particularly since the 1960s. As with the TVA, however, much of that activity has left a grim legacy of environmental destruction—from livestock operations on formerly forested land to immense dam projects that have flooded lands and displaced peoples.

1945 NUCW. At 5:30 a.m. on Monday, July 16, the Trinity Test is conducted 210 miles south of Los Alamos at Alamogordo Air Base in an area of desert called the “Jornada

Twentieth Century

89

del Muerto” or “Journey of Death.” The world ’sfirst nuclear explosion sends a wave of heat o ver the deser t that r educes a large steel to wer to v apor and the surr ounding asphalt to sand. The explosion shatters glass as far away as 125 miles, and heavy radioactive fallout causes livestock in the area to suffer skin burns, bleeding, and loss of hair. J. Robert Oppenheimer somberly recalls the words of the Hindu sacred text Baghavad Gita: “If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one. N ow I am become D eath, the destroyer of worlds.” So brilliant is the initial white flash caused b y the bomb that Georgia Green of Socorro, New Mexico, who is being driven north to Albuquerque on a highway some 120 miles away , senses the flash and asks her driv er, “What was that?” Georgia Green is blind. NUCW. On August 6, “Little Bo y,” the world ’s first atomic bomb , is dr opped on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, a second bomb is detonated over Nagasaki. As the mushroom clouds cover each city, buildings are obliterated, vegetation is destroyed, and thousands of people ar e killed instantly—burned aliv e by the shear heat of the explosion—while others suffer and die of radiation poisoning. The initial deaths at Hiroshima usually ar e estimated at 70,000 individuals, but perhaps as many as 200,000 died within five years of radiation poisoning and other injuries r elated to the bombings. Nagasaki produces similar results, with an initial toll of 40,000 and total deaths reaching as high as 140,000. The bombs produce the Japanese surrender that ended World War II. The world officially enters the nuclear age, for ever altering society and the envir onment as w ell as influencing the pr ogress of science and warfare.

1945 DAMS. On April 3, 3 out of 1,000 people attending a public hearing at the Department of I nterior speak in fav or of a pr oposed Army Corps of E ngineers project to construct a series of dams on the P otomac River near Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Overwhelming opposition—including fr om the N ational Park Service—forces the Corps to abandon the project. PEST. American farmers begin widespr ead use of the pesticide D ichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT). Although the chemical was first synthesized in 1874, it is not until 1939 that DDT ’s effectiveness as a pesticide is disco vered. During World War II, the U nited States produces large quantities for the contr ol of v ector-borne diseases such as malaria—especially effective in the S outh Pacific. By 1945, agricultural and commer cial use of DDT becomes popular because of its r easonable cost, effectiveness, persistence, and versatility. ENRG. O n S eptember 28, P resident H arry Truman issues the Continental S helf Proclamation, asser ting federal jurisdiction o ver oil and all mineral r esources in nearby coastal waters (the “Tidelands”) extending to the national territorial limits of the continental shelf. States see in this a usurping of their traditional leasing rights.

90


Although Americans were elated with news that the bombs had ended the war, an underlying current of fear at the dawn of the nuclear age quickly expressed itself—among many of the scientists (some of whom, including Oppenheimer, came to oppose fur ther dev elopment of nuclear w eapons) and among the general public. A young mother who had just given birth to her second son when the news of H iroshima came expressed her fears in a letter to broadcast journalist H. V. Kaltenborn: Since then I have hardly been able to smile, the futur e seems so utterly grim for our two little boys. Most of the time I have been in tears or near tears, and fleeting but torturing regrets that I have brought children into the world to face such a dr eadful thing as this hav e shivered through me. It seems that it will be for them all their liv es like living on a keg of dynamite which may go off at any moment, and which undoubtedly will go off before their lives have progressed very far. Source: Patricia E. Munk, Pelham Manor, New York, to H. V. Kaltenborn, August 9, 1945; cited in Paul Boyer, By the Bomb’s Early Light: American Thought and Culture at the Dawn of the Atomic Age (1985; reprint, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994), 16.

The federal-state conflict over Tidelands oil leasing rights continues into the E isenhower administration.

1946 PEST. A U.S. F ish and Wildlife S ervice study conducted b y Clar ence Cottam (1899–1974), assistant director of the agency and a close colleague of Rachel Carson, reveals the growing impact of pesticides on wildlife at the Patuxent National Wildlife Research Refuge in Maryland. ENVM. On March 28, the E cologists Union (EU) holds its first meeting. The EU emerges fr om dissent within the leadership of the E cological S ociety of America (ESA, founded 1915). The ESA mostly r egards itself as a scientific body that pr ovides pr ofessional advice to public officials about conser vation issues, rather than an organization actively working to sav e threatened areas. Some ESA leaders—led by animal ecologist Victor S helford (1877–1968)—br eak away and form the EU with the purpose of pr eserving natural ar eas and encouraging scientific work there. EU membership is opened to all individuals—not just scientists. I n1950, members change the name of the organization to the Nature Conservancy and soon thereafter begin focusing on its primary objective of land acquisition and conservation.

Twentieth Century

91

SWST. An economy of pr esumed endless abundance commences, as Americans begin to r eject traditions of fr ugality and austerity and embrace enthusiastically a culture of disposability. As the Cold War breaks out, waste comes to signify personal affluence and more broadly, a culture of democratic abundance, contrasting sharply with supposedly impoverished, backward societies in the Communist world that still has to rely on thrift. Industrial designers and advertisers work consciously to cultivate an attitude of disposability and obsolescence among the American people. NUCP. O n A ugust 1, P resident H arry S. Truman signs the A tomic E nergy A ct, establishing the civilian-contr olled A tomic E nergy Commission to o versee the development—and dissemination of information about—nuclear power and nuclear weapons. LAND. The Bureau of Land M anagement (BLM) is established, a combination of the General Land Office (created 1812) and the G razing Service (dating to 1934). Often criticized by environmentalists for favoring grazing and mining interests—and by western interests for strangling development—the BLM holds regulatory authority over 264 million acres of federal land in the West. WLDL. On December 2, the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling is signed in Washington, D.C., establishing the I nternational Whaling Commission (IWC). The core of the IW C’s mission at the outset is to sav e the whaling industry through “the proper conservation of whale stocks.”

1946–1958 NUCW. For 12 y ears, the United States conducts doz ens of nuclear w eapons tests at Bikini and E niwetok atolls in the M arshall Islands, South Pacific. In February 1946, U.S. Commodore Ben Wyatt asked the 167 inhabitants of the Bikini atoll to leave their homes and their island for the “ good of mankind and to end all wars. ” They willingly pack their things, thinking that they will not be gone for long; 22 years later when they return to their beloved island it proves to be uninhabitable with dangerously high levels of residual radiation. The Bikini Atoll, a huge ring of 26 islets enclosing at 230 squar e mile lagoon, is the site of 23 nuclear tests—including the largest in American histor y (1954). These tests are conducted for the purpose of research as scientists gain an understanding of the effects of nuclear weapons on animals, ships, the ocean—and, as it turns out, humans as w ell. Various cancers and other diseases nev er before seen among the islanders of the South Pacific became horrifyingly common in the years that followed.

1947 ENVM. Defenders of Fur-Bearers (later Defenders of Wildlife) is formed in opposition to the use of steel-jawed leg- or foot-hold trapping of animals. TRNS. On April 9, nine corporations with a large stake in the nation’s transportation future—led b y G eneral M otors, S tandard O il, F irestone, and M ack Truck—are

92


indicted in federal court on charges of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act in a conspiracy to buy up (through front companies) and liquidate many of the nation’s urban trolley systems. The “Great American Streetcar Scandal” results in a small fine for the companies. The end of trolley systems, combined with reduced funding for rail and a dramatically incr eased inv estment in r oad building and air trav el b y the federal government, leaves the nation with an auto-center ed and oil-dependent transpor tation policy. The ramifications for the environment, as well as for the nation’s foreign policy, are profound. NATP. On December 6, President Truman dedicates the E verglades National Park. Efforts to protect the Everglades began in the early 1900s with U.S. Army Corps of Engineer efforts to drain the shallow water of the vast wetland and convert it to agriculture and land for housing and business development. In 1928, journalist Marjory Stoneman D ouglas (1890–1998), whose brilliant 1947 wor k Everglades: Riv ers of Grass dramatically alters public perception of the area; landscape architect Ernest Coe (1866–1951); and other prominent Floridians form the Tropical Everglades National Park Association to lobb y for the par k’s creation. Stoneman Douglas is pr esent for the 1947 dedication. SBRB. On May 7, Abraham Levitt and Sons of Long Island, New York, announce plans to build 2,000 rental homes for returning World War II veterans on land that formerly had been a potato farm (and befor e that was par t of one of the largest grassland prairies in the eastern United States). It would now be called Levittown— the model suburban community for countless mor e that would be built in the postwar era to solv e the nation ’s housing crisis. Another 4,000 California ranchstyle homes are added in 1949. Levitt & Sons employ mass production techniques they had first developed on a defense wor ker housing community they built for the U.S. N avy at N orfolk, Virginia, during the war . To fur ther cut costs, they employ a nonunion wor kforce and offer no basements, instead laying the homes on slabs of concrete. Soon similar residential developments of uniform houses ar e found across the countr y, and the suburban lifestyle becomes the ne w American dream. Ultimately transforming the American landscape, suburbanization leads to the creation of automobile-center ed communities that driv e America’s increasing dependency on the supply of seemingly limitless cheap gasoline. By the 1950s and 1960s, suburbanites encounter a host of environmental problems, including traffic congestion, an ev er-diminishing supply of gr een space for which they originally had moved to the countr y, and o verflowing septic tanks that pollute str eams and other waterways. PCUL. The D isney Studio r ereleases its 1942 animated film, Bambi, the original reception to which had been hur t by World War II. I n rich animation that seems well ahead of its time, the film tells the story of a white-tailed doe giving birth to her fawn, Bambi, amid an enchanting for est whose main thr eats come from “Man”—a hunter, dogs, and a for est fire. In the decades ahead, the iconographic film and the

Twentieth Century

93

An aerial vie w of Levitto wn, New York, in 1954. A braham Levitt and S ons of Long I sland, New York, used techniques learned during the war to cr eate mass-produced tract housing to alleviate the housing crunch that accompanied the baby boom after World War II. This community became the model for the suburban lifestyle—one that would r esult in unfor eseen negative environmental consequences across the nation. (Library of Congress)

anthropomorphic sensibilities it awakens subtly nourish the animal rights movement and a rising concern for “nature.”

1948 LIT. O n A pril 14, for ester, wildlife management exper t, univ ersity pr ofessor, and wilderness enthusiast Aldo Leopold r eceives an affirmative reply from Oxford University Press regarding its desire to publish a collection of nature essays the author is then calling “G reat Possessions.” A w eek later, Leopold dies of a hear t attack while fighting a fire in the br ush adjoining the 80 acr es of abandoned, abused Wisconsin farmland he has been wor king for a decade to r estore. Family members see the manuscript to final publication, renaming it, A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and Ther e. Written and rewritten over a 12-year period, A Sand County Almanac contains brilliant insights into the human r elationship with the natural world that the author gained as a professional land and wildlife manager, as well as while working to heal the 80-acre parcel in Sauk County. He honed a lucid and eloquent prose

94


In A Sand County Almanac, Leopold makes clear the evidence that a land ethic was woefully missing from the mid-century cultural landscape, and elucidates the ethical terrain upon which a conservation ethic must be constructed: The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively, the land. This sounds simple: do w e not already sing our lo ve for and obligation to the land of the fr ee and the home of the brav e? Yes, but just what and whom do we love? Certainly not the soil, which we are sending helter-skelter downriver. Certainly not the waters, which we assume have no function ex cept to turn turbines, float barges, and carr y off sewage. Certainly not the plants, of which w e exterminate whole communities without batting an eye. Certainly not the animals, of which we have already extirpated many of the largest and most beautiful species. A land ethic of course cannot prevent the alteration, management, and use of these “resources,” but it does affirm their right to continued existence, and, at least in spots, their continued existence in a natural state. Source: Aldo Leopold, A S and County A lmanac and S ketches H ere and Ther e (1949; reprint, New York: Oxford University Press, 1987), 239–240.

style in years of writing for a variety of audiences. Also pivotal for the maturation of his ecological understanding was a two-w eek adventure in 1936 to a r emote area of Mexico called the Sierra Madre Occidental, one of the biologically richest and most undisturbed areas of North America. A Sand County Almanac combines vivid natural history narrative with a keen scientific acumen and the sage, ethical wisdom of a man who has penetrated the heart of his urbanized culture’s fractured relationship with the natural world. The book immediately becomes an essential wor k of literature in the genre of American nature writing. AIRP. From October 27–31, a deadly smog inversion occurs in Donora, Pennsylvania, a small industrial to wn on the M onongahela River 24 miles southeast of P ittsburgh, killing 20 persons and making hundr eds more desperately ill. The “Donora Smog” draws international attention and becomes a catalyst for federal action on the issue of air pollution. Because of its zinc smelter and steel mill operations, combined with its topographic position inside the deep riv er valley, occurrences of smog ar e not uncommon in D onora. This time, ho wever, a warm, thick poisonous br ew— carbon monoxide, sulfur dio xide, fluorine, and metallic par ticulate dust—becomes trapped in the valley by a layer of colder air above it. Darkening out the sun for five days, the inversion kills 20 and puts more than 600 of the town’s 14,000 inhabitants in the hospital. The tragedy in D onora shocks the nation and leads—slo wly, but inexorably—to federal legislative action to control air pollution.

Twentieth Century

95

One w eek after the incident at D onora, Time magazine, N ovember 8, 1948, offered its readers the following grim account: The first to disco ver that the smog had assumed peculiar qualities was a man walking home late at night. H e was seiz ed with a par oxysm of choking. But he had little time to r eflect on the fact that the fog had assumed an odd, penetrating odor . He sat do wn on the curb , toppled over and died. . . . By mid-afternoon nearby hospitals were jammed with people receiving oxygen treatments, and the R ed Cross had set up an emergency station. Firemen moved through streets with por table oxygen bottles. A state of emergency was declared and elderly people were warned to leave the area. But, in 36 hours, hundreds had become ill and 19 people had died. . . . What had caused their deaths? Medical authorities remembered that over 60 people and hundr eds of horses and cattle had perished during a heavy fog in B elgium’s M euse Valley in 1930; industrial gases had mingled in the fog, had gone through a series of chemical reactions and resolved into dr oplets of sulphuric acid. D r. William R ongaus of the Donora Board of Health was certain that his town’s tragedy was also the result of industrial fumes collecting in the motionless, humid air . Said he, bitterly: “It’s plain murder.” Source: “Pennsylvania: Death at Donora,” Time, November 8, 1948, http://www.time. com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,853334,00.html (accessed June 27, 2010).

WATQ. On June 30, the F ederal Water Pollution Control Act is passed. R ecognizing a federal role in protecting the nation’s citizens from deteriorating water quality, Congress passes the law to “enhance the quality and value of our water resources and to establish a national policy for the prevention, control, and abatement of water pollution.” The Act provides funds for r esearch and improved sewage treatment aimed at reducing pollution of interstate waters and for improving the sanitary condition of surface and gr ound waters. A ppropriations to carr y out the law nev er materialized, however, and the law pr oves to be impor tant only in the sense that it is the first to recognize that water pollution is a pr oblem national in scope. S ubsequent amendments in the years to come give it greater meaning. CONS. From August 17 to S eptember 6, the first United Nations–sponsored conference on the envir onment is held at Lake S uccess, New York. The UN Scientific Conference on the Conser vation and Utilization of Natural Resources brings representatives from member nations together, primarily to share information on resource scarcity and conservation issues.

96


NUCW. O n D ecember 2–3, at the H anford N uclear R eservation in H anford, Washington, 8,000 curies of iodine-131 ar e deliberately released into theenvironment. The infamous “green run” proves to be far fr om anomalous in H anford’s history, as radioactive materials routinely are released into both air and water over the course of the site’s history from 1943 through the 1980s. “Downwinders” exposed to the contamination (nearly 2 million people in all) kno w little of the dangers to which they are exposed from the production of weapons-grade plutonium at Hanford.

1950s SWST. Enormous growth in “convenience” foods (frozen and processed, in particular) leads to an explosion of plastic and paper packaging waste.

1950 POP. The population of the United States now stands at more than 152 million. AIRP. I ndependent scientists and public health exper ts condemn the U.S. P ublic Health Service investigation of the D onora Smog as superficial and too narr ow in scope. FISH. O n A ugust 9, the D ingell-Johnson A ct is passed b y Congr ess, imposing a small fee on fishing tackle, with the collected funds going solely to fund fish restoration and management projects directed by the states. IRR. The Ogallala Aquifer, an underground reservoir of water covering some 174,000 square miles and underlying parts of eight states in the Great Plains, irrigates 3.5 million acres of farmland. B y the year 2000, it will be irrigating mor e than 16 million acres. In places where it is 100 feet deep in the 1950s, the lev el will drop to 30 feet in just a few decades. Beginning in the 1950s, intensified drawdown of the Ogallala (much of it to suppor t cattle feedlots) will ex ceed the natural rate of the aquifer ’s recharge by tenfold. By the 1990s, many hydrologists are predicting the Ogallala will be virtually dry by 2050 at current rates of consumption. FOOD. American beef consumption is appr oximately 65 pounds per person annually. That figure will more than double by 1976, with profound consequences for the environment. By the 1990s, the energy- and water-intensive production of methanedispensing beef cattle becomes one of the largest contributors to global warming.

1951 NUCW. O n January 11, the N evada Proving Grounds (later N evada Test Site), a 1,350-square-mile area 65 miles nor thwest of Las Vegas, is established as a site for the testing of U.S. nuclear w eapons. More than 1,000 bombs will be detonated at the site over the next 40 years—more than 100 of them tested above ground for the

Twentieth Century

97

next 11 y ears. Radiation-r elated illness soars among people living do wnwind of the test site, as well as among nuclear w eapons workers and soldiers who came to par ticipate at G round Z ero throughout the testing era. Armed Forces Talk, a U.S. Army publication disseminated to soldiers who take part in the tests, r efers to the desert environment of Nevada and Utah that is subjected to the blasts as “a damned good place to dump used razor blades.” PRSV. The S ierra Club , led b y David B rower (1912–2000), and the Wilderness Society ’s Howard Z ahniser (1906–1964) v ow to fight a pr oposed dam on the Colorado Riv er that would hav e resulted in the flooding of E cho Park—an ar ea located inside Dinosaur National Monument on avid D Brower served as the Sierra Club ’sfirst executive the border of U tah and Colorado director from 1952 to 1969. H is tenure proved hisat the confluence of the Green and toric, as the organization became a leading and vocal Yampa Riv ers. U tah nativ e B er- critic of national policies it believ ed detrimental to the environment. (AP/Wide World Photos) nard D eVoto sounds the initial alarm in an ar ticle for Harper ’s in 1950, railing against the Bureau of Reclamation’s willingness to do violence to lands held supposedly inviolate in the public trust. When Brower becomes the Sierra Club’s first executive director in 1952, he makes stopping the Echo Park dam the organization’s priority. Alfred Knopf publishes This Is Dinosaur, a lavishly illustrated book that shows Americans the stunning r ed rock canyon landscape of E cho Park imperiled by the pr oject. I n 1955 the S ierra Club leads members on high-pr ofile riv er raft trips through Echo Park. Brower then pr oduces Two Yosemites, a film documenting the spectacular flora and fauna and sublime scener y of Yosemite with the par tially submerged and desolate H etch Hetchy Valley, which has been changed for ever by a dam decades befor e. That summer, 45,000 tourists make the trip to E cho Park; congressional mail on the proposal to dam Dinosaur National Monument runs 80–1 opposed. In the end, Brower accepts a trade-off: the Echo Park dam is deleted from the final version of the Colorado Riv er Storage Project when it is passed in 1956, in exchange for a dam at G len Canyon located fur ther down the riv er. Brower had never seen Glen Canyon, and once he does, he gr ows deeply despondent at having compromised away a canyon of equally stunning beauty.

98


LIT. Rachel Carson publishes The Sea Around Us, the second of her trilogy of sea books—and unlike the first (1941), earns both critical praise and an international audience. Characterized by a narrative that is at once exquisitely poetic and scientifically revelatory, the book wins a National Book Award and the Burroughs Medal for nature writing and ultimately is translated into more than 30 languages. In accounting for the threats posed to ocean life, Carson indicts “the arrogance of man,” a foreshadowing of the theme she fully develops in Silent Spring. CONS. President Truman authorizes the creation of the Materials Policy Commission to study looming and long-term threats of resource scarcity in the United States. The commission leads to the establishment of R esources for the Future, an organization of resource-oriented economists and researchers from other fields dedicated to finding solutions for natural resource challenges confronting the nation.

1950–1955 ANML. The Animal Welfare Institute is founded by Christine Stevens (1918–2002) with an initial focus on r educing pain and fear inflicted on animals used for testing as well as ending the use of steel jaw leg-hold traps. I n 1955 Stevens establishes the Society for Animal Protective Legislation (SAPL) to influence the legislative process. Under Stevens’s tenacious leadership , the SAPL succeeds in helping to pass doz ens of laws aimed at animal pr otection, including these legislativ e landmarks: Humane Slaughter Act, Animal Welfare Act, Endangered Species Act, and M arine Mammal Protection Act.

1953 AIRP. On November 21, New York City experiences a horrific episode of smog that kills more than 170 people; it will not be the last. NUCP. On December 8, President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his famous “Atoms for Peace” speech to the General Assembly of the United Nations. Eisenhower pledges that the United States will play a constructive role in harnessing the power of nuclear fission for peaceful purposes—energy and medicine, in par ticular—and do ev erything to arrest the spread of nuclear w eapons. Eisenhower calls for an international body that can promote peaceful uses of nuclear technology (the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1957). SCI. Zoologist Eugene P. Odum (1913–2002) publishes The Fundamentals of Ecology, the first and only textbook in the field for more than a decade. Odum pioneers the study of globally interconnected ecosystems. ENRG. Demand for r oom air-conditioner units ex ceeds supply, signaling not only the growth of F lorida and the American southw est, but also the incr eased demand for electrified climate contr ol nationwide—a tr end with ripple effects on the

Twentieth Century

99

environment: chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in air-conditioner units are (unbeknownst to Americans) damaging the oz one shield above the atmosphere protecting humans from excess cancer-causing ultraviolet rays, and coal-fired and hy droelectric power plants produce their own negative impacts far fr om the comfor t of air-conditioned suburban living rooms. SWST. Arthur Frank Burns (1904–1987), chair of P resident Eisenhower’s Council of E conomic A dvisors, states that the “ ultimate purpose ” of the American economy “is to pr oduce more consumer goods.” The statement goes to the cor e of the new “American Dream” that fully manifests itself in the 1950s: a nation bent on endless consumerism as a means to both personal happiness and endless economic growth. Advertising executives speak openly about the need to make American consumers (par ticularly women) dissatisfied and anxious about their pr esent stock of possessions.

1953–1959 PEST. Production of the pesticide Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) increases dramatically, fr om 38 million pounds in 1953 to 125 million pounds in 1959; other chlorinated pesticides come on the mar ket, including chlordane, lindane, and dieldrin.

1954 AIRP. S mog shuts do wn schools and industr y in Los Angeles for much of October. NUCW. On March 1, at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the U.S. detonates the largest w eapon in its histor y: a thermonuclear hy drogen bomb 1,200 times mor e powerful than the bombs dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Code-named CastleBravo, the explosion has a yield of 15 megatons (it was pr ojected to hav e 4 megatons), sending millions of tons of sand, coral, plant, and sea life high into the air and creating a cloud of debris 20 miles high. I t generates winds blo wing hundr eds of miles per hour toward inhabited atolls where white ash and debris fall fr om the sky like snow. What is intended to be a secr et test becomes an international incident as fallout from the detonation falls over Marshall Islanders, on Rongelap and Rongerik Atolls, and on the crew of the Fortunate Dragon, a Japanese fishing vessel that also is caught in the massive swath of radioactive fallout; crew members grow ill, one dies, and the U.S go vernment is for ced to pay $2 million in compensator y damages to the Japanese government to contain the negativ e impact of what many in J apan are calling a “second Hiroshima.” U.S. personnel also are affected: one scientist on a ship 30 miles away receives radiation; 16 crew members of an aircraft carrier receive beta burns and suffer increased cancer rates. Radioactive traces from the blast are detected as far as away as Australia, India, Japan, and the United States. Castle-Bravo fuels calls for a ban on atmospheric nuclear testing.

100


Lijon Eknilang, a victim of the Bravo test, described in 1995 to the World Court in The H ague the horr ors of the nuclear testing pr ogram for the Marshallese people: I was born on R ongelap Atoll in the Marshall Islands and I lived there at the time of the nuclear weapons testing program . . . My own health has suffered very much as a r esult of radiation poisoning, I cannot have children. I have had miscarriages on seven occasions. On one of those occasions, the child I miscarried was sev erely deformed; it had only one eye. I have also had thyroid surgery to remove nodules. . . . I have lumps in my breasts, as well as kidney and stomach problems, for which I am receiving treatment. . . . Marshallese women suffer silently . . . they give birth, not to children as w e like to think of them, but to things w e could only describe as “octopuses,” “apples,” “turtles” and other things in our experience. We do not hav e Marshallese words for these kinds of babies, because they were never born before the radiation came. Women on Rongelap, Likiep, Ailuk and other atolls in the M arshall Islands have given birth to these “monster babies.” . . . The most common bir th defects on R ongelap and nearb y islands have been “jellyfish” babies. These babies ar e born with no bones in their bodies and with transpar ent skin. We can see their brains and hearts beating. The babies usually live for a day or two before they stop breathing. M any women die fr om abnormal pr egnancies, and those who survive give birth to what looks like purple grapes that we quickly bury. . . . The story of the M arshallese people since the nuclear w eapons tests has been sad and painful. Allo w our experience, no w, to sav e others from such sadness and pain. I ask the cour t to consider the experience of the Marshallese and to give the people of our world what security you can for their health and for the safety of the envir onment upon which their survival depends. Source: Lijon Eknilang, testimony to the International Court in The Hague, President Bedjaoui presiding in the case, “In Legality of the Use by a State of Nuclear Weapons in Armed Conflict (Request for A dvisory O pinion Submitted b y the World Health Organization) and in Legality of the Threat or U se of N uclear Weapons (R equest for Advisory Opinion Submitted by the G eneral Assembly of the U nited Nations),” November 14, 1995.

Twentieth Century

101

PRSV. O n M arch 20, Associate S upreme Cour t J ustice and avid conser vationist William O. D ouglas (1898–1980) leads a gr oup of 58 hikers fr om C umberland, Maryland, toward Washington, D.C., along par t of the path of the former Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Prominent among the hikers are the editors of theWashington Post, who w eeks earlier had taken a position in fav or of a pr oposed major highway that would have destroyed much of the old canal corridor, a favorite hiking locale of Justice Douglas. The justice challenges the editors to join him on the hike, believing that a sojourn on foot through “one of the most fascinating and picturesque [places] in the N ation” will compel them to change their editorial position and help build support for the canal corridor to be pr eserved. It does. O ut of the 184-mile hike (which nine hikers finished, including D ouglas) comes an association dedicated to that goal, which comes to fr uition in 1971 with the passage of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park Act. NUCL. In July, the National (Nuclear) Testing Station near Arco, Idaho, established in 1949 to test the viability of producing nuclear energy for the nation, sends uranium-fueled nuclear po wer 20 miles thr ough transmission lines to Ar co, making the town of 1,000 the first community in the world to be powered with nuclear energy. AIRP. Another smog crisis in Los Angeles forces schools and many businesses to shut down for nearly the entire month of October.

1955 AIRP. The Air Pollution Control Act passed. Although the law declares air pollution to be a threat to public health, it leaves the responsibility for combating the problem entirely to state and local government; federal responsibility is restricted to providing information and conducting research through the U.S. Public Health Service.

Once again, in The Edge of the S ea, Rachel Carson displays her gift for revelatory insight into the power and wonder of nature: To stand at the edge of the sea, to sense the ebb and flow of the tides, to feel the breath of a mist moving over a great salt marsh, to watch the flight of shore birds that have swept up and do wn the surf lines of the continents for untold thousands of y ears, to see the r unning of the old eels and the young shad to the sea, is to hav e knowledge of things that are as nearly eternal as any earthly life can be. Source: Rachel Carson, The Edge of the Sea (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1955).

102


LIT. Rachel Carson publishes The E dge of the S ea, the last in her trilogy of sea books. OCCH. Nearly half the wor kers at U nion Carbide ’s nuclear w eapons pr oduction plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, are tested for unsafe levels of mercury in their urine. An estimated 400,000 pounds of mer cury somehow find their way into water ways surrounding Oak Ridge over the lifetime of this Cold War–era facility. FOR. Pressure from the housing, timber , and wood pulp industries and the E isenhower administration compels the U.S. F orest Service to incr ease significantly the volume of timber sales fr om national forests, from 5.6 billion board feet in 1949 to 8.6 billion in 1955. The timber harvest between 1950 and 1966 is double the total volume of the pr evious 45 y ears. The increased cut wr eaks havoc on a number of western watersheds in the years ahead. Logging roads, which increase erosion and in turn degrade water quality, also double in the period to 160,000 miles. TRNS. The building of the Long Island Expressway commences—a project that will cost $500 million and carr y about 5 per cent of the New City suburban ar ea’s 1955 commuter population. A study completed that y ear estimates that a mass transit system able to carr y 10 times the v olume could hav e been built for just $21 million. The inv estment in the highway signifies the national abandonment of mor e environmentally benign public transportation in favor of auto transport.

1956 WATQ. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act is passed b y the Congress. While authorizing an incr ease in federal grants for se wage tr eatment facilities and some additional federal research support, the law stipulates that addressing water pollution remains a state responsibility. TRNS. On June 29, the F ederal-Aid Highway Act is passed b y the Congr ess and signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In the largest investment ever in a public works project, the law authoriz es $25 billion for the constr uction of mor e than 40,000 miles of four-lane I nterstate highways. Interstates not only alleviate congestion (at least in the shor t r un) and spur commer cial dev elopment and economic growth for the next two decades, they also accelerate the ex odus from American cities, intensify dependency on private auto transportation (and oil), and contribute greatly to the pr oblems of suburban sprawl, including the loss of farmland and w etlands. Countless acres of asphalt parking lots in suburban strip malls and shopping centers will exacerbate tremendously the problem of nonpoint sour ce water pollution—the number one contributor to degraded water quality by 1970. ENRG. A t an American P etroleum I nstitute meeting, American geophysicist M. King Hubbert (1903–1989) predicts that American oil production will reach its peak between the years 1965 and 1970—a forecast that proves almost exactly correct.

Twentieth Century

103

His prediction for the moment of global oil peak production (“peak oil”) was a little less than 50 years, which was similarly accurate. His sobering declaration that oil is a finite resource and that the rate of oil pr oduction will enter a terminal decline fr om the moment of “peak” is not well received in a time of burgeoning economic growth fueled by cheap and seemingly limitless oil.

1957 NUCL. On December 2, the nation ’s first commercial nuclear power–generating station opens at S hippingport, Pennsylvania. Also, the P rice-Anderson Act is passed b y Congress, limiting liability for private operators of nuclear power–generating stations in the event of an accident. The law accelerates the construction of nuclear power plants. NUCW. On November 15, the New York Times runs a full-page advertisement that starkly warns of the dangers of nuclear weapons: “We are facing a danger unlike any danger that has ev er existed.” The ad is sponsor ed by the newly formed Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy, whose suppor ters include Eleanor Roosevelt, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and United Auto Workers leader Walter Reuther. LIT. Anthropologist, philosopher, and natural science writer Lor en Eiseley (1907– 1977) publishes his first book, The Immense Journey, a compilation of unforgettably incisive essays on the history of man. Often described as a “modern Thor eau,” Eiseley has a singular literary ability to penetrate, with reverence and wonder, the natural and anthropological history of life on Earth.

1958 SWST. The Bic throwaway pen is introduced, further signaling the disposable society America is becoming. CLIM. As part of the United Nation’s International Geophysical Year (IGY), scientist Charles Keeling (1928–2005) begins documentation of rising carbon dioxide (CO2 ) levels in the atmosphere from his IGY-funded research base at Mauna Loa, Hawaii. By 1961, he will hav e gathered enough data to illustrate that CO 2 levels have been rising steadily since the late 19th century. In 1963, the National Science Foundation will use the “Keeling Curve” to warn of a “greenhouse effect.” PEST. The Delaney Clause is added to the Food, Drugs and Cosmetic Act prohibiting for “use in food any chemical additiv e found to induce cancer in man, or , after tests, found to induce cancer in animals.” Testing animals for the carcinogenic effects of particular additives becomes a controversial provision of the law.

1959 SWST. Philadelphia’s “reduction plant” for turning organic waste into grease and oil closes; it is the last such plant in the country.

104


AIRP. California adopts the first auto emission standards in the nation, requiring the installation of a $7.00 device to recycle crankcase emissions through the carburetor.

1960 POP. The U.S. population is nearly 180 million persons, an increase of more than 18 percent in the previous decade. NUCL. On June 12, a federal cour t halts constr uction of the contr oversial Fermi-I nuclear br eeder r eactor at Laguna B each, M ichigan, just south of D etroit. The Supreme Court later o verrules the decision. A meltdo wn of the facility in O ctober 1966 appears to vindicate the facility ’s longtime critics who hav e warned of safety problems from the start. WILD. Wallace Stegner (1909–1993) writes “The Wilderness Letter” to the chair of the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission, then conducting a national assessment of the nation ’s growing outdoor r ecreation needs in the face of an ev erexpanding national economy. Stegner’s impassioned appeal on behalf of wilderness as part of the nation’s “geography of hope” later is made famous by President John F. Kennedy’s interior secretary, Stewart Udall, who frequently quotes the letter in making his case for wilderness preservation. WILD. I n November, the G reat Swamp National Wildlife R efuge in N ew Jersey is established after a long and tenacious str uggle of local citiz ens and wildlife adv ocates, and thr ough the political leadership of Ariz ona congressman Stewart Udall, who soon is appointed by John F. Kennedy as secretary of the interior. Critical habitat for migratory birds, in 1968, the r efuge becomes the first to be giv en wilderness designation. ARTS. This Is the American Earth is published by the Sierra Club in May. The book, which launches the popular Sierra Club’s “Exhibit Format” series, is based on a 1955 exhibit of photographs that had been mounted in Yosemite Valley. One-half of the stunning 50 black-and-white photographs of American wilderness are taken by Ansel Adams and the rest by other photographers, including Edward Weston and Margaret Bourke-White. With eloquent narration b y photography historian N ancy Newhall, This Is the American Earth is w ell received by both critics and the general public. I t resonates with the surging postwar interest in wilderness and helps galvanize support for its preservation among middle-class Americans. PRSV. On December 6, President Dwight D. E isenhower signs Public Land Order No. 2214 designating more than 8 million acres in the new state of Alaska as the Arctic National Wildlife Range. Biologist Olaus Murie (1889–1963) and naturalist and author Margaret “Mardy” Murie (1902–2003), who had conducted much of their scientific research in the Ar ctic, are instrumental in the 1960 action. M ardy would continue to work for wilderness designation for the area for the next 20 years.

Twentieth Century

105

With the successful persuasion of Olaus Murie and Margaret “Mardy” Murie, who had spent their 1924 honeymoon in the Arctic, President Dwight D. Eisenhower designated more than 8 million acr es of Ar ctic wilderness as the Ar ctic National Wildlife Refuge. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

1961 PRSV. Stewart Udall (1920–2010) is named secretary of the interior. His eight-year tenure (1961–1969) is among the most significant in the history of the department. Udall presides over the establishment of four national parks, six national monuments, eight national seashores and lakeshores, nine recreational sites, 20 historical sites, and 58 wildlife refuges. NUCL. On July 3, three workers are killed at the experimental nuclear r eactor west of Idaho Falls, Idaho. The U.S. Army ’s Stationary Low-Power Plant 1 malfunctions when one of the control rods is removed from the reactor improperly. This leads to a core meltdown and eventual explosion of the reactor, resulting in the first fatal incident in the U.S. nuclear industry.

1962 LIT. Social philosopher and environmentalist Murray Bookchin (1921–2006) publishes Our Synthetic Environment under a pseudonym. Bookchin ’s book (published before Silent Spring) attacks the dangerous proliferation of chemicals in the environment, as well as other environmental threats, but receives little notice. He is an influential figure in introducing ecology to the youth counterculture of the 1960s.

106


LIT. Acclaimed author and wildlife biologist Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring, in which she assails the r eckless and indiscriminate use of insecticides in the envir onment. Carson explains with exacting, scientific detail and in lucid, eloquent pr ose the thr eats posed to bir d life—and ultimately to humans—by the accumulation of Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and other pesticides in the fatty tissue of animals as they make their way up the food chain. The reproductive capacities of the bald eagle, the per egrine falcon, and other glorious N orth American birds have been severely damaged, Carson writes, b y the ubiquitous application of DDT and other chemicals in the envir onment. Silent S pring meets fierce and withering attacks from the chemical industr y, agricultur e officials, and others. M onsanto pr oduces 50,000 copies of The Desolate Year, a pamphlet por traying a grim futur e o verrun b y insects. Rachel Louise Carson, wildlife biologist and author of Silent Spring. One of the landmar k works of the Caron’s attackers go after her science as being anecdotal (despite 20th centur y, Silent Spring inspired national attention to the problems associated with unregulated use voluminous footnotes and indeof agricultural pesticides, inspir ed the DDT ban in pendent scientists defending the 1972, and helped launch the envir onmental move- validity of her wor k), her alleged ment that fully matured in the late 1960s.(AP/Wide left-wing politics (“Communist”), World Photos) and her supposed natur e-loving sentimentalism as an “ emotional” woman. Dr. Robert White-Stevens, a former biochemist and assistant director of the Agricultural Research Division of American Cyanamid, calls her “a fanatic defender of the cult of the balance of natur e.” Carson withstands it all with the sur e knowledge that she has produced an extraordinarily well-researched book that is no radical manifesto. Indeed, Carson does not call for the abolition of chemical pesticides, only their regulation and more thoughtful and discriminating application. As she writes, “Can anyone believe it is possible to lay down such a barrage of poison on the surface of the ear th without making it unfit for all life? They should not be called ‘insecticides’ but ‘biocides.’”

Twentieth Century

107

On April 3, 1963, CBS pr esented “The Silent Spring of R achel Carson,” in which the author of one of the most important books of the 20th century distilled the message of her book—and perhaps of her life’s work: We still talk in terms of conquest.We still haven’t become mature enough to think of ourselves as only a tiny part of a vast and incredible universe. Man’s attitude toward nature is today critically important simply because we have now acquired a fateful power to alter and destroy nature. But man is a par t of nature, and his war against natur e is inevitably a war against himself . The rains hav e become an instr ument to bring down from the atmospher e the deadly pr oducts of atomic explosions. Water, which is pr obably our most impor tant natural resource, is now used and re-used with incredible recklessness. Now, I truly believe, that we in this generation, must come to terms with nature, and I think w e’re challenged as mankind has nev er been challenged before to prove our maturity and our mastery, not of nature, but of ourselves. Source : “The Silent Spring of Rachel Carson,” CBS Reports, April 3, 1963, quoted in Jonathan Norton Leonard, “Rachel Carson Dies of Cancer,” New York Times, April 15, 1964, http://www .nytimes.com/books/97/10/05/reviews/carson-obit.html (accessed June 22, 2010).

Silent Spring’s impact is immediate. President John F. Kennedy orders an inquiry into the use of toxic pesticides. Issued in May 1963, the report calls for decreased use and eventual phasing out of DDT and other “persistent” pesticides because of their effects on the environment. Carson, in testimony on Capitol H ill shortly before her death in 1964, calls for a permanent independent commission that will determine whether new chemicals should enter the mar ket. Six years later, the E nvironmental Protection Agency is born and assigned that r esponsibility. DDT is banned in 1972. The earth-shaking upshot of Silent Spring, however, goes far bey ond the specific issue of pesticides: living in an industrial, technologically engineer ed society, Carson argues, comes with insidious and perhaps incalculable costs to the environment and perhaps to ourselves. Moreover, the book further shatters the postwar illusion that experts in corporations and the government can always be trusted. CONS. On May 24–25, President John F. Kennedy hosts the White House Conference on Conservation. OCNS. O n J uly 22, the Washington P ost r eports on the continued illegal ocean dumping of oil by large tankers—the greatest cause of death to seabirds.

108


1963 DAMS. O n January 21, just as the B ureau of R eclamation is closing the w estern diversion tunnel gates at the just-completed Glen Canyon Dam to begin filling Lake Powell, the indomitable commissioner of the bur eau and champion of western dam building, Floyd Dominy (1909–2010), pr oposes two additional dams as par t of its staircase of dams and reservoirs on the Colorado River. One will impound part of the Grand Canyon and the other is to be located inside adjacent Marble Canyon (made a National Monument in 1969). In addition to providing more power for the growing Southwest, a reservoir inside the cany on, Dominy argues, will allow tourists greater access to the canyon’s beauty by way of pleasure boats. Sierra Club executive director David Brower, still mourning the decision to allow Glen Canyon Dam, immediately vows to lead the opposition to D ominy’s pr oposal. B y 1966 the media campaign includes full-page ads in the New York Times rhetorically asking, “SHALL WE ALSO FLOOD THE SISTINE CHAP EL SO TOURISTS CAN GET NEARER THE CEILING?” The bureau ultimately surrenders to the opposition and drops its plans. NUCW. On August 5, representatives of the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain sign the A tmospheric, Underwater, and O uterspace Nuclear Test Ban Treaty banning the testing of nuclear w eapons in the atmospher e, in space, and under water . Following a determined effort by President Kennedy to overcome widespread opposition, ratification by the U.S. Senate follows and the treaty goes into effect in October. PHIL. Secretary of I nterior Stewart Udall publishes The Q uiet Crisis, a book that surveys changing American attitudes on the envir onment and calls for a r enewed commitment to conservation. WATQ. The Hudson River Fishermen’s Association organizes to confront the crisis of a polluted Hudson River. Ironically, the birthplace of much of the American natur e aesthetic in the early 19th century, the Hudson has been treated as an open sewer by a number of corporations, as w ell as New York City, which is dumping 1.5 billion gallons of raw se wage into the riv er every day. The fishermen decide to use late19th-century statutes—the Refuse Act and the Rivers and Harbors Act—to go after the polluters in court. One by one, they prosecute the offenders and collect citizens’ bounties in the pr ocess. It is the beginning of the r ecovery of the H udson—one of the most remarkable environmental stories of the era. AIRP. Smog is blamed for the deaths of 200 people in New York City. PCUL. Mutual of O maha’s Wild Kingdom begins airing on the br oadcast networ k NBC. Hosted by zoologist Marlin Perkins (1905–1986), the popular program brings visual footage (“in full living color ”) and narration of wild places and animals fr om the American West, the Amazon, and other exotic locations into U.S. living r ooms. The show airs from 1963 to 1988 and feeds the rising interest in a natural world from which suburbanizing Americans had become increasingly disconnected.

Twentieth Century

109

1963–1981 LAW. The Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference, supported by the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association, wages an 18-year-long battle with the Federal Power Commission and in the federal cour ts to stop Consolidated Edison’s plan to build the world ’s largest pumped storage hydroelectric plant into the face of Storm King Mountain near Cornwall, New York. The case establishes impor tant principles in the emerging field of environmental law, including the right of citizens to have “standing” in the courts in defense of the environment even when they have no economic interest at stake.

1964 WILD. On September 3, the Wilderness Act is signed into law b y President Lyndon Johnson. The act designates 9.1 million acr es that constitute the beginning of a national system of federally pr otected wilderness ar eas where, unlike the national forests, there will be no mining (after 1984), no timbering, and no grazing. U nlike the national par ks, ther e will be no tourist infrastr ucture, bey ond minimal r oads to get visitors ther e. The Wilderness A ct is the cr owning achiev ement of H oward Zahniser (1906–1964), a former F ish and Wildlife S ervice scientist who in 1945 became the executive secretary of the Wilderness Society, and Olaus Murie, a former wildlife ecologist with the Bureau of Biological Survey, who had become president of the organization. Together, they labor—as it turns out, for the rest of their lives—to bring the law about. B eginning in 1956, Z ahniser works tirelessly, writing multiple drafts of the legislation and carrying around copies with him and disseminating them to anyone in Washington who will listen. It is Zahniser who pens the bill ’s eloquent description of a wilderness area as a place “where the earth and community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not er main.” Zahniser tragically passes away a few months before the bill’s final passage. Federally protected Wilderness Areas have grown to more than 100 million acres nationwide. AIRP. Led by Hazel Henderson (1933– ), a group of mostly young mothers organize Citizens for Clean Air in New York City. Among other achievements, the group agitates for a New York Air Pollution Index to be broadcast as part of the local weather forecast.

1965 WATQ. Congr ess passes the Water Q uality A ct, cr eating the Water P ollution Control Administration. The concept of specific Water Quality Standards, already incorporated into law by many states, is accepted as the basis for federal waterquality improvement. With complicated and diluted enfor cement po wer accor ded to the federal government, and spare resources allotted in the form of federal grants for local and state governments, not much progress is made under the law. AIRP. Respected University of California–Los Angeles (UCLA) geochemist Dr. Clair Peterson publishes a study, “Contaminated and Natural Lead Environments of Man,”

110


offering scientific proof that pr e-Columbian humans, as w ell as mid-20th-centur y citizens of nonindustrial nations, show infinitesimal levels of lead. This indicates that high lead lev els in Americans and others in the industrial world ar e caused b y the ubiquitous presence of lead, particularly from two generations of inhaling tetraethyl leaded gasoline. P eterson’s testimony to a U.S. S enate committee r eveals industr ybacked evidence as fraudulent. ENRG. Middle East oil production exceeds that of the United States. SWST. Prompted by growing mountains of waste and new synthetic forms of waste accumulating in major metropolitan areas, in October, the Solid Waste Disposal Act is passed b y the Congr ess. The law authoriz es a range of sur veys, studies, r esearch projects, and experiments with new forms of waste disposal, but nothing in the way of recycling or reducing waste. CLIM. “Restoring the Quality of our Environment,” a report of the President’s Science Advisory Committee, includes the first executive-level warning of rising lev els of atmospheric carbon dioxide. OCCH. The U.S. Surgeon General receives a report from the U.S. Public Health Service, “Protecting the Health of 80 Million Americans” that calls for much greater attention by the federal government to the problems of occupational safety and health. TRNS. Ralph Nader (1934– ) publishes Unsafe at A ny Speed, a book attacking the American auto industr y’s resistance to installing safety featur es that could be saving the lives of countless Americans. The book includes a chapter about the automobile’s rising contribution to air pollution and the industr y’s r efusal to install emissionscurbing devices. PEST. Late in the summer , 60 scientists conv ene in M adison for a confer ence to discuss the latest evidence on the dangers of indiscriminate use of DDT and other pesticides. Among the findings: the reproductive capacity of the per egrine falcon, a raptor at the top of the food chain, is endanger ed. Thin, infertile eggs of the falcon most likely are being caused, say the scientists, by the bioaccumulation of DDT. TOXW. Intel founder Gordon Moore (1929– ) declares that the power of a microchip will double ev ery 18 months. As the information age emerges, Americans will—as “Moore’s Law” accurately predicts—turn their computers and printers o ver for new ones with startling frequency, rather than getting r epaired what are by then inferior models. The problem of electronic waste is born.

Mid-1960s–early 1970s WAR. I n O peration Ranch H and, the U.S. militar y dr ops 20 million gallons of carcinogenic defoliants, most notably Agent O range, on the rain-for ested lands

Twentieth Century

111

of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Agent O range will be r esponsible for untold catastrophic damage to the environment of Southeast Asia, as well as generations of severe health problems among the Vietnamese and American veterans of the war.

1966 AIRP. Smog in New York City is blamed for another 169 deaths. ENVM. Folk singer P ete Seeger (1919– ) founds H udson River Sloop Clear water, an organization dedicated to the cleanup and r estoration of the H udson River. The group works tirelessly to pr ess for the passage and enfor cement of the 1972 Clean Water Act. NUCL. During an October partial core meltdown at the Enrico Fermi Laguna Beach, Michigan nuclear power plant, officials are forced to consider a major ev acuation of Detroit. The plant closes shortly thereafter. ENDG. The Congress passes the E ndangered Species Preservation Act, authorizing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to purchase needed habitat to protect endangered species, and directing the agency to prepare a list of endangered species. Other preservation efforts in the law are voluntary.

1967 PHIL. O n M arch 10, Science publishes historian L ynn White, Jr.’s (1907–1987) important article, “The Historical Roots of our E cological Crisis.” Professor White argues that although the I ndustrial R evolution mar ks a significant technologically driven turning point in humanity ’s capacity to transform the envir onment, it is in fact Judeo-Christianity with its anthr opocentric vie w of man ’s dominion o ver the natural world that has most profoundly—and negatively—shaped the course of environmental history. LAW. The Environmental Defense Fund is established with a mission to defend the environment and public health by waging battle in the courts. Initial victories come over the spraying of DDT in Suffolk County, New York, and in Wisconsin. AIRP. The Air Quality Act is passed as an amendment to the Clean Air A ct of 1963, authorizing the secr etary of health, education, and w elfare to establish “ Air Q uality Control Regions” in ar eas of acutely poor air quality . States within those r egions are then responsible for establishing and enfor cing state air quality standar ds. The federal role in enforcement is minimal, paving the way for tougher standards three years later. ENRG. North America ’s largest oil field is disco vered at P rudhoe B ay on Alaska ’s North Slope. For the next three decades, oil from the North Slope will supply America with 20 percent of its oil (after 1994, it is sold on the global market).

112


1968 WILD. Inspired by three decades of dam building and the loss of free-flowing rivers all over the country, the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act is passed by the Congress. Seeking to balance irrigation, electric po wer, and other dev elopment interests with the growing desire of Americans for r ecreational opportunities and wilderness, the law calls for pr eserving “certain selected riv ers of the N ation . . . [possessing] outstandingly r emarkable scenic, r ecreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural or other similar values . . . in free-flowing condition . . . for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations.” Over the next 40 years, the statute will protect 11,000 miles of 166 riv ers in the countr y—one-quarter of 1 per cent of the total—a fraction of the 600,000 miles of river altered by dams. CONS. On July 26, P resident Lyndon Johnson presents First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson (1912–2007) with 50 pens used to sign the 50 conservation and beautification-related bills passed during his administration. Throughout the mid-1960s, Lady B ird is instr umental in popularizing the conser vation message and lobb ying for the cr eation and pr otection of national par ks and for the passage of other key environmental legislation. WILD. The National Trails System Act is passed in October, authorizing the creation of a system of national recreation, scenic, and ultimately (1978) historic trails for the recreational enjoyment of Americans. The Appalachian and P acific Crest National Scenic Trails are at the heart of the system that now includes more than 50,000 miles of trail. ENDG. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service makes its first purchase for the preservation of an endangered species—2,300 acres in Florida for the National Key Deer. POP. Paul Ehrlich (1932– ) and Anne Ehrlich (1933– ) publishThe Population Bomb , an impor tant and contr oversial book examining the dangers of unchecked global population growth to life support systems on the planet. The book sells more than 2 million copies and is translated into many languages. Although much criticized at the time and since then from all ends of the political spectr um, the book’s fundamental argument—that nations will have to contend with both population growth rates and overconsumption in the industrial world to mo ve to ward a mor e secur e futur e— remains central to the contemporary struggle over sustainable development. POP. Zoologist, ecologist, and population contr ol advocate Garrett Hardin (1914– 2003) publishes his seminal ar ticle, “The Tragedy of the Commons ” in the journal Science. Hardin argues that rational individuals thr oughout history have done what is in their o wn best interest when it comes to the use of natural r esources—grazing sheep in a common pastur e, for example—ev en to the long-term detriment of the survival of the community (the demise of the pasture through overgrazing). Applied to a world of nearly 4 billion people, diminishing and degraded natural systems, and disproportionate consumption of natural r esources, The Tragedy of the Commons

Twentieth Century

113

This image of Ear th was taken by the Apollo 8 astronauts from their spacecraft in 1968. The photograph immediately became an iconic symbol of a fragile and incr easingly endangered planet. (NASA)

has profound implications for future debates concerning global environmental policy on everything from fisheries to global warming. LIT. Edward Abbey (1927–1989) publishes Desert Solitaire, regarded as one of the finest works of American environmental literature ever written. Drawn in part from his experiences in the late 1950s as a seasonal ranger at Ar ches National Park near Moab, Utah, Desert Solitaire offers readers exquisitely detailed narrative descriptions of the r ed rock canyon countr y of the Colorado basin. With his inimitable sav age wit, Abbey also aims fire at the Bureau of Reclamation for having built Glen Canyon Dam and the N ational Park Service for overdeveloping the national par ks with too many roads and visitor services—what he derides as “industrial tourism.” ARTS. Urged b y futurist and counter culture pioneer S tewart B rand (1938– ), in December, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) releases the first-ever image of Ear th from space, taken b y Apollo 8 astr onauts. The image of a fragile blue planet floating in a sea of dar kness became an icon of the rising tide of the environmental movement. As poet Archibald MacLeish puts it, “To see the earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence wher e it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together.”

114


1968–1972 SUST. Stewart Brand publishes the Whole Earth Catalog, a trove of useful information for Americans wishing to go “back to the land ” and liv e more self-sufficiently. The Catalogs (they come out y early for a while) ar e especially valuable for those wishing to grow and prepare their own food, or install small-scale, do-it-y ourself alternative energy systems. The books become best sellers, especially for y oung counterculture hippies, several million of whom in these y ears are living communally and experimenting with more environmentally benign practices.

1969 WATQ. On the afternoon of January 29, a Union Oil Company oil drilling rig stationed six miles off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, suffers a blowout of an oil well drilled 3,500 feet below the ocean floor. The successful repair of an initial natural gas blowout leads to a massive buildup of pressure in the well, eventually rupturing in five breaks along the ocean floor. For 11 days, 200,000 gallons of oil spews from the Earth and spreads over an 800-square-mile area of ocean surface as workers labor to cap the breaks. The blowout spills oil on to 35 miles of southern California coastline and kills an estimated 10,000 birds. Images of the disaster help fuel the rising tide of environmentalism that leads to Earth Day the following year. WATQ. On June 22, the C uyahoga River bursts into flames five stories high fr om oil and chemical pollution. In its later cover story on the “Death of Lake Erie,” Time magazine calls the Cuyahoga “the river that oozes rather than flows.” With industrial pollution having flowed into the river for decades, the 1969 fire is not the first on the Cuyahoga; “strictly a r un of the mill fire,” says the local fire chief. Coming when it did, however, this one captures the attention of the nation and galvanizes support for Earth Day and the passage of stronger water pollution legislation. OCCH. O n August 1, U nited Farm Workers of America organiz er Cesar Chav ez (1927–1993) testifies before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Migratory Labor about the deleterious health effects of pesticides on migrant farm wor kers. In California, says Chavez, 3,000 children annually are receiving medical attention from exposure to pesticides ingested or inhaled while wor king in the fields of some of the nation ’s biggest agribusiness operations. For well over a decade, Chavez and his union engage in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience, including strikes, hunger fasts, and economic boycotts to draw attention to the farm workers’ plight. ENVM. D avid Brower founds F riends of the Ear th after he is for ced to r esign as executive director of the Sierra Club.

1970 POP. The population of the United States exceeds 203 million persons.

Twentieth Century

115

LAW. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), declaring “ national policy which will encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment,” goes into effect on January 1. NEPA requires that all projects of any federal agency or involving federal funding to any degree must undergo a review of the environmental impacts of the pr oject—an E nvironmental Assessment or an E nvironmental I mpact S tatement, depending on the scope of the activity . NEPA also creates the President’s Council on Environmental Quality to advise the president on environmental matters. LAW. O n J uly 9, P resident Richar d N ixon issues R eorganization P lan N o. 3 b y executive or der that pr ovides for the consolidation of the many federal agencies and pr ograms conducting wor k on public health and envir onmental issues into a new E nvironmental P rotection Agency (EP A). F ollowing legislativ e action of the Congress, the EPA is formally established in D ecember, charged with enfor cing the nation’s laws pr otecting human health and the envir onment. With responsibilities ranging from enforcing tougher clean air and water laws to the cleanup of hazardous waste sites to r educing automobile emissions to o verseeing the NEP A process, the EPA soon becomes the largest regulatory agency in the federal government. ENVM. On April 22, 20 million Americans celebrate the nation ’s first Earth Day. It is the largest outpouring of citiz en activism on any single issue in American history. Cascading ev ents that begin with publication of Silent Spring, continue with unbreathable air and dying lakes, and peak appallingly with the S anta Barbara oil spill and the burning of the C uyahoga Riv er compel Americans to par ticipate in Earth Day. Denis Hayes (1944– ) is the young Harvard law student tapped by Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson (1916–2005) to organize what originally is billed as a national “teach-in” on the environment along the lines of those organized by anti– Vietnam War activists. Several million students at 2,000 colleges and universities and 10,000 schools come out for Ear th Day to demand change on ev ery front—from clean air and water to food safety and wor kplace contaminants to wilderness and ocean protection. For the first time, Americans who have been working on their own issue for y ears begin to coalesce into something larger called “ environmentalism.” Although fueled by the energy of young people, the event gains support from across the political spectr um. As Hayes puts it that day in a speech in Washington, D.C.: “We are building a mo vement, a movement with a br oad base, a mo vement which transcends political boundaries. I t is a mo vement,” says H ayes, “that values people more than profit. . . . It will be a difficult fight. Earth Day is the beginning.” LAW. The Clean Air Act is passed and signed by President Nixon, greatly strengthening the original 1963 statute. The 1970 law dir ected the Environmental Protection Agency to establish tough National Ambient Air Quality Standards with which states and industry have to comply by a specified deadline. To reach those standards, limits are placed on all emissions, both stationary (everything from industry to gas powered motors used by consumers) and mobile. In addition, citizens can help enforce the law by initiating action against alleged violators of the standar ds. Finally, the law begins

116


the phase-out of lead from the nation’s gasoline supply. Although assistance is offered in the form of technical advice and grants that can speed compliance, enforcement is backed by stiff penalties. ENVM. The National Resources Defense Council emerges from the fight over Storm King Mountain (1963–1981), as a gr oup of y oung idealistic Yale Law School students join with the Scenic H udson Preservation attorneys to form an organization committed to enforcing and strengthening the nation’s environmental laws. PCUL. Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell (1943– ) records the popular hit single “Big Yellow Taxi” in which she mourns the “[paving] of paradise ” and r eferences DDT and other environmental issues of the day. AGRI. American agr onomist Norman Borlaug (1914–2009) wins the N obel Peace Prize for his leadership of the “G reen R evolution” that is transforming agricultur e across the globe. Recruited by the Rockefeller Foundation in the 1940s to help Mexico develop improved strains of wheat to improve its poor harvests, Borlaug succeeded brilliantly. With support from the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, the United Nations, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, Borlaug’s high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice are transplanted to nations ar ound the world that are struggling to feed their people. The improved food security of the Green Revolution is credited with saving the lives of more than 1 billion people, but it comes with a heavy price: the new crop strains are heavily dependent on energy-intensiv e and polluting chemical fer tilizers and pesticides, and they also often supplant indigenous, traditional, and mor e sustainable forms of agriculture that have evolved over long periods of time. OCCH. President Nixon signs the O ccupational Safety and Health Act in December, establishing an agency long sought b y Dr. Alice H amilton and other pioneers of occupational health. I n the late 1960s, U.S. P ublic Health Service reports documented 14,000 deaths annually in the American workplace, with 2 million suffering debilitating injuries. Pneumoconiosis, or “black lung,” is discovered to be epidemic in the coal fields of A ppalachia. Asbestos wor kers have long labor ed unwittingly in dangerous envir onments with no pr otection, and wor kers in a number of industries are exposed on a daily basis to hundreds of dangerous new chemicals developed since World War II. O ne study grimly pr edicts that of 6,000 uranium miners in the Southwest (most of them N avajo), 1,000 will die of occupational disease. The Occupational Safety and H ealth Administration is charged with cr eating rules and regulations aimed at improving safety and health in the workplace. ENDG. The U.S. Defense Department resists the Fish and Wildlife Service’s listing of the sperm whale as endangered (it used its oil in submarines). The episode builds support in the agency and the Congress for a stronger law. OCCH. After several years of organizing, the United Farm Workers of America sign their first contract with a major grape gr ower in California; the contract contains

Twentieth Century

117

provisions for pr otection fr om unsafe use of pesticides. I t fur ther bans the use of DDT, dieldrin, parathion, and other pesticides in agricultural operations.

1971 PUBH. On January 13, the Lead-B ased Paint Poisoning Prevention Act goes into effect, beginning the phase-out of lead-based paints from use in homes and in cooking and eating utensils. ENRG. As predicted by M. King Hubbert, U.S. oil pr oduction peaks at just under 10 million barrels a day. PCUL. O n J une 10, singer-songwriter M arvin G aye (1939–1984) r eleases “The Ecology Song (Mercy Mercy Me),” a poignant elegy to the environmental crisis. The song from the album What ’sGoing On reaches the top of the charts: Ah things ain’t what they used to be, no no Oil wasted on the ocean and upon our seas, fish full of mercury Ah oh mercy, mercy me Ah things ain’t what they used to be, no no Radiation underground and in the sky Animals and birds who live nearby are dying. (Motown Records, 1971)

ENVM. A small group of activists set sail from Vancouver, British Columbia, headed for Amchitka in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. Aiming to halt U.S. underground nuclear testing in the region, the group is intercepted before reaching the area. However, the publicity surrounding the incident helps compel the federal government to immediately stop testing in Amchitka, home to endangered sea otters, bald eagles, and other wildlife, and to later declare it a bird sanctuary. The incident sparks the formation of Greenpeace—an organization that will continue to center its mission on high-profile, dramatic, and often risky efforts to defend the natural world. PCUL. Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel (1904–1991) publishes The Lorax, a thoughtprovoking children’s fable about the for ces of industrialization (“ the Old Onceler”) and consumerism that lay behind the environmental crisis of polluted air and water. The figure of the Lorax claims the “ right to speak for the tr ees” and implicitly summons readers to do the same. SCI. Barry Commoner (1917– ) publishes The Closing Circle: Nature, Man and Technology, a landmark work that aims to get to the root of the environmental crisis. The Closing Circle is best remembered for the physicist’s articulation of four fundamental “laws of ecology ”: (1) E verything Is Connected to E verything Else; (2) E verything Must Go Somewhere; (3) Nature Knows Best; and (4) There Is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch.

118


NATI. I n D ecember, the Alaska N ative Land Claims S ettlement A ct takes effect, transferring 44 million acr es and $0.5 billion (fr om oil r evenues) to N ative Alaskans. Native land claims are dissolved and the way is cleared for the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline.

1972 DISA. On February 26, a P ittston Coal Company coal slurr y impoundment dam in Logan County, West Virginia, bursts, four days after it is declar ed safe by federal inspectors. Residents of Buffalo Creek Hollow living below the dam are assaulted by 132 million gallons of poisonous waste water. Of a population of 5,000, the disaster kills 125 people, injures more than 1,100, and leaves 4,000 homeless. In court, Pittson calls the disaster an “act of God.” The disaster highlights the larger environmental problems associated with coalmining in the A ppalachian Mountains, including the fact that 11,000 miles of riv ers and str eams in the r egion by the 1970s ar e severely degraded by acidic coalmine runoff. WATQ. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (“Clean Water Act”) is passed b y Congress, representing a significant strengthening of the earlier Clean Water Act. The law requires permits for anyone discharging pollutants into waterways; it establishes clean water standards that will be enforced by both the states and the Environmental Protection Agency; pr ovides funding for states and local municipalities to impr ove sewage treatment facilities; and empo wers citizens and organizations to file lawsuits against violators. It does not, however, address nonpoint sources, such as runoff from parking lots, which hav e become the largest contributor to water pollution in the country. Finally, although the Clean Water Act sets a goal of “zero discharge” of pollutants into the nation ’s waters by 1985, it establishes no technical and legal framework for how to achieve that objective. WATQ. The Great Lakes Water Q uality Agr eement is signed betw een the U nited States and Canada, leading to coor dinated action to r educe pollution in the G reat Lakes, particularly phosphates which are artificially accelerating the eutrophication of the lakes through proliferation of oxygen-sucking algae. WATQ. In October, Congress enacts the Coastal Zone Management Act to strengthen the envir onmental planning and management of the nation ’s coastal r esources, including the Great Lakes. CONS. In June, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment convenes in S tockholm, Sweden—the first major meeting of world leaders to discuss increasingly global environmental concerns, including the decimation of whale populations. The Conference notes the looming threat of the “greenhouse effect” leading to global climate change. SWST. Oregon passes the first “Bottle Bill” law in the nation, required all soft drink, beer and (since 2007) water containers to be r eturnable for a r efund value. The law

Twentieth Century

119

dramatically r educes r oadside littering of bottles and cans, and incr eases r esource recycling and reuse. Eight states follow in the 1970s with their own bottle bills. ECON. Limits to G rowth is pr esented as a r eport to the Club of R ome, a global think tank founded in 1968. Limits to G rowth is a monumentally influential study of “five major trends of global concern—accelerating industrialization, rapid population growth, widespread malnutrition, depletion of nonr enewable resources, and a deteriorating envir onment.” I ts lead author is American envir onmental scientist Donella H. M eadows (1941–2001). The main conclusions of the book ar e sobering but controversial: that current trends in the essential forces of the contemporary global economy ar e unsustainable; and fur thermore, the limits to the ability of the planet to sustain growth rates that are exponentially increasing will be reached within 100 years (2070). Attacked by many economists, the fundamental arguments ofLimits to G rowth endure, influencing emerging discussions of what comes to be called “sustainable development.” PEST. On December 31, the Environmental Protection Agency ban on Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) use takes effect. This follows three decades in which 675,000 tons of the insecticide are applied across the nation. The DDT ban becomes one of the first measurable success stories of the environmental movement: in 1972, there were fewer than 500 nesting pairs of bald eagles left in the lo wer 48 U nited States; by 1996, the Fish and Wildlife Service count more than 5,000. The numbers are similar for the peregrine falcon, osprey, brown pelican, and other bird species. PEST. The Federal Environmental Pesticide Control Act is passed, transferring the oversight of pesticide use in the United States from the Department of Agriculture to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It also mandates that all new pesticides have to be r eviewed and cer tified b y the EP A as having “ no unr easonable adv erse effects” before going on the mar ket. In addition, the F ederal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act is passed, transferring regulation of these toxic substances from the Department of Agricultur e to the EP A, where protection of consumers and the environment is to be given a higher priority in the terms and conditions of their use. PCUL. S inger-songwriter J ohn D enver (1943–1997) r eleases “R ocky M ountain High,” a hit folk-rock song that biographically tells of Denver’s love of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, and also symbolizes the environmental consciousness of the era. PHIL. Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess (1912–2009), inspired in part by Rachel Carson ’sSilent Spring and Aldo Leopold’s “the Land Ethic,” formulates a philosophical approach to environmentalism known as “deep ecology,” which poses much deeper questions about the human r elationship with the natural world than contemporar y environmentalism seems willing to ask. N aess argues that modern envir onmentalism ’s great flaw is its anthr opocentricism—a human-center ed vie w that r esults in action only being taken when human health or human enjoyment of nature has been threatened.

120


LAW. The Supreme Court issues its r uling in Sierra Club v . Morton, an impor tant milestone case in the dev elopment of envir onmental law, in par ticular the issue of “standing.” Mineral King, a spectacular valley in the southern Sierra Nevada range of California, had been worked over by silver prospectors in the 19th centur y and was left out of the creation of Yosemite and Sequoia national parks at the turn of the century. Mineral King eventually was managed by the Forest Service as a National Game Refuge and became a favorite locale for hikers, fishermen, and wilderness enthusiasts. In 1965, the Walt Disney Corporation proposed to build a large ski resort at Mineral King and received support from the Forest Service and influential California politicians. In June 1969, the Sierra Club filed suit against the proposal and won, blocking development of the r esort. The Forest Service appealed and won an appellate cour t decision stipulating that the S ierra Club—since its members would suffer no economic injury from the ski resort—has no economic “standing” to file the lawsuit. In 1973 the Supreme Court agrees, but only in par t, arguing that the S ierra Club can gain standing if it can prove that any of its individual members will have their recreational interests damaged by the resort. TOXW. A St. Louis, Michigan, chemical company accidentally ships a fire retardant made of polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) to a M ichigan Farm Bureau feed supply yard (in place of cattle feed supplement). P ublic alarm ensues o ver the subsequent poisoning of tens of thousands of dair y cattle, and the harm that may hav e come to Michigan residents who drank the milk. S tate and federal hearings, lawsuits, books, a BBC documentar y, and a television dramatization make this the first incident to provide significant exposur e to the ubiquitous but insidious scourge of hazar dous chemicals. PBB pr oduction is banned b y the E nvironmental Protection Agency in April 1979. OCNS. In October, the Congr ess passes the M arine Mammal Protection Act, and the Marine Protection, Research and S anctuaries Act—the latter pr ohibiting ocean dumping within U.S. territorial waters.

1973 ENDG. Eighty nations, including the United States, sign the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, considered by some to be the “M agna Carta for wildlife.” ENDG. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is passed nearly unanimously in December and is signed b y P resident N ixon. Among its pr ovisions, the ESA authoriz es federal listing and pr otection of endanger ed or thr eatened species—both animals and v egetation. It also pr ovides for the use of land and water conser vation funds to acquir e necessar y habitat for the pr eservation of listed species, and encourages cooperative relationships with states and private landowners directed to the conservation of endangered or threatened species. The new law allows listing of a species that is in danger in just par t of its range and listing of plants and inv ertebrates. It also

Twentieth Century

121

More significant than the decision inSierra Club v. Morton was the famous dissent offered by Associate Justice and wilderness enthusiast William Douglas, who spoke for the “rights of nature” and of the Sierra Club to speak for nature. The dissent helps to establish the principle of citiz en participation in forest management planning and citizen lawsuits over land use planning more generally: The critical question of “ standing” would be simplified and also put neatly in focus if we fashioned a federal rule that allowed environmental issues to be litigated before federal agencies or federal courts in the name of the inanimate object about to be despoiled, defaced, or inv aded by roads and bulldozers, and where injury is the subject of public outrage. Contemporary public concern for pr otecting nature’s ecological equilibrium should lead to the conferral of standing upon envir onmental objects to sue for their own preservation. . . . Inanimate objects ar e sometimes par ties in litigation. A ship has a legal personality, a fiction found useful for maritime purposes. The corporation sole—a cr eature of ecclesiastical law—is an acceptable adv ersary, and large for tunes ride on its cases. The ordinary corporation is a “person” for purposes of the adjudicator y processes, whether it r epresents proprietary, spiritual, aesthetic, or charitable causes. So it should be as r espects v alleys, alpine meado ws, riv ers, lakes, estuaries, beaches, ridges, gr oves of tr ees, swampland, or ev en air that feels the destr uctive pressures of modern technology and modern life. The river, for example, is the living symbol of all the life it sustains or nourishes—fish, aquatic insects, water ouz els, otter, fisher, deer, elk, bear, and all other animals, including man, who ar e dependent on it or who enjoy it for its sight, its sound, or its life. The river as plaintiff speaks for the ecological unit of life that is par t of it. Those people who have a meaning ful relation to that body of water—whether it be a fisherman, a canoeist, a zoologist, or a logger—must be able to speak for the values which the river represents, and which are threatened with destruction. . . . The Forest Service—one of the federal agencies behind the scheme to despoil M ineral King—has been notorious for its alignment with lumber companies, although its mandate fr om Congr ess dir ects it to consider the v arious aspects of multiple use in its super vision of the national forests. The voice of the inanimate object, ther efore, should not be stilled. That does not mean that the judiciar y takes over the managerial functions from the federal agency. It merely means that, before these priceless bits of Americana . . . ar e forever lost or ar e so transformed as to

122


be reduced to the eventual rubble of our urban environment, the voice of the existing beneficiaries of these envir onmental wonders should be heard. Source: Justice William Douglas, Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. 727 (1972), argued November 17, 1971, decided April 19, 1972.

authorizes funds for species protection and makes it illegal to kill, harm, or otherwise “take” a listed species. Affording protection without regard for the economic impacts such preservation activities might have, the law is interpreted by some as the most farreaching and “radical” environmental law of the era. By the end of the decade, nearly 10 percent of the 22,000 plant species in the U nited States are listed as endangered or threatened.

1973–1980 ENRG. U.S. support for Israel in the October 1973 Yom Kippur War provokes the Organization of P etroleum Exporting Countries to impose an oil embargo on the United States, Japan, and other western industrial nations in the hopes of changing their policies toward the ongoing Israel-Arab conflict. The embargo lasts six months, until March 1974, but the energy crisis looms o ver the country for most of the r est of the decade, spiking again in 1978. The embargo comes at a par ticularly bad time for the United States in that peak oil has just been r eached and an economic r ecession that has already begun suddenly gets much worse. As gasoline prices double, the auto industr y, which had not been pr oducing fuel-efficient cars, is hit har d, along with related industries. The energy crisis triggered by the embargo brings the first of many calls by an American president (Nixon) for long-term “energy independence.” Nixon names an “energy czar” to make recommendations directed toward that goal. In the short run, the federal government imposes gasoline rationing, a 55 miles per hour speed limit on the nation ’s highways, and y ear-round daylight savings time to conserve energy. In November, Congress approves the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act, clearing the way for the constr uction of a pipeline to bring oil fr om Prudhoe Bay to Prince William Sound. ENRG. On November 7, 1973, President Richard Nixon announces Project Independence aimed at liberating America fr om its dependence on for eign oil b y 1980. As it stands, 35 percent of the nation’s oil comes from foreign sources. Invoking the Manhattan Project, Nixon declares that American science and technology can achieve the task. OCCH. The first strike ev er waged primarily o ver occupational health and safety issues is fought by the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers Union against Shell Oil Company. Workers at the company ar e exposed to mor e than 1,600 to xic chemical compounds on a daily basis and still S hell refuses to negotiate wor ker protections.

Twentieth Century

123

The strike fails, but the event is viewed by some as the genesis for a slowly emerging alliance of workers and environmentalists that will begin to mature by the 1990s.

1973–1977 LAW. A major contr oversy er upts o ver the constr uction b y the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) of the Tellico Dam on Little Tennessee River. Planning for the dam had star ted in the 1960s, and b y 1973, constr uction is nearly complete—despite objections from landowners and Cher okee tribal leaders about ex cessive seizure of land by eminent domain, as well as arguments that TVA’s cost-benefit analysis for the project is deeply flawed. In August 1973, a University of Tennessee biologist discovers that the snail darter, a small fish listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), is living on a section of the river below the slated impoundment. This prompts dam opponents to file suit against the TVA, claiming violation of the ESA. When the case reaches the S upreme Court in 1977 in TVA v. Hill et al. , the justices or der a halt to construction. In his ruling, Chief Justice Berger declares flatly that “Congress intended to halt and reverse the trend toward species extinction no matter the cost.” Outrage among dam suppor ters prompts the Congr ess in 1978 to cr eate the “ god squad”—a committee with authority to ex empt species from ESA protection. In its first meeting, the god squad agr ees with the S upreme Cour t that the snail dar ter should prevail over Tellico Dam. The Tennessee congressional delegation then inserts a rider into an appropriations bill exempting Tellico Dam from the ESA, which narrowly passes. The TVA completes the dam; the snail darter, thought to have perished in the dam’s completion, is later found in greater numbers elsewhere.

1974 CLIM. O n June 28, two U niversity of California chemists publish the first peerreviewed scientific paper warning that r efrigerant CFCs (chlor ofluorocarbons) are breaking up the pr otective ozone layer shielding the Ear th from excessive ultraviolet-B rays. Left unchecked, the increased proliferation of CFCs, they argue, will lead to incr eased incidence of skin cancer and cataracts and likely will pr oduce global cooling. A t the time, the pr oduction of CFCs or CFC-r elated pr oducts emplo y nearly 2 million people in the U nited States. Their warning is r oundly attacked b y the business community. ENRG. On October 11, President Nixon abolishes the beleaguer ed Atomic Energy Commission and replaces it with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. NUCL. On November 13, plutonium plant technician and antinuclear activist Kar en Silkwood dies suspiciously in a fatal car crash on her way to meet a New York Times reporter and a union official with documents concerning ongoing safety pr oblems at K err-McGee’s plutonium fuel r od pr oduction facility nor th of O klahoma City. Although the evidence is inconclusiv e, many believe that her car was for ced off the road in an effort to silence her.

124


NATI. Congr ess passes the N avajo-Hopi S ettlement A ct, for cing the r emoval of 12,000 Navajos from lands jointly occupied under dispute with the H opi nation— the largest forced removal of Native Americans since the 19th century. The law clears the way for the full development of the Black Mesa coalmine in Arizona. Owned by Peabody Coal Company, Black Mesa holds the single richest deposit of coal in the nation, wor th potentially $100 billion. F or more than thr ee decades, P eabody has pumped more than 1 billion gallons of water ev ery year from the Black Mesa aquifer to run a 273-mile-long coal slurr y pipeline from the mine to po wer the Mojave Generating Station near Laughlin, Nevada. A second mine, the Kayenta, powers the Navajo G enerating S tation. The plants pr ovide w ell o ver half the r evenue for the tribes, but come with an environmental cost. The Mojave plant, one of the dirtiest in the country, will be shut down in 2005 for violations of the Clean Air Act. By then, both the H opi and N avajo governments will hav e passed r esolutions calling for an end to Peabody’s use of the diminishing aquifer for the slurry line. The Navajo Plant in Paige, Arizona, continues to operate. By 2010 it is the eighth dirtiest power plant in the countr y and is the cause of most of the haz e that often obscur es the vie w of the Grand Canyon. WATQ. I n D ecember, P resident G erald Ford signs the S afe D rinking Water A ct, charging the Environmental Protection Agency with determining standar ds for safe drinking water and ensuring adher ence to those standar ds in the nation ’s public drinking water supply. LIT. Annie Dillard (1945– ) publishes the P ulitzer Prize–winning Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, a penetrating and meditativ e narrative chronicling the turning of the seasons in the immediate environment of the author’s Virginia home. NATI. In United States v. The State of Washington, a federal judge affirms the traditional fishing rights of N ative American tribes in Washington. The decision follows several years of “fish-ins” staged by Native American activists and sets in motion the development of culturally grounded and scientifically sound fishery management systems on reservations throughout the country.

1975 FISH. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announces the r eturn of Atlantic salmon to the Connecticut River. It had been believed that the species never would return to New England rivers where they once thrived. LIT. On August 1, Edward Abbey publishes The Monkey Wrench Gang, a novel that tells the story of a group of beer-drinking, vulgar, environmentally minded renegades who set out to preserve and restore by acts of “monkey-wrenching” sabotage (including the ultimate prize—demolition of the hated Glen Canyon Dam) the last vestiges of wildness of the American S outhwest. The book helps to inspir e the formation of the radical environmental organization Earth First!

Twentieth Century

125

ENRG. O n D ecember 22, P resident G erald F ord signs the E nergy P olicy and Conservation Act, authorizing the creation of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve—first proposed by President Roosevelt in 1944. It also mandates the first Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency Standards (CAFE) on the automobile industry. WATQ. The Natural R esources D efense Council and the E nvironmental D efense Fund sue the Environmental Protection Agency over the failure to impose limits on toxic effluent. A consent decr ee in 1976 dir ects the agency to specify standar ds for 129 major pollutants.

Mid-1970s ENVM. The states of Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Colorado, and Idaho organize statewide resource councils out of concern initially for the rapidly accelerating development of oil and gas resources in the region. The membership-based organizations are composed of ranchers, farmers, and wilderness enthusiasts who work to protect grasslands, forests, and the scarce water resources of the West from damage caused by intensive energy development. In the wake of the energy crisis, one critic of energy development warns that the West is being turned into a “national sacrifice area.”

1976 PUBH. The E nvironmental Protection Agency begins the final phase-out of lead from the nation’s gasoline. By 1980 blood-lead levels in Americans fall 50 percent. DISA. On June 5, the Teton River Dam in southeastern Idaho collapses, killing 14 and wiping out thousands of homes and businesses. P oor design and failur e by the Bureau of R eclamation to account for the geological characteristics of the dam site are blamed for the disaster. SWST. Congress passes the R esource Conser vation and R ecovery Act, authorizing the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate and manage hazardous waste from its cr eation to disposal thr ough r egulation, permitting, and inspections. The law makes reuse, recycling, and reduction of nonhazardous solid waste a national goal to be administered by the states. LAND. The Federal Land Policy Management Act is passed by Congress, mandating “multiple use” management plans for the more than 250 million acres of federal lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management. Of concern to western states is the requirement that lands potentially suitable for designation as wilderness be restricted from oil and gas development and other extractive purposes until wilderness studies can be completed. ENRG. Energy visionar y Amor y Lovins (1947– ) publishes an influential 10,000word essay in Foreign Aff airs, “Energy Strategy, The Road Not Taken?” in which he

126


argues for a “soft” energy future undergirded by renewable sources located near the source of their consumption. FOR. The National Forest Management Act is passed, requiring the U.S. Forest Service to prepare forest management plans every 10 years and mandating citizen input in the planning pr ocess. The law is a r esponse to a suit filed over the agency ’s clearcutting of a national forest in West Virginia. TOXS. The Toxic Substances Control Act is passed b y Congress, establishing Environmental Protection Agency regulatory oversight of the disposal of hazar dous substances into the environment. TOXS. The Environmental Protection Agency bans the carcinogenic Chlordane and Heptachlor. OCNS. On December 15, the Argo Merchant, a Liberian oil tanker , runs aground off the coast of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, breaking apart and spilling nearly 8 million gallons of oil into the Atlantic.

1976–1979 CLIM. Drawing on a wave of new warnings from scientists, major ne wspapers and magazines write incr easingly of scientific warnings of the potentially catastr ophic consequences of the “greenhouse effect” on the Earth’s climate.

1977 NUCL. M ore than 1,400 members of the antinuclear gr oup Clamshell Alliance are arrested during their occupation of the constr uction site of the S eabrook, New Hampshire, nuclear power plant. ENRG. In October, the Department of Energy, proposed earlier that y ear by President Jimmy Carter, is established. ENRG. Earth Day organizer Denis Hayes is named to lead the Solar Energy Research Institute (established in 1974 as the N ational Renewable Energy Laboratory and in 1991 reassigned that title). AIRP. The Clean Air Act is amended. Under the New Source Review program, existing sources of air pollutants are exempt from emissions reduction requirement. The “grandfathering” in of old polluters proves especially important with respect to coalfired power plants. The law stipulates that any new major additions to old plants will trigger the application of tough new pollution control requirements; until such time, the plants can continue to operate as inefficient polluting facilities. The assumption at the time (wrongly held, as it turns out) is that utility companies will phase out the old plants over time and build new, cleaner, and more efficient plants.

Twentieth Century

127

1978 ENRG. The National Energy Act is passed, which includes the Energy Conservation Policy Act, authorizing grants for state and local go vernments for energy audits for businesses and homeowners as well as support for weatherization programs designed to improve energy efficiency and conser vation of fossil fuels. The law pr ovides tax credits to homeowners and businesses who install solar, wind, or geothermal heating and cooling systems, and also imposes a “gas-guzzler” tax on the sale of vehicles with poor Environmental Protection Agency–rated fuel economy. SWST. Polyethylene ter ephthalate (P ET) soda bottles ar e intr oduced and rapidly begin to replace glass bottles.

1978 ENVJ. Robert Bullard (1948– ), a sociology pr ofessor at Texas Southern University, collects data for a lawsuit on behalf of a middle-class African American community in Houston determined to stop the siting of a landfill in their neighborhood. B ullard and his students find that 100 per cent of the landfills in the city ar e located in pr edominantly black ar eas of the city , although African Americans account for only 25 percent of the population. It marks the beginning of the environmental justice movement that will wor k to educate and organiz e around the disproportionate impacts of environmental pollution suffered by peoples of color. ENVJ. B etween June and A ugust, mor e than 12,000 gallons of oil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are dumped along highways in North Carolina in violation of the 1976 Toxic Substances Contr ol A ct. S oon ther eafter, state officials purchase a 142-acre site in predominantly African American Warren County at which they pr opose to build a landfill to bur y the 400,000 cubic yar ds of soil contaminated by the dumping. I n 1979, opponents file two lawsuits to tr y to stop the landfill, arguing in part that the site has been chosen because of the largely black population of the area. When the lawsuits are defeated in 1981, opponents initiate a campaign of civil disobedience reminiscent of the civil rights movement. More than 500 people ar e arr ested in the episode. Washington, D.C., congr essional delegate Walter Fauntroy (1933– ) asks the U.S. G eneral A ccounting Office to conduct a study of landfill siting in the southeastern r egion of the U nited States. Its r eport, released in 1983, finds that African Americans ar e the majority of the population living in three out of four communities with landfills. TOXW. Niagara Gazette reporter Michael Brown begins writing a series of ar ticles about the emerging public health crisis in a suburban dev elopment of Niagara Falls, New York, called Love Canal. The long-abandoned 19th-century canal, once owned by Hooker Chemical, had been used by the company to dump more than 20,000 tons of toxic chemical waste that includes highly car cinogenic lindane, toluene, benzene, and dioxin. In the 1950s the local school board purchased the property from Hooker and constr ucted a school adjacent to the site of the canal. B rown’s ar ticles—and

128


subsequent sur veying of the community b y the ne wly formed Lo ve Canal H omeowners Association led b y Lois G ibbs (1951– )—sho w that r esidents suffer from extraordinarily higher than normal rates of sev ere birth defects and cancers, as w ell as an array of r espiratory and neur ological health pr oblems. Despite the fact that a public health emergency is declar ed by the New York State Board of Health, a conclusion with which r egional Environmental Protection Agency (EP A) officials and President Jimmy Car ter (in A ugust) agree, homeowners hav e to continue fighting another two years to have a responsible party—ultimately the federal government— assume financial liability and pay for the r elocation of nearly 800 families fr om the area. Occidental Petroleum (by then the o wner of H ooker Chemical) ev entually is sued by the EPA and is compelled in 1995 to pay $129 million in r estitution. The Love Canal incident brings the issue of hazardous waste onto the nation’s agenda. In 1980, Congress passes the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (better known as Superfund), compelling polluters and taxpayers to share the cost of cleaning up the hundr eds of “Superfund” toxic waste sites ar ound the country that are threatening public health.

1979 ENVM. D ave Foreman (1947– ) co-founds Ear th First!—not as an organization, but as a “movement” of individuals committed to a range of dir ect action strategies in defense of the envir onment. Foreman’s inspiration for Ear th F irst! comes after several years of working for the Wilderness Society and the Nature Conservancy and his belief that mainstream environmental organizations had grown too cautious and compromising with politicians and dev elopment interests. Moved also b y E dward Abbey ’sThe Monkey Wrench Gang, Foreman and other “Earth Firsters” become committed to a strategy rooted in biocentrism and a willingness to engage in direct action “in defense of Mother Earth.” ANTI. The Sagebrush Rebellion grows in western states, challenging federal ownership and envir onmental r egulation of public lands. D evelopment inter ests in the West, particularly cattle, timber, and other extractiv e industries, have long resented federal contr ol o ver w estern land (mor e than 60 per cent), and the wav e of environmental laws in the 1960s and 1970s—especially the F ederal Land Management Policy A ct of 1976—incites w esterners to action. Law suits ar e filed against federal regulatory power, action supported by corporate-funded entities like the R ocky Mountain Legal States Foundation in Colorado. More serious are threats and acts of violence directed against Bureau of Land Management officials, particularly in Utah over the issue of wilderness designation. NUCL. At 4:00 a.m. on March 28, inside U nit 2 of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant outside H arrisburg, P ennsylvania, the worst accident in the histor y of the nuclear po wer industr y in the U nited States begins. A v alve critical to the plant ’s cooling system malfunctions and causes par t of the fuel cor e to melt, triggering a series of additional technical and human errors and ultimately causing the release of

Twentieth Century

129

Cooling towers release steam at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Middletown, Pennsylvania. (Shutterstock)

more than 800,000 gallons of radioactiv e steam into the envir onment. The second, more threatening stage of the accident occurs when the r eactor’s emergency cooling system is shut off too soon. F uel r ods overheat and cr eate a hy drogen bubble at the top of the r eactor that ultimately comes within 90 minutes of catastr ophically exploding. While technicians worked desperately, widespread confusion reigns throughout central Pennsylvania as to exactly what has happened and what danger the accident poses to the public. R esidents first are reassured and then are sent conflicting messages from public officials about whether or not to evacuate (250,000 of them eventually do). PCUL. Two weeks before the Three Mile Island incident, a Hollywood film called The China Syndrome dramatizing cover-ups of safety pr oblems inside a fictional nuclear plant, premiere. The confluence of ev ents magnifies longstanding latent American fears of nuclear technology . Not a single nuclear plant is built in the U nited States for the next 30 years. ENRG. On June 20, President Carter installs solar panels on the r oof of the White House as a demonstration of his administration’s commitment to renewable energy. ENRG. The Iranian revolution and the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war a few months later brings another r ound of oil and gasoline price shocks, with gasoline r eaching $1.00 per gallon for the first time (the all-time high in real, inflation-adjusted dollars until the post-Katrina spike in 2005).

130


ENRG. In July, in what would be his eighth speech on the subject of energy , President Carter calls on Americans to see the connections betw een the energy crisis, their own frivolous consumption habits, and the urgent need to solv e a national “crisis of confidence.” NUCL. On July 16 at 5:00 a.m. near Chur ch Rock, New Mexico, on the N avajo Reservation, 100 million gallons of highly acidic and radioactiv e waste water pour out of an earthen tailings dam into the North Fork of the Rio Puerco. Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials in Gallup, New Mexico, test the Rio Puerco hours later 50 miles downstream and find radioactivity 7,000 times above safe levels. It remains the single worst nuclear accident by volume in the nation’s history. FOOD. The Office of Technology Assessment r eports that 100 per cent of poultr y, 90 percent of pigs, and 60 percent of the cattle raised in the United States are receiving antibacterial feed supplements that lower producers costs. One factor behind the increased use of antibiotics and gr owth-producing hormones is the rise of Concentrated Animal F eeding Operations (“factory farms”) that lo wer costs for pr oducers and consumers. PCUL. F ollowing the accident at Three M ile I sland, musicians J ackson B rowne, Graham Nash, and Bonnie Raitt found the M usicians United for S afe E nergy. In September, the three are joined by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band; Crosby, Stills and N ash; Poco; James Taylor; and other ar tists in staging five “No Nukes” concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City in suppor t of a non-nuclear future.

1980 POP. The nation’s population tops 227 million. CLIM. One of the worst heat wav es and droughts in American histor y plagues the central and southern par ts of the countr y, resulting in more than 5,000 deaths and nearly $50 billion in damage to agriculture. LAW. The U.S. Supreme Court, in Diamond v. Chakrabarty, rules that a genetically modified living organism—in this case, a transgenic bacterium developed by a General Electric engineer for the purpose of cleaning up oil spills—can be patented. The decision proves to be a landmar k in the emerging field of genetic engineering and biotechnology. PRSV. On December 2, President Jimmy Carter, joined b y conservationist Mardy Murie and musician J ohn Denver, signs the Alaska N ational Interest Lands Conservation A ct (ANIL CA), b y acr eage the most significant act of pr eservation in the nation’s history. Although it leav es 85 per cent of the state open to oil and gas development, ANIL CA sets aside with some form of pr otected status mor e than

Twentieth Century

131

100 million acres. The law establishes 10 new national parks and expands the size of three more, doubling the size of the nation’s national park system. It sets aside more than 56 million acres as federally protected wilderness, doubles the size of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and adds 26 rivers to the National Wild and Scenic River System. WLDL. A study commissioned b y the U.S. F ish and Wildlife Service, “American Attitudes Toward and Knowledge About Animals,” shows an ongoing shift away from utilitarian views toward those of greater empathy and concern for animal rights.

1981 CLIM. Congressman Al Gore (1948– ) holds the first congressional hearing on the issue of the greenhouse effects and the human-induced warming of the Earth. PUBH. Vice President George Bush’s Task Force on R egulatory Relief proposes to relax the U.S. leaded gas phase-out, despite the fact that the N ational Academy of Sciences had the year before named tetraethyl leaded gas the greatest source of healththreatening atmospheric lead. ENVM. Lois G ibbs, leader of the homeo wners’ fight for economic justice in Lo ve Canal, organizes the Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste, later renamed the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice, to assist communities across the nation contending with hazardous waste issues. SBRB. A poll sho ws that four out of five Americans ar e dissatisfied with the state of their lawns—this, despite the fact that Americans spr ead more fertilizer on their lawns than the entire nation of India uses to grow food for its people. ANTI. President Ronald Reagan names James Watt (1938– ), founder of the Mountain States Foundation, “Sagebrush Rebel,” and ardent foe of the federal environmental regulatory authority, to be secretary of the interior. Watt’s brief tenure (1981–1983) is r ocky and highly contr oversial. H e dramatically incr eases the acr eage of federal lands opened for drilling of oil and gas and for coalmining and suggests that federal lands—even the national par ks—should be privatized. One million Americans sign petitions calling for his r emoval. Watt is later indicted on 25 counts of perjur y and obstruction of justice related to influence peddling. ANTI. President Reagan names corporate attorney Anne G orsuch (1942–2004) to be chief administrator of the E nvironmental Protection Agency. In her brief tenur e (1981–1983), G orsuch champions a 22 per cent r eduction in her budget, r educes the number of cases filed against polluters, and softens enforcement of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. She resigns her post in 1983 after being cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over records pertaining to her suspect oversight of the Superfund law.

132


ENRG. In June, the Reagan administration announces a 90 per cent budget cut for the Solar Energy Research Institute and fires half of its staff and all of its contractors, including two people who went on to win Nobel prizes. ANML. People for the E thical Treatment of Animals is founded and soon becomes the largest and most influential animal rights organization in the world.

1982 NUCW. The Congress passes the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, authorizing the Department of Energy (DOE) to oversee the creation and operation of r epositories for the transportation and disposal of the nation ’s high-lev el radioactiv e waste and spent nuclear fuel. Millions of gallons of nuclear waste ar e being stored at locations across the countr y. After pr olonged study, the DOE announces in 1987 its intention to build a permanent nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. ENVM. David Brower founds the Earth Island Institute. SUST. The World Resources Institute is founded. The organization publishes biennially the World Resources Report, a compr ehensive compendium of the state of the world ’senvironment. TOXS. The Environmental Protection Agency confirms that the small town of Times Beach, Missouri, has been exposed to danger ously high levels of the highly car cinogenic chemical dio xin, which has been mix ed with oil as a dust-suppr essant on the town ’scountry roads. SCI. As the R eagan Environmental Protection Agency cuts funding for oz one-depleting chlor ofluorocarbon substitutes, a B ritish Antar ctica Survey documents the increasing size in the ozone protective layer over the Earth’s atmosphere. ENDG. After y ears of intensiv e petitioning and global pr otests b y envir onmental organizations, the International Whaling Commission imposes a ban on commercial whaling to take effect in 1985. TOXS. At the Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge in California’s San Joaquin Valley, scientists discover that heavy concentrations of selenium in the ponds of the r efuge have caused the deaths of countless bir ds and horrific birth defects and other reproductive failures in many more. The selenium had come from irrigation water draining from farm fields.

1982–1986 LAW. Court proceedings unfold in the lawsuit Anne Anderson et al. v. W. R. Grace & Co. et al., a landmark case involving alleged contamination of municipal water wells

Twentieth Century

133

in Woburn, Massachusetts, by W. R. G race and two other local companies. E ight families allege that the incidence of severe illnesses (particularly childhood leukemia) is four times higher than the normal rate for a community its siz e and has been caused by the dumping of trichlor oethylene and other chemicals in w ells linked to the municipal water supply . Although the trial ends with an $8 million settlement and no admission of responsibility, the Environmental Protection Agency later rules that W. R. Grace and another company in fact have been responsible for the contamination. The case is made famous by an award-winning account of the case written by Jonathan Harr called A Civil Action and a 1998 film of the same name.

1983 FOR. Months of protests by Earth First!—including peaceful obstruction of bulldozers, during which D ave Foreman is injur ed—lead to the cancellation of a planned timber sale of old gr owth forest in O regon’s Siskiyou National Forest by the Forest Service, and the area is subsequently incorporated into an adjacent wilderness area. ENVJ. Triana, Alabama, deemed by environmental justice activists to be the u“ nhealthiest town in America,” settles a $25 million lawsuit with the E nvironmental Protection Agency, Department of Justice, Department of Defense, and the Olin Chemical Company. This African American community has been poisoned b y DDT from the Redstone Arsenal Army Base. A 1979 Tennessee Valley Authority study shows that fish taken from a local stream have DDT amounts as high as 40 times the federal limit. TECH. A tobacco plant becomes the first genetically modified plant in the world.

1984 PEST. Cesar Chavez renews his call to boycott grapes because of worker exposure to pesticides, followed by a month-long hunger strike. TOXS. O n D ecember 3, a U nion Carbide Company fer tilizer plant leaks methyl isocyanate and other toxins into the air at B hopal, India. More than 7,000 are dead within days, and another 15,000 will die in the years ahead. Nearly 250,000 will suffer serious injur y. Damage to liv estock and cr ops is inestimable. U.S.-based U nion Carbide denies responsibility. WATQ. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 50,000 streams in the United States and Canada are dead or dying due to acid rain. TOXS. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that since 1980, 190 chemical leaks have occurred at the Union Carbide plant in Institute, West Virginia. ANTI. Ron Arnold (1937– ) founds the Center for the D efense of Free Enterprise (CDFE). Like the S agebrush Rebellion of the 1970s, CDFE is fiercely opposed to the regulatory authority of the federal go vernment and is funded b y large corporate

134


interests in the West. Arnold will lead the wise use movement that emerges in the late 1980s to defend priv ate pr operty interests and to generally oppose envir onmental law enforcement. TOXS. In November, an E nvironmental Protection Agency (EP A) study indicates that 403 highly to xic chemicals ar e being used b y hundreds of companies at thousands of locations, the majority of them posing significant health dangers to the public in the event of an accident. In October, another EPA report documents 6,928 toxic chemical accidents since 1980, killing 135 people and injuring almost 1,500.

1986 TOXS. In response to the Bhopal disaster and a spate of other incidents in the United States inv olving chemical exposur e, Congr ess enacts the E mergency P lanning and Community Right to Know Act as part of the amendments to the S uperfund reauthorization. Administered by the Environmental Protection Agency, the law requires companies to submit a Toxic R elease I nventory ( TRI) listing to xic or hazar dous chemicals emitted into the environment. Transparency provisions give the public the right to the TRI and other information about hazar dous materials in their community. The law further requires communities in which these chemicals exist to prepare emergency response plans in the event of accidental toxic releases. FOR. With the clear-cutting of national for ests having accelerated, the v olume of timber extracted fr om the national for ests reaches 5 billion boar d feet—a five-fold increase since World War II. CLIM. Polls indicate that 55 per cent of Americans hav e never heard of the gr eenhouse effect. SWST. On March 22 the Mobro 4000 , a barge loaded with mor e than 3,000 tons of garbage, embar ks from New York headed for M orehead, North Carolina, where the garbage is to be turned into methane b y incineration. Upon the Mobro s’arrival, the planned incineration becomes a scandalous ne ws story. North Carolina officials investigate and forbid the offloading of the garbage and Mobro is sent on its way . It heads south to M exico, and then to B elize. Denied dumping privileges in both countries, the barge heads back to New York, where the trash eventually is burned in Brooklyn. The well-covered episode highlights the pr oblem of solid waste disposal, heightened b y the closur e of mor e than 10,000 municipal landfills in the U nited States in the previous decade. Many observers point to the incident as being instr umental in improved recycling rates across the country that follow. NUCL. On April 26, the Chernob yl nuclear plant explodes in the U kraine. Fewer than 50 persons die directly from the release of radioactive fallout (more than half of which will fall in Belarus), but more than 4,000 will die prematurely in the ensuing years from exposure to radioactivity. The worst nuclear accident in history, Chernobyl

Twentieth Century

135

further undermines confidence in a possible r evival of the nuclear industr y in the United States. PUBH. The lead phase-out from American gasoline is officially complete. One study indicates that the ratio of health benefits accrued from the phase-out compared with the cost of substituting gas additives for lead is 10–1. PUBH. The Safe Drinking Water Act is strengthened by Congress.

1987 WATQ. Overriding President Reagan’s veto, Congress strengthens the Clean Water Act. Among the amendments is the first attempt to set standards for nonpoint source water pollutants. CLIM. The M ontreal P rotocol, an international agr eement to r educe the use of chlorofluorocarbons and other ozone-depleting chemicals, is signed by 24 countries, including the U nited States. Initially calling only for a r eduction, the agr eement is significantly strengthened in 1990 and 1992. ENVJ. P rompted b y the Warren County incident, the U nited Chur ch of Christ Commission for Racial J ustice releases its study of envir onmental injustice, “ Toxic Wastes and Race in the U nited States.” The report finds race to be the most important indicator in pr edicting where commercial hazardous waste facilities ar e located in the United States. The percentage of minorities is twice as high in communities with a toxic waste facility than in those without one. Some 40 percent of the nation’s hazardous waste landfill capacity is located in just thr ee sites—all in pr edominantly black communities in the South. SUST. Our Common Future, the r eport of the World Commission on E nvironment and D evelopment ( WCED), is published. The United Nations–sponsored WCED is convened in 1983 and chair ed by former Norwegian prime minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland. The commission reenergizes efforts to address environmental issues internationally on a multilateral basis and to join the str uggle of global economic dev elopment with the challenge of addr essing serious envir onmental challenges, such as deforestation, diminishing biodiversity, and global warming. The report ’sdefinition of “sustainable development” as that which “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” is widely quoted, adopted, and adapted in the years ahead by nations, businesses, and nongovernmental organizations increasingly focused on environmentally responsible decision making.

1987–1988 OCNS. The infamous “syringe tide” of medical waste washes up on a 50-mile stretch of the A tlantic O cean coastline in N ew J ersey, closing beaches and significantly

136


damaging the tourism industry. The source of the waste is determined to be the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island, by then the largest landfill in the world.

1988 CLIM. The U nited N ations E nvironment P rogram and the World M eteorological Organization jointly establish the I ntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to regularly publish assessments of the increasing risk of global warming and the likelihood and degree to which human activity is causing climate change. B ased on a comprehensive and authoritative review of all peer-reviewed scientific studies of climate change from around the world, IPCC Reports will be increasingly influential in moving the issue to the center of international discussions about sustainable economic development. CLIM. A summer heat wav e follows months of extended dr ought in many ar eas of the nation, leading to the deaths of an estimated 8,000–10,000 Americans. Fires rage throughout the summer and fall in Yellowstone National Park, consuming nearly 40 percent of the park’s forest cover. The events bring the first sustained national media attention directed to the impending threat of global warming. CLIM. In the midst of the summer heat wave, NASA scientist James Hansen (1941–) gives impassioned testimony at a U.S. Senate hearing on the issue of global warming. “The greenhouse effect is here,” he warns. CLIM. As NASA r eports a widening hole in the ultraviolet-pr otective ozone layer above the atmosphere, Dupont announces an end to chlorofluorocarbon production and the successful substitution of safer alternatives. ENVJ. West Harlem Environmental Action is formed in N ew York City ar ound a number of issues related to what community residents call “environmental racism.”

1989 FOOD. In February, the CBS news program 60 Minutes broadcasts an investigative exposé on the dangers of Daminozide, better known as Alar, a chemical widely used in the production and harvesting of fruit, primarily apples. The report leans heavily on a scientific report produced by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and peer-reviewed scientific studies showing Alar to be carcinogenic. Within months, Uniroyal, the manufactur er of Alar , stops pr oducing it for domestic sale and the Environmental Protection Agency bans all food applications of the chemical in the United States. The American Council on Science and H ealth, which received a sizable contribution from Uniroyal, wages a public r elations campaign to discredit the science behind the NRDC study and the 60 Minutes report. “The Alar Scare” comes to signify for conservatives and large corporate interests a reactionary regulatory environment driven by a gullible and fearful public.

Twentieth Century

137

NUCW. The D epartment of E nergy estimates the cost of nuclear w eapons production cleanup at $53 billion to $92 billion—an estimate that more than quadruples later on. WILD. Congress passes the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, authorizing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to work in partnership with state agencies and the priv ate sector to pr eserve America ’s r emaining w etlands. O f an estimated 220 million acres of wetlands in the United States at the time of European settlement, less than half that acreage remains. CLIM. Bill McKibben (1960– ) publishes The End of Nature, the first book written for a general audience on the subject of global warming. Masterfully weaving science with introspective narrative about the meaning of global warming, the book has been published in more than 20 languages. ENRG. At midnight on M arch 24, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker r uns aground on a barrier reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil along nearly 1,100 miles of Alaskan shoreline. More than 11,000 square miles of the Gulf of Alaska eventually are affected by the spill. What was then the largest oil spill in U.S. history causes mass death of fish, shore and sea birds, harbor seals, sea otters, and other animals. E xxon is fined $150 million, the largest fine ev er for a crime committed against the environment, although $125 million of that is forgiven for its cooperation and response to the spill. The company also pays mor e than $2 billion for the cleanup of Prince William Sound, and eventually pays additional compensatory damages to fishermen. ENVJ. R esidents of “Cancer Alley ” (the 100-mile str etch betw een B aton R ouge and New Orleans) stage the G reat Louisiana Toxic March to pr otest the to xic and unhealthy conditions of their communities caused b y 150 petr ochemical plants located there. Largely poor and African American, Cancer Alley residents attempt to bring to the nation’s attention the facts of their exposure to some of the highest emissions of toxic air and water in the country. ENVJ. The Indigenous Environmental Network is formed, a confederation of tribal groups and other indigenous peoples str uggling against an array of envir onmental justice issues throughout the Americas and pledging to wor k for a mor e sustainable future in keeping with their ancient traditions of respect for the natural world. FOR. Congress halts logging in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the last undisturbed temperate rain forest in the United States.

1990 POP. The resident population of the U nited States is nearly 249 million persons, an increase of less than 10 per cent since 1980. The mean geographic center of the

138


nation is no w in C rawford County, Missouri. Just over 5 million persons—about 2 percent—live on farms. In 1900, the figure was 45 percent. ENRG. A decade after having abandoned energy conser vation, efficiency, and research and development of renewable forms of energy, the United States consumes more oil than the nations of France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Canada, and the United Kingdom together. The emergence of the minivan and the sport utility vehicle—left outside the CAFE standards of the 1970s—contribute to stalled progress on energy, as does the fact that the total miles trav eled by Americans had doubled since 1970, to 2.2 trillion miles. CLIM. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issues its first report, indicating that human-generated carbon emissions ar e responsible for mor e than onehalf of the accelerated greenhouse effect that is warming the Earth. AIRP. The Clean Air A ct is str engthened by Congress, raising ambient air quality standards, strengthening auto emission standar ds, stiffening penalties for violators, and taking action to reduced sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides that are the leading causes of acid rain and smog. ENVM. On April 22, the 20th anniversary of Earth Day is celebrated in 141 countries by more than 200 million people, although critics charge that the event has been compromised by excessive sponsorship by corporations that cloak poorenvironmental records and that the event has placed too much of the onus for envir onmental progress on individual actions. I nterestingly, a Gallup poll taken in the spring indicates that 76 percent of Americans think of themselv es as “environmentalists,” and a majority are willing to pay higher taxes to do something about the state of the environment. ENRG. Following the Exxon Valdez disaster, Congress passes the O il Pollution Act. The law requires oil companies to hav e a detailed plan to contain and clean up the damage from any oil spills that may occur off the coast of the U nited States. It also limits the liability of companies in the event of a spill to $75 million.

1990–1991 WAR. D uring the winter , the P ersian G ulf War cr eates an envir onmental disaster thr ough both S addam Hussein’s burning of oil w ells and the American use of depleted uranium bombs, triggering high rates of cancers and other diseases among Iraqi children and U.S. veterans.

1991 AIRP. The National Acidic Precipitation Assessment Program, established b y Congress in 1980, issues its first report on the pr oblem of acid rain caused primarily b y the burning of fossil fuels that emit sulfur dioxide.

Twentieth Century

139

ENVJ. In September, 650 delegates from throughout the United States and elsewhere in the Americas attend the F irst National People of Color E nvironmental Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C. The event focuses on building a common agenda around environmental issues affecting peoples of color thr oughout the hemispher e and challenges largely white middle-class envir onmental organizations to confr ont the racial dimensions of envir onmental problems and to suppor t grassroots groups working on justice issues.

1992 WLDL. Congress passes the Wild Bird Conservation Act for the protection of parrots and other exotic birds. SUST. From June 3 to June 14, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (“the Earth Summit”) is held in Rio de aJneiro, Brazil, with 172 nations participating. The Earth Summit produces the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change aimed at futur e cooperation on global warming, leading ultimately to the 1997 K yoto Protocol. The Summit also pr oduces Agenda 21: the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, a statement of 27 principles to guide the future of sustainable development around the world. President George H. W. Bush signs the Conv ention on Climate Change only after the document eliminates timetables and mandator y targets for emissions r eduction. He refuses to sign the Framework Convention on B iological Diversity, a blueprint for action to conserve and sustainably use the world’s diminishing plant and animal species. NUCW. R ockwell I nternational, operator of the D epartment of E nergy’s R ocky Flats, Colorado nuclear weapons plant, is charged with violating several environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The corporation later pleads guilty and pays $18.5 million, the largest fine for an environmental crime in U.S. history.

1993 TOXS. The Environmental Protection Agency designates passive second-hand cigarette smoke a carcinogen. FOOD. The Food and D rug Administration r ules that M onsanto and other U.S. companies are free to market genetically modified (GM) seed, asserting that there is no danger to human health from GM foods. FOR. O n A pril 2, P resident B ill Clinton, Vice President Al G ore, and the heads of sev eral federal agencies attend a national for est planning summit meeting in Portland, Oregon. The struggle between logging inter ests and wilderness adv ocates had been triggered by the 1990 endanger ed species listing of the N orthern Spotted Owl, whose habitat had been sev erely affected by accelerated logging of old gr owth

140


forest in the P acific N orthwest—the hear t of the nation ’s r emaining old gr owth. The summit pr oduces the N orthwest Forest P lan, which aims to “ produce a pr edictable and sustainable level of timber sales and non-timber r esources that will not degrade or destroy the environment.” ENVJ. In September, the Environmental Protection Agency establishes the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council to help the agency begin to address issues of environmental justice. PUBH. Contamination of M ilwaukee’s drinking water kills mor e than 100 people and makes 400,000 sick. The cause is the parasite Cryptosporidium, believed to have penetrated the city water supply from dairy cow manure.

1994 INL. O n J anuary 1, the N orth American F ree Trade Agr eement goes into effect, creating the largest trading bloc in the world among the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The agr eement’s w eak envir onmental safeguar ds trigger opposition fr om nearly all environmental organizations. ENVJ. On February 11, President Bill Clinton issues E xecutive Order No. 12898, which encompasses a series of actions to be undertaken by federal agencies to address issues of envir onmental justice—fr om dispr oportionate impacts of emissions and toxic waste dump siting to Native American fishing rights. FOOD. The Flavr Savr tomato, the world ’s first genetically modified food, is sold commercially. The injection of an antisense gene allows the fruit to ripen on the vine and still retain its firmness. The bioengineered tomato, says its developer, will allow for an extended shelf life but retain a conventionally grown tomato’s flavorful qualities.

1995 CLIM. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issues its second r eport, concluding that carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide emission increases over the past two centuries hav e contributed to an accelerated warming of the Ear th’s temperatures. Failure to reduce emissions, the report warns, will result in severe longterm impacts. R eports of the br eak-up of ice shelv es in the polar r egions begin to move public opinion on the issue. WLDL. In mid-January, 70 years after their extirpation from hunting and state and federal pr edator contr ol pr ograms, canis lupus— the gray wolf—is r eintroduced to Yellowstone N ational P ark. S ixty-six wolv es, captur ed fr om ar eas of Canada, ar e introduced into Yellowstone and adjacent ar eas of I daho as a way of r estoring the ecological health, stability, and integrity of the region. Since the demise of the wolf in 1926, elk and deer populations have soared, grasslands have been badly abused, and

Twentieth Century

141

other ripple effects through the ecosystem hav e occurred. Biologists first proposed the return of the wolf in the late 1960s, but resistance from cattlemen fearful of wolf depredations of their stock slow the process of reintroduction. OCCH. The E nvironmental P rotection Agency (EP A) enacts tougher pr otective provisions for farm wor kers exposed to pesticides. B ecause of v ery poor r eporting requirements and fear of reporting among unorganized farm workers, the EPA’s estimate for the number of pesticide poisonings v aries from as lo w as 20,000 wor kers poisoned to as many as 300,000.

Mid-1990s ANTI. A conservative think tank founded in 1984, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) begins working to actively promote the notion in Washington, D.C., and throughout the media that global warming is a “ myth.” They are largely successful, as polls taken for the next decade or more show that Americans believe scientists are divided on the question of global warming and its anthropogenic acceleration, when in fact a clear and overwhelming consensus has emerged. The CEI is funded by such industry giants as ExxonMobil, IBM, the Ford Motor Company, and the American Petroleum Institute. WATQ. O n June 21, 25 million gallons of liquefied hog manur e spe w out of an eight-acre hog waste lagoon from a factory farm in North Carolina. The manure spills into the New River, killing an estimated 10 million fish and closing 364,000 acres of coastal wetlands to shell fishing. From 1995 to 1998, an additional 1,000 more spills or incidents at livestock feedlots in 10 states will kill an additional 13 million fish.

1996 FOOD. Congress amends the 1906 Meat Inspection Act to address the threat of E. coli bacteria and Mad Cow Disease. FOOD. The F ood Q uality P rotection A ct is passed and signed b y P resident B ill Clinton, toughening safety standar ds and r egulatory review of pesticides. P esticide registration requirements are strengthened by the law, as are pesticide tolerance levels for infants and children. PEST. Monsanto introduces the first of its genetically modified “Roundup Ready” crops designed to tolerate heavy doses of its most popular herbicide—despite mounting scientific evidence that Roundup is not, contrary to company advertising, “as safe as table salt.” PRSV. President Bill Clinton uses the 1906 Antiquities A ct to declar e 1.9 million square acr es of stunning southern U tah r ed r ock cany ons and mesas a national monument.

142


AIRP. The 25th annual r eport of the E nvironmental P rotection Agency on air pollution trends shows a significant decrease (ranging from 12 to 44 percent) in the emissions of carbon mono xide, lead, oz one, par ticulate matter, and sulfur dio xide into the nation’s air. WATQ. The Safe Drinking Water Act is amended b y Congress; one of its pr ovisions affords the public a right to kno w about contaminants in the public water supply.

1997 CLIM. On December 11, the Kyoto Protocol is formally adopted. The international treaty ultimately signed and ratified by 187 nations calls for “ stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmospher e at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic inter ference with the climate system. ” The K yoto Protocol aims at reduction of gr eenhouse gases b y 55 industrial nations, specifically calling on the United States to reduce its emissions by 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. President Clinton signs the pr otocol in 1998 but does not submit it for ratification to the Senate because that body passes a r esolution stipulating it cannot suppor t the treaty without any reciprocal obligations on the part of developing countries. At the time, the United States, constituting 4 percent of the world’s population, contributes 25 percent of the world’s emissions. FOR. O n D ecember 10, J ulia B utterfly H ill (1974– ) climbs a 180-foot-tall, California Redwood tree to pr event the P acific Lumber Company fr om cutting it down. With support from friends and allies in the envir onmental community, Hill lives in the 1,500-year-old Redwood she affectionately names “Luna” until December 18, 1999. Following an agreement reached with Pacific Lumber to save the tree and a three-acre buffer around it, Luna suffers a deep gash from vandals using a chainsaw; valiant efforts to heal the tr ee are successful. I n 2000, H ill published The Legacy of Luna, a moving account of the two years she spent atop Luna. SCI. B iologist and cancer sur vivor S andra S teingraber (1959– ) publishes Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at C ancer and the E nvironment. Writing in the tradition of Rachel Carson, S teingraber’s analysis of the links betw een cancer and the environment is at once scientifically w ell documented and beautifully ev ocative. It is the first comprehensive attempt to use Toxic Release Inventory data to tr y to understand the environmental causes of various kinds of cancers around the country. Citing E nvironmental P rotection Agency studies, S teingraber notes that less than one-quarter of the thousands of chemicals in commer cial use have ever been tested for their safety to the public. As an adopted daughter of Illinois and two-time cancer victim (with no cancer in her biological family), Steingraber directs special attention to the 54 million pounds of agricultural pesticides pour ed onto 99 per cent of the farm fields of her home state, and their possible connections to clusters of par ticular cancers in certain watersheds.

Twentieth Century

143

1998 TECH. The first draft of the human genome map is produced.

1999 NUCW. At 4:00 a.m. on M arch 26, the first shipment of “ transuranic” radioactive waste arrives from Los Alamos Laboratory at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N ew M exico. D espite pr otests fr om local r esidents and warnings from scientists, waste from a number of nuclear weapons production facilities will be shipped to WIPP for storage for the next 10,000 years. BIOD. The Worldwatch Institute reports that 7 out of 10 scientists believ e planet Earth is experiencing the largest mass extinction of species in history. ENVM. In November, thousands of environmental, labor, and other activists descend on Seattle to stage antiglobalization protests to coincide with the third meeting of the World Trade Organization. The forces of globalization are viewed by millions around the world as detrimental to worker rights and to the environment. WATQ. In September, Hurricane Floyd hits, causing five manure lagoons from livestock feeding operations in North Carolina to burst. PUBH. After a decade of Americans embracing the fashionable tr end of drinking bottled water, a Natural Resources Defense Council study finds that fully one-third of the 103 brands of bottled water it tested are contaminated with traces of synthetic chemicals, bacteria, and arsenic.

TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY 2000 POP. The U.S. Census Bureau reports a resident population of more than 281 million. Three-quarters of the American workforce drive to work alone. SCI. A draft of the Human Genome Project, an international research effort to map and understand the genetic makeup of human beings, is completed. AIRP. A study by the California Environmental Protection Agency shows that using one gas-powered leaf blo wer for 30 minutes generates as much hy drocarbon pollution as driving a car 7,700 miles at 30 miles per hour. FOOD. O n A ugust 18, a jur y in a F lorida state cour t r ules that a local F ox TV affiliate had fired two of its reporters for their award-winning reporting on the health effects of the synthetic Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH) that is insidiously injected into dairy cows and enters much of the American milk supply . The jury rules that producers had falsified and manipulated the reporters’ coverage under pressure from Monsanto, the manufacturer of BGH, and that their thr eat to take the information public resulted in efforts to pay them off and ultimately their dismissal. ENRG. On October 11, more than 300 million gallons of coal waste sludge pours into the Tug Fork and other tributaries of the B ig Sandy River near Inez, Kentucky, destroying mor e than 100 miles of water ways and thr eatening public health. The slurry contains poisonous heavy metals and co vers a 60-mile long ar ea leading to the Ohio River. An inv estigation led b y Jack Sparado of the N ational Mine Safety and H ealth A cademy r eveals that M assey Coal Company , o wner and operator of the impoundment dam that collapsed and released the waste, knew about structural problems at the site. I n the midst of his inv estigation, George W. Bush takes office and the inquir y is terminated abr uptly. As the CBS pr ogram 60 M inutes reveals, Sparado and his boss are fired by Bush administration officials who have close ties to the coal industry.

146


PRSV. With the administration of G eorge W. B ush pr eparing to take office, on January 11 President Bill Clinton establishes thr ee national monuments in Ariz ona and California, bringing his total to 17, encompassing a total acr eage of 4.6 million acres. In addition, on January 12, Clinton issues Forest Service regulations that have been 30 years in the making to permanently pr otect 58 million acr es of designated “roadless” national for est lands fr om logging and r oad building. P olls sho w that 76 percent of Americans suppor t Clinton’s action. H e leaves office with one of the strongest land preservation records in U.S. history. WLDL. In October, a National Park Service plan is released that will allow the continued killing of the Yellowstone National Park bison herd by the Montana Department of Livestock. Driving the decision ar e fears that par k bison, which wander to lo wer elevations and share cattle grazing land during winter, will infect Montana cattle herds with brucellosis. More than 1,100 buffalo had been killed in the 1996–1997 winter.

2001 CLIM. President George W. Bush renounces the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. ANTI. The administration of G eorge W. Bush is staffed heavily with cabinet secr etaries, top officials, and mid-lev el managers who come dir ectly from industries and corporations with some of the worst envir onmental records in American industr y. Led by President Bush, they will compile what ev ery environmental organization in the country calls the most procorporation, antienvironmental record in U.S. history. From the rollback of the Clinton “roadless rule” in the national forests to the suspension of ne w standards for arsenic in drinking water to r elaxing standards for safety on offshore drilling to consistent opposition to taking aggr essive action to combat global warming, the r ecord stands apar t from every administration of either par ty that has pr eceded it. The administration, with enthusiastic suppor t fr om congr essional Republicans, roll back hundreds of regulatory provisions of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Superfund, Right to Kno w Act, Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal P rotection A ct, sustainable for est management, wilderness pr otection, mine safety, oil drilling safety , drinking water purity , and the O ccupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), to name a few. ENRG. In May, the national energy plan of the Bush administration is released. Generated during a series of secret meetings convened by Vice President Dick Cheney, the plan calls for scor es of new coal- and oil-fired power plants, a r evival of the nuclear industry, and more oil and gas drilling on public lands. Renewable energy research is deemphasized. Cheney declares that “conservation may be a sign of personal vir tue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy.” ENRG. The spor t utility v ehicle (SUV ) now makes up mor e than half of all ne w vehicle sales—despite their poor safety record, inefficient and polluting engines, and poor gas mileage. With heavy lobbying pressure from Detroit’s automakers, the SUV

Twenty-First Century

147

is classified in the 1980s by the Environmental Protection Agency as a “light truck,” not subject to the automobile CAFE fuel standar ds of the 1970s. SUV dominance of the American auto industry drags average fuel efficiency downward two miles per gallon to 23.9 from its high in the mid-1980s. CLIM. In June, NASA satellite imagery shows alarming shrinkage in the size of glaciers around the world over several decades. PUBH. On September 18—one week following the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and New York City’s World Trade Center—Bush EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman states that she is “glad to reassure the people of New York . . . that their air is safe to breathe and the water is safe to drink.” In the ensuing weeks and months, it becomes increasingly clear that the assurances of Whitman and other officials in New York City ar e incorr ect. I ndependent scientific analyses document that the thousands of tons of smoldering r uins of the Twin Towers are emitting more than 2,000 contaminants—many of them highly to xic—into the lungs of firemen and other emergency personnel, debris cleanup crews, and residents of lower Manhattan.

2002 CLIM. From January 31 to March 7, the Larsen B sector of the Antar ctic Ice Shelf breaks off and collapses into the sea. R oughly the size of the state of Rhode I sland, the rapid disintegration of Larsen B alarms many climatologists who see it as a sign of the accelerating pace of global warming. I n the Arctic, scientists report a 10 percent loss of sea ice since the early 1970s. ENVJ. O n F ebruary 22, a jur y finds M onsanto guilty of poisoning the to wn of Anniston, Alabama, with millions of pounds of carcinogenic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The six charges include the rar e “tort of outrage”—a crime under Alabama law requiring conduct “so outrageous in character and extreme in degree as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency so as to be er garded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in civilized society.” The episode becomes one of environmental justice, as the exposure levels are greatest in Anniston in the majority African American side of town where the plant is located. ANTI. On May 6, the Department of the Interior proposes “streamlining” the process for obtaining permits for a Mountain Top Removal (MTR) coalmine operation. They also seek to ex empt MTR operations fr om the Clean Water Act, which will make it easier for companies to dump the “ overburden” of mountain into v alleys, destroying high-quality streams in the process. More than 500 mountains have been flattened by MTR since the 1980s. SUST. In August, the World Summit on Sustainable Development is held in Johannesburg, South Africa. High expectations are dashed as only modest long-term agreements are reached on restoring depleted fisheries and reducing chemical production.

148


President Bush refuses to attend; the U nited States is represented only briefly with a brief speech by Secretary of State Colin Powell at the Johannesburg airport.

2003 WAR. In March, the United States invades Iraq in what many charge is a disguised attempt to gain strategic control or friendly access to the vast oil fields of the country. ANTI. The Bush Environmental Protection Agency pr oposes “Clear S kies,” a plan to effectively weaken the Clean Air Act with lowered long-term emissions targets for sulfur dioxide, mercury, and other pollutants. TOXS. A scientific investigation of government data released by the Environmental Working Group concludes that drinking water for 20 million Americans in 43 states is contaminated with perchlorate, an essential ingredient in the production of rocket and missile fuel. The greatest threat areas are associated with the production of weapons from the Cold War era. CLIM. In August, the E nvironmental Protection Agency r ejects a petition fr om a number of environmental organizations and former heads of the agency to r egulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air A ct—a position held by the previous Clinton administration.

2004 CLIM. A report commissioned by the Pentagon warns that climate change represents a greater long-term threat to U.S. national security than terrorism. CONS. For the first time in modern U.S. history, the acreage of wetlands in America has grown slightly since 1998. Losses due to dev elopment continue, but they hav e been offset by mitigation and restoration programs. CLIM. In December, Detroit automakers sue the state of California o ver a gr eenhouse gas emissions law that will require them to produce more vehicles that are fuel efficient and less polluting. TOXS. The U.S. Public Interest Group and Sierra Club sue the Environmental Protection Agency to for ce a lo wering of the per centage of benz ene (one documented cause of leukemia) allowed in gasoline. The groups will win a victory in 2007, as the agency imposes regulations that will bring an 80 percent reduction by 2030.

2005 CLIM. With Russian ratification in November 2004, the Kyoto Protocol on global warming takes effect on February 16. Without the participation of the United States,


149

however, the effect of the treaty is largely symbolic. Carbon dioxide (CO2 )emissions reach an all-time global record of nearly 380 parts per million. DISA. On the afternoon of A ugust 28, Hurricane Katrina r eaches peak str ength. After having weakened when it crosses the southern tip of Florida, Katrina dramatically strengthens from a Category 3 to a Category 5 storm in just nine hours, fueled by the unusually warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It makes a devastating second landfall the next day, breeching the levees of New Orleans and causing catastrophic damage along much of the G ulf Coast. M ore than 1,800 people perish and total property damage ultimately approaches $90 billion. Although immediate blame for the stunningly inept response to the disaster is focused on the federal government, scientists point to climate change and the warmer Gulf waters as a culprit in making the hurricane worse than it otherwise would have been. Decades-long destruction of protective wetlands along the coast and other r elated development policies in the lower Mississippi Valley also exacerbated the intensity of the damage.

2006 CLIM. In June, former Vice President Al Gore releases An Inconvenient Truth, a semiautobiographical film spotlighting G ore’s longstanding personal campaign to educate citizens about the thr eat posed b y global warming. F or millions of vie wers, the Academy Award–winning documentary renders the complex science behind climate change accessible, compelling, and mo ving. Although disparaged endlessly b y conservative pundits, Gore’s film moves the issue to the center of national discourse and appears to make aggressive action to address climate change imminent. In 2007 Gore shares the Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. PEST. In August, the pesticide Lindane is banned b y the Environmental Protection Agency—one of the actions taken by the agency following a congressionally ordered review of the safety of more than 200 potentially harmful chemicals. CLIM. I n S eptember, the R oyal S ociety (an independent body of B ritish scientists) requests that ExxonMobil stop funding conservative think tanks such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute that have been working to discredit the science of climate change. CLIM. NASA scientists, led b y James Hansen of the G oddard Institute for S pace Studies, report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in late September that the Earth is within 1°C of its warmest temperature in the last million years. CLIM. California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signs a law making that state the first in the nation to impose a cap on greenhouse gas emissions.

2007 LAW. On April 2, the U.S. Supreme Court in Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. the Environmental Protection Agency rules 5–4 that the Environmental Protection Agency

150


The bald eagle has been the nation’s symbol since 1782, but by the 1960s habitat loss, hunting, and DDT had reduced the number of eagle breeding pairs to just a few hundred in the lower 48 states. I n the decades since Silent S pring and the ban on DDT , eagle populations hav e recovered dramatically to the point where in 2007 the bird was removed from the Endangered Species List altogether. (Corel)

(EPA) does have the authority and the obligation under the 1990 Clean Air A ct to regulate carbon dio xide (CO 2). Because the buildup of CO 2 and other gr eenhouse gases ultimately threatens the “public welfare” the agency is statutorily compelled to protect under the law, the Court rules that the EPA must work in concert with states such as Massachusetts and California to reduce emissions. ENDG. In June, the Interior Department removes the American bald eagle from its list of threatened species, signaling a major achievement for the Endangered Species Act. In its announcement, the department offers the sobering reminder that the eagle is the highlight of an overall 1 percent recovery rate. PCUL. Spearheaded by Al G ore, “Live Earth” concerts are held ar ound the world in July, including the M eadowlands in N ew Jersey, to suppor t aggressive action on climate change. CLIM. On August 21, the N orthwest Passage through the Ar ctic Ocean along the northern coast of N orth America is open for shipping for the first time because of


151

global warming. Another scientific study in S eptember shows the loss of 1 million square miles of ice in the Arctic. CLIM. I n D ecember, the N ational O ceanic and A tmospheric A dministration announces that 2007 is cer tain to land in the top 10 warmest y ears in the U nited States since national r ecordkeeping began in 1895. The S outheast and West also experience severe drought, as well as a busy wild fire season. Global temperatures are expected to be the fifth highest ever. CLIM. China o vertakes the United States in total v olume of gr eenhouse gas emissions, although Americans still emit more than six times the emissions per capita.

2008 ENDG. In May, the Department of Interior places the polar bear on the Endangered Species List due to the thr eat posed to its polar r egion habitat b y melting ice—the first animal assigned the designation because of global warming. CLIM. O n July 9, all leaders of the G-8 gr oup of industrial nations agr ee to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050. ENRG. In September, the I nterior D epartment inspector general r eports to Congress on widespread abuses at the Minerals Management Service, the Interior agency responsible for both r egulating and receiving royalty payments from the oil and gas industry. The report documents a “culture of ethical failure” in which sexual fav ors, cocaine use, graft, and gross conflicts of interest define the agency. WLDL. The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Navy may continue to employ sonar equipment in its training ex ercises off the California coast despite the harm that is alleged by environmental groups that such activity causes to aquatic life. TOXW. On December 22, more than 1 billion gallons of coal fly ash sludge is vomited from a Tennessee Valley Authority ( TVA) impoundment dam at its coal-fired power plant near Kinspor t, Tennessee. TVA officials claim that fly ash is similar to gypsum and that r esidents are in no danger , when in fact the to xic waste contains unsafe levels of arsenic, beryllium, boron, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, lead, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, selenium, str ontium, thallium, and v anadium, as well as dioxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds.

2009 OCNS. In January, President George W. Bush designates nearly 200,000 square miles in the Pacific Island region as national monuments. Together with his 2006 designation of the 140,000-square-mile Papah¯anaumoku¯akea Marine National Monument in the nor thern Hawaiian Islands, the mo ve makes B ush the most successful pr esident ever in terms of oceanic preservation.

152


PUBH. With support from the Obama administration, the United States in February revives an effort to negotiate an international treaty on mercury pollution. WILD. President Barack Obama in March signs legislation adding more than 2 million acres in nine states to the federal wilderness system—the largest such addition in 15 years. NUCW. On March 9, ne w Secretary of E nergy Steven Chu announces that Yucca Mountain, Nevada, is no longer being consider ed as a site for the long-term storage of high-level nuclear waste. The decision is applauded by most Nevada residents and Native American tribes but is contested b y many others in and out of the federal government as being in violation of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. ENDG. In response to a r ecommendation from the F ish and Wildlife Service, the secretary of the interior announces the removal of the gray wolf from the endangered and threatened species list. From a state of near extirpation in the early 1970s, wolf populations have recovered to 5,500, including more than 1,500 in the West. Environmental groups denounce the move. FOOD. Sales of organic food and beverages in the United States reach nearly $25 billion—a 25-fold increase since 1990. There are now 5,274 farmers markets operating in the United States, a 300 per cent increase since 1994 when the U.S. D epartment of Agriculture first began keeping r ecords. In addition, ther e are more than 1,000

After decades of controversy, Yucca Mountain was removed from consideration as a long-term storage facility for high-level nuclear waste. (AP/Wide World Photos)


153

Community-Supported Agriculture farms operating in the United States, supplying food to more than 700,000 American (member or subscriber) households. PUBH. O n June 17, E nvironmental Protection Agency (EP A) administrator Lisa Jackson declar es a “ public health emergency ” in Libb y, M ontana—the first ever declared by the agency—as a r esult of 70 y ears of v ermiculite mining that has pr oduced widespr ead asbestos contamination of the nor thwest M ontana community. Nearly 300 premature deaths and 1,000 illnesses result from the poisoning. The mine was owned for most of its history by W. R. Grace, which in February 2009 is acquitted by a jury of knowingly exposing the community to the asbestos dust that became ubiquitous in the town. The company agrees to reimburse the EPA for $250 million of the costs it bore for Libby’s cleanup. The EPA declaration funnels additional funds and resources to what Jackson describes as the worst environmental disaster suffered by one community in the nation’s history. ENRG. In September, the E nvironmental Protection Agency mo ves to implement President Obama’s proposal to incr ease CAFE standar ds and r educe tailpipe emissions in American v ehicle fleets. Under the ne w plan, b y 2016, passenger v ehicle fleets of U.S. automakers ar e required to achieve 39 miles per gallon (mpg) for cars and 30 mpg for spor t utility v ehicles (SUVs), the first ever for that class. This 40 percent impr ovement over current figures will sav e the countr y 1.8 billion barr els of oil—more than the nation impor ted from Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Lib ya, and Nigeria put together in 2008. The new CAFE standards also will reduce greenhouse gas emissions b y 900 million metric tons, the equiv alent of nearly 200 coal-fired power plants. CLIM. The G-8 nations agree to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050. CLIM. I n D ecember, the Copenhagen Climate S ummit pr oduces only a disappointing, nonbinding statement on the need to keep global temperatur e increases to belo w 2°C. D espite suppor t fr om P resident O bama, other first-year priorities of his administration keep him fr om pr essing the Congr ess for legislation to cut emissions that might have brightened the prospects for a meaning ful agreement in Copenhagen.

2010 CLIM. NASA and the World Meteorological Association r eport the first decade of the 21st century as the warmest on record. ENRG. The Upper Big Branch Coal Mine in West Virginia suffers a methane explosion, killing 29 miners. It is the worst coalmine disaster in four decades, and is blamed by many wor kers on inadequate r egulatory oversight and a fiercely nonunion wor k environment.

154


ENRG. O n A pril 20 at about 10:00 p.m., B ritish Petroleum’s Deepwater H orizon offshore oil platform, located 50 miles southeast of the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of M exico, explodes and sinks mor e than 5,000 feet to the ocean floor. Most of the 126 workers on the rig are rescued, but 11 perish. In the days that follow, the “blowout preventer,” which was designed to stop a blown-out well from leaking any further, fails to activ ate. Initial estimates fr om BP ar e that 1,000 barr els a day ar e spewing into the Gulf. This is later revised dramatically upward by government and independent scientists to betw een 35,000 and 60,000 barr els a day. Six weeks into the disaster, BP is able to install a containment cap that captur es perhaps 15,000 barrels a day. By that time, between 1 and 2 million barr els (42–84 million gallons) of oil have poured into the Gulf of Mexico. Although miles and miles of pr otective boom and skimming devices are deployed, communities along the Gulf Coast from New Orleans to Florida have suffered devastating losses as a result of the sudden collapse of the fishing and tourism industries. Aquatic life in one of the most biologically rich environments on the planet has been affected catastrophically. Despite fingerpointing at its onsite subcontractors, BP admits to being the responsible party in the explosion. President Obama secures a $20 billion commitment from the company to be escrowed for damages suffered in the Gulf region. Outrage in the U.S. Congr ess produces a belated shakeup at the scandal-ridden and industr y-friendly M inerals Management Service, proposals to impose a temporary moratorium on offshore deep drilling, and the closing of tax loopholes for the oil industr y. With more than 200 million gallons of oil having spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, the Deepwater Horizon assumes its place as arguably the single-worst envir onmental disaster in the nation ’s history.

GLOSSARY Animal H usbandry. Denotes the raising, br eeding, and car e of cattle and other livestock. Biocentric or B iocentrism. An ethical and philosophical way of thinking about the natural world that values equally the integrity and value of all living things— human and nonhuman. I t has been expr essed in various ways by such figures as William B artram, Aldo Leopold, and Rachel Carson but emerged fully in the 1960s and 1970s with the rise of Deep Ecology, an intellectual movement within environmentalism that saw the human-center ed (anthr opocentric) appr oach to environmental laws and regulations as woefully inadequate to addressing the fundamental, systemic problems facing the natural world. Biodiversity or B iological Diversity. The variety of life-forms existing in a giv en ecosystem, whether local, r egional, or global. F or decades, numer ous scientific studies hav e pointed to rapidly diminishing biodiv ersity on Ear th caused b y human activity—generally referred to as the Holocene Extinction. Biome. Asignificant and geographically widespr ead community of plants and animals requiring the same general climatic and envir onmental conditions to flourish. Biomes are defined by the dominant vegetation of the region in question—for example, the North American Grassland Biome of the Great Plains. Botany. The scientific study of plants and plant life. Clovis P eople or C ultures. Longthought to be the first human inhabitants of North America, the Clovis (or Llano) cultures were identified by archaeologists at several sites in the American West in the 1930s. Their origins are believed to date to approximately 11,000 bce (or 13,000 years ago). New evidence gathered over the past several decades suggests that other Paleo-Indian peoples may well predate the Clovis peoples. Commodification. In environmental history, this term r efers to the historical pattern of putting a dollar value (or previously a British pound) to virtually everything in nature. Commodification is defined by the capture for the market economy of everything from land and beav er pelts to “ mill power” units of water (and no w bottles of water) to trinkets memorializing a tourist’s visit to Yellowstone.

156 G lossary

Conservation. D istinguished from preservation, the term generally refers to the idea of conserving a natural resource for future, long-term human use. E merging out of the ideas of G eorge Perkins Marsh and G ifford Pinchot in the late 19th century, r esource conser vation was defined b y efficient, pr udent, and scientifically managed (and go vernment-regulated) exploitation of timber , water, and other resources for the long-term, sustained dev elopment of the American economy and a high quality of life for the American people. Ecology. The scientific study of the relationships between and among living organisms and their envir onment. The wor d ( okologie) was first coined in 1873 b y German zoologist Ernst Haeckel and initially was applied to the American environment by scientist and urban sanitation exper t Ellen Swallow Richards in her work tracing the origins of public health pr oblems in American cities. I t further matured as a discipline in the early decades of the 20th centur y with the work of such figures as Frederic Clements, Ar thur Tansley, and Paul Sears. In the 1960s, Rachel Carson and Barry Commoner would provide new meanings for the word in the context of worsening environmental crises. Environmental J ustice. D enotes the well-documented facts of environmental pollution suffered dispr oportionately b y peoples of color . The disproportionate impact of such environmental menaces as toxic waste dumps, chemical emissions, and hazardous waste incineration on minority communities across the nation was first studied systematically b y sociologist Robert Bullard in the late 1970s in the American S outh. The envir onmental justice mo vement is no w a strain within national and global environmentalism, challenging the environmental movement and governments to pay particular attention to issues affecting indigenous peoples and peoples of color. Environmental Movement. “E nvironmentalism” first materializ ed as a movement at Ear th Day, April 22, 1970, when Americans who had been wor king on disparate issues fr om air and water pollution to the loss of gr een space to nuclear power came together 20 million str ong and demanded change. Thus, the environmental movement, in its most universal sense, embraces approaches across the board—from those who wor k through the cour ts and the legislativ e process to those engaged in direct action and civil disobedience. Greenhouse Effect. eGographer Glenn Thomas Trewartha coined the phrase in 1937, comparing the Earth’s atmosphere to a greenhouse in which the heat generated by the sun or solar lights is contained b y the gases in the atmospher e, which act as insulation, much like a pane of glass in a gr eenhouse. This insulation causes the temperatures on the surface of the Earth or inside the greenhouse to be higher than they otherwise would be. The greenhouse effect emerged in the popular nomenclature by the 1960s and 1970s when incr easing studies of rising levels of carbon dioxide, methane, and other heat-trapping “greenhouse gases” made it clear that a gradual and potentially dangerous warming of the Earth was taking place. Horticulture. A branch of agricultur e center ed on the cultiv ation and pr opagation of gar den plants, v egetables, flowers, and ornamental shr ubs. Horticulture began to fully matur e in American in the mid-19th centur y with the emergence of landscape architecture, led by such luminaries as Andrew Jackson Downing and

Glossary 157

Frederick Law Olmsted. By the late 1800s, public gardens and parks to beautify a degraded city had much appeal among the middle and upper classes. Hudson River School. An ar tistic movement that emerged in the 1830s in N ew York’s H udson Riv er v alley with the wor ks of painters such as Thomas Cole, Asher B. D urand, and Frederick Church. The artists were influenced heavily b y European Romanticism, as well as by the growing fascination with the American wilderness expressed by writers, poets, and philosophers such as William Cullen Bryant and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Beyond the H udson River valley, the ar tists painted landscapes of the Catskill and A dirondack mountains of N ew York and the White Mountains of N ew H ampshire. By the middle of the 19th centur y, their paintings enshrined two hallmar k themes that fur ther located nature at the center of a rising American cultural nationalism: a sublime and aw esome wilderness that was ev ery bit as inspiring as the E uropean landscapes of antiquity, and a bucolic “ middle” pastoral landscape in which the vir tuous hand of man was evident but not dominant. Indigenous. Generally refers to a people originating fr om, or having ancient, pr ehistoric roots in, a particular environment. Native American tribes, although their ancestors crossed the Bering Strait to reach North America, are indigenous peoples. Also denotes plants and animals whose roots can be traced to a particular point in antiquity or geologic time—distinguished from what are sometimes called “invasive” species that ar e non-native to a r egion and that can wr eak havoc on stable and complex ecological communities that have evolved over eons of time. Keystone Species. These are living organisms that play a critical r ole (often disproportionate to their size) in the maintenance of stable and healthy local or regional ecosystems. For example, the pollination of many plants in one area may depend ultimately on the supply of one par ticular shrub or tr ee that pr ovides nectar to birds that per form a vital r ole in that pollination pr ocess. I n pr ecolonial N ew England, the biologically rich vitality of countless riparian habitats depended on the North American beaver’s dam-building engineering. Prairie dogs in the Grassland Biome of the Great Plains are critical to the health of the forage and hydrology on which countless other species depend. The loss of a keystone species causes dramatic ripple effects throughout a regional biome or ecosystem. Mesoamerica. The geographic and cultural r egion extending r oughly fr om nor th central Mexico southward through Central America. G reat and ancient civilizations flourished here, including the Aztec and Mayan peoples. Metis French. Refers to those whose ancestr y can be traced to mix ed French-First People (Canadian indigenous peoples) lineage. M etis are now a r ecognized distinct First People. Monoculture. In agricultur e, the term r efers to the planting of single cr ops such as cotton, wheat, or corn o ver a v ery large ar ea. R elying heavily on industrial machinery and wage labor , monoculture farming is most associated with largescale industrial agribusiness operations that first developed in the late 19th century. Monocultures tend to deplete nutrients rapidly and also invite infestation of pests, which leads in turn to the application of heavy doses of energy-intensive pesticides and fertilizers to maintain crop yields.

158 G lossary

Mountain Top Removal Coal Mining. irst F emerging in the Appalachian Mountains in the 1960s, Mountain Top Removal (MTR) is a form of subsurface coalmining that involves first stripping away the tr ees and top soil (although the topsoil is supposed to be saved and replanted in the reclamation, coal companies often are given waivers to avoid doing so) and then blasting away with explosives the “overburden” of mountain to expose the seams of coal lying beneath the sur face. Up to 500 feet of mountain tops and ridges are removed in the process. A portion of the overburden is set aside and then used to attempt to reform the topography at the completion of the mining operation, but much of it is dumped over the sides into valleys below. More than 1,300 miles of streams have been buried or polluted by MTR waste since 1985. Nearly 1,000 square miles of Appalachian Mountains (mostly in West Virginia) hav e been destr oyed b y MTR in the past 30 y ears. The impacts on the Appalachian Mountain Biome—one of the most biologically diverse regions in all of North America—have been devastating. Natural History/Naturalist. eGnerally denoting the scientific study of plants and animals, natural history has ancient roots but became an area of increasing interest to philosophers and scientists in the 18th and 19th centuries. M ost naturalists during the era, such as H enry David Thoreau and John Burroughs, were not trained scientists but rather w ere close obser vers of the natural world and wr ote in accessible but scientifically sound layman’s terms about the flora and fauna of particular locales. Nonpoint Source Pollution. O f particular concern in the area of water pollution, this form of envir onmental contamination r efers to those sour ces that ar e difficult to detect and measur e. Runoff from suburban par king lots, leeching fr om backyard septic tank systems, agricultural r unoff of fer tilizers and pesticides ar e among the chief nonpoint sour ces of water pollution. These more insidious and ubiquitous sources are clearly distinguished from point sources, such as industrial effluent streaming from pipes directly into lakes and rivers that have been easier to control and limit through government regulatory action. Northwest Territory/Old Northwest. Anorganized territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio River and west of Pennsylvania that encompassed the modern states of O hio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 pr ovided for its political administration and the pr ocess for the admission of states. Ornithology. The subdiscipline of z oology that is concerned with the obser vation and scientific study of birds. Beginning in the 18th century, ornithology matured from relatively rudimentary classification and description of ne w species disco vered on scientific expeditions to include the anatomical and behavioral characteristics of par ticular species, as w ell as a mor e holistic and ecological study of the natural habitat of birds. Pantheistic Spirituality. A complex of spiritual beliefs centered on the sacredness of nature and the indivisibility of the natural world or cosmos fr om a creative lifegiving divine force. Potash. Used to describe sev eral inorganic compounds of potassium, potash was a vital b y-product deriv ed fr om the burning of for ests in colonial and fr ontier

Glossary 159

America. Wood ashes pr ocessed into potash w ere an essential ingr edient for making soap, certain kinds of glass, paint pigments and inks, and fertilizer. Preservation. D istinguished from conservation for use , preservation denotes efforts to protect forests, oceans, deser ts, and other natural ar eas from extractive activities, such as mining, timbering, and cattle grazing. P reservation is seen in the following administrative entities: national and state par ks, national monuments, wilderness areas, wildlife refuges, and wild and scenic rivers. Reclamation. Irrigation of the arid American West achieved through the impoundment of riv ers with massiv e dams and the constr uction of irrigation canals to direct water to both agricultural operations and to cities for industrial and r esidential use. The premise of the wor d for 19th-centur y conser vationists such as Gifford Pinchot was that any rivers that were flowing freely and emptying into the seas were going to “waste.” If water could be captured and put to use, the thinking went, the vast empty (and similarly “wasted”) spaces of the West could be brought to life with American civilization. Riparian. Denotes the biotic community of plants and animals living along the banks of streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes. Romanticism. A complex literary, intellectual, and artistic movement that emerged in the mid-18th-century in Europe in response to the Industrial Revolution and the concomitant mechanistic thinking that largely defined the scientific rationalization of the natural world. R omanticism valued the power of emotion o ver calculated analytical reason and the virtuous characteristics of nature over the degradation that was being wrought by industrialization and urbanization. Aesthetically, romantics fixed their eye on both picturesque places of beauty in nature and the sublime—places that inspir ed awestruck terror and the divine po wer of the Creator. Sportsmen Code. A set of ethical principles generally followed by upper- and uppermiddle-class sportsmen in the late 19th centur y. By adhering to this semiformalized set of r ules, genteel spor tsmen could distinguish themselv es from lower or working-class men who hunted “for the pot” (food) or market hunters who killed crassly for mere dollars. Sportsmen of the urban upper classes took only their limit of game prescribed by law. They hunted in season, for the lo ve of the wilderness, and for the test of character that bound them to one another and to their fathers who lived hardy lives in the wilderness. They adorned their parlors with tr ophies killed bravely in the wild and in so doing linked themselv es to the vir tues that came to be associated with a shrinking American wilderness. Sustainable D evelopment. Our Common F uture, the 1987 r eport of the U nited Nations–sponsored World Commission on E nvironment and D evelopment, defined “sustainable development” as that which “meets the needs of the pr esent without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” This compelling but malleable definition has been widely quoted and adapted ever since by nations, businesses, and nongo vernmental organizations seeking a path to mor e envir onmentally r esponsible decision making. N evertheless, definitive explanations of sustainable development remain elusive, as different entities often have quite different motivations and inter ests in mo ving toward what they call

160 G lossary

“sustainability.” At its cor e, sustainability, as Our Common F uture noted, entails clear ethical obligations: between the rich and poor now living on Earth—specifically, the goal of a more equitable sharing of natural resources and a decent quality of life for all, between this generation and the generations to follow, and between humans and all other species with whom we share this planet. Sustained Yield. The term lies at the heart of Gifford Pinchot’s approach to wise use and conservation of natural resources. The idea is that, if properly managed, a forest can provide a sustained yield of timber required by this and future generations in perpetuity; if properly regulated, a public rangeland can pr ovide enough grass for cattle or sheep to graz e theoretically forever, provided climatic conditions do not change substantially. Yeoman Farmer. Although the phrase deriv es fr om a landed class of fr eeholding farmers in mediev al E urope, in America, Thomas Jefferson and other agrarian visionaries saw y eoman farmers as the cornerstone of the r epublic. The future prosperity and political stability of America would be ensured, Jefferson believed, as long as enough land was available for ordinary Americans to settle and make a decent living and by which they could gain political rights.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Books Ackland, Len. Making a R eal Killing: R ocky F lats and the N uclear West. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2002. Bogue, Margaret Beattie. Fishing the Great Lakes: An Environmental History, 1783–1933. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2000. Brechin, Gary A. Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. Buell, Lawrence. The Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, Nature Writing, and the Formation of American Culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995. Bullard, R obert. Dumping in Dixie: R ace, Class, and E nvironmental Q uality. Rev. ed. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2000. Camacho, David E., ed. Environmental Injustices, Political Struggles: Race, Class, and the Environment. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1998. Cohen, Michael P. The History of the Sierra Club, 1892–1977. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1988. Cowdrey, Albert E. This Land, This South: An Environmental History. Rev. ed. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1996. Cox, Thomas R., et al. This Well-Wooded Land: Americans and Their Forests from Colonial Times to the Present. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1985. Cronon, William. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. Anniversary ed. New York: Hill and Wang, 2003. Crosby, Alfred W., Jr. The Columbian E xchange: Biological and C ultural Consequences of 1492. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1972. Davis, Devra. When Smoke Ran Like Water: Tales of Environmental Deception and the Battle against Pollution. New York: Basic Books, 2002. Davis, D onald E dward. Where There A re M ountains: A n E nvironmental H istory of the Southern Appalachians. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2000. Dewey, Scott H. Don’t B reathe the Air: Air P ollution and U.S. E nvironmental P olitics, 1945–1970. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2000. Dunlap, Thomas. DDT: Scientists, C itizens, and P ublic Policy. Princeton, NJ: P rinceton University Press, 1983.

162 B ibliography

Flader, Susan L. Thinking Like a Mountain: Aldo Leopold and the Evolution of an Ecological Attitude toward Deer, Wolves, and Forests. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1974. Flannery, Tim. The Eternal Frontier: An Ecological History of North America and Its Peoples . New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2001. Fradkin, Philip L. A River No More: The Colorado River and the West .Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1984. Freund, Peter, and George Martin. The Ecology of the Automobile. Montreal: Black Rose, 1993. Gallagher, Carole. American Ground Zero: The Secret Nuclear War. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1993. Gottlieb, Robert. Forcing the S pring: The Transformation of the A merican Environmental Movement. Rev. ed. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2005. Grinde, Donald A. Ecocide of Native America: Environmental Destruction of Indian Lands and Peoples. Santa Fe, NM: Clear Light Books, 1998. Hays, S amuel P. Conservation and the G ospel of Effi ciency: The P rogressive Conser vation Movement, 1890–1920. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1959. Heinberg, Richard. The Party’s Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2003. Helvarg, David. The War against the Greens: The “Wise-Use” Movement, the New Right, and Anti-Environmental Violence. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1997. Hirt, Paul W. A Conspiracy of O ptimism: Management of the N ational Forests since World War II. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994. Hoggan, James, with Richard Littlemore. Climate Cover-up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming. Vancouver, BC: Greystone, 2009. Hurley, Andr ew, ed. Common F ields: A n E nvironmental H istory of S t. Louis . St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society, 1997. Huth, H ans. Nature and the A merican: Three C enturies of Changing A ttitudes. R ev. ed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991. Isenberg, Andrew C. The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750–1920 . New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Isenberg, Andrew C. Mining California: An Ecological History. New York: Hill and Wang, 2005. Jacoby, Karl. Crimes against Nature: Squatters, Poachers, Thieves, and the Hidden History of American Conservation. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. Kolbert, E lizabeth. Field Notes fr om a C atastrophe: M an, Nature, and Climate Change. New York: Bloomsbury, 2006. Lear, Linda. Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature. New York: Henry Holt, 1998. Lookingbill, Brad D. Dust Bowl, USA: Depression America and the Ecological Imagination, 1929–1941. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2001. Lowenthal, David. George Perkins Marsh: Prophet of Conser vation. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000. Macgillivray, Alex. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring: Words That Changed theWorld. Hauppauge, NY: Barron’s Education Series, 2004. Magoc, Chris J. Yellowstone: The Creation and S elling of an A merican Landscape, 1870– 1903. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1999. Markowitz, Gerald, and David Rosner. Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.

Bibliography

163

Martin, Russell. A Story That Stands Like a Dam: Glen Canyon and the Struggle for the Soul of the West. 1989. Reprint, Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1999. McIntyre, Rick, ed. War against the Wolf: America’s C ampaign to E xterminate the Wolf. Stillwater, MN: Voyageur Press, 1995. Melosi, Martin V. Coping with Abundance: Energy and Environment in Industrial America, 1820–1980. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1985. Melosi, Martin V. Garbage In the Cities: Refuse, Reform, and the Environment, 1880–1980 . College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1981. Merchant, Carolyn. The Columbia Guide to American Environmental History. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. Miller, Char. Gifford Pinchot and the M aking of Modern Environmentalism. Washington, DC: Shearwater Books of Island Press, 2004. Moses, Marion. Harvest of Sorr ow: Farm Workers and Pesticides. San Francisco: Pesticide Education Center, 1992. Nash, Roderick. Wilderness and the American Mind. 1982. 4th ed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001. Norwood, Vera. Made from This Earth: American Women and Nature. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993. Opie, John. Nature’s Nation: An Environmental History of the U nited States. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace, 1998. Osif, Bonnie A., et al. TMI 25 Years Later: The Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant Accident and Its Impact. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2004. Price, Jennifer. Flight Maps: Adventures with Nature in Modern America. New York: Basic Books, 2000. Reisner, Marc. Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water. 1986. Rev. ed. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. Rome, Adam. The Bulldozer in the Countryside: Suburban Sprawl and the Rise of American Environmentalism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Runte, Alfred. Yosemite: The Embattled Wilderness. 3rd ed. Lincoln: Bison Books, 1997. Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Spence, Mark David. Dispossessing the Wilderness: Indian Removal and the M aking of the National Parks. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Steinberg, Ted. American G reen: The O bsessive Q uest for the P erfect Lawn. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007. Steinberg, Ted. Down to E arth: N ature’s R ole in A merican H istory. 2nd ed. N ew York: Oxford University Press, 2008. Steingraber, Sandra. Living Downstream: A Scientist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment. 1997. Reprint, New York: Vintage Books, 1998. Strasser, S usan. Waste and Want: A Social H istory of Trash. N ew York: H enry H olt, 2000. Terrie, Philip G. Contested Terrain: A New History of Nature and People in the Adirondacks. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1999. White, Richard. The Organic Machine: The Remaking of the Columbia Riv er . New York: Hill and Wang, 1995. Wilcove, D avid S. The Condor ’s S hadow: The Loss and R ecovery of Wildlife in A merica. New York: Freeman, 1999.

164 B ibliography

Wilson, Alexander. The Culture of Nature: North American Landscape fr om Disney to the Exxon Valdez. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1992. Worster, Donald. A River Running West: The Life of John Wesley Powell. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Web Sites AldoLeopold Nature Center. http://www .naturenet.com/alnc/aldo.html . American E nvironmental P hotographs. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/ ecology/index.html . Centerfor Columbia River History. http://www .ccrh.org/index.htm . Chronology of P ublic and E nvironmental H ealth E vents, Post–World War II. http:// co.monmouth.nj.us/documents%5C121%5Chealthhistory.pdf . CleanAir Act Timeline. http://www .edf.org/documents/2695_cleanairact.htm . Environmental H istory . This is a pr oject of the American S ociety for E nvironmental History and the F orest H istory S ociety in association with Oxfor d U niversity Press. http://www .environmentalhistory.net/index.htm . Environmental History on the Internet. http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/departments/espm/ env-hist/eh-internet.html . Environmental History Resources. http://www .eh-resources.org/timeline/timeline_ prehistory .html . Environmental History Timeline. This invaluable resource of global envir onmental history first appeared in M ark Neuzil and William Kovarik’s Mass Media and E nvironmental Conflict (Sage, 1996). The Web site, featuring an interdisciplinary range of social, economic and envir onmental history, has been maintained b y Professor Kovarik. http://www .radford.edu/~wkovarik/envhist . Environmental Protection Agency Timeline. http://www.epa.gov/history/timeline/index .htm . Environment Directory. http://www .webdirectory.com . Garbage Timeline (“The Rotten Truth about Garbage”). http://www.astc.org/exhibitions/ rotten/timeline.htm#late . Harvesting the West: Agriculture, Mariculture, and the F ur Trade in the West. http:// www.library.csi.cuny.edu/westweb/pages/harvest.html . H-Environment. http://www .h-net.org/~environ . Hetch-Hetchy. http://www .sierraclub.org/ca/hetchhetchy/history.asp . Levittown History. http://www .levittownhistoricalsociety.org/history.htm . Library of Congress. Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850–1920 . http://lcw eb2 .loc.gov/ammem/amrvhtml/conshome.html . Love Canal Collections. http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/specialcollections/lovecanal/ index.html . McKibben, Bill. American Earth . http://pr oduction.americanearth.loa.n4m.net . National Park Service History. http://www .nps.gov/index.htm . Nature Transformed: The Environment in American History. http://nationalhumanitiescenter .org/tserve/nattrans/nattrans.htm . Olaus and Mardy Murie (Murie Center). http://www .muriecenter.org . RachelCarson, Life and Legacy. http://www .rachelcarson.org .

Bibliography

165

Tending the Commons: F olklife and Landscape in S outhern West Virginia. http:// memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/tending . The Travels of William Bartram. http://www .bartramtrail.org . U.S. Environmental History. This is a trove of excellent environmental history links and resources. http://frank.mtsu.edu/~lnelson/E nvironmental-History.html . U.S. G eological S urvey. Land U se H istory of N orth A merica . http://biology .usgs.gov/ luhna . The Walden Woods Project. http://www .walden.org .

INDEX A bandoned mines, 42 A bbey, Edward, 113, 124, 128 A bortion, 72 A cid rain, 133, 138 A creage allotments: colonial, 9; omestead H Act, 35; irrigation,60; ative N American, 51; re-emption P Act, 27 A ctivism, 52–53, 59; Animal Welfare Institute, 98; Colorado River dams, 108; concer ts, 130; Ear th Day, 115; cho E Park dam, 97; envir onmental defense, 128; nvironmental E Defense Fund, 111; global trade, 88; reat G Louisiana Toxic March, 137; reenpeace, G 117; hazar dous waste, 131; ill, HJulia Butterfly, 142; udson H River Sloop Clearwater, 111;landfill location, 127; lawsuit standing, 109, 120–122; Los Angeles aqueduct, 64, 77; ative N American fish-ins, 124; ew NYork City air pollution, 109; nuclear power generation, 103; eople P of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, 139; radical,124; right to take down dams, 30; agebrush S Rebellion, 128; ilkwood, S Karen, 123; est WHarlem Environmental Action, 136; ilderness W Society, 82 A dams, Ansel, 79 A dirondack region, 39, 49–50, 55 African Americans: Anniston, Alabama, toxin exposure, 147; cancer alley, 137; hunting restrictions, 44;landfill location, 127; xic to waste facilities, 135; riana, T Alabama, 133; Wheatley , Phillis, 14 Agencyfor International Development, 116

AgentOrange, 110–111 Agrarianideal, 15 Agribusiness, 43, 83; animal feeding operations, 130; farm worker health, 114; genetically modified seeds, 139; eclamation r projects, 60; oundup R Ready crops, 141 AgriculturalAdjustment Act, 83 Agriculturalchemicals, 16 Agriculturallabor, 43 Agriculturalmethods, 35; colonial,9; opcr rotation, 63; ydr farming, 64; reen G Revolution, 116; organic,152–153; soil conservation, 80; oilSConservation Service, 83; soil erosion, 34–35 Agriculturalproduction: boll weevil, 54; cotton,23; steel plow, 27 Agricultur e: Alabama, 21; Central Valley Project, 79; Civil War, 35; genetically modified seeds, 139; grain reaper, 26; industrialization,83; irrigation districts, 45–46; large landowners, 83; ew N England, 13; e-Columbian, pr 2;scientific, 13; steel plow, 27; subsistence,4; transMississippi region, 21, 22; etland w drainage, 30; wind-po wered water pump, 32; oodland W cultures, 2.See also Farmers; aFrming Air-conditioners, 98–99 Airpollution, 101, 142; automobile emissions, 104, 110; Carnegie, Andrew, 56; copper smelting, 44; emission controls, 115–116, 126, 148; eenhouse gr gas emissions, 142, 149–150; index,109; leaf blower

168 I ndex emissions, 145; nuclear weapons, 96–97; radioactiv e, 96; smoke abatement, 56, 61, 85, 86; veys, sur 77, 84; orld W Trade Center attack, 147.See also Smog AirPollution Control Act, 101 Airquality: coal smoke, 20, 85, 86; contr ol regions, 111; rights and smell, 13; standar ds, 115.See also Smog AirQuality Act, 111 Airtransportation, 92 Alabama, 21, 133, 147 Alar , 136 Alaska:animal protection, 40; ctic Ar National Wildlife Range, 104;Exxon Valdez oil spill, 137; land preservation, 130–131; ative N land claims, 118; nuclear weapons, 117; oil,111; ribilof P Islands reservation, 39; ongas T National Forest, 137; wildlife and habitat, 57 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, 130–131 Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement Act, 118 Alcoholtaxes, 35 Algonquianpeoples, 7 AmericanAntiquities Act, 64 AmericanAnti-Vivisection Society, 47 American Association for the Advancement of Science, 44–45 AmericanCouncil on Science and Health, 136 Americandream, 92, 99 AmericanForest Congress, 63 AmericanForestry Association, 44 AmericanForests, 44 AmericanFur Company, 21 AmericanHumane Association, 45 AmericanMedical Association, 29 AmericanPetroleum Institute, 102–103 AmericanPhilosophical Society, 13 AmericanPublic Health Association, 42 AmericanRevolution, 11 AmericanRiver, 29 American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, 60 American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 37 AmericansPower Company, 63–64 Anaconda,Montana, 44 Animalfeed, 120, 130 Animalhusbandry, 13, 84 Animalproducts: bird hats, 59; bison,39–40; fur hats, 7, 56, 69; whale,28, 34, 116

Animalrights, 24–25, 93, 131 Animals:Columbian Exchange, 5–6;fiction, 57, 61–62; humane treatment, 10, 24–25; ormon M teaching, 24; urban street ban, 29; elfare, w 45, 98; oodland W culture, 2 Animaltesting: food safety, 103; medical,47 Animalwaste, 37 AnimalWelfare Institute, 98 Anniston,Alabama, 147 Antar ctica, 147 Anthr opocentricism, 111, 119 Anthr opology, 103 Antibiotics, 130 Antinucleargroups, 126 AntiquitiesAct, 141 Anti-vivisectionism, 47 A ppalachian Mountains, 116, 118 A ppalachian Trail, 82, 112 A ppleton, Wisconsin, 47 A queducts, 28, 64, 77 A quifers, 7; lack B Mesa coal mining, 124; California centrifugal pumping, 70; gallala O Aquifer depletion, 96; wind water pumps, 32 ArborDay, 43 Ar chaic humans, 1 Ar ches National Park, 113 Ar co, Idaho, 101 Ar ctic National Wildlife Refuge, 104, 105, 131 Ar ctic Ocean, 150–151 Aridregions: dry farming, 64; irrigation,45; ormons, M 28; eclamation, r 39 Ariz ona, 72, 75, 124, 146 ArmyCorps of Engineers, 19, 57, 74–76, 78, 87–89 Arnold,Ron, 133–134 Arrhenius,Svante August, 56, 67 Arsenicalwallpapers, 54–55 Arsenic-basedpesticides, 44, 46, 54 Art, 2, 24, 25 Asbestos, 116, 153 Ashley , William, 23 Astor , John Jacob, 21 A tkinson, Henry, 22 A tlantic Coast, 6 A tlantic salmon, 124 A tmosphere: carbon dioxide, 56, 103, 110; nuclear weapons testing, 99, 108; solar heating, 46.See also Greenhouse effect; O zone layer A tomic bombs See Nuclear weapons

Index A tomic Energy Act, 90 A tomic Energy Commission, 123 A toms for Peace, 98 A udubon, John James, 19, 25 A udubon Nature Center, 88 A ustin, Mary, 62 Automobile industry: corporate average fuel efficiency standards, 125, 138; emissions controls, 148; ader, N Ralph, 110; planned obsolescence, 75; spor ts utility vehicles, 138, 146–147, 153; eetcar str scandal, 90–91 A utomobiles, 34; community development, 92; driving to work, 145; emissions,104, 115, 138, 148; fuel efficient, 122; gasguzzler tax, 127; interstate highways, 102; landscape,73 A vondale Mining Disaster, 40 B ack-to-land movement, 114 B ailey, Liberty Hyde, 67, 71 B ald Eagle Preservation Act, 85 B ald eagles, 85, 106, 117, 119, 150 Bambi (film), 92–93 B arbed wire, 43 B artram, John, 11, 14, 19 B artram, William, 14, 15 B eaches, 74, 75 B eavers, 7, 21, 23 B eer cans, 82 B ennett, Hugh Hammond, 80, 83 B enzene, 148 B ergh, Henry, 37 B essemer, Henry, 33 B hopal, India, 133 B ic pens, 103 B ierstadt, Albert, 25 B ig Sandy River, 145 B ikini Atoll, 90, 99–100 B illerica dam, 29–30 B ioaccumulation, 110 B iocentrism, 128 B iological diversity: European settlement, 7; oover H Dam, 83; international agreements, 139; ono M Lake diversion, 86; oceans,69; leistocene P Epoch, 1–2; whaling,10 B iotechnology, 130, 143, 145 Bird conservation: Aleutian Islands, Alaska, 117; bald eagles, 85, 106, 119, 150; duck stamps, 82; otic ex species, 139; nor thern spotted owl, 139–140; elican P Island, Florida, 61; pesticides,110

169

B irds, 25; DDT ban, 119; guano imports, 30; habitat conservation, 104; hat fashion, 56; hunting,46; pest control, 50; selenium, 132; women ’shats, 59 B irth control, 72 B irth defects, 99–100, 128, 132 B ison, 6; ndian I wars, 43; nor thern, 48; population,39–40; ranching,37; range, 68; southern,46; ellowstone Y National Park, 55, 146 B lack lung disease, 116 Bollweevil, 16, 54, 63 Bookchin,Murray, 105 Booneand Crockett Club, 50–51, 55 Borlaug,Norman, 116 Boston,Massachusetts, 17, 26, 30 Botany , 11, 14 Bottledwater, 143 Bour ke-White, Margaret, 104 Bo vine growth hormone, 145 Bo y Scouts of America, 61 BPCorporation, 154 B radford, William, 9 B rand, Stewart, 113–114 B retton Woods Conference, 88 B rewing industry, 82 B road Arrow Policy, 10, 17 B roome, Harvey, 82 B rower, David, 97, 108, 114, 131 B rucellosis, 146 B rundtland, Gro Harlem, 135 B ryant, William Cullen, 24 Buffalo See Bison B ullard, Robert, 127 B ureau of Biological Survey, 50, 71, 82, 85 B ureau of Labor, 69 B ureau of Land Management, 73–74, 90, 125 B ureau of Mines, 68 B ureau of Public Roads, 73 B ureau of Reclamation, 19, 60, 78, 97, 108 B urns, Arthur Frank, 99 B urroughs, John, 40, 41, 61–62 B ush, George H. W., 131, 139 B ush, George W., 145–146, 151 B utte, Montana, 44 Cahokia(ancient city), 5 Calav eras County, California, 31 California:automobile emissions, 104; bristlecone pine, 2; Calav eras County, 31; Central Valley, 30, 79; centrifugal

170 I ndex water pump, 70; Colorado River Compact, 75; farm worker unionization, 116–117; gold,29; eenhouse gr gas emissions, 148–149; grizzly bear, 75; draulic hy mining, 32; esterson K wildlife refuge, 132; national monuments, 146;offshore oil, 114; edwood r forest, 72–73; smog, 99; solar-po wered irrigation pumps, 64; solar water heaters, 54, 87; water rights, 50; water supply, 64, 76–77, 86; etland w drainage, 30; osemite Y region, 36–37 CaliforniaEnvironmental Protection Agency, 145 Canada, 10; acid rain, 133; beav er fur trade, 7; reat G Lakes Water Quality Agreement, 118; iagara N Falls, 65; orth N American Free Trade Agreement, 140 Canals, 23; building frenzy, 24;fish migrations, 29; historic preservation, 101; sanitation, 29, 59; textile industry, 29; xic to waste, 127–128 Cancer , 138, 142; alley , 137; food additives, 103; one oz layer, 123; radiation exposure, 99; radium workers, 77; xic to waste, 128 Carbondioxide, 56, 67, 103, 110, 149–150 Carbonmonoxide, 69 Car cinogens, 103; Alar (daminozide) on food, 136; chlor dane and heptachlor ban, 126; cigar ette second-hand smoke, 139; defoliants,110–111; food additives, 103 Carnegie,Andrew, 52, 56 Carson,Rachel Louise, 86–87, 90, 98, 101–102, 106–107, 119 Carter, Jimmy, 128, 129–131 Carver, George Washington, 63 CascadeRange Forest Park, 61 Catlin,George, 26 CatskillMountains, 24 Cattle:consumption, 96; diethylstilbestr ol (DES), 84; eat gr die-off, 51; intr oduction in New England, 9; intr oduction in Southwest, 6; edators, pr 71; ellowstone Y National Park bison, 146 Cattledrives, 37, 43 Cemeteries, 26 Center for Defense of Free Enterprise, 133–134 Center for Health, Environment, and Justice, 131 CentralValley, California, 30, 79 Champlain,Samuel de, 7

Chapman,John, 28 ChaseManhattan Bank, 17 Chav ez, Cesar, 114, 133 Chemicalindustry: Bhopal, India, 133; cancer alley, 137; nstitute, I West Virginia, 133 Cheney , Dick, 146 Chernob yl, Ukraine, 134–135 Cher okee Nation, 25 Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park, 101 ChesapeakeBay, 8 Chestnuttrees, 62 Chicago,Illinois: air pollution, 46; Columbian World Exposition, 54–55;fire, 41; meatpacking plants, 62; anitary S and Ship Canal, 59; wer se plan, 33; water supply intake, 37 ChicagoRiver, 29, 33, 59 Childwelfare, 45 China, 151 The China Syndrome (film), 129 Chisholm,Jesse, 37 Chlor dane, 126 Chlor ofluorocarbons (CFCs), 52, 99, 123, 132; ontreal M Protocol, 135; oduction pr termination, 136 Cholera, 29,30 Chu,Steven, 152 Chur ch Rock, New Mexico, 130 Cities:air and water rights, 13; air pollution laws, 46; Cahokia as ancient, 5; City Beautiful Movement, 55; envir onmental reform, 29; garbage management, 68; den gar cemeteries, 26; horse manure, 59; hor ticulture, 27; junior sanitation leagues, 63; kpar design, 34; public health, 27–28; public health advocacy, 42; sanitar y conditions, 29, 55; sanitar y surveys, 67; sanitation,30; solid waste disposal, 110; eetcar str scandal, 90–91; eet str cleaning, 29, 46, 48–49, 55; waste generation, 72; water supply, 17; etland w garbage dumping, 73; women clubs, 52–53 Citiz en: democracy, 54, 80, 90; par ticipation, 126; right to know, 134, 142; standing, 109, 120–122 Citiz ens for Clean Air, 109 Citiz ens ’Smoke Abatement League, 85 CityBeautiful Movement, 55 Civil disobedience: African American landfill site, 127; antinuclear , 126; Ear th

Index First!, 133; Ear th Firsters, 128; ill, H Julia Butterfly, 142; monkey-wr enching sabotage, 124; agebrush S Rebellion, 128; orld W Trade Organization meeting, 143 CivilianConservation Corps, 79 Civilization, 23, 36 CivilWar, 35 ClamshellAlliance, 126 Clar k, William, 20 CleanAir Act, 115–116, 126, 138, 148–150 CleanWater Act, 111, 118, 135, 147 Clements,Frederick, 72 Climate, 1–3 Climate change: Copenhagen Climate Summit, 153; xxonMobil E Corp., 149; urricane H Katrina, 149; international agreements, 139; international panel, 136; “Liv e Earth” concerts, 150; ount M Tombora, 22; security risk, 148.See also Global warming; G reenhouse effect Climatecontrol, 98–99 Clinton,Bill, 139–142, 146 Coal, 50; essemer B steel, 33; global warming, 67; smoke,20, 85, 86; solar-po wer, 44, 51; waste,72 Coal-fired power plants, 126, 151 Coal mines: Avondale Mining Disaster, 40; lack B Mesa, 124; mountain top, 147; pneumoconiosis,116; unoff r water pollution, 118; ennessee T Valley Authority, 79; waste impoundment dam failure, 145 Coastalpollution, 74;Deepwater Horizon offshore oil blowout, 154; ational N Coast Anti Pollution League, 75;offshore oil rig blowout, 114; ilO Pollution Act, 76 Coastalresources, 118 Coastalwaters, 89 CoastalZone Management Act, 118 Cobbe,Frances Power, 47 Coe,Ernest, 92 ColdWar, 90, 148 Cole,Thomas, 24 Collectors and collections: Audubon, John James, 25; artram, B John, 11; artram B William, 14; wis Le and Clark Corps of Discovery, 20; eale, P Charles Wilson, 16 Collegesand universities, 35 Colorado, 75, 139 ColoradoPlateau, 2 ColoradoRiver, 38–39, 83, 97, 108, 113 ColoradoRiver Compact, 75

171

ColumbianExchange, 5–6 ColumbianWorld Exposition, 54–55 Columbus,Christopher, 5–6 Committeefor a Sane Nuclear Policy, 103 Committeeon Wildlife Restoration, 82 Commodityprices, 83 Commoner , Barry, 117 Community-supported agriculture, 152–153 Competitiv e Enterprise Institute, 141, 149 Compr ehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, 128 Computers, 110 Concor d River, 23, 29 ConemaughRiver, 52 Confer ence of Governors, 66–67 ConnecticutRiver, 7, 33–34, 124 Conservation: Douglas, William O., 101; ohnson, J Claudia “Lady Bird,” 112; arsh, M George Perkins, 36; middle-class support, 104; ature N Conservancy, 90; orth N American conference, 68; public work projects, 79; orld W War II, 87 ConsolidatedCoal Company, 68 ConsolidatedEdison Company, 109 Consumerism, 99; bottled water, 143; energy crisis, 130 Consumerproducts, 99; beer cans, 82; icB pens, 103; bottles,118–119; conv enience foods, 96; disposable feminine napkins, 74; milk cartons, 83; poly ethylene terephthalate, 127; tyrofoam, S 88 ContinentalShelf Proclamation, 89 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, 120 Cooper , James Fenimore, 23 Cooper , Peter, 25 Cooperativ e Extension Service, 35 CopenhagenClimate Summit, 153 Coppermining, 44 Corn, 2, 4, 9, 88 Cor onado, Francisco de, 6 Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency Standards, 125 Corruption: Los Angeles aqueduct, 64; iM nerals Management Service, 151; treetcar, S 90–91; eapot T Dome, 76; television news, 145; att, W James, 131 Cottam,Clarence, 90 Cotton:bird guano imports, 30; boll weevil, 16, 54; economy , 16, 23, 35; gyptian, E 64; opi H cultivation, 4; slav e production, 26; soil exhaustion, 30, 63

172 I ndex Cottongin, 16 Counter culture, 105, 114 Country life movement, 67 Cousteau,Jacques, 69 Co wan, John L., 64 C rane, Caroline Bartlett, 65, 67 C rater Lake National Park, 61 C reek Nation, 21 C roly, Jane Cunningham “Jennie June,” 52–53 C rop diversification, 53, 54 C rop rotation, 63 C rop yields: boll weevil, 54; reen G Revolution, 116; single-cr op farms, 83 C roton Aqueduct, 28 C ultivation: Dust Bowl, 78–79; reat G Plains, 22; opi H subsistence, 4; prairie land, 71; e-Columbian pr cultures, 2; tobacco,8; est Wdisappearance, 26 C ulture: agrarian ideal, 15; American dream, 92, 99; animal rights attitudes, 131; concer ts, 130, 150; counter culture, 105, 114; disposable,74, 90, 103; Ear th Day, 138; uropean E colonizers, 8–9;films, 45, 92–93, 133, 149; ontier, fr 23, 53–54; journalism, 136, 145; planned obsolescence, 75; plastics revolution, 78; e-Columbian pr Native American, 1–4; omanticism, r 24, 25, 27, 34, 40, 61–62, 79; songs,116, 117, 119; television programs, 108; transcendentalism, 27–28, 32; wasty ways, 23.See also Art; Literatur e; pSirituality C uyahoga River, 114 D airy industry, 145 D akota Territory, 48 D aly, Marcus, 44 D am construction, 60; Army Corps of Engineers, 19; Colorado River, 97, 108, 113; Colorado River Compact, 75; ative N American lands, 78; ennsylvania, P 87–88; otomac P River, 89; right to take down, 30; snail darter protection, 123; wild and scenic rivers, 112; osemite Y National Park, 65–66 Dam failures: Johnstown flood, 52; estock liv waste lagoons, 141, 143; radioactiv e wastewater, 130; eton T River, Idaho, 125; waste impoundment, 118, 145, 151 D aminozide, 136 D arling, Jay Norwood “Ding,” 82, 84 D arwin, Charles, 47 D avis, Alexander, Jackson Davis, 27

D awes Act, 51 D eaths: atomic bomb, 89; hopal, B India, 133; dam failure, 52, 77, 118, 125; auley G Dam, 77–78; heat wave, 130; urricane H Katrina, 149; lead exposure, 69; mining community, 153; mining disaster, 153; mining disasters, 40, 68; nuclear accidents, 105; occupational diseases, 116; rig oil blowout, 154; ilkwood, S Karen, 123; smog, 94–95, 98, 108, 111; xic to substances accidents, 134; water contamination, 140 D eer, 10, 19, 112 D eere, John, 27 D efenders of Fur-Bearers, 90 D efenders of Wildlife, 90 D efoliants, 110–111 D eforestation: balloon frame housing, 26; civilization decline, 36; vernment go regulation, 45; reat G Peshtigo Fire, 40–41; “M other of the Forest,” 31; national forests, 80; tobacco plantations, 8 D elaney Clause, 103 D elano, Columbus, 43 D emocracy, 54, 80, 90 D enver, John, 119, 130 D epartment of Agriculture, 35, 45, 46, 54, 65; ernow, F Bernard, 50.See also Soil Conservation Service D epartment of Defense, 116, 148 D epartment of Energy, 131, 137, 139 Department of Interior, 26, 42, 81–82, 147, 150; establishment,29; inchot, P Gifford, 56; dall, U Stewart, 105; att, W James, 131.See also Bureau of Biological Survey; Bureau of Land Management; Bureau of Mines; Bureau of Reclamation; F ish and Wildlife Service; F orestry Division; F orest Service; Minerals Management Service; N ational Park Service D epartment of Treasury, 39, 40 D ependency: hunting restrictions, 44; ative N American, 7, 10, 43; trappers,23 D eserts, 21, 62 D eSoto, Hernando, 6 D ichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), 85, 89, 99, 106–107, 110, 111, 133; ban,119 D iet, 2, 5 D iethylstilbestrol (DES), 84 D illard, Annie, 124 D ingell-Johnson Act, 96 D inosaur National Monument, 97 D ioxin, 131

Index

173

E cology: Bookchin, Murray, 105; deep , 119; fundamental laws, 117; human environment, 47; textbook,98 E conomic development: cattle drives, 37; consumer goods, 99; envir onment and global, 135; railr oads, 38; sustainable development, 119;Thoreau, Henry David, 32; world trade, 88 E cosystems, 72, 98 E dison, Thomas, 46, 54 E dison Electric Light Co., 46 E gypt, 64 E hrlich, Anne, 112 E hrlich, Paul, 112 E instein, Albert, 85 E ire Canal, 24 E iseley, Loren, 103 E isenhower. Dwight D., 98, 102, 104, 105 E lectricity, 46, 54, 87 Electric power plants: coal-fired, 126, 151; droelectric, hy 47, 60, 65, 73, 77–78, 79, 83, 109; nuclear , 101, 103, 111, 126, 128–129, 131, 134–135 E lectrification, 73; alternating current, 54; copper , 44; ural, r 83; ennessee T Valley Authority, 79 E lectronic equipment, 110 E liot, Jared, 14 E lite (social), 51, 52 E lm trees, 78 E l Rio de Norte, 6 Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act, 134 Emergency response: hazardous material releases, 134; oil spills, 138; ermiculite v contamination, 153 E merson, Ralph Waldo, 27, 28, 40 E ndangered species: federal listing, 120, 122; international convention, 120; ational N Audubon Society, 50; ational N Key deer, 112; nor thern spotted owl, 139–140; polar bears, 151; snail darter protection, 123; sperm whales, 116 Earth Day, 114, 115, 126; global,138 E ndangered Species Act, 120, 122, 123, 150 Earth First! (movement), 124, 133 E ndangered Species Preservation Act, 111 Earth Island Institute, 131 Energy: conservation, 122, 125; consumption, Earth Summit, 139 138; crisis,122, 125, 130;efficiency Earthwork mounds, 2 programs, 125, 127, 138; independence, E cological health: forests, 50; oover H Dam, 83; 122; policy , 146; esources, r 50, 51, 111, 125 ono M Lake diversion, 86; wolf , 140–141 E nergy Conservation Policy Act, 127 E cological Society of America, 90 E nergy Policy and Conservation Act, 125 E cologists Union, 90

D irect action See Civil disobedience D ischarge permits, 57, 118, 147 D isease: cancer, 142; cholera,30; Columbian Exchange, 5–6; eSoto, D Hernando, exploration, 6; dichlor odiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), 89; leaded gasoline manufacturing, 75–76; ative N American population, 8; occupational,116; leistocene P extinctions, 1–2; radium poisoning, 76–77; silicosis as occupational, 77–78; ellow y fever epidemic, 16–17.See also Cancer D isney Studio, 92 D isposable products: beer cans, 82; icBpen, 103; cultur e, 90; feminine,74; milk cartons, 83; tyrofoam, S 88 D ivision of Labor Standards, 82 D ominy, Floyd, 108 D onora, Pennsylvania, 94–95, 96 D ouglas, Marjory Stoneman, 92 D ouglas, William O., 101, 121 D ow Chemical Company, 88 D owning, Andrew Jackson, 27, 34 D rake, Edwin, 34 D rinking water: chlorination, 67; contamination,42, 140, 142–143, 148; sour ces, 28, 37, 76; standar ds, 124.See also Water supply D roughts, 130, 151; ydrfarming method, 64; ust D Bowl, 78–79 D r. Seuss, 117 D uck Stamp Act, 82 D umping: deserts, 97; mine waste, 147; municipal waste, 82, 120, 134; tanker oil ocean, 107; permits,57; xic to waste, 13, 127–128, 133, 140; waste water, 74, 108; etlands, w 73 DuPont de Nemours and Company, 74, 136 D ust Bowl, 78–79, 80, 81 D utch elm disease, 78

174 I ndex E nvironmental racism, 136 E nvironmental change: human warming, 67; E nvironmental Working Group, 148 railr oads, 38; steam power, 21.See also E ricsson, John, 44 Climate change E rie, Pennsylvania, 67 Environmental clean-up: community mine E thanol fuel, 74 waste contamination, 153; hazar dous E thyl gasoline, 74 waste, 115; mineral exploration, 42; E vans, Oliver, 20 minerals exploration, 42; nuclear weapon E verglades National Park, 92 production, 137; spill oil liability, 138; E xploration, 7–8; tkinson, A Henry Expedition, eet str cleaning programs, 29, 46, 48–49, 22; Columbus, Christopher, 5–6; eSoto, D 55; win T Towers attack, 147 Hernando, 6; rench F fur trade, 6; fur trade, E nvironmental consequences: Civil War, 35; 7; reen G and Colorado rivers, 38–39; Louis defor estation, 36; draulic hy gold mining, and Clark Corps of Discovery, 20; ike, P 32; ranching,37 Zebulon, 21 E nvironmental Defense Fund, 111, 125 E xtinction, 70, 143; Alaska animals, 40; E nvironmental defense movement, 128 California grizzly bear, 75; horses,6; E nvironmental impact: beaver dams, 7; passenger pigeons, 70–71; leistocene, P 1–2 beef cattle, 96; California gold rush, 29; E xtractive industries, 38, 65, 125, 128.See canal building, 24; endanger ed species also Fisheries; M ining; ePtroleum industry; protection, 123; ndustrial I Revolution, T imber 111; suburbanization,92 E xxonMobil Corp., 149 E nvironmental impact statements, 115 E nvironmentalism, 36, 115, 119, 138 aFctory safety, 45 E nvironmental justice: advisory council, 140; aFll, Albert, 76 Anniston, Alabama, toxin exposure, 147; aFmily farms, 13, 67, 83; allotments,51; federal government, 140; eople P of Color irrigation,60 Environmental Leadership Summit, 139; aFrmers, 16; landed,15; legal rights, 30; selfxic to waste facilities, 135 sufficiency, 63; water mills, 23 Environmental justice movement: landfill aFrming: Alabama, 21; bonanza,43; cotton, location, 127; riana, T Alabama, 133 16; reat G Plains, 21; ative N American, 9; E nvironmental law, 109; standing, owhattan P Confederacy, 8; ueblo, P 3; soil 109, 120–122 conservation and intensive, 14; tobacco,3, Environmental movement: Earth from 8. See also Agriculture space, 113 aFrm markets, 152–153 Environmental policy: Bush, George W., aFrms, 13; acr eage allotment, 9; factor y, 130; 146; tragedy of commons, 112–113 manur e lagoon spill, 141; population on, E nvironmental protection: federal court, 48; 138 ohnson, J Claudia “Lady Bird,” 112 aFrm workers, 8, 114, 133, 141 E nvironmental Protection Agency, 107, 115, 119, 120; acid rain, 133; pollution, air 142; aFuntroy, Walter, 127 F ederal-Aid Highway Act, 102 Alar (daminozide) ban, 136; chlor dane F ederal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act, 84 and heptachlor ban, 126; clear skies F ederal courts, 48; droelectric hy construction, proposal, 148; drinking water standards, 109; nuclear construction, 104; standing, 124; envir onmental justice advisory 109, 120–122; eetcar str scandal, 92; water council, 140; gasoline benzene content pollution, 108 regulation, 148; orsuch, G Anne, 131; eenhouse gr gas emission controls, 149–150; Federal Environmental Pesticide Control Act, 119 leaded gasoline phase-out, 125; lindane F ederal Insecticide, Fungicide, ban, 149; second-hand cigarette smoke, and Rodenticide Act, 119 139; spor ts utility vehicles, 147; xic to F ederal Land Management Policy Act, 128 substances accidents, 134; xic to waste, 126; F ederal Land Policy Management Act, 125 ermiculite v contamination, 153

Index F ederal Power Act, 73 F ederal Road Act, 73 F ederal Water Pollution Control Act, 95, 102, 118 F ederal Water Power Act, 73 F encing of land, 9, 43 F ermi, Enrico, 87 F ernow, Bernard, 50 F ertilization: bird guano imports, 30; cotton gin and tobacco, 16; intensiv e agriculture, 14 F ertilizer, 9; tifi ar cial, 16; hopal, B India, plant leak, 133; boll weevil, 54; reen G Revolution, 116; lawn care, 131; phosphate mines, 38 F ilms: animal rights, 92–93; animal welfare, 45; global warming, 149 F ire: Cuyahoga River, 114; global warming, 136; reat G Peshtigo Fire, 40–41; hunting and cultivation enhancement, 2; landscape management, 9 F irestone Tire and Rubber Company, 90 F ish: Atlantic salmon, 124; snail darter, 123 F ish and Wildlife Service, 50, 85, 90, 111, 112, 116, 131, 137, 152 F isheries: coastal pollution, 74; decline of coastal, 41; ative N American, 124; ew N England canals, 29 F ishing: Izaak Walton League, 75; estoration r project taxes, 96 F ish population, 23; Connecticut River, 33–34; oover H Dam, 83; eclamation r projects, 60 F itch, John, 16 F lavr Savr tomato, 140 F lood control, 19 F loods, 52 F lorida: air-conditioners, 98–99; verglades E National Park, 92; milk supply safety reporting, 145; elican P Island Bird Refuge, 61; solar water heaters, 54, 63–64, 87 F ood: additives, 103; conv enience, 96; genetically modified, 140; reen G Revolution, 116; meat inspection, 65; organic,152–153; purity and sanitation, 47 F ood, Drugs, and Cosmetic Act, 103 F ood and Drug Administration, 139 F ood Quality Protection Act, 141 F ood safety: Alar (daminozide), 136; animal feed contamination, 120; animal testing, 103; vine bo growth hormone, 145;

175

genetically modified seeds, 139; meatpacking plant conditions, 62; pesticides, 106; standar ds, 141 F oraging, 2 F ord, Gerald, 124, 125 F ord, Henry, 74, 75 F ord Foundation, 116 F ord Motor Company, 75 F oreman, Dave, 128, 133 F orest Management Act, 56 F orestry: Adirondack Mountains, 49–50; enrow, F Bernard, 50; reat G Peshtigo Fire, 41; lawsuit standing, 120–122; inchot, P Gifford, 56;scientific, 36; sustained yield, 63 F orestry Division, 45, 46, 50, 63; inchot, P Gifford, 56 F orests: Adirondack region, 55; ancient bristlecone pine, 2; clearance,10; commer cial use, 56; reat G Lakes, 26, 29, 44; landscape management, 9; eservation, pr 44–45; edwood, r 72–73, 142; timber policies, 10–11, 17; tobacco plantations, 8. See also Deforestation; N ational forests F orest Service, 63, 65, 76; management planning, 126; ski resort development, 120; timber sales, 102 F ossil fuels, 56, 127, 138 F ox River, 47 F rance, 6, 7, 19 F rancis I, King of France, 6 F rank, Bernard, 82 F ranklin, Benjamin, 13–14, 17 F raud, 17, 45 F resh Kills Landfill, 135–136 F rick, Henry Clay, 52 F riends of the Earth, 114 F rontier, 23, 53, 54 F uel-efficient vehicles, 125, 146–147, 148 F ulton, Robert, 21 F ur trade: Alaska hunt regulation, 40; beav ers, 7, 21, 23; rench-Native F American, 6; udson H ’sBay Company, 10; seals,39, 70 G ale, George, 31, 37 G ame animals, 20, 21, 44, 46, 63, 72 G arbage: incineration, 68; ocean dumping, 82; shipments and incineration, 134; etland w dumping, 73 G asoline, 122, 129, 148.See also Leaded gasoline G asoline engine emissions, 145

176 I ndex G reat Louisiana Toxic March, 137 G auley Mountain tunnel, 77–78 G reat Peshtigo Fire, 40–41 G aye, Marvin, 117 G reat Plains: bison, 39–40, 46, 48; ydr G eisel, Theodor (Dr Seuss), 117 farming method, 64; ust D Bowl, 78–79, G eneral Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 88 81; eat gr plow-up, 71; gallala O Aquifer, 96; G eneral Allotment Act, 51 shelter belts, 44;unfit for farming, 21–22; G eneral Electric Company, 46, 130 windmill water-pumping, 32 G eneral Federation of Women ’sClubs, 52, 56 G reat Plains tribes, 6 G eneral Mining Law, 42 G reat Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, 104 G eneral Motors Corporation, 74–75, 90 G reenhouse effect, 46, 56, 84, 118, 126; ore, G G eneral Wildlife Federation, 84 Al, 131; ansen, H James, 136; humanG enetic engineering, 130; lavr F Savr tomato, generated carbon emissions, 138; Kneeling 140; oundup R Ready crops, 141; seeds Curve, 103; public awareness, 134 marketing, 139; tobacco,133 G reenhouse gases: emission controls, 151; G enteel class, 49–50 emissions controls, 148–149; yoto K G eorgia, 17, 25, 44 Protocol, 139, 142, 146 G ibbs, Lois, 128, 131 G reenpeace (organization), 117 G ibson, J. Lockhart, 62 G reen Revolution, 116 G ila Wilderness, 76 G reen River, 38–39, 97 G lacier shrinkage, 147 G rinnell, George Bird, 42, 50–51, 55, 63 G lass industry, 20, 127 G riscom, John, 27–28 G lidden, Joseph, 43 G roves, Leslie, 87 G lobal cooling, 123 G rowth-producing hormones, 130, 145 G lobal development sustainability, 119, 135 G ulf Coast, 5, 149, 154 G lobal population growth, 112 G ulf of Mexico, 154 G lobal temperatures, 151 G ypsy moths, 54 Global trade: Bretton Woods Conference, 88; endanger ed species, 120; otests pr H abitat: acquisition, 111, 120; Alaskan, against, 143 57; beav er trade, 7; d, bir 25, 59, 86, G lobal warming, 67, 131, 137, 149; beef 104; nor thern spotted owl, 139–140; cattle, 96; Copenhagen Climate Summit, passenger pigeons, 70–71; polar bear, 151; 153; human-generated carbon emissions, eservation, pr 82; riparian,60; timber , 63 138; international panel, 136; myth,141; H aeckel, Ernst, 47 orthwest N Passage, 151; polar bears, 151; H alladay, Daniel, 32 polar ice shelves, 140 H amilton, Alice, 68–69, 74, 116 G old, 6, 25, 29, 32, 49 H anford Nuclear Reservation, Washington, 96 G ore, Al, 131, 139, 149, 150 H ansen, James, 136, 149 G orsuch, Anne, 131 H ardin, Garrett, 112–113 G rand Canyon, 38–39, 72, 124 H arr, Jonathan, 133 G rant, Ulysses S., 42–43 H arriman, Edward, 57 G rasslands: cattle overgrazing, 37; ust D Bowl, arrison, Benjamin, 53 78, 81; eastern,92; management,63; steel H H arrison, William Henry, 21 plow, 27; wolf , 140–141 H askell, Llewellyn, 34 G razing: barbed wire, 43; cattle,37; cattle die-off, H ats, 7, 56, 59, 69 51; districts,81–82; ust D Bowl, 78–79; soil H awaii, 151 conservation, 81–82; tragedy of commons, H ayden, Ferdinand V., 42 112; ellowstone Y National Park bison, 146 H ayes, Denis, 115, 126 G reat Britain, 11, 70 H azardous materials: public right to know, 134 G reat Desert, 22 Hazardous waste: African American G reat Intrusion, 25 communities, 135; cleanup , 115; G reat Lakes, 5, 68, 118; for ests, 26, 29, coal fly ash sludge, 151; community 44; fur trade, 6, 7, 21

Index organization, 131; federal regulation, 125, 126; ve LoCanal, New York, 127–128; permits,125; plastics production, 78; poly chlorinated biphenyls, 127; imes T Beach, Missouri, 131 H ealth Organization, League of Nations, 30 H eat waves, 130; global warming, 136 H emenway, Harriet, 56 H enderson, Hazel, 109 H eptachlor, 126 H ighways, 73, 102 H ill, Julia Butterfly, 142 H istoric site preservation, 60, 101 H istory, 54, 103 H omestead Act, 35 H ooker Chemical Company, 127–128 H oover, Herbert, 75 H oover Dam, 83 H opi, 3–4, 124 H ornaday, William T., 70 H orses, 5–6; cities,37, 59; uelty, cr 24–25; smog deaths, 95 H orticulture, 11, 27, 28 H ot Springs Mountain, Arkansas, 26 H ough, Emerson, 55 H ough, Franklin B., 44–45 H ousehold products, 54–55, 62, 98–99 H ousing, 26, 92 H ouston, Texas, 127 H ubbert, M. King, 102–103,117 H udson River, 21, 49–50, 108, 109, 111 H udson River Fisherman ’sAssociation, 108, 109 H udson River School, 24, 25 H udson River Sloop Clearwater, 111 H udson ’sBay Company, 10 H uman genome, 143, 145 H unting: ancient Native Americans, 2; Bambi film, 92–93; beav er, 7; bison, 39–40, 48; deer , 10, 19; efenders D of Fur-Bearers, 90; duck stamps, 82; owa I restrictions, 46; license sale, 84; migrator y birds, 70; ative N American resettlement; Native Americans, 6; passenger pigeons, 70–71; leistocene P extinctions, 1–2; estrictions, r 44; seals, 70; spor tsmen code, 51; wildlife preservation, 84 H urricane Katrina, 129, 149 H ussein, Saddam, 138

177

H ydraulic mining, 48, 49 H ydroelectric power, 47; federal development, 73; auley G River tunnel, 77–78; oover H Dam, 83; land reclamation projects, 60; iagara N Falls, 65; pumped storage, 109; ennessee T Valley Authority, 79 daho, I 101, 105, 125 llinois-Michigan I Canal, 29 Illinois Occupational Disease Commission, 68–69 llinois I River, 29, 75 mperial I spirit, 54 An Inconvenient Truth (film), 149 ndiana, I 78 ndian I Removal Act, 25 ndian I Reorganization Act, 51 ndustrial I Revolution, 33, 111 ndustry, I 20, 114; chemical,133, 137; dair y, 145; auley G Mountain tunnel, 77–78; glass,20; estock, liv 71, 130, 141, 143; lumber , 134, 142; meat,62, 65, 96, 141; mo vie, 45; vero consumption, 112; petr oleum, 35, 40, 76; efabricated pr housing, 26; smell,13; solar , 64; steel, 33, 69; textile,16, 29; timber , 80.See also Automobile industry; M ining nsecticides, I 46, 54 nsect I infestations, 44 nspections: I dams, 77; factor y, 45, 47, 82; hazar dous waste, 125; meat,65, 141; mine safety, 68; occupational health, 82; public health, 37, 76 nstitute, I West Virginia, 133 ntel I Corporation, 110 ntensive I agriculture: Dust Bowl, 78–79; electrification,83; grain reaper, 26; guano imports and cotton, 30; opi, H 4; soil conservation, 14 International agreements: climate change, 139; reat G Lakes water quality, 118; yoto K Protocol, 139, 142, 146, 148–149; ontreal M Protocol, 135; iagara N Falls diversion, 65 nternational I Atomic Energy Agency, 98 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 88 nternational I conferences: communicable disease control, 30; envir onment and development, 139; human environment, 118; natural resources, 95

178 I ndex Laborunions, 116, 122–123 International Convention for the Regulation of Lacey , John F., 55, 59, 65 Whaling, 90 LaceyAct, 55, 59 nternational I Joint Commission, 68 Ladies Health Protective Association (New nternational I Monetary Fund, 88 York City), 48–49, 55 International Panel on Climate Change LagunaBeach, Michigan, 104 (IPCC), 136, 138, 140 LakeMichigan, 37, 59 nternational I Sanitary Convention, 30 Land:aboriginal title, 23; Alaska Native claims, nternational I Whaling Commission, 132 118; clearance,10; colonial division, nterstate I highway system, 102 9; fraud,17, 45; grants,35, 38; ative N nyo I National Forest, 2 American, 20, 25; operty pr rights to, 8, 9; owa, I 46 sales and rights, 21; speculation,15, 17, ranian I Revolution, 129 35, 45; estern w states creation, 16.See also raq, I 138, 148 Acreage allotments; P ublic land; W etlands rish I immigrants, 29 Landdivision: Northwest Territories, 15; ron, I 10, 20, 33, 52 estern, w 16 rrigation, I 39; California,70; districts, Landethic, 93–94, 119 45–46; ydr farming method, 64; ormon M Landfills: African American communities, 127, communal, 28; gallala O Aquifer, 96; e-pr 135; automobile planned obsolescence, Columbian cultures, 2; oject pr funding, 60; 75; closur e, 134; medical waste ocean selenium run-off, 132; soil erosion control, pollution, 135–136; municipal garbage, 68; 35; soil salinization, 60; solar-po wered, 44; postconsumer plastics, 78; tyrofoam, S 88; solar water pumps, 63–64; estern w land etland w dumping, 73 reclamation, 45–46 LandOrdinance of 1785, 15 srael, I 122 Lando wner water rights, 50 zaak I Walton League, 75 Landscape:Adams, Ansel, 79; automobile dominance, 73;beautification, 34; ackson, J Lisa, 153 civilization impact, 24; deser t environment, ackson, J William Henry, 25 62;fire management of, 9; ests for as amestown J colony, 8 working, 56; hideous,9; ount M Auburn Jefferson, Thomas, 14–15, 19, 20, 21, 24, 35 Cemetery, 26; ew NYork Central Park, enks, J Joseph, Sr., 10 34; paintings,24; omantic r painting, 25; ersey J City, New Jersey, 67 suburban ideal, 27; suburbanization,92; ohnny J Appleseed, 28 suburban romantic, 34 ohnson, J Claudia “Lady Bird,” 112 Langley , Samuel P., 46, 51, 56 ohnson, J Lyndon B., 109, 112 Lawns, 131 ohnson, J Robert Underwood, 53, 66 Lawsuits, 118; Anniston, Alabama, toxin ohnstown, J Pennsylvania, 52 exposure, 147; California greenhouse gas controls, 148;landfill location, 127; Kaltenborn,H. V., 90 municipal well contamination, 132–133; K eeling, Charles, 103 agebrush S Rebellion, 128; standing,109, K elley, Florence, 65 120–122; xic to waste discharge limits, 125; K emp, Clarence, 54 riana, T Alabama, 133; ermiculite v mining K ennedy, John F., 104, 107, 108 operations, 153 K entucky, 20–21, 25, 145 Lead:occupational health, 68–69; pollution, K erosene, 35 109–110 K err-McGee, 123 Lead-basedpaint, 62, 117 K esterson National Wildlife Refuge, 132 Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act, 117 K ettering, Charles F., 74 Lead-basedpesticides, 44, 46, 54 Kingsport, Tennessee, 151 Leadedgasoline, 52, 74, 75–76, 109–110; Kno wles, Joseph, 70 phase-out,116, 125, 131, 135 K yoto Protocol, 139, 142, 146, 148–149

Index Leadpoisoning, 69; childr en, 62; leaded gasoline production workers, 75–76; umr distillers, 13 Leafblowers, 145 Leagueof Nations, 30 Leagueof Woodcraft Indians, 61 Leopold,Aldo, 71, 76, 82, 93–94, 119 Levitt,Abraham, 92 Levitto wn, New York, 92, 93 Lewis, Meriwether, 20 Liability:hazardous waste sites, 128; nuclear power generating plants, 103; spills, oil 138; shipo wners, 30 Libb y, Montana, 153 Lightbulbs, 46 Limitationsof Shipowners Liability Act, 30 Lincoln,Abraham, 35–36 Lindane, 149 Linnaeus,Carolus, 11 Lisa,Manuel, 21 Literatur e: animal fiction, 57; ryant, B William Cullen, 24; urroughs, B John, 40; childr en ’s stories, 117; deser t environment, 62; ontier fr in, 23; natur e fakers, 61–62; poetr y, 14.See also Nature writing LittleTennessee River, 123 “Liv e Earth” (concerts), 150 Liv estock: cruelty prohibition, 24–25; eSoto, D Hernando, exploration, 6 Livestock industry: feed supplements, 130; manur e lagoon failures, 141, 143; edators, pr 71 Logging:Adirondacks protection, 39, 49–50; clear-cutting,134; ill, HJulia Butterfly, 142; llinois-Michigan I Canal, 29; orthwest N Forest Plan, 139–140; ennsylvania P dam projects, 87–88; ongas T National Forest, 137; wasteful, 41.See also Timber Long,Stephen H., 22 Long,William J., 61 LongIsland, New York, 10 LongIsland Expressway, 102 LosAlamos, New Mexico, 87–89 LosAngeles, California, 64, 76, 86, 99 Louisiana, 21, 22, 137, 149 LouisianaPurchase Exposition, 61 LouisianaPurchase Treaty, 19 Lo ve Canal, New York State, 127–128 Lo vins, Amory, 125–126 Lo well, Massachusetts, 23, 26, 29, 47

179

Lo wer classes, 55 L ynn, Massachusetts, 10 M acKaye, Benton, 82 M ack Truck Company, 90 M ad Cow Disease, 141 M ad Dog (Creek chief ), 19 M aine, 7 M aize See Corn M anhattan Company, 17 M anhattan Project, 85, 87 M anufacturing: electrification, 73; textile,16, 29; water mills, 23, 26 M anure, 59; cities horses, 37, 59; guano imports, 30; lagoon spill, 141, 143; public health, 37; water supply contamination, 140 M apping and surveying, 19; air pollution, 77, 84; political divisions, 15; sanitar y conditions, 67; unsur veyed, 27 M arine Mammal Protection Act, 120 M arine mammals, 120 Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act, 120 M arket hunting, 51 M arsh, George Perkins, 33–34, 35, 44–45, 50 M arshall, James, 29 M arshall, John, 23 M arshall, Robert, 80, 81 M assachusetts: Argo Merchant oil spill, 126; carbon dioxide emissions, 149–150; colonial,10–11; municipal well contamination, 132–133; occupational health and safety, 45; pur e food, 47 M assachusetts Audubon Society, 56 M assey Coal Company, 145 M aterials Policy Commission, 98 M ather, Stephen, 71 M atrilineal cultures, 3–4 M atterson, Edward E., 32 M cCormick, Cyrus, 26 M cKibben, Bill, 137 M cKinley, William, 59, 60 M eadows, Donella H., 119 M eat industry: consumption, 96; inspections,141; packing plants, 62, 65 M eat Inspection Act, 141 M edical testing, 47 M edical waste, 135–136 M ercury, 102, 152 M eriam, Clinton Hart, 50

180 I ndex M eritt, Lewis, 52 M erriam, C. Hart, 57 M erriam, John C., 72–73 M errimack River, 23, 26, 29 M ethyl isocyanate, 133 M exico, 2, 140 M ichigan, 111 M ichigan Board of Health, 54–55 M ichigan Farm Bureau, 120 M icmac, 7 M iddle-class: cities beautiful movement, 55; landfill lawsuit, 127; lead poisoning, 62; eople P of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, 139; eservation pr support, 104; suburban ideal, 27; wilderness stories, 70; women,48–49 M iddle East, 64, 110 M idgley, Thomas, 52 M idwest: Native American settlement, 2 M igration: California gold rush, 29; farm land demand, 13; human to north America, 1–2; maiz e cultivation, 2; uebloan, P 3; panish S horses, 6; tobacco,3 M igratory Bird Act, 70 Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Act, 82 M igratory Bird Treaty Act, 70 M ilitary training, 151 M ilk cartons, 83 M iller, Henry, 30 M ineral King valley, 120 M ineral Leasing Act, 73–74 M ineral rights, 42, 73–74, 89–90 M inerals Management Service, 151, 154 M ining: Avondale disaster, 40; community vermiculite dust exposure, 153; copper , 44; draulic, hy 32, 48, 49; onirore, 52; mineral leasing, 73–74; phosphate,38; radioactiv e wastewater spill, 130; rights,42; safety , 68; silica dust, 77–78.See also Coal mines M innesota, 52 M ississippian peoples, 5 M ississippi River, 5, 15, 59, 75 M issouri, 21, 23, 59, 131; geographic center, 137–138 M itchell, Joni, 116 M ojave Generating Station, 124 M ono Lake, 86 M onopolies, 21, 40 M onroe, James, 22 M onsanto Corporation, 139, 141, 145, 147

M ontana, 44, 68, 71, 153 M ontreal Protocol, 135 M ooar, Wright, 40 M oore, Gordon, 110 M oran, Thomas, 25 M organ, J. P., 46 M orill Land Grant Colleges Act, 35 M ormons, 24, 28 M orton, J. Sterling, 43 M orton, Thomas, 9 M other of the Forest, 37 M ountain Men, 23 M ountain States Foundation, 131 M ountain top removal mining, 147 M ount Auburn Cemetery, 26 Movements: animal rights, 93; back-to-land,114; cities beautiful movement, 55; countr y life, 67; Ear th First!, 128; envir onmental, 113, 115; envir onmental justice, 127; municipal housekeeping, 52–53; agebrush S Rebellion, 128; smoke abatement, 61; transcendentalism, 27–28, 32; wise use, 133–134 M ovie industry, 45 M uckle, M. Richards, 47 M uir, John, 53, 60, 65–66, 71 M ulholland, William, 76 M unicipal housekeeping movement, 52–53 M urie, Margaret “Mardy,” 104, 105, 130 M urie, Olaus, 104, 105, 109 M urray, William H. H. “Adirondack,” 39 M useums, 16, 70 M usicians United for Safe Energy, 130 N ader, Ralph, 110 N aess, Arne, 119 N ational Academy of Sciences, 35 National Acidic Precipitation Assessment Program, 138 National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 113 N ational Ambient Air Quality Standards, 115 N ational Audubon Society, 50, 63 N ational Coast Anti-Pollution League, 75 N ational Commission on Country Life, 67 N ational Conservation Commission, 67 N ational Consumers League, 65 N ational Energy Act, 127 National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, 140 N ational Environmental Policy Act, 115 N ational Forest Management Act, 126

Index N ational forests: clear-cutting, 134; commer cial use management, 56; establishment,53; management planning, 126; orthwest N Forest Plan, 139–140; eservation, pr 80; timber sales, 102. See also Name of specific N ational Key deer, 112 National Mine Safety and Health Academy, 145 N ational monuments, 64–65, 141, 146 N ational Park Protective Act, 55 N ational parks: administration, 71; Alaska, 131; Civilian Conservation Corps, 79; rater C Lake National Park, 61; verglades E National Park, 92; fountains of life, 60; otHSprings Mountain, Arkansas, 26; management,65; vero development, 113; ellowstone, Y 42; osemite, Y 65; osemite Y and Yellowstone, 36–37. See also Name of specific National Parks and Conservation Association, 73 N ational Parks Association, 73 N ational Park Service, 42, 71, 89 N ational Renewable Energy Laboratory, 126 N ational reservations, 39 N ational Resources Defense Council, 116, 143 N ational Science Foundation, 103 N ational Testing Station, 101 N ational Trails System Act, 112 N ational Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, 112 N ational Wildlife Federation, 84 N ational Wildlife Refuge System, 61 Native Americans: aboriginal land title, 23; acr eage allotment, 51; Alaskan land claims, 118; barbed wire, 43; bison,39–40, 43; California gold rush, 29; cattle,9; Clo vis people, 2; Columbian Exchange, 5–6; dam and water projects, 78; diplomatic relations, 20; diseases,8; ennoblement,23; farming,9; fishing rights, 124; fur trade, 6–7, 23; grazing reforms, 81–82; omestead H Act, 35; opi H people, 3–4; horse impact, 6; kno wledge, 3–4, 8–9, 20; land,10, 15, 22; migration to North America, 1; ississippian M peoples, 5; avajo-Hopi N Settlement Act, 124; par k land preservation, 26; population,5, 53; operty pr rights, 9; ueblo, P 3; esettlement, r 20; tobacco,3; trade-dependency , 10, 19; rail T of Tears, 25; water rights, 67; oodland W Period cultures, 2

181

N atural history, 16, 26 Natural resources: commons management, 112–113; conser vation, 66–67; scar city study, 98; UN conference, 95 N atural Resources Defense Council, 125, 136 N ature, 23, 93, 119; agrarian ideal, 14–15; ecocentric,15; hideous,9; omanticism, r 25, 27, 34, 40, 61–62, 79; transcendentalism,27–28, 32 N ature centers, 88 N ature Conservancy, 90, 128 N ature writing, 40; bbey, A Edward, 113; Carson, Rachel Louise, 86–87, 98, 101–102, 106–107; illard, D Annie, 124; Jefferson, Thomas, 14–15; Leopold, Aldo, 93–94;Thoreau, Henry David, 28, 40 N avajo, 124, 130 N avajo-Hopi Settlement Act, 124 N avigation works, 19 N avy, 151 N ebraska, 43 N elson, Gaylord, 115 N evada, 75, 96–97, 131, 152 N evada Proving Ground, 96–97 N ewark, New Jersey, 42 N ew Bedford, Massachusetts, 28 N ew England: beaver fur trade, 7; family farming, 13; landscape and regional environment, 36; ount M Tombora, 22; salmon, 124; water mills, 23; whaling, 28 N ewhall, Nancy, 104 N ew Hampshire, 126 New Jersey: Great Swamp Wildlife Refuge, 104; Lle wellyn Park, 34; medical waste ocean pollution, 135–136; ocean garbage, 82; wage se discharge, 74; water chlorination, 67 N ewlands, Francis, 60 N ewlands Reclamation Act, 60 N ew Mexico, 75, 87, 130, 143 N ew Orleans, Louisiana, 149 N ew River, 141 N ew York City: air pollution, 77, 84; Central Park, 34; cholera,29; envir onmental racism, 136; resh F Kills Landfill, 136; ocean dumping, 82; public health authority, 37; sanitar y conditions, 27–28; smog,98, 108, 111; eet str cleaning department, 46, 48–49, 55; water supply, 17, 28; orld W Trade Center attack, 147

182 I ndex N ew York State, 24; dirondack A region, 39, 49–50, 55; rieECanal, 24; Levitto wn, 92; Long Island Expressway, 102; ve Lo Canal toxic waste site, 127–128; wage se discharge, 74 N itrogen oxides emissions, 138 N ixon, Richard, 115–116, 120, 122–123 N o Nukes concerts, 130 N orth American Conservation Conference, 68 N orth American Free Trade Agreement, 140 N orth American Wetlands Conservation Act, 137 N orth American Wildlife Conference, 84 N orth Carolina, 13, 127, 134, 141, 143 N orthern Pacific Railroad, 38, 42, 43 N orthern spotted owl, 139–140 N orth Pacific Fur Seal Treaty, 70 N orthwest Ordinance, 16 N orthwest Passage, 20, 150–151 N orthwest Territories, 15 N uclear power, 90, 98 N uclear power plants, 103; Chernob yl, Ukraine, 134–135;The China Syndrome (film), 129; electricity generation, 101; fuel disposal, 131; fuel rod production safety, 123; meltdo wn, 111; otests, pr 126;Thr ee Mile Island, 128–129 N uclear reactors, 104–105 N uclear Regulatory Commission, 123 N uclear Test Ban Treaty, 108 N uclear waste, 143, 152 N uclear Waste Policy Act, 131, 152 N uclear weapons, 85, 87–90, 99–100; mer cury waste, 102; oduction pr cleanup, 137; oduction pr waste isolation, 143; tests, 96–97, 99, 101, 108, 117 O ak Ridge, Tennessee, 102 O bama, Barack, 152, 154 O ccupational health, 45, 110, 116; farm workers, 114, 116–117, 133, 141; auley G Mountain tunnel, 77–78; amilton, H Alice, 68–69; inspections,82; leaded gasoline production, 75–76; radium exposure, 76–77; women ’sclubs, 53 O ccupational Safety and Health Act, 116 Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 116 Ocean conservation: Carson, Rachel Louise, 86–87, 98; coastal pollution, 74; Cousteau, Jacques, 69;

apah¯anaumoku¯akea P Marine National Monument, 151; territorial water, 120 O cean pollution, 107; dumping,120;Exxon Valdez oil spill, 137; medical waste, 135–136; municipal garbage, 82; rig oil blowout, 114, 154; spills, oil 126 O ceans, 89 O dum, Eugene P., 98 Office of Technology Assessment, 130 Offshore resources: minerals, 89; oil,90, 114, 154 O gallala Aquifer, 96 O hio River valley, 15 O il: drilling, 34, 131; global warming, 67; raq, I 138, 148; leases,151; pipelines, 118, 122; oduction, pr 102–103, 110, 117; rudhoe P Bay, Alaska, 111; eapot T Dome scandal, 76 Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers Union, 122 O il and grease reduction plant, 103 O il embargo, 122 O il Pollution Act, 76, 138 O il spills: Argo Merchant, 126;Exxon Valdez, 137; liability and cleanup, 76, 138;offshore rig blowout, 114, 154 O lmsted, Frederick Law, 34 O nate, Don Juan de, 6 O peration Ranch Hand, 110–111 O ppenheimer, J. Robert, 87, 89 O raibi community, 3–4 O regon, 10, 61, 118–119, 133 O rganic Act, 42 Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, 122 O rnithology, 19, 25, 50 O haughnessy ’S Dam, 66 O uter space, 108, 113 Ov ergrazing: barbed wire, 43; cattle dieoff, 51; ust D Bowl, 78–79; tragedy of commons, 112; osemite Y National Park, 53 Ow ens River, 64, 76 O zone layer, 99, 123, 132, 135, 136 P acific Coast, 2 P acific Crest Trail, 112 P acific Lumber Company, 142 P aint: lead-based, 117; lead poisoning, 62; radium,76–77 P aleoamericans, 1

Index P apah¯anaumoku¯akea Marine National Monument, 151 P arks: Mount Auburn Cemetery, 26; ew N York Central Park, 34; est Wpreservation, 26.See also National parks P articulate pollution, 50, 77, 85 P assenger pigeons, 20–21, 70–71 P atuxent National Wildlife Research Refuge, 90 P awtucket Falls, 23 ePabody Coal Company, 124 ePale, Charles Wilson, 16 ePanuts, 63 ePlican Island Bird Refuge, 61 ePlicans, 61 ePnn, William, 10 ePnnsylvania, 10; vondale A mining disaster, 40; onora D smog, 94–96; ohnstown J flood, 52; nuclear power plant, 103; drilling, oil 34; Three Mile Island nuclear plant, 128–129 Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 47 People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, 131 People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, 139 ePrchlorate, 148 ePrkins, Francis, 82 ePrkins, Marlin, 108 ePrmits: discharge, 57, 118, 147; hazar dous waste, 125 ePrsian Gulf War, 138 ePst control, 50 ePsticides, 85, 106–107; bir d reproductive capacity, 110; cancer clusters, 142; Carson, Rachel, 90; chlor dane and heptachlor ban, 126; dichlor odiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), 89, 99; farm workers, 114, 116–117, 133, 141; reen G Revolution, 116; lead and arsenic, 44; lindane ban, 149; egulation, r 119, 141 ePterson, Clair, 109–110 ePtroleum industry: Civil War, 35; solar industry, 64; tandard S Oil Company, 40; eapot T Dome scandal, 76.See also Oil P hiladelphia, Pennsylvania, 13, 16–17, 103 P hiladelphia Museum, 16 P hosphates, 118 P hosphorus poisoning, 69 P hotography, 37, 79, 104 P ike, Zebulon, 21

183

P inchot, Gifford, 56, 63, 65, 67 P ittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 20, 46, 50, 56, 77 P ittston Coal Company, 118 P lains Indians, 43 P lanned obsolescence, 75 P lants: Columbian Exchange, 5–6; diseases, 62, 78; asive, inv 82; species protection, 120, 122; succession,72 P lastics, 78; beer can lining, 82; conv enience foods, 96; poly ethylene terephthalate (PET), 127; orld W War II, 87 P leistocene Epoch, 1–2 P lymouth colony, 9 P neumoconiosis, 116 oPlar bears, 151 oPlar ice shelves, 140, 147 oPlitical organization, 66–67; air quality control regions, 111; Colorado River Compact, 75; grazing districts, 81–82; irrigation districts, 45–46; wnships to and subdivisions, 15; estern w land, 16 oPlybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), 120 oPlychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 127, 147 oPlyethylene terephthalate (PET), 127 oPor, 72 oPpular culture See Culture oPpulation: African slave, 8; agricultur e, 35; Alabama “fever,” 21; Cahokia urban, 5; California gold rush, 29; city-based, 73; city horses and increasing, 59; disease and Native American, 6, 8; ontier fr disappearance, 53; geographic center, 78, 137–138; global growth, 112; land demand, 13, 20;landfill sites and African American, 127; aleoamerican, P 1; hiladelphia P yellow fever epidemic, 16; e-Columbian pr indigenous, 5; nited U States, 16, 23, 25, 27, 30, 34, 40, 46, 68, 96, 104, 114, 130, 145; estward w movement, 27; world, 1 oPrtsmouth, New Hampshire, 10–11 oPrtsmouth, Rhode Island, 10 oPrtuguese, 8 oPtomac River, 89 oPverty, 27–28 oPwell, John Wesley, 28, 38–39, 45–46, 60 oPwhattan Confederacy, 8 P rairie, 27, 43, 71 P redators, 71–72, 79; wolf , 140–141, 152 P re-emption Act, 27 P refabricated housing, 26

184 I ndex P resident ’sCouncil on Environmental Quality, 115 P resident ’sScience Advisory Committee, 110 P ribilof Islands, 39 P rice-Anderson Act, 103 P rice controls, 83 P rince William Sound, 137 P roject Independence, 122 P roperty rights: aboriginal title, 23; absentee owners and Native American, 16; animal cruelty prohibition, 24–25; epidemic disease, 8; individual and collectivist, 9; squatters,27; xic to waste controls, 13; water rights and landowner, 50; wise use movement, 134 P rotests: global trade, 143; nuclear power plants, 126; nuclear weapons, 117; orld W Trade Organization meeting, 143 P ublic health, 37; American Public Health Association, 42; arsenical wallpapers, 54–55; coal smoke, 20; communicable disease control, 30; yptosporidium cr water supply contamination, 140; inspections, 37, 76; lead arsenate insecticide, 54; lead-based paint, 62, 117; lead poisoning, 13; living condition sanitation, 30; ve Lo Canal toxic waste site, 128; municipal water supply, 17; ew NYork City board, 37; right to clean air and water, 13; sanitar y conditions, 27–28, 30, 67; smog deaths, 95; ermiculite v mine, 153; women ’sclubs, 53; orld W Trade Center attack, 147; ellow y fever epidemic, 16–17 P ublic Health Service, 110; air pollution control, 101; pollution air surveys, 77; onora D smog investigation, 96; tream S Pollution Act, 84 P ublic land: Alaska, 130–131; ureau B of Land Management, 90; Clinton, Bill, 146; dam and irrigation funding, 60; drainage transfer, 30; eneral G Mining Law, 42; grazing districts, 81–82; droelectric hy power projects, 73; nterior I Department, 29; Kaibab Plateau species management, 72; mineral leasing, 73–74; multiple use management policy, 125; national forest preserves, 53; and oil gas drilling, 131; edators pr on, 71; agebrush S Rebellion, 128; sale for irrigation, 45; settlement and sale, 15; wilderness areas, 109; wildlife restoration, 82

P ublic right to know, 134, 142 P ublic transportation, 90–91, 102 P ublic use: waterways, 30 P ueblos, 3, 6 P ynchon, William, 7 P yrethrum seeds, 46 Radiationpoisoning, 76–77, 89 Radioactiv e fallout, 99, 134–135 Radioactiv e releases, 129 Radioactive waste: disposal and storage, 131; anford H Nuclear Reservation, 96; ew N Mexico tailing dam spill, 130; aste W Isolation Pilot Plant, 143 Radium, 76–77 Railr oads, 20, 24, 25, 38; bison hunting, 39–40 RakerAct, 66 Ranches, 43 Rangelands, 37, 43 R eagan, Ronald, 131–132, 135 R eclamation, 39, 45–46 R ecreation, 104–105; dirondacks, A 39, 49–50; beaches,74–75; Central Park, New York, 34; dam construction, 65–66; den gar cemeteries, 26; national forests, 56, 63; trails,82, 112; wildlife refuge resorts, 120; osemite Y National Park, 36–37 R ecycling, 72, 125; bottles,83, 118–119; landfill closure, 134; organic waste, 103; orld W War II, 87 R edstone Arsenal Army Base, 133 R edwood forests, 72–73; ill, H Julia Butterfly, 142 R efrigeration, 38 R efuse Act, 57, 108 R egional environments, 36, 111 Regulatory enforcement: air pollution, 46, 111, 115–116, 126; ush, B George W., 146; nvironmental E Protection Agency, 115; orsuch, G Anne, 131; hunting,10; leaded gasoline phase-out, 131; legal activists, 116; assachusetts, M 45; meat inspection, 65; mine safety, 40; ilOPollution Act, 76; ocky R Flats nuclear weapons plant, 139; timber restrictions, 11; xic to waste, 125, 127; pper U Big Branch Coal Mine explosion, 153; water pollution, 108–109, 118; estern w land management, 128; wildlife protection, 59; wise use movement, 133–134; wor kplace health, 82; ellowstone Y National Park, 55

Index

185

aSugus, Massachusetts, 10 aSve the Redwoods League, 73 aSwyer, Lorenzo, 48 Scandals, 76, 90–91 Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference, 109, 116 Scenic preservation: American scenic and Historic Preservation Society, 60 Schwarzenegger, Arnold, 149 Science:agriculture advancement, 13; national academy, 35 eSabirds, 107 eSabrook, New Hampshire, 126 eSa ice, 151 eSal hunting, 70 eSattle, Washington, 143 eSeger, Pete, 111 eSlenium, 132 eSlf-regulation, 13 eSlf-sufficient living, 28 eSquoia trees, 31, 37, 65, 73 eSton, Ernest Thompson, 57, 61–62 Settlement: biological diversity and European, 7; nglish, E 8; Long Island whaling, 10; ative N American resistance, 8, 21; orthwest N Territories, 15; raibi, O 3–4; acific P Coast, 2; operty pr rights, 8, 9; steam power, 21; unsur veyed federal land, 27 eSttlers, 9, 10 Sewage: Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, 59; udson H River, 108; ew NYork Bay, 74 eSwer systems: Chicago combine, 33; federal grants, 102; well, Lo Massachusetts, 47 hSattuck, Lemuel, 30 hSelford, Victor, 90 hSell Oil Company, 116 hSeridan, Phil, 42 aScagawea (Shoshone woman), 20 Shipping: Arctic Northwest passage ice, aScramento River, 48 150–151; water pollution liability, 30 aSfe Drinking Water Act, 124, 135, 142 hSippingport, Pennsylvania, 103 aSgebrush Rebellion, 128, 131 iSerra Club, 60, 71, 97, 108, 114; gasoline aSlmon, 124 benzene content regulation, 148 aSnger, Margaret, 72 iSerra Nevada Mountains, 2, 32 aSnitary conditions, 27–28; surveys, 67; iSlicosis, 77–78 urban, 29,30 aSnitation: advocacy, 42; ecology , 47; garbage iSlkwood, Karen, 123 iSnclair, Upton, 62, 65 management, 68; slaughterhouses and iSskiyou National Forest, 133 meat-packing plants, 62, 65; women ’s 60 Minutes (television program), 136, 145 clubs, 52–53 kSi resort development, 120 aSnitation leagues, 63 lSaughterhouses, 13, 62, 65 aSnitation workers, 55

R enewable energy, 125–126, 129, 146 R eproductive capacity, 71, 110 R esorts, 120 R esource Conservation and Recovery Act, 125 R esource councils, 125 R esources for the Future (organization), 98 Rice, 116 Richar ds, Ellen Swallow, 47 Rightsof conquest, 23 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, 139 RioGrande, 6 RioPuerco, 130 Riparianhabitat, 7 Rivers: acid rain, 133; draulic hy mining, 32; mine runoff, 118; wild and scenic, 112, 131 Riv ers and Harbors Act, 57, 108 R oad construction, 91 R ockefeller, John D., 40 R ockefeller Foundation, 116 R ocket fuel, 148 R ockwell International, 139 R ocky Flats nuclear weapons plant, 139 R ocky Mountain Legal States Foundation, 128 R olfe, John, 8 R omanticism: Adams, Ansel, 79; ierstadt, B Albert, 25; natur e, 24; natur e fakers, 61–62; natur e writing, 40; ural r living, 27; suburban community, 34 R oosevelt, Franklin D., 79–85, 125 R oosevelt, Theodore, 42, 48, 50, 60–61, 63–68 R oundup Ready crops, 141 R ural areas, 27, 83 R ural cooperatives, 83 R ural Electrification Administration, 83 R ussia, 70, 148

186 I ndex pSirituality: animals in Mormon, 24; lSaves: cotton gin, 16; cotton production, 26; anthr opocentric, 111; biocentric, amestown, J 8; population,16, 23, 25, 27, 71; uropean E colonizers, 8–9; 30, 34; panish S exploration, 6; tobacco matrilineal cultures, 3–4; ormon, M 28; farming, 8; Wheatley , Phillis, 14 aleoamericans, P 1; e-Columbian pr cultures, lSums, 29 2; transcendentalism movement, 27–28; m S elting, 10 woody wilderness, 24 m S ith, Joseph, 24 pSortsmen, 39–40, 49–51, 72, 88 m S ithsonian Institution, 38–39 pSortsmen Code, 51 m S og: Donora, Pennsylvania, 94–96; Los pSorts utility vehicles, 138, 146–147, 153 Angeles, California, 99; ew NYork City, 98, qSuatters, 27 108, 111 tSandard Oil Company, 40, 74, 90 m S oke: coal, 20; municipal restrictions, tSarvation, 8, 22 46; ew NYork City, 84; ittsburgh, P Pennsylvania, 56; t. SLouis, Missouri, 61, tSeamboats, 16, 21 tSeam engines, 20, 24;Tom Thumb race, 25 85, 86 tSeam solar engines, 63–64 m S okestacks, 20 tSeam solar generators, 44 oSciety for Animal Protective Legislation, 98 tSeel, William Gladstone, 61 oSil: cotton farming, 16; exhaustion,30, 63; tSeel industry, 33, 69 salinization,60; tobacco,8 tSeel plow, 27 oSil conservation, 14; ennett, B Hugh tSegner, Wallace, 104 Hammond, 80; Civilian Conservation tSeingraber, Sandra, 142 Corps, 79; ust D Bowl, 81; grazing,81–82; tSevens, Christine, 98 ennessee T Valley Authority, 79 tSevens, John, 24 oSil Conservation Service, 83 tS. Louis, Missouri, 46, 50; smoke abatement, oSil Erosion Service, 80 56, 61, 85, 86 oSlar energy: Carter, Jimmy, 129; Langley , tS. Louis Missouri Fur Company, 21 Samuel P., 51; thermal stations, 63–64 tSrategic Petroleum Reserve, 125 oSlar Energy Research Institute, 126, 131 tSream flow, 7 oSlar-powered engines, 44 tSream Pollution Act, 84 oSlar water heaters, 54, 87 tSreetcar scandal, 90–91 oSlid waste disposal, 125, 134 tSreet cleaning programs, 29, 46, 48–49, 55 oSlid Waste Disposal Act, 110 tSyrofoam, 88 oSot, 77, 85 Subsistence agriculture: ancient preoSrsby, Nicholas, 34–35 Columbian, 2; opi H intensive, 4 oSuth: agricultural economy, 35; boll weevil, uSburban communities: air-conditioning, 16, 54, 63; cotton monoculture, 16; soil 99; balloon frame homes, 26; Levitto wn, erosion control, 34–35 New York, 92; wellyn Lle Park, New oSuth Africa, 147–148 Jersey, 34; Long Island Expressway, oSuth Carolina, 38 102; natur e centers, 88; ural r living and oSutheast: botany, 14; deer , 19; eSoto, D middle-class, 27 Hernando, exploration, 6;landfill uSlfur dioxide, 138 locations, 127 uSperfund law, 128 oSutheast Asia, 110–111 uSpreme Court: aboriginal title, 23; Chicago oSuth Fork Hunting and Fishing Club, 52 Sanitary and Ship Canal, 59; genetic oSuthwest: air-conditioners, 98; cotton,16; engineering, 130; eenhouse gr gases, dam construction, 78, 83, 109; deser t, 149–150; militar y training, 151; ative N 62; irrigation,16; owell, P John Wesley, American water rights, 67; nuclear reactor 39; ueblo, P 3; panish, S 6; uranium mine construction, 104; ocean dumping, deaths, 116 82; wage se discharge, 74; tandard S Oil pSain, 6 Company, 40; standing,120–122 pSarado, Jack, 145

Index

187

“The Tragedy of the Commons” (Hardin, uSstainable development, 119; for estry, 140; Garrett), 112–113 global economy, 135; global population, rail of Tears, 25 112; reen G Revolution, 116; international T T rails, 82, 112; cattle drives, 37 agreements, 139; world summit, 147–148 T rans-Alaska Oil Pipeline, 118 uSstained yield production, 63 Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline Authorization w S amp and Overflowed Lands Act, 30 Act, 122 T ranscendentalism, 27–28, 32 T anners, 13 Trans-Mississippi region: unsuitability for Taxes: arms and ammunition funding, 84; farming, 21–22 envir onmental progress, 138;fishing T ransportation: automobile dominance, 73; restoration, 96; gas-guzzler , 127; osene ker canals,23–24; energy consumption, 138; and alcohol, 35 horse,6; steamboats,21; steam powered, T aylor, John, 14 20; eetcar str scandal, 90–91; water , 19 T aylor Grazing Act, 81–82 T reaties, 108; endanger ed species trade, 120; T eapot Dome scandal, 76 reat G Lakes Water Quality Agreement, T ecumseh (Shawnee chief ), 21 118; nternational I Sanitary Convention, T ellico Dam, 123 30; yoto K Protocol, 142; mer cury T ennessee, 102 pollution, 152; orth N American Free Trade T ennessee Valley Authority, 79, 80, 88, 123, 151 Agreement, 140 T errorist attacks, 147 T reaty: Louisiana Purchase, 19; mer cury, T esla, Nikola, 54 152; migrator y bird, 70; nor th pacific T eton River Dam, 125 fur seal, 70 T etraethyl lead, 52 T ree Planting Day, 43 T extile industry: canals, 29; cotton gin, 16; T rees: ancient bristlecone pine, 2; apple water powered production, 26 seedling planting, 28; chestnut blight, Thoreau, Henry David, 28, 29–30, 32, 33 62; cutting restrictions, 10–11, 17; Three Mile Island nuclear plant, 128–129 utch D elm disease, 78; una,” “L 142; T imber: industry, 80; efabricated pr housing, other “M of the Forest,” 31; planting, 43; 26; oduction, pr 56; estrictions, r 10–11, 17; shelterbelts, 44 sales,102, 133, 140.See also Logging T rewartha, Glen Thomas, 84 T imes Beach, Missouri, 131 T riana, Alabama, 133 T obacco, 8, 133, 139; cotton gin, 16 T richloroethylene, 133 T ongas National Forest, 137 T rolley systems, 90–91 T ourism, 113, 136, 154 T ropical Everglades Park Association, 92 T oxic Release Inventory, 134, 142 T ruman, Harry S., 89–90, 92, 98 T oxic substances: accidents, 133–134; T uolumne River, 65–66 animal feed contamination, 120; disposal T urner, Frederick Jackson, 54 regulation, 126; farmwor ker protection, T uskegee Experiment Station, 63 116–117; nstitute, I West Virginia, leaks, 133; labor strike, 122–123 U dall, Stewart, 104–105, 108 T oxic Substances Control Act, 126 U kraine, 134–135 Toxic waste: Anaconda copper smelting, 44; discharge limits, 125; dumping prohibition, U.N. Conference on Environment and Development, 139 13; public health, 37 U.N. Conference on the Human T rade: Bretton Woods Conference, 88; Environment, 118 Columbian Exchange and global, 5–6; U.N.Environment Program, 136 dependency on Native American, 10, 19; U.N. Framework Convention on Biological endanger ed species, 120; ississippian M Diversity, 139 peoples, 5; orth N American Free Trade U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Agreement, 140; slav es and tobacco, 8; Change, 139 timber restrictions, 10–11

188 I ndex U.N.International Geophysical Year, 103 U.N.Scientific Conference on the Conservation and Utilization of Natural Resources, 95 U nion Carbide Corporation, 77–78, 102, 133 U nion Oil Company, 114 United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice, 135 U nited Farmworkers of America, 116–117 U nited Nations, 116 U nited States: animal rights attitudes, 131; citybased population, 73; cotton and slavery, 23; crisis of confidence, 130; disposable culture, 90; energy consumption, 138; energy independence, 122; envir onmentalism, 138; expansion,19; geographic center, 78, 137–138; reat G Lakes Water Quality Agreement, 118; raqI invasion, 148; yoto K Protocol, 142, 148–149; orth N American Free Trade Agreement, 140; oil production, 110, 117; population,46, 53, 68, 96, 104, 114, 130, 145; security and climate change, 148; whaling,28 U pper Big Branch Coal Mine, 153 U pper class, 39, 55, 72 Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, 75 U ranium, 116, 138 U rban areas See Cities U rban planning, 55 U.S.Cavalry, 42, 53, 55 U.S.Entomological Association, 44 U.S.Fish Commission, 41 U.S.Geological Survey, 39, 42 U.S.Public Interest Group, 148 U.S.Radium Corporation, 75–76 U tah, 75, 128, 141 U tility companies, 87, 126 V arrazano, Giovanni da, 6 V aux, Calvert, 34 V egetable-based oils, 34 V ermiculite, 153 V est, George Graham, 42 V ietnam, 110–111 V irginia Company, 8 V irgin River, 38–39 V olcanoes, 22, 61 W allpapers, 54–55 W alt Disney Corporation, 120

W arder, John Aston, 44 W arfare, 7 W aring, George, Jr., 55, 63 W ar of 1812, 21 W ashington State, 96, 124, 143 W aste: conservation, 72; conv enience food packaging, 96; disposable culture, 90; disposal,110; electr onic products, 110; logging,41; municipal garbage, 68; organicreduction plant, 103; par ticulate coal, 50; per urban resident, 72; postconsumer plastics, 78; etland w dumping, 73 W aste Isolation Pilot Plant, 143 W aste Reclamation Service, 72 W astewater: coal mine slurry, 118; farm run-off selenium, 132; wage se disposal, 33, 47, 59, 74, 102, 108 W ater conservation, 4 W ater diversion: Central Valley Project, 79; Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, 59; oover H Dam, 83; llinois-Michigan I Canal, 29; Los Angeles Aqueduct, 64; ono M Lake, 86; iagara N Falls, 65 W ater heaters, 64 W ater mills, 23, 26 W ater pollution, 102; abandoned mines, 42; Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, 59; coal mine runoff, 118; coastal,74; uyahoga C River, 114; discharge permits, 57, 118, 147; dumping,57; federal controls, 95; reat G Lakes boundary waters, 68, 118; udson H River, 108; draulic hy mining, 32, 48; Lake Michigan, 37; manur e lagoon failures, 141, 143; mer cury, 102; mountain top removal mining, 147; municipal well contamination, 132–133; ational N Coast Anti Pollution League, 75; nonpoint source, 102, 135; radioactiv e, 96; selenium run-off, 132; wage se discharge, 74; shipo wner liability, 30; tream S Pollution Act, 84; waste impoundment failure, 118, 145, 151 W ater projects: cattle ranching, 37; Colorado River Compact, 75; Los Angeles aqueduct, 64; ative N American lands, 78 W ater quality: acid rain, 133; ewark, N New Jersey, 42; rights,13; standar ds, 109 W ater Quality Act, 109 Water resources development: Central Valley Project, 79; Colorado River Compact, 75;

Index

189

W ilderness: American character, 54; gallala O Aquifer, 96; osemite Y National disappearance,53; hideous,9; udson H Park, 65–66.See also Dam construction River School, 24; living,70; radical W ater rights: California landowners, 50; mills environmentalism, 124; spiritual power, 24; and farmer, 23; ative N Americans, 67 estern, w 23 W atersheds: cancers, 152; irrigation districts, W ilderness Act, 109 45–46; ono M Lake, 86; otection, pr 36, W ilderness areas, 60; dirondacks A protection, 49–50, 63 50; ctic ar refuge, 104–105; federal Water supply: California centrifugal protection, 109; multiple use management, pumping, 70; Chicago,37; chlorination, 125; bama, O Barack, 152; agebrush S 67; contamination right to know, 142; Rebellion, 128; tegner, S Wallace, 104 cryptosporidium, 140; municipal well W ilderness preservation, 36, 60, 79, 81, contamination, 132–133; ewark, N 82; riv ers, 112 New Jersey, 42; ew NYork City, 28; anS W ilderness protection: Adirondack region, 55 Francisco, 65; sanitar y municipal, 17; W ilderness Society, 82, 97, 109, 128 standar ds, 124; windmill pump, 32 W ildlife: Alaskan, 57; beav ers, 7; bison,6; W ater transportation, 19, 20 deer , 10, 19; game animals, 20; passenger W aterway commons, 30 pigeons, 20–21;scientific management, 84 W atkins, Carlton, 37 W ildlife conservation, 82; confer ence, 84; W att, James, 131 eatened thr species, 150 W eapons, 85, 148 W ildlife populations: bald eagle, 150; bir ds, W eather: air inversion, 94–96; oughts, dr 64, 119; bison,39–40, 48, 68; gray wolf, 78–79; heat wave, 130 140–141, 152; grizzly bear, 75; passenger W eatherization programs, 127 pigeons, 20–21; seals,70; whales,118 W est: irrigation, 45; lifestyle,37; esource r Wildlife preservation: Alaska fur-bearing councils, 125 animal, 40; endanger ed species, 111, 120; W estern wilderness, 23 funding,84; marine mammals, 120 W est Harlem Environmental Action, 136 Wildlife protection: endangered and threatened W estinghouse, George, 54 species listing, 120, 122; droelectric hy W eston, Edward, 104 power projects, 73; Lacey Act renewal, 59; W est Orange, New Jersey, 34 legislation,55 W est Virginia, 77–78, 133, 153 Wildlife refuges: administration, 85; Alaska,131; W etlands, 30, 137; acr eage, 148; drainage,30; ctic, ar 104; reat G Swamp national, 104; zaak I dumping,73; verglades E National Park, 92; Walton League, 75; national system, 61; ski urricane H Katrina, 149 resort development, 120; ichita W Mountains Whaleoil, 34, 116 National Wildlife Refuge, 63 Whales, 90, 116, 118 W ilson, Alexander, 19, 25 Whaling, 10, 28, 132 W indmills, 32 Wheat, 43, 116 W inthrop, John, 8 Wheatley , Phillis, 14 W isconsin, 40–41, 47 White,Caroline Earle, 47 W ise use movement, 133–134 White,Gilbert, 40 W oburn, Massachusetts, 132–133 White,Lynn, Jr., 111 W olves, 140–141, 152 White House Conference on W omen, 56, 72, 74, 76–77; clubs,52–53, 59; Conservation, 107 consumerism,99; eet str cleaning, 48–49 WhiteMountains, 2 W ood ash, 72 WhitePine Tree Riot, 11 W ood pulp, 74 Whitman,Christine Todd, 147 W orker compensation, 68–69, 76–77, 77–78 Whitman,Walt, 40 W orker safety, 45, 68–69, 110, 116; coal Whitney , Eli, 16 mining, 68; auley G Mountain tunnel, W ichita Forest and Game Preserve, 63 77–78; leaded gasoline production, 75–76; W ild Bird Conservation Act, 139

190 I ndex radium dial painters, 76–77.See also Occupational health W orking class, 27–28, 80 W orking conditions: driving alone, 145; leaded gasoline production, 75–76; public health conditions, 27–28, 37; radium dial manufacturing, 76–77; slaughterhouses, 62.See also Occupational health W orks Progress Administration, 84 W orld Bank, 88 World Commission on Environment and Development, 135 W orld Health Organization, 30 W orld Meteorological Association, 153 W orld Meteorological Organization, 136 W orld Resources Institute, 131 W orld ’sColumbian Exposition, 54 World Summit on Sustainable Development, 147–148 W orld Trade Center, 147 W orld Trade Organization, 88, 143

W orld War I, 72 W orld War II, 87, 89 W orldwatch Institute, 143 W . R. Grace and Co., 132–133, 153 W yatt, Ben, 90 W yoming, 75 Y ampa River, 97 Y ard, Robert Sterling, 73, 82 Y azoo Land Fraud, 17 eYllow fever epidemic, 16–17 eYllowstone National Park, 42, 51, 53, 136; bison,48, 55, 146; wolf , 140–141 oYm Kippur War, 122 oYsemite National Park, 65–66, 104 oYsemite Valley, 31, 36–37, 53 uba River, 48 Y ucca Mountain, Nevada, 131, 152 Y Z ahniser, Howard, 97, 109

About the Author CHRIS J. MAGOC is associate professor and chair of the D epartment of H istory at Mercyhurst College in E rie, Pennsylvania, where he teaches courses in American and environmental history and directs the Mercyhurst Public History program. His publications include Environmental Issues in A merican History ; So Glorious a Landscape: Nature and the Environment in American History and Culture; and Yellowstone: The Creation and Selling of an American Landscape, 1870–1903. Magoc is cofounder and chair of the Mercyhurst Green Team and was the first recipient of the Mercyhurst Sustainability Award. He also cofounded the E rie Center for D esign and P reservation, which wor ks for the adaptiv e reuse of the built envir onment of nor thwestern Pennsylvania. He is married to Mary Ellen Magoc, and they have two children, Ethan and Caroline. They live in lovely Belle Valley, where they tend a small acreage of old farmland.

Chronology of Americans and the Environment

Native Americans and the Environment: Perspectives on the Ecological Indian

The Chronology of Water

Americans and the Unconscious

The Chronology of Plato's Dialogues

Chronology of the Middle East

A Chronology of Weather

Chronology of Bronze

Chronology of World Slavery

The Korean Americans (The New Americans)

The Americans

The Americans

The Americans

The Soviet Jewish Americans (The New Americans)

The Dominican Americans (The New Americans)

The West Indian Americans (The New Americans)

Religious Outsiders and the Making of Americans

Americans

The Chronology of the geological record

Nanotechnology and the Environment

Transport and the Environment

Photosynthesis and the environment

Institutions And The Environment

Genes and the Environment

Islam and the Environment

Volcanoes and the Environment

Plastics and the Environment

Chemistry of the Environment

Discourses of the Environment

Chemistry of the Environment

Domestic Manners of the Americans,

Chronology of Americans and the Environment

Native Americans and the Environment: Perspectives on the Ecological Indian

The Chronology of Water

Americans and the Unconscious

The Chronology of Plato's Dialogues

Chronology of the Middle East

A Chronology of Weather

Chronology of Bronze

Chronology of World Slavery

The Korean Americans (The New Americans)

The Americans

The Americans

The Americans

The Soviet Jewish Americans (The New Americans)

The Dominican Americans (The New Americans)

The West Indian Americans (The New Americans)

Religious Outsiders and the Making of Americans

Americans

The Chronology of the geological record

Nanotechnology and the Environment

Transport and the Environment

Photosynthesis and the environment

Institutions And The Environment

Genes and the Environment

Islam and the Environment

Volcanoes and the Environment

Plastics and the Environment

Chemistry of the Environment

Discourses of the Environment

Chemistry of the Environment

Domestic Manners of the Americans,

Recommend Documents