U.S. Environmental History Final
Contract With America
A declaration of policy that espoused what they called family values,
Edward Abbey
A radical environmentalist who was an American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues, criticism of public land policies, and anarchist political views. His best-known work is the novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, which has been cited as an inspiration by environmental groups. Worked as a seasonal ranger for the United States National Park Service.
William Clinton & Al Gore
Al Gore was the Vice President of the U.S. to Bill Clinton the President from 1993-2001 More than any other U.S. political figure, Al Gore, has taken the lead in calling attention to the global warming problem. He made the movie and book An Inconvenient Truth (2005/2006) to publicize the perils of increasing carbon emissions. In 1992, Bill Clinton campaigned for president on the promise that he would increase the CAFE standard to 45mpg. His commitment to a fuel economy increase grew out of his concern with the question of global warming. He promised that he would reverse the policies enacted before him that harmed the environment. Al Gore wrote Earth in the Balance asking for more laws protecting the environment. Clinton signed the Biodiversity Treaty. His support for environmental causes spanned beyond the environment forcing companies to abide by certain laws, reducing green house emissions, and creating products that were eco friendly. Used tax incentives to urge companies to comply with environmental policies.
Cove Mallard
At Cove Mallard 76k acres within the Nez Perce National Forest in Idaho, Earth First! activists clashed with the U.S. Forest Service in 1993, when they approved the logging of many of these acres of forest. They also proposed building 145 miles of access roads which would create jobs, but desecrate a larger area of pristine wilderness.
"NIMBYism"
Critics referred to environmental activists who acted out of self-interest as "NIMBYs" (Not in My BackYard). They thought of them as very narrow minded. People were environmentally awoken in the 90s but only if it affected them personally.
global warming
Definition: In the 80s, environmentalists seized on the postulated human role in global warming as a means of advancing a variety of goals, from protecting air quality to preserving forestland. By focusing almost exclusively on the suspected human role in the warming, the environmental movement allowed industry--oil, gas, coal, and auto companies, primarily--to cast the entire problem as a theory in need of more research. The companies called for more research instead of serious action to reduce fossil fuel use. In the late 80s, the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program formed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The group of over 1,000 scientists assessed the peer-reviewed scientific literature on global climate change and synthesized the findings. Consequences of global warming include glaciers throughout the world receding, plant life coming into bloom earlier than it once did, and oceans' water becoming warmer and more acidic , endangering coral reefs and the millions of species that live there. We have already killed 70% of the great barrier reef. Higher temperatures dry out soil, which needs moisture to help crops grow. Droughts have increased with global warming killing crops, animals, and people.
Endangered Species Act (1973)
Established by the EPA. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) was signed on December 28, 1973, and provides for the conservation of species that are endangered or threatened throughout all or a significant portion of their range, and the conservation of the ecosystems on which they depend. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and development untempered by adequate concern and conservation", the ESA was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973. The U.S. Supreme Court found that "the plain intent of Congress in enacting" the ESA "was to halt and reverse the trend toward species extinction, whatever the cost."
Environmental Protection Agency (1970)
Established in 1970, became the government's watchdog on pollution issues, eventually becoming one of the nation's largest federal agencies. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an agency of the federal government of the United States which was created for the purpose of protecting human health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA after he signed an executive order.
Environmental Consortium for Minority Outreach
Fred Shutllesworth, Benjamin Chavez Jr. created it in 1990 to address minority concerns about environmental racism and social justice. Despite this, there were no minorities who were granted leadership positions in environmental groups.
Clean Water Act (1972)
Growing public awareness and concern for controlling water pollution led to sweeping amendments in 1972. As amended in 1972, the law became commonly known as the Clean Water Act (CWA). The 1972 amendments: Established the basic structure for regulating pollutant discharges into the waters of the United States. The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters by preventing point and nonpoint pollution sources, providing assistance to publicly owned treatment works for the improvement of wastewater treatment, and maintaining the integrity of wetlands. It is one of the United States' first and most influential modern environmental laws. As with many other major U.S. federal environmental statutes, it is administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in coordination with state governments.
Rainbow Warrior (1985)
It was sunk. codenamed Operation Satanic (French: Opération Satanique), was a bombing operation by the "action" branch of the French foreign intelligence services, the Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure (DGSE), carried out on 10 July 1985. During the operation, two operatives sank the flagship of the Greenpeace fleet, the Rainbow Warrior in the port of Auckland, New Zealand on its way to a protest against a planned French nuclear test in Moruroa. Fernando Pereira, a photographer, drowned on the sinking ship. France initially denied responsibility, but two French agents were captured by New Zealand Police and charged with arson, conspiracy to commit arson, willful damage, and murder. As the truth came out, the scandal resulted in the resignation of the French Defence Minister Charles Hernu. The two agents pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to ten years in prison. They spent just over two years confined to the French island of Hao before being freed by the French government.
Love Canal (1978)
Located in Niagara Falls NY, the Love Canal community was built during the 1950s on a landfill once used by the Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation. Some 100k drums of chemical contaminants lay buried at the site. In the Early 1970s a woman named Lois Gibbs moved to a bungalow in the development, thinking she was buying the American dream. Instead, her kids fell ill with epilepsy, asthma, and blood disorders. In 1978, after a reporter did a story on the place, they found out that other than Gibbs, there were other residents that suffered from chronic illnesses, birth defects, and miscarriages. Gibbs and her other afflicted residents organized the Love Canal Homeowners Association to deal with the problem. But state and federal officials responded slowly to their problems, so that at one point Gibbs and 500 others took 2 EPA officials hostage for 5 hrs to call attention to their dilemma. President Jimmy Carter eventually declared Love Canal a disaster area, and the gov't paid for its evacuation. It's significant because Gibbs went on to found the Citizens Clearing House for Hazardous Wastes, an organization that by the late 1980s provided support to more than 5,000 grassroots groups concerned with the effects of toxic waste on their communities. Love Canal also evolved into a symbol of reckless corporate behavior, but even more importantly, it worked to galvanize women around the issue of environmental justice. It inspired many other groups led by women.
National Environmental Policy Act (1970)
President Nixon signed it live on television on Jan. 1st 1970. Discussion of major federal undertakings, from building a dam to constructing a highway, would no longer take place behind closed doors, but in public where everyone from environmental activists to corporations could debate the potential ecological fallout. The act marked the start of a veritable torrent of federal legislation, transforming such issues as air and water pollution, in the past largely dealt with on the state and local level, into matters of national policy. More than a dozen important new pieces of environmental legislation emerged. These included: The Clean Air Act (1970), The Water Pollution Control Act (1972), The Coastal Zone Management Act (1972), The Marine Mammals Protection Act (1972), The Endangered Species Act (1973), and The Energy Policy and Conservation Act (1975), which for the first time set federal fuel economy standards.
Ronald Reagan
President of the United States from 1980-1988. he and his administration brought the reform of the past decade to a halt, and eventually wound up galvanizing the environmental movement even further. In response to declining corporate profits and stagnating economic growth, he pushed for the deregulation of industry. He appointed Anne Gorsuch to head the EPA, and she reduced the agency's budget by 22%, and cut the six inch thick handbook on clean water rules to just half an inch. James Watt sold off a lot of federal lands. Such blatant anti-environmentalism inspired many Americans to join the Sierra Club and the rest of the opposition. Earth Day became more corporate, and people were blamed increasingly for causing environmental problems, not the governments they lived under, or the corporations that actually caused many of these problems.
deregulation
Reagan deregulated industry, allowing corporations to do what they wanted regarding their concern or more rather their carelessness of dealing with how they treated the environment. He did this because of decreasing profits and economic downturn.
James Watt
Reagan's Secretary of the Interior who became legendary for selling off federal lands. He established the Minerals Management Service in 1982 to pursue two conflicting goals: regulating offshore drilling and, collecting revenues from leases and royalties.
California Desert Protection Act (1994)
Set aside millions of acres of protected wilderness
Environmental Defense Fund
The organization's founders, including Art Cooley, George Woodwell, Charles Wurster, Dennis Puleston, Victor Yannacone and Robert Smolker, discovered in the mid-1960s that the osprey and other large raptors were rapidly disappearing. Their research uncovered a link between the spraying of DDT to kill mosquitos and thinning egg shells of large birds. Their research was most likely based on the book the Silent Spring by Rachel Carson about the dangers of DDT and the effects that it had on birds, published in 1962
wise-use movement
aimed at dismantling government restrictions in the 1990s. It grew out of the sagebrush rebellion of the 1970s. They had strong backing of the mining, logging etc. industries, who would lose business from environmental policies.
1973 oil crisis
began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo occurred in response to United States' support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War.[1] By the end of the embargo in March 1974,[2] the price of oil had risen from US$3 per barrel to nearly $12 globally; US prices were significantly higher. The embargo caused an oil crisis, or "shock", with many short- and long-term effects on global politics and the global economy. allocated states the same amount of domestic oil for 1974 that each had consumed in 1972, which worked for states whose populations were not increasing.[36] In other states, lines at gasoline stations were common. The American Automobile Association reported that in the last week of February 1974, 20% of American gasoline stations had no fuel. Rationing led to violent incidents, when truck drivers chose to strike for two days in December 1973 over the limited supplies Simon had allocated for their industry.
Valley of the Drums (1978)
is a 23-acre (9.3 hectare) toxic waste site in northern Bullitt County, Kentucky, near Louisville, named after the waste-containing drums strewn across the area. It is known as one of the primary motivations for the passage of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, or Superfund Act of 1980. In 1978, a Kentucky Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection (KDNREP) investigation of the property revealed that over 100,000 drums of waste were delivered to the site, of which 27,000 drums were buried and the remaining containers were discharged directly into pits and trenches. Over a period of time, the conditions of many of the drums on site deteriorated and the contents spilled onto the ground and were flushed into a nearby creek by storm water runoff. Frequent complaints about strong odors along the creek bed were received from adjacent property owners.
Department of Energy
is a Cabinet-level department of the United States Government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material. Its responsibilities include the nation's nuclear weapons program, nuclear reactor production for the United States Navy, energy conservation, energy-related research, radioactive waste disposal, and domestic energy production. The 1973 oil crisis called attention to the need to consolidate energy policy. On August 4, 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed into law The Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977 (Pub.L. 95-91, 91 Stat. 565, enacted August 4, 1977), which created the Department of Energy. The new agency, which began operations on October 1, 1977, consolidated the Federal Energy Administration, the Energy Research and Development Administration, the Federal Power Commission, and programs of various other agencies. Former Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger, who served under Presidents Nixon and Ford during the Vietnam War, was appointed as the first secretary.
Biodiversity Treaty
is a multilateral treaty. The Convention has three main goals including: the conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity); the sustainable use of its components; and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources. In other words, its objective is to develop national strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. It is often seen as the key document regarding sustainable development. The Convention was opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro on 5 June 1992 and entered into force on 29 December 1993. 160 nations at the Earth Summit endorsed the Biodiversity Treaty. The U.S. did not. Significant because: For the first time in history that nations vowed to consider global and environmental concerns while making internal economic conditions.
ozone layer
is a region of Earth's stratosphere that absorbs most of the Sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation. It contains high concentrations of ozone (O3) in relation to other parts of the atmosphere, although still small in relation to other gases in the stratosphere. Carbon dioxide, in combination with the greenhouse gases methane and ozone, traps the sun's heat. Without these gasses life on earth would be frigid. We need them, but not in the amounts currently being pumped into the atmosphere. The ozone layer can be depleted by free radical catalysts, including nitric oxide (NO), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydroxyl (OH), atomic chlorine (Cl), and atomic bromine (Br). While there are natural sources for all of these species, the concentrations of chlorine and bromine increased markedly in recent decades because of the release of large quantities of man-made organohalogen compounds, especially chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and bromofluorocarbons. Ozone levels have dropped by a worldwide average of about 4 percent since the late 1970s. For approximately 5 percent of the Earth's surface, around the north and south poles, much larger seasonal declines have been seen, and are described as "ozone holes". The discovery of the annual depletion of ozone above the Antarctic was first announced by Joe Farman, Brian Gardiner and Jonathan Shanklin, in a paper which appeared in Nature on May 16, 1985. In 1978, the United States, Canada and Norway enacted bans on CFC-containing aerosol sprays that damage the ozone layer. The European Community rejected an analogous proposal to do the same. In the U.S., chlorofluorocarbons continued to be used in other applications, such as refrigeration and industrial cleaning, until after the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole in 1985. After negotiation of an international treaty (the Montreal Protocol), CFC production was capped at 1986 levels with commitments to long-term reductions.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A nonprofit corporation with nearly 400 employees, it claims that it has 6.5 million members and supporters, in addition to claiming that it is the largest animal rights group in the world. Its slogan is "Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way. Founded in March 1980 by Newkirk and fellow animal rights activist Alex Pacheco, the organization first caught the public's attention in the summer of 1981 during what became known as the Silver Spring monkeys case, a widely publicized dispute about experiments conducted on 17 macaque monkeys inside the Institute of Behavioral Research in Silver Spring, Maryland. The case lasted 10 years, involved the only police raid on an animal laboratory in the United States, triggered an amendment in 1985 to that country's Animal Welfare Act, and established PETA as an internationally known organization
greenhouse effect
is an increase in the average temperature of the Earth. It happens because certain gases (greenhouse gases: gases in our atmosphere that hold in heat, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. They maintain an average temperature on Earth of 59 degrees F. Without greenhouse gases, the Earth's surface temperature would drop to around 0 degrees F. Because of industry, technology, and our modern lifestyle, too many greenhouse gases have been released, and are being released. The gas we release the most is CO2 because it accounts for 80% of total greenhouse gas emissions. CO2 is released when we burn fossil fuels--oil, natural gas, and coal used in cars, homes, factories, and power plants. Cutting down forests and producing cement also releases CO2. absorb infrared heat that would normally be radiated into space. Infrared light is what you feel as heat from heat lamps used in restaurants to keep french fries hot.
Animal Liberation Front (ALF)
is an international, clandestine leaderless resistance that engages in illegal direct action in pursuit of animal rights. Activists see themselves as a modern-day Underground Railroad, removing animals from laboratories and farms, destroying facilities, arranging safe houses and veterinary care, and operating sanctuaries where the animals subsequently live. Critics have classified them as terrorists. Whereas the earliest activists had been committed to rescuing animals, and destroyed property only where it contributed to the former, by the mid-1980s, Stallwood believed the ALF had lost its ethical foundation, and had become an opportunity "for misfits and misanthropes to seek personal revenge for some perceived social injustice.
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
is an organic compound that contains only carbon, chlorine, and fluorine, produced as volatile derivative of methane, ethane, and propane. They are also commonly known by the DuPont brand name Freon. The most common representative is dichlorodifluoromethane (R-12 or Freon-12). Thomas Midgley invented it, and it was used for better air conditioners, deodorants, and hair sprays, but future generations would get skin cancer because it damages the ozone layer, which shields the earth from the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation. Because CFCs contribute to ozone depletion in the upper atmosphere, the manufacture of such compounds has been phased out under the Montreal Protocol, and they are being replaced with other products such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). In the 1980s the problem of the hole in the ozone layer was said to be impossible to fix. The U.S. drafted a treaty, secured worldwide agreement on it, and began to eliminate CFCs that were causing the problem.
northern spotted owl
is one of three spotted owl subspecies. A western North American bird in the family Strigidae, genus Strix, it is a medium-sized dark brown owl sixteen to nineteen inches in length and one to one and one sixth pounds. Females are larger than males. The wingspan is approximately 42 inches. The USFWS previously reviewed the status of the northern spotted owl in 1982, 1987 and 1989 but found it did not warrant listing as either threatened or endangered. The northern spotted owl was listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act throughout its range of northern California, Oregon and Washington by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service on June 23, 1990 citing loss of old-growth habitat as the primary threat. Loggers protested that protecting the spotted owl shouldn't be more important than feeding their families.
"monkeywrenching"
nonviolent disobedience and sabotage carried out by environmental activists against those whom they perceive to be ecological exploiters. The term came into use after the publication of author Edward Abbey's novel The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975), which described the activities of a group of "environmental warriors" in Utah and Arizona. An equivalent term is ecotage (a portmanteau of the prefix eco- and the word sabotage). Monkeywrenching is distinct from activities termed ecoterrorism, which is often a misnomer and is properly applicable to rogue examples or individuals. In contrast, monkeywrenching is typically motivated by a regard for preservation of life and is ordinarily restricted to two forms: either to nonviolent disobedience or to sabotage that does not directly endanger others.
acid rain
rainfall made sufficiently acidic by atmospheric pollution that it causes environmental harm, typically to forests and lakes. The main cause is the industrial burning of coal and other fossil fuels, the waste gases from which contain sulfur and nitrogen oxides, which combine with atmospheric water to form acids. Public awareness of acid rain increased in the 1970s. Some of the effects of acid rain are: when aluminum and acid rain react, it leads to an increased rate of soil weathering; It also decreases species diversity in streams; Sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides that become increased due to acid rain, can contribute to heart and lung problems including asthma and bronchitis; It can damage buildings, historic monuments, and statues, especially those made of limestone and marble.
Earth Summit (1992)
was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992. 172 governments participated, with 116 sending their heads of state or government.[1] Some 2,400 representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) attended, with 17,000 people at the parallel NGO "Global Forum" (also called Forum Global), who had Consultative Status. The issues addressed included: systematic scrutiny of patterns of production — particularly the production of toxic components, such as lead in gasoline, or poisonous waste including radioactive chemicals alternative sources of energy to replace the use of fossil fuels which delegates linked to global climate change new reliance on public transportation systems in order to reduce vehicle emissions, congestion in cities and the health problems caused by polluted air and smoke the growing usage and limited supply of water. An important achievement of the summit was an agreement on the Climate Change Convention which in turn led to the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. Another agreement was to "not to carry out any activities on the lands of indigenous peoples that would cause environmental degradation or that would be culturally inappropriate".
Sagebrush Rebellion (1980)
was a movement during the 1970s and 1980s that sought major changes to federal land control, use and disposal policy in the American West where, in 13 western states, federal land holdings include between 20% and 85% of a state's area. Notably, supporters of this movement wanted more state and local control over these lands, if not outright transfer of them to state and local authorities and/or privatization. As much of the land in question is sagebrush steppe, supporters adopted the name Sagebrush Rebellion. Republican Ronald Reagan declared himself a sagebrush rebel in an August 1980 campaign speech in Salt Lake City, telling the crowd, "I happen to be one who cheers and supports the Sagebrush Rebellion. Count me in as a rebel."
Anne Gorsuch Burford
was an American attorney and politician. Between 1981 and 1983, while known as Anne M. Gorsuch, she served under President Ronald Reagan as the first female Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). She believed that the EPA was over-regulating business and that the agency was too large and not cost-effective. During her 22 months as agency head, she cut the budget of the EPA by 22%, reduced the number of cases filed against polluters, relaxed Clean Air Act regulations, and facilitated the spraying of restricted-use pesticides. She cut the total number of agency employees, and hired staff from the industries they were supposed to be regulating. Environmentalists contended that her policies were designed to placate polluters, and accused her of trying to dismantle the agency.
Exxon Valdez (1989)
was an oil spill that released 250,000 barrels of petroleum into Alaska's Prince William Sound. The disaster highlighted the ecological perils of business as usual in a U.S. corporation. Exxon had a small crew on board the ship to save on labor costs, and its emergency response plan did little to limit the spill. Thousands of sea otters, loons, and cormorants died. Instead of calling for the dismantling of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, an 800 mile pipe that beginning in the 70s brought oil from the North Slope to Valdez, Alaska, or demanding substantive corporation reform, mainstream environmental groups responded by simply asking Exxon to clean up the mess. It was argued that environmental organizations could not solve the world's ecological problems and neither could the government, but corporations would have to do it.
Three Mile Island (1979)
was caused by a nuclear meltdown in reactor number 2 of Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station (TMI-2) in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. The accident crystallized anti-nuclear safety concerns among activists and the general public, resulted in new regulations for the nuclear industry, and has been cited as a contributor to the decline of a new reactor construction program that was already underway in the 1970s.[6] The partial meltdown resulted in the release of radioactive gases and radioactive iodine into the environment.
