Environmental Politics of the USA
Mr. Obama's political opponents saw the climate rules as a ripe opportunity.
"When the president went the regulatory route, it gave our side more confidence," Mr. Phillips said. "It hardened and broadened Republican opposition to this agenda."
1980 Alaskan National Interest Lands Conservation Act
(100 million acres)
John Muir
(1838-1914) Naturalist who believed the wilderness should be preserved in its natural state. He was largely responsible for the creation of Yosemite National Park in California.
Love Canal, NY
(1950s+) chemicals buried in old canal; school and homes built over it; caused birth defects and cancer
Congressional role in environmental legislation
- Limits the Presidential office - Fragmented powers + divided geographical loyalties (localism) -Result: vague and inconsistent legislation
Californian state initiatives
- Third largest state in the USA - 5th economy worldwide; largest economy in the country eader in environmental initiatives Air pollution - Worst in the country: Smog-related deaths - 1967: Creation of California Air Resources Board (CARB) - EPA waiver: stricter air quality standards than federal standards-being reconsidered by Trump administration (Oct. 2019) urrent Legislation The Global Warming Solutions Act (2006): reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020 The California Clean Fuels Program (2007): improve air quality, especially in Los Angeles The California Clean Air Project (2017): protect workers against the dangers of secondhand smoke SB100 (2018): 100 % "clean sources" of electricity by 2045
Man on the Moon (1969)
- a multibillion dollar project to boost economy, military, and scientific prestige - US finally beat Russia in the Space Race - Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins
What does Capitalism mean in the context of the Great Plains?
--A complex economic culture, a mode of production, constantly evolving in many particulars and varying from country to country, from region to region, and decade to decade. Maintains a recognizable identity: a core of values and assumptions. 1) Nature must be seen as capital: used for profit, to make more wealth. Trees, wildlife and everything else are commodities. 2) Man has a right, even an obligation, to use this capital for constant self-advancement: capitalism is an intensely maximising culture, always getting more out of the natural resources of the world than it did yesterday. The ideal is unlimited.
The Turning point 2
--Unshackled by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision and other related rulings, which ended corporate campaign finance restrictions --Koch Industries and Americans for Prosperity started an all-fronts campaign with television advertising, social media and cross-country events aimed at electing lawmakers who would ensure that the fossil fuel industry would not have to worry about new pollution regulations. ---Their first target: unseating Democratic lawmakers such as Representatives Rick Boucher and Tom Perriello of Virginia, who had voted for the House cap-and-trade bill, and replacing them with Republicans who were seen as more in step with struggling Appalachia, and who pledged never to push climate change measures.
the Turning point
--With the help of a small army of oil-industry-funded academics like Wei-Hock Soon of Harvard Smithsonian and think tanks like the Competitive Enterprise Institute, they had been working to discredit academics and government climate change scientists. --The lawyer and conservative activist Chris Horner, whose legal clients have included the coal industry, gathered documents through the Freedom of Information Act to try to embarrass and further undermine the climate change research. --Cap and Tried died on the Senate floor, even though it passed in the House. It was Obama's first defeat
Air Quality improvement
-Congress to mandate more aggressive action in the 1986 Superfund amendments as well as in the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. -One of most significant remaining problems is toxic or hazardous air pollutants, which have been associated with cancer, respiratory diseases, and other chronic and acute illnesses. The EPA was extremely slow to regulate these pollutants and had established federal standards for only seven of them by mid-1989. -the annual TRI reports also tell us that industries continue to release very large quantities of toxic chemicals to the environment—3.4 billion pounds a year from nearly twenty-two thousand facilities across the nation, based on the latest report.
Toxic Chemicals and Hazardous Wastes
-Despite legislation in 1982 and again in 1987 to create a national nuclear waste repository to bury the waste, public and state opposition as well as technical uncertainties have left the country without a permanent solution to the problem. -Implementation of the major laws has been extraordinarily slow due to the extent and complexity of the problems,scientificuncertainty,litigationbyindustry,publicfear of siting treatment and storage facilities nearby, budgetary limitations, and poor management and lax enforcement by the EPA. -there is the enormous task of cleaning up contaminated federal facilities -Federal superfund programme For years, it made painfully slow progress in cleaning up the nation's worst hazardous waste sites. By the late 1990s, however, the pace of action improved. By 2016, the EPA reported that 1,439 sites on the Superfund National Priorities List had been cleaned up, but the pace in future years may well slow because of scarce federal funds for the program.
EPA regional divides
-EPA HQ in Washington D.C. -10 Regional offices -Majority of State governments
Rep. Fred Upton
-Even for congressional veterans, that message was not missed. Representative Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican who once called climate change "a serious problem" and co-sponsored a bill to promote energy-efficient light bulbs, tacked right after the 2010 elections as he battled to be chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee against Joe Barton, a Texan who mocked human-caused climate change. -Mr. Upton deleted references to climate change from his website. "If you look, the last year was the warmest year on record, the warmest decade on record. I accept that," he offered that fall. "I do not say that it's man-made." --Mr. Upton, who has received more than $2 million in campaign donations from oil and gas companies and electric utilities over the course of his career, won the chairmanship and has coasted comfortably to re-election since.
Successes of the Youth Movement in legislation
-NY Legislature passed in Sept. 2019 Climate & Communities Protection Act (precursor to Green New Deal) -Governor Jay Inslee, Washington state: Evergreen economy plan: $9 trillion over 10 years *Clean energy, climate-smart infrastructure *Clean manufacturing, *Investment in scientific research & innovation *Climate literacy & education Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.): bill to eliminate gas-burning cars by 2040
municipal initiatives in the USA
-Powered by 100% renewable energy cities Aspen Colorado, Burlington Vermont, Georgetown + Greensburg Texas, Kodiak Island, Rock Port MO -Committed to 100% renewable energy states: Hawai by 2045, California by 2045, Washington DC Clean Energy Omnibus Act of 2018 by 2032
How the EPA under a climate denialist Scott Pruitt cannot take too much negative action
-State and private initiatives cannot be forced to change by Executive Power -regulatory reversals need to be justified, and the justifications have to be based on well-founded scientific claims and not personal opinions. The language of various acts does not permit much disagreement on the basics.
Opposition to youth movements
-The four co-chairs of the New Democrat Coali4on's Climate Change Task Force, oppose the Green New Deal. -Democratic Establishment Speaker of the House: Nancy Pelosi Many Democrats in Congress Conservatives: Republicans, Fossil Fuel Industry Fox News Speaker of the Senate Mitch McConnel, Koch Brothers
Water Quality improvement
-The nation's water quality has improved since passage of the Clean Water Act of 1972, although more slowly and more unevenly than has air quality. -To date, little progress has been made in halting groundwater contamination despite passage of the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, and their later amendments. In its 2000 National Water Quality Inventory, still applicable today, the EPA reported that groundwater quality can be adversely affected by human actions -The agency also noted that measuring groundwater quality is a complex task and data collection "is still too immature to provide comprehensive national assessments." -With about half of the nation's urbanpopulationrelyingongroundwaterfordrinkingwater(99 percent in rural areas), far more remains to be done -possible impacts of fracking on groundwater quality and therefore human health?
Greenhouse gas emissions improvement
-data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Annual Greenhouse Gas Index (based on highly precise atmospheric measurements) show the global concentration of all greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continued to increase through 2016 and into 2017, reflectingagrowthin"radiativeforcing"orwarmingimpactof40 percent since 1990. -the United States remains by far the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases on a per capita basis
Criticisms of Western Climate Initiative (WCI)
-greenwash designed to avoid committing to the Kyoto Protocol, and cited evidence that much more drastic cuts, up to 40%, could be achieved without affecting investment yield in equities, a good indicator that such cuts would not affect economic prospects in the economy as a whole. -Several U.S. partners, although active participants in the design of the program, announced in 2010 that they would either delay or not implement the program in their jurisdictions. -As of December 2011, the remaining WCI members are California and the Canadian provinces British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec.
Sunrise movement
-peaceful demonstrations -get politicians on board but also pressure them -mobilise an army of youths across the country -AOC joins Sunrise protesters in Nancy Pelosi's office
1980 Superfund Act
-to provide for liability, compensation, cleanup, and emergency response for hazardous substances released into the environment
Western Climate Initiative (WCI)
-was started in February 2007 by the governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington to evaluate and implement ways to reduce their states's emissions of greenhouse gases -By July 2008, the initiative had expanded to include two more U.S. states (Montana and Utah) and four Canadian provinces (British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec). Together, these partners comprised 20 percent of U.S. GDP and 76 percent of Canadian GDP. -committed to set an overall regional goal to reduce emissions, participate in a cross-border greenhouse gas registry to consistently measure and track emissions, and adopt clean tailpipe standards for passenger vehicles.
Toxics Substances Control Act of 1976
-weak progress in implementing it finally led to the act's amendment in 2016 with congressional approval of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act.
membership to environmental associations 1972
1,000,000+
What are the areas of environmental dangers from the 70s to today
1. Air quality 2. Greenhouse gas emissions 3. Water Quality 4. Toxic Chemicals and Hazardous Wastes 5. Natural Resources 6. Global climate change 7. Protection of Biodiversity
Strategies of the climate movement
1. Contesting the establishment 2. Working within the system
Efficient Vehicles, Clean Fuels
1. Electrification and 100% renewable electricity: clean vehicles and clean fuels (clean cab project) 2. Liquid and gaseous biofuels: low-carbon fueling options
Transportation Demand Management
1. Land use integration: minimum driving maximum walking, transit, bicycling, car sharing 2. Congestion and parking pricing: end parking circling 3. Travel choices and information: full and accurate information about travel options
Strategic Infrastructure support
1. Priority transit: improving public transportation 2. Complete streets: design to fit all peoples' needs 3. Vehicle and ride sharing
Aldo Leopold
1. wrote A Sand County Almanac published a year after his death in 1948; 2. promoted a "Land Ethic" in which humans are ethically responsible for serving as the protectors of nature. 3. urged people to view themselves as part of nature and to strive to maintain the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. 4. "To sum up: a system of conservation based solely on self-interest is hopelessly lopsided."
IPCC 2018 report
12 years to avoid catastrophic point of no return, By 2040: massive food shortages, fatal heat waves and mass die-offs of coral reefs
membership to environmental associations 1960
124,000
Barry Goldwater
1964; Republican contender against LBJ for presidency; platform included lessening federal involvement, therefore opposing Civil Rights Act of 1964; lost by largest margin in history
Lynn White Jr.
1967: (The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis) "Christianity, in absolute contrast to ancient paganism and Asia's religions, not only established a dualism of man and nature but also insisted that it is God's will that man exploit nature for his proper ends."
President Nixon
1969-1974, Republican; Improved the relations with the Soviet Union and China and wound down the Vietnam War. The water gate scandal caused him to resign before he could be impeached
President Ford
1974-1977; succeeded and pardoned Nixon; failed to establish strong leadership
President Carter
1977-1981, Democrat;
membership to environmental associations 2009
20-30 million
0 waste according to the San Fransisco Climate Action
2004: Green Building Ordinance 2005: Precautionary purchasing regulation 2006: Construction and Demolition Debris Recovery Ordinance 2006: Food Service Waste Reduction Ordinance 2007: Expanded 2011 plastic bag reduction ordinance 2009: Mandatory Recycling and Composting ordinance 2017: Polystyrene Foam and Food Service Packaging Waste Reduction Ordinance
Theodore Roosevelt (1901 - March 4, 1909)
4 National Game Preserves 5 National Parks 7 Conservation Conferences 18 National Monuments 24 Reclamation Projects 51 Federal Bird Reservations 150 National Forests 230 Million total acres set aside "for the enjoyment of all"
U.S. Constitution (1787)
A document that embodies the fundamental laws and principles by which the United States is governed.
Earth Day
A holiday conceived of by environmental activist and Senator Gaylord Nelson to encourage support for and increase awareness of environmental concerns; first celebrated on March 22, 1970
Land Ordinance of 1785
A law that divided much of the United States into a system of townships to facilitate the sale of land to settlers.
Great Plains
A mostly flat and grassy region of western North America
New Deal
A series of reforms enacted by the Franklin Roosevelt administration between 1933 and 1942 with the goal of ending the Great Depression.
environmental justice
A social movement and field of study that focuses on equal enforcement of environmental laws and eliminating disparities in the exposure of environmental harms to different ethnic and socioeconomic groups within a society.
Regulatory Federalism
A system in which the national government sets requirements that are then implemented by state and local governments. • Local and state interests are voiced in environmental legislation
the Sierra Club
America's oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization founded in 1892 in San Fransisco, Cali first President was John Muir group was pushed by the wealthy bc they wanted to conserve the nature (despite all the land the already own and "corrupted") for their later generations
Paul R. Ehrlich
American biologist who is best known for his warnings about the consequences of population growth and limited resources, The Population Bomb, 1968
American Voters on climate change
American voters — even many Republicans — recognize that climate change is starting to affect their lives. About 70 percent think global warming is happening, and about 53 percent think it is caused by human activities, according to a recent study by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. About 69 percent support limiting carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants. But most public opinion polls find that voters rank the environment last or nearly last among the issues that they vote on. And views are divided based on party affiliation. In 2001, 46 percent of Democrats said they worried "a great deal" about climate change, compared with 29 percent of Republicans, according to a Gallup tracking poll on the issue. This year, concern among Democrats has reached 66 percent. Among Republicans, it has fallen, to 18 percent. Until people vote on the issue, Republicans will find it politically safer to question climate science and policy than to alienate moneyed groups like Americans for Prosperity.
Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique
An American feminist, activist and writer, best known for starting what is commonly known as the "Second Wave" of feminism through the writing of a book.
Homestead Act of 1862 definition
An act which allowed a settler to acquire as much as 160 acres of land by living on it for 5 years, improving it, and paying a fee of about $30
global warming
An increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere (especially a sustained increase that causes climatic changes) • 2018 was Earth's 4th-warmest year on record, coming in behind 2016, the planet's warmest recorded year, as well as 2015 and 2017, according to information released by NOAA, NASA and the U.K. Met Office. • Nine of the 10 warmest years on record since reliable data began in 1880 have occurred since 2005. At the same time, greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels — as well as deforestation and intensive agriculture — have skyrocketed to levels not seen in more than 800,000 years.
Fourth Wave Environmentalism 1980s - now
Animal rights, Anti-globalisation, economic justice, many other minor currents
1969
AnoilrigintheSantaBarbaraChannelblowsout,creatingaslick of 800 square miles and killing 10,000 birds. Pollution leads to massive fish kills on Lake Erie. Then the Cuyahoga River catches on fire. Pollution enters the national consciousness just as man landing on the Moon makes clear how small and precious is Earth. David Brower is forced to resign as leader of the Sierra Club, and re-emerges as Friends of the Earth.
Atoms for Peace
Atomic Energy Commission promoted nuclear power as an alternative energy source without environmental/health hazards. But there was still public anxiety. (The military-industrial complex, The space race) 1950s
Edward Abbey 1975
Author of The Monkey Wrench Gang, a book that attracted those who felt that conventional defence of the environment through petitions, laws, and lawsuits was slow and ineffective. Monkeywrenching became a term for direct defence of the earth, from human blockades to spiking trees to the mock cracking of the Glen Canyon Dam.
100% renewable energy
Buildings: old buildings are energy eaters, green and more energy efficient buildings and reduce the use of energy Move to: 100% renewable electricity by 2020
Where are the moderate republicans?
But in Republican political circles, speaking out on the issue, let alone pushing climate policy, is politically dangerous. So for the most part, these moderate Republicans are biding their time, until it once again becomes safe for Republicans to talk more forcefully about climate change. The question is how long that will take. "With 40 percent of Florida's population at risk from sea-level rise, my state is on the front lines of climate change," said Representative Carlos Curbelo, Republican of Florida. "South Florida residents are already beginning to feel the effects of climate change in their daily lives."
legal activism
Class-action lawsuits and voter registration drives. Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
1963
Clean Air Act passed by congress and Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Paul Watson
Co-founder of Greenpeace
1971
Congress votes down the supersonic transport after environmentalists' efforts. The Cross- Florida Canal is stopped using NEPA. Oregon enacts the first bottle bill to encourage recycling and stop litter. Greenpeace begins with pacifists and hippies sailing to the Aleutian Islands to prevent a nuclear bomb test. They are intercepted and forced to turn back, but cause quite a stir and end future tests.
Atomic Energy Commission
Created in 1946 to oversee the research and production of atomic power.
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Created the Northwest Territory (area north of the Ohio River and west of Pennsylvania), established conditions for self-government and statehood, included a Bill of Rights, and permanently prohibited slavery
third wave environmentalism 1970s - now
Deep ecology (ecocentrism), environmental justice
No Fossil Fuel money pledge
Democrat Presidential candidates pledging, all but one!
1970 Clean Air Act
Develop national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) • Establish emission standards for cars • Develop emission standards for new stationary sources • States had to prepare emission reduction plans (SIP's - 3 years to develop)
The Case of Lung Cancer
Earlier years: the major medical focus was on tuberculosis causing lung problems. Environmental factors such as exposure to airborne chemicals and metals were secondary. Mine operators argued that lung problems miners faced were due to tuberculosis and not working conditions. As tuberculosis came to be treated effectively: lung problems like cancer became more visible
David Foreman - book argument 1987
Earth is our home and we should protect it. Nature is the home of the American like a castle is the home of the English man. Politicians should support wilderness if they want to be reelected because of how many Americans care about it. Representative democracy in the USA is money representing its own interests, and not the people theirs.
William Cronon
Environmental Historian, author of "The Trouble with Wilderness" (1995): we need to discover a common middle ground in which all of these things, from the city to the wilderness, can somehow be encompassed in the world "home."
Lois Gibbs
Environmental activist who started the Love Canal Homeowners Association after she realized her neighborhood was located on top of a toxic waste dump
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (1968)
Established a National Wild and Scenic Rivers System for the protection of rivers with important scenic, recreational, fish and wildlife, and other values.
Clean Power Plan
Establishes the first-ever federal limits on carbon emissions from U.S. power plants, establishing state-by-state targets for carbon emissions reductions and allowing states flexibility in how to meet these targets. --Obama deployed a rarely used provision in the Clean Air Act of 1970, which gave the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to issue regulations on carbon dioxide.
Thomas Cole
Founder of the Hudson River school, famous for his landscape paintings
direct action organisations
Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Earth First!, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
The Southern Plains
He is describing it as a land of too much wind, dirt, flatness, space, barbed wire, drought, uncertainty, and hard work. Previous generations found excitement in those vast unexplored lands, that now are completely bare They remain, after much abuse, one of our greatest agricultural treasures he writes, a crucial source of food They serve as proof for our ecological insensitivity, a model to avoid
natural versus human disturbances
Humans noticing some events causing disruptions, and wondering whether they brought them about. From such disturbances arose the term "environmental protection"
Overall progress from the 70s to today
Improvement that would not have been achieved without the policies enacted in the first and second generation environmental problems. Also, scientific community considers data gathering to be inconsistent and in many cases unreliable. The current generation climate change threats require an unprecedented cooperation of the different world nations, an unprecedented nature of consistent, reliable, and persistent data gathering by the scientific communities, and a much speedier pace at passing legislation. The EPA has had a sluggish pace when adopting change in certain areas, notably in testing and acting on toxic chemicals, including pesticides. Despite the 1972 law mandating control of pesticides and herbicides, only a handful of chemicals used to manufacture the fifty thousand pesticides in use in the US had been fully tested or retested. The US in general with its federalist political structure has also been really slow in implementing incremental change. This pace is not fast enough to face the current challenges.
Santa Barbara Oil Spill
In 1969 an oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara combined with strong winds defiled 20 miles of white sand beach in this affluent community. -Environmentalist blamed the disaster on the ills of life in modern America. This incident, combined with the publication of Silent Spring and the burning of the Cuyahoga River, increased public awareness on the threats Americans posed to the environment, (1969) -200,000 gallons of crude oil spilled -Largest oil spill at time of occurrence. Now ranks third behind Exxon Valdez and Deepwater Horizon/Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. Caused by a well blowout during drilling from offshore oil platform -Extent of surface oil versus extent of oil observed on beach (Oil Spill between Santa Barbara and Ventura, but observed oil all the way from Pismo Beach to San Diego!!)
Clean Power Plan litigation
In February 2016, the Supreme Court indicated that it would side with opponents of the rule, moving by a 5-4 vote to grant a request by the attorneys general and corporate players to block the implementation of the Clean Power Plan while the case worked its way through the federal courts.
1979
In March Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, suffers a partial meltdown. The accident is a major setback that brings a de facto end to building new nuclear power plants in the U.S. EPA bans production of polychlorinated biphenyls, a toxic class of persistent organic pollutants. Facing a spike in oil prices precipitated by the Iranian Revolution and a broader "crisis of confidence," President Carter addresses the nation in July, urging conservation. He lowers federal thermostats, and installs solar panels on the White House roof (President Reagan has the panels removed). Lovejoy initiates the Minimum Critical Size of Ecosystems project, the first large-scale experiment in habitat fragmentation; itconfirmsbiodiversitydeclineandloss. Love Canal protests enter a second year focused on health studies. The residents conduct their own study and find that 56 percent of their children "were born with birth defects: three ears, double rows of teeth, extra fingers or toes, or mentally retarded...Of 22 pregnancies only 4 normal babies were born." NY State Health officials reject their study and do their own. In August, they announce their findings at Love Canal. They got the same results, but ascribe them to "a random clustering of genetically defective people."
Letters from an American Farmer
J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur French work illustrated the process of exclusion of non-white citizens in the American community.
Gold Rush 1848-1855
January 1848, gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in California, and after its announcement in the press and President James Polk's address to Congress, migrants from as far away as China, Europe, and Australia flooded into the area. They were called the "forty-niners," since many arrived in 1849.
Lewis and Clark expedition (1804-1806)
Jefferson sent Merriwether Lewis and William Clark to investigate the resources the U.S. had acquired with the Louisiana Purchase on "Voyage of Discovery". They crossed the Rockies and reached the Pacific Ocean by way of the Columbia River. They recorded the types of wildlife, plants, and number of Indian tribes. They mapped the region and promoted fur trading
Conclusion on the youth activist movement
Led by: • Urgency of climate change • Lack of federal action success due to: • Lessons learned from earlier rights movements and the mistakes of the Occupy Wall Street movement • Educating and training angry, enthusiastic youths • Using the arts of protest and music --- and the democratic process (Note: By 2020, millennials = 40% of US electorate)
1980
Love Canal comes to a climax when the EPA is called in and they find genetic damage. The White House overrules a recommendation to relocate the residents. On May 16, Lois Gibbs and her neighbors take EPA officials hostage and give President Carter an ultimatum. Two days later he agrees to relocation. Congress passes Superfund in the wake of Love Canal; it identifies hazardous waste sites across the country, determines parties responsible for cleanup, and provides funds for federal remediation where the original polluters are bankrupt or unidentifiable. It is underfunded most of its life. Sea Shepherd clears the Atlantic Ocean of pirate whalers in one year. All illegal whaling in the Atlantic ceases.
Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act
Mandated that the EPA evaluate existing chemicals with a new risk-based safety standard -with clear and enforceable deadlines, -with increased transparency for chemical information, -and with assurances that the agency would have the budgetary resources to carry out its responsibilities for chemical safety
number of people at climate protests
March School strike 2019: 1.8 million, September largest ever with 4M
Student debt significantly outpacing wage growth
Median wages have increased 1.6% over the last 25 years while median debt has risen 163.8%
Republican attorneys general gathered at the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia in August 2015 for their annual summer retreat, with some special guests: four executives from Murray Energy, one of the nation's largest coal mining companies.
Murray was struggling to avoid bankruptcy — a fate that had befallen several other coal mining companies already, given the slump in demand for their product and the rise of natural gas, solar and wind energy. The coal industry came to discuss a new part of the campaign to reverse the country's course on climate change. Litigation was going to be needed, the industry executives and the Republican attorneys general agreed, to block the Obama administration's climate agenda — at least until a new president could be elected. That same day, Mr. Morrissey would step outside the hotel to announce that he and other attorneys general would sue in federal court to try to stop the Clean Power Plan, which he called "the most far-reaching energy regulation in this nation's history, drawn up by radical bureaucrats."
1970
NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act, which mandates environmental impact reviews. major extension of the Clean Air Act establishes national air quality standards and regulates auto emissions. President Nixon forms the Environmental Protection Agency. He is reacting to a huge surge in public concern about environmental issues. Earth Day draws a lot of attention. It's a pivotal event, turning from the old conservation to a new environmental movement.
Gary Snyder's Nature
Natura: birth, constitution, character, course of things "The Outdoors"
Civilian Conservation Corps
New Deal program that hired unemployed men to work on natural conservation projects
Tenessee Valley Authority
New deal program to control flooding,conserve soil,and bring hydroelectric power to the mid-south
Environmental voter project
Objective: Rival the NRA in voter turnout, mobilise an army of environmental voters
Conservatives for climate change
Outside of Congress, a small number of establishment conservatives, including a handful of leaders from the Reagan administration, have begun pushing Washington to act on climate change. Earlier this year, James A. Baker III, one of the Republican Party's more eminent senior figures, met with senior White House officials to urge them to consider incorporating a carbon tax as part of a broader tax overhaul package — a way to both pay for proposed cuts to corporate tax rates and help save the planet. A Reagan White House senior economist, Art Laffer; a former secretary of state, George P. Shultz; and Henry M. Paulson Jr., George W. Bush's final Treasury secretary, have also pushed the idea.
Global Climate Action Summit: San Francisco, September 13, 2018
Participants: -international officials -subnational actors (governors, mayors, etc.) -business leaders
Reform Environmentalism 1960s - now
Pollution control, human health
1974
President Ford signs the Safe Drinking Water Act. Chipko, or the tree hugger movement, in India begins when women in the village of Reni surround trees to prevent contractors from cutting them to make cricket bats. Sherry Rowland and Mario Molina first describe the way refrigerants break up ozone.
1973 Endangered Species Act
Provided broad protection for species of fish, wildlife, and plants that are listed as threatened or endangered
US Climate Science special report,
Published November 23, 2019 (Black Friday) Nearly 80% of America's energy now comes from relatively cheap and plen4ful fossil fuels Climate change disrupts trade, manufacturing, agriculture Key to lessen effects: limit carbon emissions
Newt Gingrich
Representative from Georgia who led the "Contract with America" and eventually became the Speaker of the House; he and Clinton battled many times while he demanded tax cuts and a balancing of the budget
David Foreman
Responded to Abbey's call by resigning his position from a conservation group that he considered too moderate and founding Earth First! with the founding belief that environmental protection must be considered ahead of economics, progress, any human interest, and rules, if those rules are not to its advantages. Recall: "an unjust law is not a law" by Dr. Martin Luther King.
Water Quality Act 1965
Response to Silent Spring; Required states to clean up rivers
1965
Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference challenges a hydroelectric plant in New York. The US court of appeals rules that "aesthetic, conservational or recreational interests can establish standing to sue" setting a precedent of environmental legislation
1962
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson warns of the devastation that pesticides, particularly DDT are wreaking birds and other creatures. She is criticised by the chemical industry but the book becomes a worldwide bestseller.
From McCain to Trump
Since Mr. McCain ran for president on climate credentials that were stronger than his opponent Barack Obama's, the scientific evidence linking greenhouse gases from fossil fuels to the dangerous warming of the planet has grown stronger. Scientists have for the first time drawn concrete links between the planet's warming atmosphere and changes that affect Americans' daily lives and pocketbooks, from tidal flooding in Miami to prolonged water shortages in the Southwest to decreasing snow cover at ski resorts.
Concern for better health
Some environmental conditions were long understood as threats to human health, but the more science progressed the more people understood and cared about the link between environment and individual health (mortality to morbidity)
The plan of his opponents
Starting in early 2014, the opponents of the rule — including powerful lawyers and lobbyists representing many of America's largest manufacturing and industrial interests — regularly gathered in a large conference room at the national headquarters of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, overlooking the White House. They drafted a long-game legal strategy to undermine Mr. Obama's climate regulations in a coordinated campaign that brought together 28 state attorneys general and major corporations to form an argument that they expected to eventually take to the Supreme Court. They presented it not as an environmental fight but an economic one, against a government that was trying to vastly and illegally expand its authority. "This is the most significant wholesale regulation of energy that the United States has ever seen, by any agency," Roger R. Martella Jr., a former E.P.A. lawyer who then represented energy companies, said at a gathering of industry advocates, making an assertion that has not been tested
Successes of the youth movement in supporters
Support from key politicians: Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ed Markey, Jay Inslee, Jeff Merkely • Helping elect pro-climate action candidates to local & state offices • NY Legislature passed Climate & Communities Protection Act (precursor to Green New Deal) • Green New Deal: 106 co-sponsors in Congress (as of July 1, 2019) • Recent politicians pledging #nofossilfuelmoney: O'Rourke (TX), Feinstein (CA) • Mobilizing youth • Getting national attention since occupying Pelosi's office • Climate town hall forums on national TV (CNN 9/4, NBC 9/19) despite Democratic National Committee's refusal
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming (Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway)
That book showed how conservative ideology backed by business interests drove a group of elite scientists to create public skepticism about scientific findings with which they disagreed for political reasons. It became a bestseller and remains an essential text for the environmental movement.
1972
The Clean Water Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Ocean Dumping Act all become law. EPA bans DDT. The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment brings together a hundred countries. The U.S. proposes a moratorium on whaling. Indira Gandhi talks back to the West about population control. Activists protest against use of the toxic defoliant Agent Orange. Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess proposes "deep ecology." The Limits to Growth, a computer model of future environmental trends, is published.
Barry Commoner's Four Laws of Ecology
The Closing Circle, 1971 1. Everything is connected to everything else 2. Everything must go somewhere 3. Nature knows best 4. There is no such thing as a free lunch
1975
The Eastern Wilderness Act is signed into law after a campaign lasting several years. It protects 207,000 acres, recovering forests acquired by the federal government after extensive logging. Greenpeace sets off to hunt the whalers. After two months at sea, off the coast of California, they come upon the Russian whaling fleet. They launch their Zodiacs, get between the whalers and the whales, and film harpoons shooting over their heads. The story explodes and launches Greenpeace on the wildest ride of any group. In Wyhl, West Germany, protestors occupy the site of a proposed nuclear power plant until it is canceled — the first victory for an anti-nuclear movement building in Europe.
1973
The Endangered Species Act passes Congress almost unanimously. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known as CITES, is finalized. The Izaak Walton League sues the U.S. Forest Service to halt clear-cutting. Their victory begins a turning away from "get-out-the-cut" first policies. The environmental honeymoon comes to an end with the Arab oil boycott. It causes an energy crisis that leads to fuel standards, speed limits, exploration of alternative and renewable energy sources, and more. Construction begins on the last nuclear power plant, Watts Bar in Tennessee, to come on line. And in California, organic farmers form into a group and set the first standards for organic agriculture.
1967
The Environmental Defense Fund is founded by scientists who begin litigation to ban the pesticide DDT. Concurrently, Yale Law grads seeking to set up "a law firm for the environment" combine with attorneys fighting Storm King hydroelectric plant, and the Natural Resources Defense Council takes shape. Earthjustice is also formed during this time (Sierra Club Legal Defence Fund)
Flint Michigan Water Crisis 2014-present
The Flint water crisis is a public health crisis that occurred beginning in 2014, after the drinking water source for the city of Flint, Michigan was changed. In April 2014, Flint changed its water source from treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department water to the Flint River. After officials repeatedly dismissed claims that Flint's water was making people sick, residents took action.This was the lay of the land in 2011, when Flint, cash-strapped and shouldering a $25 million deficit, fell under state control. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder appointed an emergency manager (basically an unelected official chosen to set local policy) to oversee and cut city costs. This precipitated the tragic decision in 2013 to end the city's five-decade practice of piping treated water for its residents from Detroit in favor of a cheaper alternative: temporarily pumping water from the Flint River until a new water pipeline from Lake Huron was built. Although the river water was highly corrosive, Flint officials failed to treat it, and lead leached out from aging pipes into thousands of homes. On the heels of the release of test results in the fall of 2015 showing elevated lead levels in Flint's water—and its children—local residents joined with NRDC and other groups to petition the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to launch an immediate emergency federal response to the disaster. The EPA failed to act, which only spurred residents on.Those efforts paid off. In November 2016, a federal judge sided with Flint residents and ordered the implementation of door-to-door delivery of bottled water to every home without a properly installed and maintained faucet filter. A more momentous win came the following March with a major settlement requiring the city to replace the city's thousands of lead pipes with funding from the state, and guaranteeing further funding for comprehensive tap water testing, a faucet filter installation and education program, free bottled water through the following summer, and continued health programs to help residents deal with the residual effects of Flint's tainted water. But the work of Flint residents and their advocates isn't finished yet. Ensuring that the provisions of the 2017 settlement are met is an ongoing task. Indeed, members of the lawsuit have already returned to court to see that the city properly manages its lead service line replacement program and provides filters for faucets.
1977
The Green Belt Movement is founded by Wangari Maathai in Kenya. Facing forest loss, soil erosion and desertification, she organizes women to plant seedlings and pays them to make sure they grow into trees — over 50 million so far.
1976
The National Forest Management Act gives the public new tools to protect national forests from rampant logging. Foreign Affairs publishes an essay by Amory Lovins entitled Energy Strategy, The Road Not Taken? It describes a "hard path" relying on fossil fuels and nuclear fission, and a "soft path" that depends on conservation and renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.
1974 Safe Drinking Water Act
The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) was originally passed by Congress in 1974 to protect public health by regulating the nation's public drinking water supply
1966
The Sierra Club publishes ads opposing U.S. Bureau of Reclamation plans to build two dams inside the Grand Canyon. Congress first postpones the dams, then prohibits dams in the Grand Canyon and expands the national park. It is a turning point, the biggest victory yet for conservation.
1978
The Smithsonian Institution lists close to 10 percent of 22,000 plant species native to the continental U.S. as threatened or endangered, largely because of habitat loss. In June the Supreme Court upholds the Endangered Species Act in a case involving the snail darter, a tiny fish threatened by the Tellico Dam on the Little Tennessee River. Sherry Rowland lobbies against CFC's and the EPA bans their use as propellants in aerosol cans. Amoco Cadiz wrecks off the coast of France, spilling oil over 110 miles of coastline. Greenpeace begins its next big campaign, against ocean dumping. They discover the GEM dumping radioactive waste and run their Zodiacs under the barrels until one is smashed. Confrontations over dumping at sea go on for years. In 1983, the London Dumping Convention finally calls for a moratorium on dumping waste.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
The US federal agency with a mission to protect human health and the environment.
1968
The flowering of the conservation movement climaxes with the creation of North Cascades National Park, Redwood National Park, the Wild and Scenic Rivers System and the National Trails Bill — all signed into law on the same day. The Population Bomb becomes a bestseller, predicting famine in the wake of global overpopulation.
Three-Mile Island, Pennsylvania, 1979
The worst nuclear incident in the history of this country occurred when a cooling system failed, resulting in a partial meltdown. Construction of nuclear power plants was halted for decades.
Post War Prosperity (1945-1973)
This is the period was known as the Golden Age of capitalism. It was a post WWII economic boom in which manufacturing and industry soared. Also at this time unemployment was almost nonexistent. -This boom was possible because Europe was absolutely devastated both economically and infrastructurally after WWII. -However, barely any fighting took place in the US and the economy did not get damaged very much. Tons of manufacturing and factories were destroyed and Europe was in need of resources. - This allowed American industry to up production and start selling to broken-down Europe. These needy markets in Europe opened up huge profits in America. -There was a strong middle class and more labor regulations were passed. -This period ended in 1973 due to the 1973 oil crisis and the stock market crashes from 1973-1974.
Clean Air Act 1963
This law, and its amendments, empower the federal government to control and reduce pollution emissions from both mobile sources, such as cars and motorcycles, and the service stations that sell the fuel cars and motorcycles burn; and stationary sources, such as factories and power plants. It also established national ambient air quality standards.
What has Trump done on the climate change front thus far?
Thus Far, the Courts Have Not Upheld Any Attempts by the Trump Administration to Delay or Roll Back Regulatory Climate Protections: In 2017-2018, a dozen cases were filed that raised climate change as an issue of fact or law and concerned delay or suspension of climate-related rules. -These cases have largely been struck down, voluntarily dismissed, or are still pending a final decision. -Early decisions are building a body of precedent that clarifies limitations on the executive branch's ability to destabilize duly promulgated regulations and to act without regard to proper procedure. -Courts Have Halted Trump Administration Policies to Promote Fossil Fuel Extraction on Public Lands and in Public Waters for Inadequate Environmental Review and Executive Overreach: For example, recent court decisions have found that the Trump Administration violated requirements of environmental review in its attempt to reverse a moratorium for coal leasing on federal lands and acted beyond its statutory authority when it reversed the Obama Administration's drilling ban on leasing in parts of the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.
Transportation strategy of SF Summit, 3 tiered
Transportation Demand Management, Strategic Infrastructure support, Efficient Vehicles, Clean Fuels
The second target of the Koch industries
Until 2010, some Republicans ran ads in House and Senate races showing their support for green energy. "After that, it disappeared from Republican ads," said Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity. "Part of that was the polling, and part of it was the visceral example of what happened to their colleagues who had done that." What happened was clear. Republicans who asserted support for climate change legislation or the seriousness of the climate threat saw their money dry up or, worse, a primary challenger arise. "It told Republicans that we were serious," Mr. Phillips said, "that we would spend some serious money against them." By the time Election Day 2010 arrived, 165 congressional members and candidates had signed Americans for Prosperity's "No Climate Tax" pledge.
1964
Wilderness Act, setting aside 9.1 million acres to be preserved in perpetuity.
William Cronon (The Trouble with Wilderness) 1995 text
Wilderness is a complex cultural construct that has been harmful perhaps more than it has been useful. Nature should not be seen as something "Other" than us, outside of us, because then a dualism is created that sees humans as opposed from the pure nature, incompatible with it. Contrarily, humans should learn to call nature home, and take care of their home while accepting its autonomy when considering how to interact with it. In this sense, wilderness as a concept is problematic.
First head of the EPA
William Ruckleshaus, appointed in 1970 by Nixon
fossil fuel combustion
a major source of anthropogenic primary pollution - produces: - carbon monoxide - carbon dioxide - unburned hydrocarbons - nitrogen oxides - sulphur dioxide - particulates/particulate matter (PM
cap and trade
a method for managing pollution in which a limit is placed on emissions and businesses or countries can buy and sell emissions allowances -The idea was to create a statutory limit, or cap, on the overall amount of a certain type of pollution that could be emitted. Businesses could then buy and sell permits to pollute, choosing whether to invest more in pollution permits, or in cleaner technology that would then save them money and allow them to sell their allotted permits. -The administration of the first President George Bush successfully deployed the first national cap-and-trade system in 1990 to lower emissions of the pollutants that cause acid rain. -Mr. McCain pushed a cap-and-trade proposal to fight climate change.
fossil fuels
a natural fuel such as coal or gas, formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms.
Natural Resources Defense Council
a nonprofit international environmental advocacy group established to seek sustainable policies from federal, state, and local governments, as well as from industry and corporations
Dust Bowl, 1935
a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the US prairies during the 1930s; severe drought and a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent wind erosion caused the phenomenon.
throwaway living (1955 poster)
a social group in which it is acceptable to squander usable materials and products
The doctrine of Manifest Destiny proclaimed that:
a. americans had a god-given right to occupy all land west to the pacific b. americans had a duty to extend the blessings of democracy to the peoples living there
Sources of air pollution in California
according to the California Air resources board: 47% transportation, 23% industrial, 10% electricity in state, and 8% agriculture.
Army Corps of Engineers (COE)
along with the EPA they are the two federal agencies responsible for enforcing its provisions
Deep Ecology
an environmental movement and philosophy that regards human life as just one of many equal components of a global ecosystem.
Log Cabin Act (1841)
an individual settler could claim up to 160 acres of government land at a cost of $1.25 per acre; in the administration of President John Tyler; more successful than the latter Homestead Act
Dr. Roderick Frazier Nash
author of Wilderness and the American Mind (1967) His argument in 2014, the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act (1964) is that wilderness has values apart from the anthropocentric ones that call for its preservation to benefit and pleasure us. The ecocentric value of wilderness denotes its necessity to remind us to be humble towards nature, towards a system that exists without our need to intervene, to remind us that we should have boundaries of where we apply our will, to remind us that we just need to step down. So its symbolic values, apart from reinvigorating us, inspiring us, benefiting our science, and reminding us of American cultural heritage, is to remind us of the fact that we are not the only ones on this planet, and we should at times restrain ourselves.
Argument: there is a close link between the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression
both events revealed the fundamental weaknesses in the traditional culture of America. Both offered an opportunity for cultural reform.
1960s environmental legislation was a start
but it lacked teeth to be very effective
Anthropogenic Pollution
carbon monoxide photochemical smog industrial smog and sulfur oxides particulates
Cuyahoga River on Fire, June 1969
caused by the mass pollution in the Cuyahoga River in Ohio. -Molten sparks from a passing rail car set fire to oil- and chemical-soaked debris floating on the Cuyahoga. The brief blaze only torched a railroad bridge but branded Cleveland as a dirty city where water burns. -Extreme pollution and trash; getting better but still very polluted 2. Became devoid of fish 3. This river catches fire every so often but mainly in the 50s and 60s 4. Did not spark an environmental movement until the late 60s 5. Clean Water Act, Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, creation of the EPA and Ohio EPA 6. Only 44 species of fish
What is the American worldview?
characterizations of the American worldview - the American creed, the dominant social paradigm, the Protestant work ethic - converge to exalt material acquisitions and well-being at the expense of the natural world.
Solid Waste Disposal Act 1965
congress declared the generation of solid waste is to be reduced or eliminated as thoroughly and as soon as possible and waste that is still produced needs to be treated, stored, and disposed of
American Progress by John Gast
demonstrates a belief in Manifest Destiny by people moving West and bringing new transportation and technology with them
"No Climate Tax" pledge
drafted by a new group called Americans for Prosperity that was funded by the Koch brothers. Its single sentence read: "I will oppose any legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue." Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, was the first member of Congress to sign it in July 2008. -The effort picked up steam the next year after the House of Representatives passed what is known as cap-and-trade legislation, a concept invented by conservative Reagan-era economists.
Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
ending testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, underwater, and in space
Beatnicks
group of writers and artists who refused to conform to accept ways of dressing, thinking, and acting; to show their contempt for culture, they dressed carelessly and wore colorful jargon
Fracking
injection of massive amounts of water mixed with sand and various chemicals under high pressure to release natural gas from shale formations -There were over 1.7 million active wells in the nation in recent years, and they yielded about two-thirds of natural gas production -natural gas is now the leading source of the country's electricity generation. -increasing citizen concern about the risks posed by fracking's possible contamination of groundwater - Fracking is regulated primarily by the states rather than the federal government.
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)
is a cooperative effort among the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont to cap and reduce power sector CO2 emissions. -RGGI is the first mandatory, market-based CO2 emissions reduction program in the United States. -RGGI is composed of individual CO2 Budget Trading Programs in each participating state. States sell nearly all emission allowances through auctions and invest proceeds in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other consumer benefit programs. These programs are spurring innovation in the clean energy economy and creating green jobs in the RGGI states.
class action lawsuit
lawsuit brought on behalf of a class of people against a defendant, e.g., lawsuits brought by those who have suffered from smoking against tobacco companies.
1970s was the era of
major environmental legislation
1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
mandates an environmental assessment of all projects involving federal money or federal permits
greenhouse effect
o Carbon dioxide, produced by the burning of fossil fuels, is a greenhouse gas. That means it is transparent to visible light and relatively opaque to infrared radiation. So light from the sun comes in, heats the planet and when that heat is radiated back toward space, it's trapped by CO2. We've known this since the 1860s.
Garrett Hardin
published "The Tragedy of the Commons" in the journal Science in 1968; argued that rational people will exploit shared resources (commons). Excerpt: In a reverse way, the tragedy of the commons reappears in problems of pollution. Here it is not a question of taking something out of the commons, but of putting something in -- sewage, or chemical, radioactive, and heat wastes into water; noxious and dangerous fumes into the air; and distracting and unpleasant advertising signs into the line of sight. The calculations of utility are much the same as before. The rational man finds that his share of the cost of the wastes he discharges into the commons is less than the cost of purifying his wastes before releasing them. Since this is true for everyone, we are locked into a system of "fouling our own nest," so long as we behave only as independent, rational, free enterprisers.
1972 Clean Water Act
set a national goal of making all natural surface water fit for fishing and swimming by 1983 and banned pollutant discharge into surface water after 1985. it also required that metals be removed from waste water.
1967 Air Quality Act
set federal air pollution guidelines and extended federal enforcement power
Wilderness Act
setting aside 9.1 million acres to be preserved in perpetuity, "where man is a visitor but does not remain." Congress will add national forest, national park and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands to the system, which will grow to 100 million acres.
WOTUS
shorthand for Waters of the United States and refers to section 404 of the Clean Water Act, in which Congress defined which water bodies are to be regulated
1996 Food Quality Protection Act
the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 required the EPA to undertake extensive assessment of the risks posed by new and existing pesticides. Following a lawsuit, the EPA began moving more quickly toward meeting the act's goal of protecting human health and the environment from these risks. The agency said in 2006 that it had begun a new program to reevaluate all pesticides in use on a regular basis, at least once every fifteen years.
American Creed (Samuel Huntington)
the dominant political culture in the United States, marked by a set of beliefs in individualism, democracy, liberty, property, and religion, tied together by the value of equality
Great Depression
the economic crisis beginning with the stock market crash in 1929 and continuing through the 1930s
Outdoor Recreation movement 1920s
the first and most lasting environmental value, appreciation for the natural beauty of forested lands, high mountain peaks, and more, led to political movement to preserve the environment from areas of development
George Catlin advocated
the preservation of nature as a national policy
Dominant Social Paradigm (DSP)
the prominent worldview, model, or frame of reference through which individuals or collectively, a society, interpret the meaning of the external world." four elements, in particular: • a commitment to individualism, property rights, and laissez-faire government • faith in material abundance, progress and economic growth • faith in the efficacy of science and technology • a view of nature as something to be subdued.
direct action
the use of strikes, demonstrations, or other public forms of protest rather than negotiation to achieve one's demands.
Conservation Era 1870-1930
wildlife management, conservation of natural resources, preservation of wilderness, wildlife
Baby Boom
• A cohort of individuals born in the United States between 1946 and 1964, which was just after World War II in a time of relative peace and prosperity. • • These conditions allowed for better education and job opportunities, encouraging high rates of both marriage and fertility.
Beat Generation (1950s-1960s)
• A group of American writers in the 1950s and 1960s who sought release and illumination though a bohemian counterculture of sex, drugs, and Zen Buddhism. • Writers such as Jack Kerouac (On The Road) and Allen Ginsberg (Howl) gained fame by giving readings in coffeehouses, often accompanied by jazz music.
Green New Deal
• Achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions • Create millions of good, high wage jobs and ensure prosperity and economic security for all people of the US • Invest in the infrastructure and industry of US to sustainably meet the challenges of the 21st century • Secure clean air and water, climate and community resilience, healthy food, access to nature, and a sustainable environment for all • Promote justice and equity • Sponsored by Sen. Ed Market and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez
CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations)
• Began in mid-1997, when corporate animal farms made national news. In North Carolina Heavy rain flooded a corporate farm with 12000 pigs, and 25 million gallons of feces and urine from the farm's waste lagoon were flushed into the surrounding fields, which produced cotton and tobacco, and then poured into the New River • Spill killed: ten million fish, closed 364,000 acres of wastelands to shell fishing for months, and prompted the Democratic representative to ask for EPA regulation • One of the first publicised incidents that brought animal farming into national visibility, • An ongoing political struggle plagues almost every agricultural state • CAFOs: Concentrated animal farming feeding operations, a tangle between surface water, groundwater, drinking water regulatory problems falling between the margins of state and federal water pollution laws and provoking the jurisdictional pkroblems common to regulatory federalism esp. US • EPA description of CAFOs risks
Environmental interest in the US varies...
• By area: regional economies based on older extractive industries are less supportive, those that have developed information-based and service-based economies are more • By age: younger generation is more open • Income does not matter, at least according to the data
post-war prosperity for the environment
• Continuation of high level of production • search for new applications for science and technology • "DDT is good for meee" poster • "Atoms for peace"
Tocqueville
• French academic who recognised that Americans claim to be driven by self-interest only but observed that many people make decisions for common good, not just personal gain. • in his travels through New England in the early 1830s observed that men seek "with almost equal ardor, material wealth and moral gratifications, heaven in the other world and prosperity and freedom in this. Far from clashing, these two tendencies, in appearance contradictory, advance in harmony and seem to support each other.
How did the environmental era come about?
• It is interesting to consider that environmental threats were not always something people thought about, not only because they had more pressing concerns, but also because most of the land was not developed. In the 20th century, people witnessed an acceleration of the pace at which natural lands were being transformed into developed lands. The experience came to be personal, because those for example who moved closer to nature soon faced urbanisation.
Donald Worster
• Private property: we Americans have believed in that institution more than any other people on earth. In fact, it may be our most cherished institution. • Protestantism: hard work, frugality, self-reliance, and perseverance in the face of hardship ; wealth, achieved through one's abilities and labor, was a sign that one was "one of the elect."
John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society
• Published in 1958 by the economist that discussed the failure of wealthy Americans to address the need for increased social spending for the common good. • These ideas influenced the later Kennedy and Johnson administrations.
Post-war discontent/disillusionment
• Rebel without a Cause, 1955 • John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society, 1958, and the New Industrial State, 1967 • Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, 1963
first major tension of the environmental era
• Those who promoted development with massive environmental changes • who considered the changes degrading to their environment
How to mobilise an army of activists
• Use of social media • 'Road to a Green New Deal' Tour • Sunrise semesters • People power: door-to-door canvassing, digital ads, mailers, emails, texts and phone-bank calls
problems with WOTUS
• Vague language: 'navigable waters' • This drove the political situation into conflict, igniting the water war, a legal battle over what exactly was 'waters of the united states' and what the EPA and COE could and could not regulate, according to legal loopholes • EPA and COE began interpreting the law: but interests from both sides were challenging the situation so much, that the usual US process of taking the battle to court happened. Judges are drawn into such conflicts in the US because they are responsible for administrative oversight. • Supreme Court tells the agencies how to interpret the law in a particular case that some interests argue for o Before Obama administration EPA limited two times by the court • In a government of checks and balances, where institutions exercise competing and shared powers concurrently, it is not surprising that the opposing side started the war again, and that 13 states led by North Dakota declared the executive action of Obama unconstitutional. The President: has to be able to manage these competing institutions and interests
Paths to environmental change
• Youth climate strikes • Suing the federal government • Divestment demonstrations • Climate justice groups • Environmental Voter Project • Sunrise movement • The arts
