History Of Environmental Thought In The US:
The history of the way the United States viewed the environment begins with the first colonists who migrated to North America. They did not view nature as a source that could or would run out, especially by their doing. They viewed environmental resources as everlasting. If one area begun to run short of trees, vegetation or animals, they simply moved further up the land. Colonist did not give any effort to maintain their relationship with the environment. This was a belief that continued into the 19th century.
In the early 18th century there were a few individuals who believed otherwise from the typical colonist’s views on the environment. A Connecticut minister; Jared Eliot - who was born in 1685 was one of the first known influential individuals to purpose a different way of thinking about managing aspects of their lives and their relationship with their land and resources. Eliot is notably known for his writings – The Need For Better Farming Methods. There’s no evidence that this writing by Eliot made any significant changes, but to date he is the first known person to write about the need for change.
By the 1830’s the Transcendental Movement had begun. The movement aimed to redefine human’s relationship with their surroundings, to create a value between the two. This idea created an emphasis with nature and the connection with humans. The leader of the movement was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson created a new way of envisioning the natural world, he did this in his seminal essay – Nature, where he describes the creation of nature and its reality. Doing so he also describes our dependencies on the environment and why we should create a better management of resources, so our environment does not risk endangerment. In response to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s language, a different outlet was presented; the rise of cadre American landscape art. This style of art depicted nature as the main subject and humans as more of an accessory. This is important because a new appreciation begun to rise and created a liberation for many different things, not just nature.
By the early 19th century John Muir was individual that helped the translation of transcendentalism into environmental policies. John Muir was strongly influenced by Emerson and his writings and this resonated to his ideas and actions. An important relationship John Muir had was with Theodore Roosevelt. The two became very close and would camp together. Theodore Roosevelt and his administrations are widely known today for their significant conservation standards. Roosevelt was responsible for the addition of 225 million acres of land to the U.S. Forest Service. He also created 50 wildlife refuges as well as 150 national forests. Although these environmental efforts were important, the environment still faced many issues during this time. The Agriculture, mining and the timber industry was rapidly growing in the early 19th century. There was little to no management of emissions or management of responsible use of resources. Carl Schurz was a policy reformer who sought land reforms that effected railroad expansion and forest preservation. This helped spark the conservation movement. The goal of this movement was to create national park areas by promoting land conservation. The movement was successful in accepting Yosemite as a national preserve and Yellowstone. By 1916 a national park service was created along with the creation of 16 national parks. This was an important part of environmental history because states started to see value in preserving land. The conservation movement was put to a halt and began declining when the First World War had begun. Ample amounts of goods were needed during this time period and that accelerated the industrial industry. Despite the war preventing the movement from obtaining continued environmental success, the movement still accomplished so much and created an established ground for environmental policies.
World War two created huge environmental problems as well from the increased industrial activity. Chemical, metals, automotive and energy production greatly increased during this time. Many issues arose from this. The environment was at risk due to; human contamination, increased pollution emissions, disposal of waste in waterways, respiratory illnesses due to atmosphere contamination and ultimately poor air quality that became accepted and a norm. Occupational exposure to chemicals also increased during this time. The environments health was at risk as was human’s health. A notable part of history during this time was the publication of Silent Spring that brought light to pesticides that were being used all over the world and primarily with soldiers fighting in the war. Silent Spring was written by Rachel Carson who was an environmental scientist that documented the negative effects of pesticides had on the environment and wildlife – specifically with DDT. Due to Silent Spring, the ban of DDT was placed. Eight years after it’s publication, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was created, and this then led to the Environmental Policy Act. This act provided an established layout for environmental policies.
By 1990 public health began to be questioned more. Scientist began to study the relation between human activity to human health and environmental health. One study was done with the relation between cars and how it affected humans and the environment. A public health concern that resulted from excessive use of car travel and lack of walking helped point to obesity and showed decreased ozone levels with less car travel. Auto transportation large use points to water pollution and contamination of water supplies from road runoff of oil, metals and organic waste. Then climate change began to be studied to see its effects. In the thesis by Tomkin J – Sustainability: A Comprehensive Foundation, states – “These activities first result in environmental impacts such as severe weather events, disturbed ecosystems, sea-level rise, and overall environmental degradation. Those impacts can then result in a broad range of health effects that we can adapt to, to a certain extent. These impacts are generally categorized into three areas: heat induced morbidity and mortality, infectious diseases, and impacts due to the effect of extreme weather such as flooding and drought on the social welfare of the population” (Thesis, T). Most importantly It was also determined that the effects will continue to advance if climate change continues the same path.
It’s evident that by the end of the 19th century is was starting to become well known that there were problems the environment was facing that inevitably impacted humans’ lives, all due to human activity. Many regulations have been put in place during the 19th century that have helped the environment. Today the environment still needs our continued helped to keep enforcing regulations and find alternatives that wont permanently damage our only environment.
(Thesis, T).
References
Thesis, T., & Tomkin, J. (Eds). (2018).Sustainability: A comprehensive foundation. OpenStax CNX. THEISandTOMKIN_Sustainability-a-Comprehensive-Foundation-45.1.pdf
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