On April 22,1970, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to protest for a healthy, sustainable environment through massive rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized many protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups have been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories, power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife. Now suddenly the groups realized they shared common values. By the end of that year, the first Earth Day had led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
This photo depicts an Earth Day achieved by a rare political alignment enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats,
It seems as if the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been avoiding encounters with people who are fighting for environmental justice. However, there may be an underlying reason why the EPA is not putting effort into these environmental problems. Over the years, the EPA has experienced budget cuts, this has resulted in the loss of jobs and programs. When money is not readily available, the amount of money that is available is usually conserved and only used when necessary. It does not look as if they are the reason why majority of the issues are not be taken care of. Based on my understanding of the article, it seems as if the EPA is working at the will of the government. The people working in the agency are responsible for doing their
What really caused the sudden upsurge in concern for preserving America’s environment at the beginning of the twentieth century? To what extent was this concern motivated by nostalgia for an older America, and to what extent by a desire to preserve nature and natural resources for future generations?
Ecology became an issue thrust into the national limelight for all to see. By bringing the issue to the national spotlight, it forced the government to take action as shown in the number of laws and regulations passed in the 1970s. Gottlieb called the 1970s the “Environmental Decade.” By the late 1970s, after the Vietnam War was over and many of the sociological and political issues had subsided several environmental struggles were weakening, possibly due to less sociological interest seen in the 1960s and early 1970s. Environmental efforts in the 1980s experienced a surprising resurgence and became a strong global social undertaking. Many people did not understand some aspects of the environmental movement. One of the reasons for this lack of comprehension may have been diversity. The terms race, gender, and class were not associated with environmentalism as late as 1993. Gottlieb attempts to bring these terms into the environmental movement in Forcing the Spring. Race, gender and class became more important in the environmental movement in the 1990s. Gottlieb attempts to show this new diversity and by doing this he suggest a revised view of the environmental movement. This new view shows environmentalism as a group of "social
Twenty million Americans took to the streets for the first earth day in 1970 as a result of pollution they could see an smell: the Cuyahoga river in Cleveland burned, with flames that towered eight stories high; the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara closed virtually all the beaches in southern California; people had declared Lake Erie dead.
One of the first influences on the deliberation on Environmental Justice was The Civil Rights Movement in the United States of America. Leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. fought hard to ensure that social transformation and power be established for African Americans, especially those in the southern states as well as those in the northern inner-city parts. Activists like King altered the philosophy on Environmental Justice arguing that there was a lopsided effect that proved that environmental hazards were not accidental. What environmentalists advocated instead was that environmental dangers resulted from racial segregation that placed power plants, nuclear plants, and other potential ecological hazards in areas with a high concentration of minority and low income groups. Several activists defined this as “environmental racism.”
He announced it was the first symbolic act of “the environmental decade.” Between the years of 1970 and 1972, Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency and signed laws including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Another thing he did was sign executive orders and international agreements on environmental issues. In early 1973, an international conference was held to discuss endangered species. The product of the conference was the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The U.S. needed a new legislation to meet some of the agreement’s provisions and it led to the Endangered Species Act. In Nixon’s State of the Union speech in 1973, he called for stronger wildlife protection. The results of these environmental laws and international agreements made the public extremely happy. Even though Nixon’s intentions were selfish when he got involved in environmental concerns, he responded unquestionably positive. All his hard work helped pave the way for a cleaner society.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency or EPA was initially proposed in 1970 by then President Richard Nixon. The agency was created to build on other environmental regulations enacted by the federal government and to consolidate those efforts to be managed by one government agency. It was also a reaction to the public’s growing concern over pollution and other environmental issues. Chemical waste was commonly released into bodies of water creating unsafe drinking water and rivers catching fire. Industrial air pollution, such as acid rain and smog, was also affecting manufacturing cities with coal-powered plants. There was little serious regulation on pollution until major environment laws started being passed by Congress in the early sixties.
The 1970’s represent a pivotal point in history that rewrote how America viewed its environmental policies- both on a policymaker and citizen scientist standpoint. As the public became more aware of environmental issues, concern about pollution, improper disposal, dwindling resources, radiation and poisoning enraptured a growing number of supporters. These supporters made it so that unlike the Progressive Era’s conservation movement (1890’s-1920’s), which was mainly elitists, this modern movement was pushed by “the common man.” It was an era that celebrated leaders such as John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Thomas Jefferson. One of those leaders in the forefront of these radical changes was Congressman Morris K.
The Afton protests energized a new faction within the civil rights movement that saw the environment as another front in the struggle for justice. Many early environmental justice leaders came out of the civil rights movement. They brought to the environmental movement the same tactics they had used in civil rights struggles -- marches, petitions, rallies, coalition building, community empowerment through education, litigation and nonviolent direct action,” (The Environmental Justice.) But many argue the fact that even if civil rights did not happen, the community members of government intentionally polluted waste lands would still
The purpose of this piece is to draw awareness to the many contradictions relating environmental justice movements and to create a society more conscious of decisions by considering consequences.
Nearly two thousand colleges paused there antiwar protests to come to the event. The event occurred only six months after Gaylord proposed the idea for National teach-ins (Gale group). Near this same time period of the 1960’s americans became to become much more aware than ever before. The Cleveland Cuyahoga river fiver in 1969 helped people notice the importance of a healthy environment (Earth Day). Now the Earth’s environment is a worldwide celebrated holiday.
The environmental movements are represented by various institutions usually known as the nongovernmental institutions/organizations. These movements started their operations in the 19th century. The body composed of water, soil conservation and wildlife management organizations. The Nature Conservancy is also a charity founded in 1951. Other groups include the Worldwatch Institute founded by Lester R. Brown a renowned environmentalist. Other environmentalists include Derrick Jensen. Derrick Lester is a noted environmentalist who argued that Industrial Civilization can never be regarded as sustainable. Some of the legislation achieved by various environmentalists include the Fourteenth Amendment termed as the Equal Protection Clause of the 1960s. This civil right law is of great importance in many
Within the “prehistory of Earth Day”, Americans became energized and joined the Earth day social movement due to the urgency of demanding a better quality of life. Through the demands of the people, this movement created an awareness for prioritized political attention of all activists groups. Pollution was one of the major issues that played a huge role
This section will clarify how Earth First and their actions are representative of those who are civil disobedient, and not actions of an “eco-terrorist” organisation. One only has to compare Earth First with other more violent environmental terrorist groups such as ELF (Earth Liberation Front) to see the lack of continuity amongst more violent eco-terrorist groups. In 1986, ELF torched a ski resort in protest against the use of timber in which arsonists caused $12-26 million in damage, and as a result affected the well-being of the native Canadian lynx. Furthermore, over the past decade, the group has claimed responsibility for further attacks estimated to exceed over $100 million in damage. There is a distinct difference between those who submit to civil disobedience
Earth Day is a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment. Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970. While this first Earth Day was focused on the United States, an organization launched by Denis Hayes, who was the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international in 1990 and organized events in 141 nations.[1][2] Earth Day is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network,[3] and is celebrated in more than 175 countries every year.[4] Numerous communities celebrate Earth Week, an entire week of activities focused on environmental issues. In 2009, the United Nations designated April 22