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,
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
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.
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.
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.”
The post-World War II economic boom brought with it a population boom, and with the two came unparalleled levels of consumption. More and more Americans were moving into the rapidly spreading suburbs, chasing the American Dream. And while the house in the suburbs was a big part of that dream, the image would not be complete without a car in the driveway. While many factors play a crucial role in where the insidious development of an increasingly fragile planet went wrong, automobiles and suburbanization generated a complacent culture that allowed for comfort and class. Although the effects of this culture continued on, the 1960s saw one of the first major responses to that threat: a national environmental movement.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
One main problem our earth faces is pollution. In the article Workers Are Told To Join Battle Against Pollution (1971) the state AFLCIO got together its 500,000 members in the war against pollution. They cracked down of plants contributing to air and water contamination. Joseph J. Stevens, executive vice president of the statewide labor group, called upon union members to cooperate in the elimination of pollutant violations existing in the plants where they work. Their goal, “is to improve and preserve a healthy environment and to save the jobs as well as the good health of industrial and craft workers assigned to all plants in our state.” They believe that the federal and state environmental
By the 1970’s, Social activism had become the norm as the population became less satisfied with the actions of the government and the consequences they were having. People where tired of young men being killed in a far off war and the shady start of that war caused fresh distrust in the government. This social turmoil and political activism lead to progressive movements sweeping the country. The movement on the forefront being environmentalism. Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring, opened the eyes of many people to the idea that mans actions could have far reaching consequences on the environment and jeopardized the planets future and future generations. Organizations built up that popularized the environmental movement and what was once a movement of eccentrics and hippies made it to the mainstream as the first Earth Day on April 22nd 1970 became a national phenomenon. The first Earth Day happened at a pivotal moment as many consider 1970 to be the height of the counterculture movement and this massive flow of angst and energy caused a large shift in the political and scientific priorities of America. Just eight months after that historic even, Richard Nixon proposed the formation of the environmental protection agency on
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