Activity 4.1 - US Environmental History and Major Regulations

Throughout American history environmental policy has changed several times. The reason why we saw changes was on how we started to view the environment, and the impact that we created which led to the creation of laws and creation of departments within the government. American environmental policy can be broken up into three categories which were the American conservation movement, the rise of risk management as a basis for policy, and the integration of social and economic factors.

The start of American environmental policy started with the first European settlers that settled in the Americas in which the term wastage was used. Wastage refers to an action or process of losing or destroying something by using it carelessly or extravagantly. They didn’t take the environment into consideration because resources were abundant. If one tree was knocked down all they had to do was move to the next, if fisheries became impaired, they moved up stream, and had endless herds of wild animals to hunt. (Theis, T., & Tomkin, 2018) These attitudes persisted well into the 19^th century, and still exist today. Even though there wasn’t much environmental policy during this time it allowed small groups to form which had people like Jared Elliot that notice some of these issues and helped with cultivating better field husbandry. (Theis, T., & Tomkin, 2018) 

By the early 1800's impacts of soil erosion and infertility, decreasing crop yields, and natural barriers of expansion from poor transportation and terrain led to organize an effort to understand the cause of these problems, and experiments that may help solve them. It was initially started to help with agriculture but later expanded into management of forest and timber, waste from mining and smelting, and the control of human diseases. (Theis, T., & Tomkin, 2018) There were many individuals that helped with these problems and to name a few were Eugene Hilgard, John Wesley Powell, George Perkins Marsh, and many more. These individuals helped solve the scientific reasons on why they were having these problems and were able to pinpoint them to our everyday behavior towards the environment. The departments that were created was the Department of the Interior, Agriculture, National Park Service, US Forest Service, and US Geological Service. (Theis, T., & Tomkin 2018)

By 1830’s a movement called transcendental movement in which led to some individuals to value their surroundings over conformity and unreflective habits of living. (Theis, T., & Tomkin, 2018) The leader of this movement was named Ralph Waldo Emerson in which he set the tone for how we should our relationship with the natural world. This movement wanted to show that all of us were one with nature and we are intertwined with it. During this period the camera wasn't established well enough to capture the beauty of nature so instead paintings were used show the beauty of nature. The transcendental movement died off around the middle of the 19^th century but influenced people like John Muir. John Muir was a well know activist and lobbyist and served as a guide for President Roosevelt for the Yosemite Region. They both shared similar goals with conservation which helped Roosevelt create over 50 national parks. (Theis, T., & Tomkin, 2018) 

The industry’s role in American environmental policy has always been deemed hostile or indifferent. There are several reasons why industrial sector was portrayed like this. First there was little to no incentives to manage emission responsibly or use natural resources wisely. (Theis, T., & Tomkin 2018) Second there was few regulations that stopped industrial harming the environment and was looked like the necessary benefit of expansion and growth. This makes industries sensitive to economic conditions because it was the engines for employment and controlled large portions of capital investments. (Theis, T., & Tomkin, 2018) Industries played important roles in which they helped create a middle class, creation of wealth, the easy availability of goods and services which allowed Industries to get away with misuse and damages to the environment. Industries also helped with the creation of many conservation projects because they created a destruction of the environment, and which finally started to catch the eye of the public and government.

With great strides in conservation several events occurred like both world wars in American history where we saw the decline of conservation. After World War II most attention was focused on restoring rather than focusing on environmental issues. This shows the public and government perspective of environmental issues vs economic issues. From 1948-1978 several incidents were recorded which shows the effects of environmental issues from the public. One incident was the Zinc smelter in a small Pennsylvania town in which emissions were uncontrolled in which caused emissions to being trapped which created horrible air conditions that resulted in about 50 recorded deaths. (Theis, T., & Tomkin 2018) During this period, it was looked as being widely acceptable to having poor air conditions for living in industrial society. Air quality was the only culprit of creating hazards, and contamination. Waterways and burial of hazardous materials were also a source for this. Some historic incidents of these were the Cuyahoga River Fire which was the result of heavy pollutants which caused the river to catch on fire. The other one was the finding of the burial of hazardous materials in a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York. (Theis, T., & Tomkin 2018)

 After reading basic information on US environmental history you can't help sit and wonder why it seemed that it took so long to enact laws protecting the environment. If we focused early on with environmental issues we could've have made great strides in health of not just ourselves but the environment. Issues like the Cuyahoga River could of been prevented. Its also disheartening to see that we usually only make laws to protect parts of the environment after disasters have happened. 

 

Major Environmental Policy In the US

Cited Work: 

Russell, E., & Fairfax, S. K. (2014). Guide to U.S. Environmental Policy (Links to an external site.). CQ Press. Chapter 28, see specifically pp. 400 - 407.

Theis, T., & Tomkin, J. (Eds). (2018). Sustainability: A comprehensive foundation. OpenStax CNX.