Activity 4.1 – US Environmental History and Major Regulations.

Timeline of major US federal environmental laws

Around 1850, United States was becoming more urbanized compared to the early colonial era, while the population was approaching 25 million with an increase rate of 3-4% per year. More and more people were moving to live in the city and the population became more literate. The impact of this growing started to create concern among people so that by mid-19^th century, three main groups were formed: the “resource efficiency” group, the transcendentalist movement, and organized industrial interests. It is important to understand their position because those groups “came to have profound influences on the way we thought of ourselves in relation to the environment, on our land use policies, and on providing environmental goods and services to the growing population” (Theis & Tomkin, 2018).

The past agricultural practices were inefficient and during 1800, the population was seeing the result of those unsustainable practice. In fact, soil erosion and soil infertility were very common, and they resulted in decreasing crop yields, natural barrier for crops and bad transportation. All those problems lead people to the desire to understand the reason of soil erosion and infertility, but also to try to find better agricultural practice. So, a resource efficiency group experimented new soil-conserving and less wasteful practices. They share what they learned whit the public and they also “begin to build government institutions to promote better stewardship of the land and its resources” (Theis & Tomkin, 2018). Even though their interest was initially related to agricultural practice, that more “sustainable” mentality they initiate was also applied for managing forest and timbering, mining wastes and, at the end of the century, to control the impact of chemical exposure and human disease outbreaks. They build the foundation of discipline like environmental science, and engineering, agronomy and agricultural engineering, and public health. It also dates to this period the foundation of several federal institutions like the U.S. Forest Service (1881), the Geological Survey (1879), and the National Park Service (1916) and the foundation of conservation societies as Sierra Club (1892) and the National Wildlife Federation (1935) (Theis & Tomkin, 2018).

The Transcendental Movement was founded in the 1830s in reaction to the 1830s state of culture and society, its increasing urbanism and the rigidity of religion of the time. The leader of the movement was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson believed that “his connection to the “Universal Being” is made possible through communion with Nature, a creation so much greater than he that he sees his physical reality as nothing, but his true nature (i.e. his soul) becomes visible in the tranquil landscape, and the distant line of the horizon. Such metaphorical language was and remains a powerful reminder that our existence is dependent on the natural world, and that we mismanage the environment at our peril” (Theis & Tomkin, 2018). Another way to react to the state of culture and society for the transcendental movement also reflects into arts so that it leaded to the rise of a cadre of American landscape artists. For those artists, the main subject is the nature while humans are just minor component in their art since nature was seen as the “inexpressible manifestation of God” (Theis & Tomkin, 2018).

The Conservation Movement declined with the advent of the World War I. The congress
was focus on bigger problems. Nevertheless, a lot was accomplished during this difficult time by the conservation movement. They “redefined the social contract between humans and the environment” establishing a model of conservation and they invented the idea of natural parks and forests and wildlife refuges. They are also responsible for the first scientific understanding of the functioning of the environment and of the integration of this understanding to government policy. They developed new technological practice to improve resource management and established major federal institution responsible for land and resource conservation. Also, the Conservation Movement communicated the impact of pollution on human health and welfare (Theis & Tomkin, 2018).

After World War II, economic and industrial activity in the United States increased and the consumers demanded a larger quantity of diverse good and services. Major industrial sectors, primary metals, automotive, chemical, timber, and energy expanded considerably; however, there were not enough regulation on waste management. The poor state of air quality in the United States was initially tolerated as a necessary condition of an industrialized society. Of course, pollution was not only involving air quality but also water and soil. However, many incidents involving air polluted by uncontrolled emissions whit consequently deaths showed the necessity of such regulations. Environmental scientists were alarmed by the situation so that the biologist Rachel Carson published a work called “Silent Spring” in 1962. “Silent Spring” shared to the global public environmental concerns and set in motion “a chain of events that would ultimately result in the transformation of environmental public policy from one based on the problems and attitudes that brought about nineteenth century conservation, to one based on the management of risks from chemical toxins” (Theis & Tomkin, 2018). In fact, just eight years after the publication of “Silent Spring,” the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was established in 1970.

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 (NEPA) it provides a legal basis for U.S. environmental policy. It established as a national goal to create and maintain “conditions under which [humans] and nature can exist in productive harmony, and fulfill the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations of Americans" and to  "fulfill the responsibilities of each generation as trustee of the environment for succeeding generations," for equity "to assure for all Americans safe, healthful, productive, and esthetically and culturally pleasing surroundings," and for economic prosperity as we "achieve a balance between population and resource use that will permit high standards of living and a wide sharing of life's amenities" (NEPA, 1970). NEPA is so important that every four to six year, the Environmental Protection Agency release an environmental report that is collection of data and analysis of trends on environmental quality (Theis & Tomkin, 2018).

Work Cited:

Theis, T., & Tomkin, J. (Eds). (2018). Sustainability: A comprehensive foundation. OpenStax CNX.  THEISandTOMKIN_Sustainability-a-Comprehensive-Foundation-45.1.pdf