The American Environmental Movement

Author(s): D. T. Kuzmiak
Source: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 157, No. 3 (Nov., 1991), pp. 265-278
Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the
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The Geographical
Journal,Vol. 157, No. 3, November 1991, pp. 265-278

The American environmental movement

D. T. KUZMIAK
712 West TimoniumRoad, Timonium,MD 21093, USA
This paper was acceptedforpublicationin May 1991

The American environmental movement is achieving popular support from many

sectors of the society. This paper examines the evolution of the American
environmental movement from its beginnings in some of the earliest periods in
American history when voices in the wilderness warned against indiscriminate
distruction of resources, to a point today where environmental concern is changing
individual habits and influencing the decision-making process.
KEYWORDS:
USA, environmental consciousness, environment, ecology.

THE AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL patternsof externalbehaviourto reflectchangesin internal

and conservation movement has reached a
point where it is achieving popular ac-
ceptance and permeating many facets of life in the
United States. This is well illustrated by the
Executive Director of the Environmental Defence
Fund, Frederic Krupp's view:
There can be no doubt that there is a growingconsensus
amongthepublicthattheenvironmentmustbe consideredin
every decision.A recent Media General-Associated Press
surveyfoundthatfourout of fiveAmericansbelievepollution
threatensthe qualityof theirlives, that 75 per cent believe
currentanti-pollution
lawsaretooweak,andthatAmericans
favourthe prohibitionof excessivepackaging.
(Krupp,1990:30)
Recent indicators suggest that a broad base of the
Americans care about the environment and are
trying to change personal and professional habits
to ensure a cleaner, more habitable environment
(Fig. 1). The American public has been on a course
of a new environmental and conservation ethos,
which 'neither arose from a broad popular out-
cry nor centred itself primarily upon the private
corporation' (Hays, 1959: 1). Instead, it arose from
the 'grass roots'. According to Douglas P. Wheeler,
Vice-President of the World Wildlife Fund and the
Conservation Foundation, and Douglas Lea, who
teaches American Government and Politics at
Washington DC's American University:
The changesin publicconsciousness were too pervasiveand
gradualto be capturedby a singleeventin thesameway that
PearlHarbour,for example,standsfor the adventof World
WarII (in the UnitedStates).'Grassroots'politiciansbegan
to take on a green colouration.The majorenvironmental
organizationsexpanded rapidly in wealth, power, and
numbers.Millions of individualschanged their everyday
0016-7398/91 /0003-0265/$00.20/0
valuesand consciousness. (Wheelerand Lea, 1990:34)
The 'grass roots' aspect to which Wheeler and Lea
alluded, is an important one because it is very much
a part of the American political scene, and the
politicization of environmental activism is a natural
offshoot of the American political culture
(O'Riordan, 1976). Another aspect of'grass roots'
can be seen in that the individual in the United
States has the right to bring suit against alleged
environmental offence. Writes Michael S. Greve,
Executive Director of the Centre for Individual
Rights:
One manifestation of thistrendis the increasingnumberand
scopeof environmental 'citizensuit'provisions,whichpermit
private partieswho have sufferedno particularinjury to
enforcelaws as 'privateattorneysgeneral'.With only one
exceptionallfederalenvironmental statutescontainprovisions
thatallow'any citizen'or 'any person'to sueothersfornon-
compliance.Congressmenand others defend citizen-suit
provisions,with considerablemoralfervour,as an efficient
and democraticmechanismthat allowsconcernedcitizensto
redresssocialproblems- suchas environmentalpollution.
(Greve,1989: 15)
This upwelling of environmental concern has
necessarily raised questions as to just how dedicated
American people are towards the environmental
movement, whether it is a fad, soon to be forgotten
and replaced by something else. This possibility was
examined by Anthony Downs (1972) in his dis-
cussion of the 'issue-attention cycle'. Downs postu-
lated that American public attention rarely remains
sharply focused upon any domestic issue for very
long, even if it involves a continuing problem of
crucial importance to society. He felt that in the
United States, a systematic 'issue-attention cycle'
? 1991 The Royal Geographical Society
 266 THE AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT

100%

90%

80%
?
fi Pollution |
Dispsal
r ^ ^S^SSs
nlaft
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70% "$ A Serious " Lakes|
Rv Ba '"nce.o
~l
'{, Is
i? ! ASerious~.~:!il~i]Nature
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50% Relaxed: 84% Agree ! Room and
*:... ...:.|i,,.!;!;
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Resources:
40%

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Fig. 1. Attitudesof the American

publicto environmental in theearly1980s
concerns
Source:Petulla, 1987

influences public attitudes and behaviour in as
much as a problem suddenly leaps into prominence,
remains for a short time and then fades from public
attention largely unresolved. While not, what he
called, underestimating the American public's
capacity to become bored, Downs (1972) clearly
believes that environmental issues may remain at
centre stage longer than most other domestic issues
because improving the environment is such a broad
objective. Nevertheless, Downs op cit. somewhat
fatalistically predicted that the 'bundle of issues
called improving the environment' would also suffer
the gradual loss of public attention characteristic of
the later stages of the 'issue-attention cycle'.
Downs also lists other reasons for environmental
issues enjoying 'centre stage' such as it being an
issue that threatens almost everyone, not just a
small segment of the population, that politicians
can safely pursue it without fearing adverse reper-
cussions since attacking pollution is much safer than
attacking other issues, and that it could generate a
large private industry with strong vested interests in
continued spending against pollution.
In another study from the same period,
O'Riordan (1971) contended that the American
nation was then caught in the throes of its third
conservation movement with the first taking place
from 1890-1920 and the second from 1933-43.
O'Riordan found that underlying the first move-
ment was an emphasis on development rather than
preservation while the second was dominated by
public works, large-scale labour projects and the
rational planning of resources. The third movement,
an outgrowth of the heady combination of events
which characterized America of the 1960s, was
diagrammed as having for its goals security and
survival, national economic growth, income re-
distribution, equal social opportunity, environmen-
tal quality and ecological harmony. O'Riordan
(1971) saw its attempt to re-order the nation's goals
as both its greatest achievement and its greatest
challenge, but he could not predict whether the
third conservation movement was likely to continue
and to become more pervasive.
Environmental concern certainly does wax and
wane during this time. For example, there were the
declines in environmental awareness during the
1970s. In considering these, Dunlap (1985) con-
cluded that whilst the salience of environmental
problems declined considerably by the mid-
seventies, the public commitment to protecting
environmental quality remained surprisingly strong
throughout the decade. Addressing the 'issue-
attention cycle' Dunlap believes that a major reason
problems disappear from the public eye comes from
the creation of regulatory agencies and laws
designed to solve problems which therefore lead the
public to assume that the issue is being rectified by
 THE AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT 267

government regulations and action. This aspect, he by Hays. Dunlap and Gale (1974) analysed the
says, contributed to the diminished salience of perceived conflicts arising in the way Americans
environmental problems in the 1970s. After viewed the environment. One of these lay in the
describing the endurance of the American public's idea that issues relating to the environment were
commitment to environmental protection since 1970 politically non-partisan in nature but that there
as being 'somewhat miraculous', Dunlap (1985) simultaneously existed a belief that Democrats were
continues: more environmentally concerned than Republicans.
The latter view was supported by an analysis of roll-
That this commitment has survived for 15 years, after the call
voting on environmental issues in the 1971
expenditure of sizable amounts of money and effort and in the State legislature which revealed that
face of energy crises, economic hard times and anti-regulatory Oregon
climate, is a indication that the American have Democrats ranked significantly higher than Repub-
strong people
come to place a high value on environmental quality. licans in terms of 'pro-environmental' voting.
(Dunlap, 1985: 17) However, given that there were also many excep-
tions to this general tendency, in view of this they
The Reagan Administration's anti-regulatory argued that it might be better for the environ-
stance and subsequent controversies caused during mentalists to continue to single out those politicians
the early 1980s by such administration figures as with very good or poor records, regardless of party.
Secretary of the Interior James Watt and agencies In a later study of environmental attitudes and
such as the Environmental Protection Agency politics conducted among university students at the
(under Anne Gorsuch) caused many people to University of Oregon, Dunlap (1975) found that
believe that they could not depend on the govern- pro-environmental attitudes and actions were con-
ment to manage environmental problems. sistently higher among Democratic and Liberal Left
One alternative that is advanced lies in private students than among their Republican and Con-
ownership as the most effective long-term protector servative counterparts. The exceptions were those
of the environment because it encourages good Conservatives who believed in the possibility of
stewardship (Stroup and Shaw, 1989). This free eco-catastrophe.
market solution to environmental pollution would In a contrasting view, Buttel and Flinn (1978a),
need to be backed up by the courts. This point of examining the alignment of political party identi-
view stems partly from the belief that populist fication and environmental concern among mass
sentiment, political patronage and special interest publics found that it was sociopolitical liberalism,
groups are now beginning to dominate and de- and not political party identification, that strongly
termine directions of the environmental move- related to environmental concern. They felt that
ment and that more individual action should be this underpinned the argument that the contem-
implemented. porary US political party structure is an inap-
Another response to the poor government per- propriate vehicle for mobilizing environmental
formance is a return to the 'grass roots' concept of reforms.
handling environmental affairs. Hays almost fore- They stated that stratification ranking, especially
told this in 1981 when he asserted that environ- in education, was correlated with environmental
mental politics appears in a number of forms to concern. In particular, high personal levels of
reassert the role of the 'grass roots' community in material and symbolic resources were associated
public affairs. He writes: with support for environmental reform. The lower
Its tone is one of enhancing the quality of life of the strata were found more to resist environmental
community and individuals within it. Environmentalistsfrom reform, and it was suggested that perhaps the fear of
this vantage point viewed large-scale institutions of modern declining life chances resulting from strong en-
life as intrusions as much as aids and often as threats to local vironmental control policies, may be the cause.
affairs... Many environmental activists reached out to acquire In later studies, a sequel published that same
scientific and technical knowledge to forge alliances with year, Buttel and Flinn
trained professionalsin order to fight their battles effectively. (1978b) re-examined the
relationship between social class and mass en-
This new source of political strength marked a change in the
vironmental beliefs and found them less pervasive
capacity of small-scale institutions to ward off intrusions from
institutions far above and beyond them. (Hays, 1981: 724) than the bulk of the relevant literature would
suggest.
Who have been the people involved in these 'grass- The combined net effects of the three major
roots' struggles for the environment? O'Riordan indicators of social class-education, income and
(1971) describes America's earliest environmen- occupation - are quite meagre. Also, the age and
talists as being voices in the wilderness, but ones of place of residence ' control' variables were found to
great scientific and intellectual ability who were be better predictors of both awareness of environ-
warning against indiscriminate destruction of re- mental problems and support for environmental
sources and calling for a reverence of nature. Later reform. In sum, working-class hostility towards
they became the dedicated activists as described environmental issues has probably been over-
268 THE AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT
emphasized in the literature - with important theo-
retical implications being grounded on this pre-
sumed ambivalence (p. 445).
Interpreting this and other related writings
Taylor (1989) argues that it has been demonstrated
that environmental activists show a different socio-
economic profile from the environmentally con-
cerned. He argues that the activist is drawn
disproportionately from the upper middle class,
whereas environmental concern is displayed by
people from all social classes. He suggests that this
shows the upper middle class involvement in
environmental issues and organizations owes much
to factors other than a unique environmental
concern.
In another study Samdahl and Robertson (1989)
again tested causal modelling of demographic and
liberal ideology as codeterminants of environmental
concern and found that there appeared to be no
significant interaction between education, residence
or age with environmental concern in their data.
Speculating that future studies may benefit more by
focusing on broader belief systems such as liberal
ideology rather than socio-demographics, Samdahl
and Robertson (op cit.) state that these ideological
belief systems may present the more pervasive
source from which most environmental concern is
generated.
Keeping in mind these theoretical arguments
which are by no means exhaustive, and are meant
as a basis for interpretive background, it is now
possible to look at the highlights in the evolution of
the American environmental movement and some
of the luminaries influential in its development.
Early interestin Americanecology
Americans are geographically located in an area
where there is an abundance of renewable and non-
renewable resources which even with the tech-
nologies of two and three hundred years ago, were
easily exploitable. The earliest interest in the land
was purely in the amount and speed with which it
could be harvested. Within the original coastal
colonies agricultural produce, tobacco, fur, fish,
timber, pitch, iron-by 1770 plantations were
producing more iron products than England and
Wales (Petulla, 1977) - were the most immediate of
the obtainable goods. Later, the westward ex-
pansion illustrated the vastness of the American
landmass and its climatic and geographic diversity.
A belief in the inexhaustibility of these resources
emerged and took root because of the superabun-
dance that the trapper, pioneer, homesteader or
industrialist encountered everywhere. Relentless
exploitation of this abundance was feasible. This
could be seen as resulting perhaps from the legacy of
colonialism - of port cities operating within a
mercantilist-dominated trading system controlled
by the metropolis (Gaile and Willmott, 1989).
Perhaps the first Americans concerned with the
environment around them were the native Indians.
Unlike the European settlers, the Native American
viewed his existence from the perspective of an
integrated harmony where goodness and God exist
within natural cycles (Mitchell, 1981). The world of
the Native American was imbued with religious as
well as sustentative significance and, unlike that of
the White man, lacked any profit motive for resource
exploitation (Gill, 1987).
As the pioneers crossed the Cumberland Gap in
the east coast's Appalachian Mountains and moved
westward, John James Audubon, a French im-
migrant, travelled through the American wilderness
for almost 20 years drawing and painting indigenous
birds. Audubon feared the impact the settlers were
having on the newly opened land (Ford, 1988), but
it was in Britain where, in 1826 at the Royal
Institution at Liverpool, his work was instantly
recognized for its scientific and artistic genius.
At the time such American centres of influence as
New York and Philadelphia tended to view a
concern for the wilderness, its fauna and flora, as
they viewed John Chapman, better known in
American folklore as 'Johnny Appleseed,' a bare-
footed, coffee sack-clad proselytizer of nature who
wandered around the Ohio River Valley region
from about 1801 to 1845, planting seedlings and
reading from the Bible (Brean, 1961).
Gradually a more deliberate and academic
attempt to identify, quantify and interpret the
American environmental condition emerged
through the endeavours of Henry David Thoreau
and George Perkins Marsh, both New Englanders.
Thoreau, an essayist, naturalist and poet, re-
corded observations in a variety of natural settings
on the American east coast. Posthumously published
extracts from his Journal, which he kept from 1837
until his death in 1862, were described a decade
later as having prime value as field notes of a
naturalist in the area around Concord, Massa-
chusetts, where Thoreau spent most of his life
(Christie, 1965).
Meanwhile, after persuading Congress to use the
legacy of Britain's John Smithson for the founding
of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC,
George Perkins Marsh went on to become the
fountain-head of the conservation movement and
created a revolution in geographical thought
(Lowenthal, 1958). In his seminal work Man and
Nature (1864) Marsh showed the need to control the
use of natural resources and show responsibility
towards them. Marsh's work was well received by
scientists and the general public and, in the 1870s,
while Thoreau's work was catching on, Man and
Nature was becoming an American classic.
In the post-Civil War era came demands for
visual depictions of the American frontier and its
grandeur, in addition to the more scientific observ-
 THE AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT
ations about nature. Such artists as George Catlin
showed the cultures of the Great Plains Indians
along with the flora and fauna. His was a career
epitomizing intelligent concern for the vanishing
wilderness and particularly for the Indian (Mitchell,
1981). William Henry Jackson was able to convey
such a feeling photographically, and his 1872
pictures helped in the creation of Yellowstone
National Park. Jackson was making a truthful,
honest record of the world around him, using
artistic judgement to obtain pictorial balance
(Howe, 1940).
Taming the land and creatingNational Parks
The American author Mark Twain while not strictly
a naturalist or environmentalist, popularized a form
of travel writing both in and out of the United
States. He put into satire the tall tales and open
grandeur of the West and made some shrewd
observations as to what was happening to the land
as more and more people settled the wild West
(Bridgman, 1987).
The historian Frederick Jackson Turner saw in
America a land where the individual had proven his
worth by conquering nature, and inspired a mode
of thinking which became known as the Frontier
Interpretation. It propounded the theory that
Americans were what and who they were because of
the Frontier and what it took to conquer it from
coast to coast (Billington, 1976). Turner's collected
essays became the anthology The Frontierin American
Historyand set a tone in America during the waning
days of the nineteenth century.
Paralleling this were the efforts of John Muir and
George Bird Grinnell to keep and preserve that
essence which made America what it was. If it was
the Frontier that made America unique then the
Frontier should be preserved, and Scottish-born
Muir helped to preserve it. Arriving in 1849 with his
immigrant parents, Muir became the author of
innumerable articles and lectures about the
American wilderness and, in the early twentieth
century, was instrumental in the establishment of
some of America's greatest National Parks: General
Grant, Sequoia and Yosemite. Deemed America's
apostle of the Wilderness (Brasher, 1988), Muir was
the father of the modern environmental movement
and founder of the Sierra Club. His legacy helped
create, in 1983, Britain's John Muir Trust based in
Edinburgh with the Prince of Wales as its patron.
While Muir was chronicalling the West, in the
east, George Bird Grinnell, editor of Forest and
Streammagazine, started a society in 1886 which
became the precursor to today's Audubon Society.
Stemming from a desire by sportsmen to protect
wild birds and their eggs, the society had a
membership of 16000 by the end of its first year
which more than doubled by the end of the next.
But, because the magazine was found not to be a
269
suitable vehicle for a national organization, it was
all but disbanded by the end of the decade. A
comeback was made, however, in 1896 and through
the creation of regional societies, reaching by 1900
more than 40000 members in 20 states, and a
national federation of Audubon Societies became
permanent (Welker, 1955).
Leading Federal involvement in the environment
was Theodore Roosevelt who had been fascinated
by nature and the outdoors from boyhood. This
American President who was a keen 'roughriding'
outdoorsman and naturalist, despite his genteel
East Coast upbringing and privileged Harvard
education, did more than any man occupying the
White House before him to elevate environmental
issues to the national level. He understood the
problem of conservation and its basic relationship to
national affairs (Morison and Commager, 1952).
Roosevelt's programme was three-fold:
1. Reclaiming arid land through irrigation;
2. Setting aside additional timberland as forest
preserves and;
3. Creating wildlife refuges.
Although there had been men who advocated
government involvement, such as Major John
Wesley Powell, founder of the US Geological
Survey, Frederick H. Newell, founder of the Rec-
lamation Service and Gifford Pinchot, the country's
Chief Forester, it was under Roosevelt that these
men and departments were given the needed
mandates. During Roosevelt's administration the
word ' conservation' came into official use at a time
when there was not enough reforestation, when vast
quantities of topsoil were being washed into the sea,
lakes and rivers being polluted by mining operations
and the passenger pigeon, Carolina paroquet and
heath hen were almost extinct. From 14 March,
1903 to 4 March, 1909 Roosevelt created a total of
51 wildlife refuges. When he became President there
were five National Parks and he created five more.
During his term in office Congress passed the
National Monuments Act allowing a US President
to declare, at his discretion, sites on government
land as being of historic or scientific interest and in
need of preservation. Roosevelt established 18 of
these (Cutright, 1985).
Increasingpublic awareness
Roosevelt's initiatives encouraged others who
wanted to pursue environmental concerns. He took
conservationists out of the realm of the 'lunatic
fringe' in the American way of life, (' Every reform
movement has a lunatic fringe,' Roosevelt wrote in
his 1913 autobiography). Aldo Leopold, who joined
the Forestry Service after graduating from Yale in
1909, later became one of the great figures in
American conservation.
Leopold (1886-1948), was an advocate of wil-
270 THE AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT
derness preservation and was instrumental in
establishing the Gila Wilderness Area in New
Mexico during the 1920s. This was the first national
forest-wilderness system. By combining Federal
government work with writing articles and books
and teaching at the University of Wisconsin where
the Chair of Game Management was created
especially for him, Leopold became a cornerstone in
the conservation movement. He taught resource
conservation and its global significance (Meine,
1988). His posthumously published Sand County-
Almanachas become a conservation bible. Among
his other enduring legacies was the creation of the
Wilderness Society which continues to focus on
protecting public lands in the US.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was interested in
the conservation of all the natural resources of the
nation. He was concerned about the devastation of
forests,the destruction of soils and the needless
spoliationof great scenic and wilderness areas across
theUnited States (Nixon, 1957). The President
wanted to coordinate all aspects of conservation
whilealso taking into consideration America's Great
Depression,massive unemployment, farming and
soilerosion problems.
Harold L. Ickes was chosen to head the De-
partmentof the Interior and throughout his term as
Secretary, he aggressively extended the areas of
NationalParks in order that timberlands and areas
ofnatural beauty would not be ruined. He worked
to raise the consciousness of Americans on the
subjectof conservation and to convince them of the
needto halt the destruction of irreplaceable national
wealth (White and Maze, 1985). The creation of
the Civilian Conservation Corp, the US Fish and
WildlifeService, the Tennessee Valley Authority to
stem floods in a seven state region of America's
Southand even the Farm Securities Administration
were attempts at correcting continued deficiencies
in America's environmental programme.
At the same time, others were approaching these
issues on a more regional basis. Hindsight shows
thattwo, one a writer and the other a photographer,
had a particularly lasting impact on popular
environmental thinking.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas, a young reporter
during the 1920s, became alarmed over the de-
velopment in Florida's marshy Everglades and
began to make that area her 'beat' and closely
monitored the degradation occurring in that unique
ecosystem. In her 1947 book, TheEverglades:Riverof
Grass, Douglas wrote against the drainage of the
Everglades, which lowered the water-table, leading
to invasion by salt-water and devastation by vast
grass fires. Hers was one of the first independent
studies of an ecosystem and an attempt to explain
its significance in holistic terms. She examined not
only the ecology of the region, but also the historical
human impact that it sustained. It was Douglas
who brought into a modern context Marsh's belief,
propounded in Man and Nature, of the interrelation-
ship of all aspects of nature, and illustrated his point
that Man is everywhere a disturbing agent, turning
the harmonies of nature into discords.
Photographer Ansel Adams (1902--1984), whose
popularity began at just about the same time, has be-
come known as viewing nature with reverence and
approaching it with an intense discipline (Alinder
and Stillman, 1988). For him, photography,
environmentalism, conservation, nature and the
dissemination of what was there, were all integrated.
He let nature speak for itself through his images.
People around the world have been influenced by
his prints, portfolios, books, posters and the calen-
dars which carry his photographs. It was his love for
nature, particularly for Yosemite, that in part
prompted others to appreciate nature both in
Americaand elsewhere.
Themodernenvironmental consciousness
Thesocial activism of the 1950s was largely limited
tothe work of David Brower and the Sierra Club
who spoke out against the Eisenhower Adminis-
tration'sMission 66, a redirection of the National
Park Service into developing road and service
infrastructuresin the wilderness. Other areas of
combat were over the Upper Colorado Basin
Project,the protection of Dinosaur National Monu-
ment, and the damming of Glen Canyon for the
creationof Lake Powell (Strong, 1988).
Meanwhile, in the East, marine expert Rachel
Carsonwas turning her attention to the effects of
DDT and writing a book, which set the tone for
environmental action in the 1960s. Silent Spring
(1962) explored the effects of exposure to DDT on
humans, animals and the environment (Briggs,
1987). Calling contemporary times an age of
poisons, she is also credited with making 'ecology'
a household word.
On the national level, President Kennedy's New
Frontier policy was extending itself to the realm of
ecology. Some believe that one of Kennedy's greatest
contributions to the conservation movement was
the appointment of Stewart L. Udall as Secretary of
the Interior (Smith, 1966). Udall was personally
dedicated to the conservation ideal and fought with
Congress for bigger budgets and appropriations for
new investments in National Parks, monuments and
recreational areas. He understood the growing need
for outdoor facilities which had to be balanced
against the environment's fragilities. His work The
QuietCrisis (1963) remains a landmark in modern
environmental thinking. It stressed that the concept
of conservation had to be expanded to meet the
problems of the new age (Kennedy, 1963). New
investments of foresight and protection had to be
 THE AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT 271

(million tons per year)

t (30-40)
ir'
I r--i 2

* + (25) I
,^& B(_ (2,400)
_ _ _ --k^^M^

*1

^n^^ ~~~~~~~~~(12)

(2.500) (250)

- ------ Materialor productflow :3 Finishedproducts

-- Solidwaste flow Recycling

I Materials
......::.
Solidwaste

Fig. 2. Generalflow of materials,productsandsolid wastein the USA, 1977

Source:US Government

made in order to recover the relationship between
Man and nature, and ensure that the national
estate was passed on intact to successive generations.
Udall was retained as Secretary by the Johnson
Administration which was also committed to en-
vironmental issues. The President's wife, Ladybird
Johnson, made Beautify America her special cause.
She appealed to the country to pull down the
billboards which lined the roads and pick up
the rubbish. During the same time period the
Wilderness Act of 1964 represented a significant
milestone in the preservation of an enduring
resource of wilderness.
Environmentally-concerned groups such as the
Environmental Defence Fund, Friends of the Earth
and Environmental Action began calling on the
government to stop industry from polluting the
nation's rivers, streams and coastlines at a time
when oil spills were first beginning to cause concern.
In October, 1968, came the prohibition against
construction of any dam within the entire Grand
Canyon system, and a few days afterwards President
Johnson signed a Bill establishing the National Wild
and Scenic River System. The Cuyahoga river,
stretching between the Ohio cities of Akron and
Cleveland caught fire inJune, 1969. It was symbolic
of the national pollution problem (Ellis, 1967).
At the end of that year, Congress under Nixon
passed the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) which mandated the Congress to radically
change the process of developing natural resources.
Although the Act itself could not stop developments,
it forced public decision-making onto a reluctant
federal land bureaucracy that had wanted to
maintain as much autonomy as possible (Shanks,
1984).
The 1970s and governmental response
The 1970s saw people becoming concerned that the
planet could, indeed, be rendered uninhabitable.
The United States Government responded with the
creation of the Environmental Protection Agency to
address issues of water and air pollution, insecticides,
waste management and radiation. Figure 2, pro-
272 THE AMERICANENVIRONMENTALMOVEMENT
duced by the Executive Office of the President,
shows the flow of materials, products and solid waste
in 1977. The government passed laws governing the
usage of air and water, which stressed that these
were not free dumping grounds for the country's
pollutants. The Clean Air Act of 1970, The Federal
Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 (later called
the Clean Water Act) and its amendments identified
causes of and sought remedies for all categories of
water pollution.
In other campaigns, coastal wetland development
was slowed through the 1972 Coastal Zone Man-
agement Act (and strengthened in California
through the aggressive Proposition 20), endangered
species were identified and protected through the
Endangered Species Act of 1973, strip mining was
condemned as environmentally unsound (however,
two strip mine reclamation bills were vetoed in
1974-75 during the Ford Administration), sewage
treatment took on added importance and the 1972
ban on DDT, came into being. Later in the decade
lead was removed from petrol after being cited as a
major cause of air pollution and the scientific and
industrial community began pondering the effects
of acid rain.
Geographer Gilbert F. White, postulated that:
Some part of the heightenedconcernfor the environment
may be ascribed to the experienceof highly frustrated
Americanswho had been presentedwith a multitudeof
problemsof unprecedented severityandmagnitudeforwhich
no easysolutionswereforthcoming.The Viet Nam war had
draggedon for six years with little immediateprospectof
resolution,thedistressof racialdiscrimination
hadapparently
intensified... thegap betweenrichandpoorgrewlargerwhile
the federalmechanismshoweditselfconspicuously clumsyin
respondingto demonstrated incidentsof hunger,disease,and
insecurityamong the lowest stratumof the wage earners.
Faced with these failuresin stoppingwar, buildingviable
cities and preventingpoverty, affluentand conscientious
people turned to a problemof similar import-the en-
vironment- whichthey felt betterable to cope with.
(Katesand Burton,1986:282)
Meanwhile, the meaning of the word 'ecology'
broadened. Quoting the man who perhaps became
synonymous with the environmental movement of
the 1970s, Barry Commoner, 'the first law of
ecology is that everything is connected to everything
else' (Commoner, 1971).
Commoner called Americans the unwitting vic-
tims of ignorance and through his books explored
the reasons for the American environmental crisis.
He came into conflict with another advocate of
environmental consciousness, Paul Ehrlich, who
alerted the public to the dangers of rapid population
growth and the need for controls (Strong, 1988).
Earth Day, 22 April, 1970 showed that many
members of the community recognized the need for
action. However, within a few years various cultural
and interest groups in the US became polarized
over environmental issues (Petulla, 1980).
The 1972 British 'Blueprint for Survival' dis-
cussed problems of planetary survival and ecological
requirements for a stable ecosystem and such
.publications as Ecotactics(1970) and the Environ-
mental Handbook(1970) defined ecotactics as 'the
science of arranging and manoeuvering all available
forces in action against enemies of the earth'
(Mitchell and Stallings, 1970). Such suggestions
contained in the Environmental Handbook as
'stabilizing the US population, stabilizing economic
growth, new frameworks of land use policies and
outlawing the sale of reciprocating internal com-
bustion engines by 1975,' (DeBell, 1970) may have
sounded radical at the time. But gradually, as
Commoner and Ehrlich became best-selling authors
and the Arab oil embargo highlighted a need for
energy conservation, environmental matters became
more mainstream.
By the middle of the decade anti-environmental
reactionaries in the business sector, among de-
velopers and politicians, had established themselves
as interest groups and action committees to prevent
the marginalization of profits. However, environ-
mental organizations were also increasing their
memberships and influence, and some labour
organizations were beginning to view industrial
health and safety as environmental problems.
In 1970 President Nixon signed into law the
Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), and
in the middle of the decade the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration which it created set
about enforcing mandatory occupational safety and
health standards applicable to interstate commerce.
It established standard setting proceedings in such
areas as asbestos (1972), carcinogens (1974), vinyl
chloride (1974), coke oven emissions (1976), ben-
zene (1978), arsenic (1978) and lead (1978)
(Greenwood, 1984).
By the end of the 1970s President Carter had put
solar panels on the White House, the Supreme
Court was testing the power of a tiny fish called the
snail darter against hydro-electric dams in the
Tennessee Valley Authority, people were moving
out of Love Canal, New York because of seepage
from decades of old chemical waste disposal and new
production vehicles were being powered by lead-
free petrol. The environmental laws of the 1970s
addressed the most visible forms of environmental
degradation and utilized scientific data in estab-
lishing standards for the obvious pollutants. How-
ever, there were certain setbacks. During the
Presidential Campaign of 1976 environmentalists
found Jimmy Carter sympathetic to their cause. By
the fall of 1978 environmental leaders looked with
great approval on the Carter Administration. It
appeared as if government was overseeing en-
vironmental issues and a certain slackening of
popular involvement took place. However,
Relationships between Carter and environmentalists were
 THE AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT
almostcompletelyrupturedwhen the White House in late
1979 proposedan EnergyMobilizationBoard that would
have authorityto overrideenvironmentallaws, a proposal
environmentalistsunited to defeat. The 1979 annual
environmentalmessagepaled in force and meaning next
to that of 1977. Only Carter'sfirm supportfor Alaskan
lands protectionmaintainedenvironmentalloyaltiesto the
administration. (Hays, 1987:59)
The Reaganyears
Five new areas of environmental concern became
apparent in the 1980s. These were:
1. Hazardous air pollutants - more substances to
target and new regulations to make;
2. The Greenhouse Effect with carbon dioxide
emissions possibly creating a warming of the
earth's atmosphere;
3. Acid Rain with about 30 million tons of sulphur
dioxide and 20 million tons of nitrogen oxide
each year going into the air;
4. Nonpoint pollution from agricultural and urban
run-off, silviculture, and septic tank leakages;
5. Toxic and hazardous substances -especially
those seeping into groundwater-identified as
priority pollutants by the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency with PCBs becoming the household
word of the 1980s (Rosenbaum, 1985).
Meanwhile, the 1980 Presidential Election put
Ronald Reagan in the White House and began a
period of great concern by environmentalists for US
environmental and natural resource policy. With
Reagan came James Watt, Head of the Department
of the Interior and Anne Gorsuch (later Burford)
who headed the EPA. Virtually all environmental
protection policies enacted during the 1970s were to
be re-evaluated as part of the President's larger
agenda of reducing the scope of government
participation and expanding that of the private
sector (Kraft, 1984).
In the Press, news accounts were indicating two
trends in America at that time- the spreading of
public concerns about environmental hazards,
especially toxic dump sites and spills, and the
progressive erosion of the EPA's credibility through
scandal, internal mismanagement, budget cuts and
proposals to weaken or eliminate regulations
(Andrews, 1984).
The entire town of Times Beach, Missouri, had to
be bought out by the EPA and closed down in 1983
because of seepage from a toxic dump. This
illustrated the problems confronting the EPA and
how it would deal with the estimated 22000 other
toxic dump sites around the nation, how much it
would cost, and how long would it take for the
clean-up.
Also during the 1980s issues of nuclear power
concerned areas of the United States, and debate
over the relationship between population and
resources which had grown during the 1970s, went
273
away for a few years, and was again revived during
the 1980s (Hays, op cit.). Other issues included
William D. Ruckelshaus, the first Director of the
EPA, being asked to return to his former position,
and the summer drought of 1988 again raising fears
of global warming and atmospheric ozone depletion.
Interior Secretary James G. Watt came to
symbolize the Reagan Administration's response
to natural resources and environmental policy-
making. Most of the controversy surrounding him
took place because of public land policies - or lack
of them. Issues of privatization of public lands
became national issues and there was controversy
over the proposed leasing of almost all the US Outer
Continental Shelf land for oil and gas exploration.
It has been argued that the Reagan administration
reversed the conservation policies of the 1970s
because of the resentment of some of his supporters
over the cancellation of various water projects by
President Carter (Culhane, 1984).
However, it has been suggested that the en-
vironmental legacy of the Reagan years was not
entirely negative. In particular there was further
and some would argue, necessary, stimulation of
public environmental concern. According to Short
(1989: 79) Watt may have inadvertently saved the
environmental movement from a dangerous hi-
bernation. Enormously successful for two decades,
environmentalism had become increasingly com-
placent in the late 1970s. The rise of the New Right,
the election of Ronald Reagan and the zeal of James
Watt, generated the issues, headlines and mem-
bership drives that the movement needed. In this
manner Watt's administration may have been a
mixed blessing for the environmental community.
Anne and Paul Ehrlich said about the Reagan
years:
In spiteof the all out assaulton the environmentlaunchedby
theReaganAdministration, publicconcernforenvironmental
qualityin the United States,has, if anything,continuedto
risesincePresidentReagantookoffice,as hasbeenconfirmed
by numerouspublic polls. Indeed, public interestenviron-
mental organizationsprosperedwhen the administration's
scandalouspolicieswere wreckingthe governmentagencies
responsiblefor environmentalprotection.Under pressure
from Congressand environmentalgroupsrepresentingthe
public, the administrationwas forced to removeits most
outrageousadministratorsand tone down its rhetoric.Its
policieswerenot significantlychanged,but backedby ample
public support Congresshas been able to prevent much
furtherdamage. (Ehrlich,1987:214-15)
And, regarding the 'grass roots' aspect of the
environmental movement,
Reagan's anti-environmentalism roused environmentalists
fromthe lethargythey had lapsedinto duringmany of the
Carteryearsand stimulatedrenewedcitizenenvironmental
activity. The vigour and determinationwith which the
administrationsought to reversea host of policies,and its
274 THE AMERICANENVIRONMENTALMOVEMENT

open anti-environmental pronouncements,galvanizedthe been argued that the environmental movement is as

environmental movementinto renewedaction. white as it is green. Local and national environ-
(Hays, 1987:61) mental groups have come under attack from civil
Trends rights activists for their lack of minority hiring and
In the United States, Earth Day 1990 was a coast to outreach, and for their ignorance of the scale of the
coast event in which hundreds of thousands of environmental crisis confronting ethnic minorities
people took part in rallies and functions. Denis and the poor (Foer, 1990).
Hayes, chairman of Earth Day 1990 and an On the other hand, Taylor (1989) writes that
organizer of the first Earth Day, said to an estimated there is some evidence that:
125000 who rallied in Washington, DC that we
Blacksare startingto organizearoundthe environmental
hear the cry of the Earth and we have come to heal issuesthat are most threateningand relevantto theirlives,
her (Cohn, 1990: A1). Mainstream movements as that is, urban environmentalhealth problems,toxins, and
well as movie stars, popular local personalities, solid wastedisposal--problemsthat often plagueinner-city
politicians and their constituents all took part in the residents...Since 1978 a new grassroots,antiwastesocial
moment. movementhas beengrowingin America.It is characterized
Nevertheless, there was a widespread sense that by citizen'sgroupsthat organizerapidlyin affectedcom-
this Earth Day had been sold to the American munitiesoftenwith leadersand memberships who havelittle
with the same or no priorexperiencewithpoliticalactivitiesor the broader
people techniques employed by environmentalmovement.
peddlers of soap and patriotism, but many also said (Taylor,1989: 198)
that this was not a bad thing given the urgency of Other outlets for Black concern with the environ-
the environmental cause (McFadden, 1990: B12). ment have been through such organizations as the
That the environment is becoming a current issue National Forum on Blacks and the Park, Recreation
in American politics is without doubt. Richard L. and Conservation Movement and organizations
Berke, writing for The New York Times, noted a few such as the Ethnic Minority Society.
days before Earth Day 1990 that politicians no It appears that the colour green has also extended
longer dismiss the environment as a fringe cause. to the marketplace. From the mooting of double
Politicians once loyal to major corporate polluters hulled oil tankers by one US petroleum giant to
are now making public stands on issues of hazardous banning tuna taken in environmentally unsound
waste, acid rain and the stratospheric ozone layer. nets to the ending of styrofoam containers, businesses
Even more remarkable, Republicans who stayed are telling their customers that they are doing their
away from the environmental movement in the past bit-or appear to be. The nature of American
are now battling Democrats for the 'green vote', business has not changed according to Alan
threatening to seize the issue as their own (Berke, Hershkowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural
1990: A1). Resource Defence Council in a Wall Street Journal
Environmental politics can be seen at all levels. report on April 19. He considered ' the environment
At the national scale the EPA has been elevated to a marketing trend to which they have to respond'
the Cabinet; whereas at the regional and local (Holusha, 1990: B1).
levels, communities such as Minneapolis have passed Manufacturers are already marketing products
laws banning all food packaging that is not such as biodegradable plastic garbage bags, 'ozone
recyclable in an attempt to do something about friendly' hair styling mousse and ' safe for the ozone
America's huge annual production of garbage (over layer' deodorant. Pollution control and environ-
160 million tons). At a smaller scale still, a survey mental management will be the growth industry of
conducted by The Washington Post showed that the 90s, said one Wall Street analyst and there
many Americans feel guilty about their individual already exist good opportunities for small investors
lifestyles. Twenty seven per cent of respondents interested in the environmental management in-
thought apathetic citizens were most at fault for dustry (Watterson, 1990: HI 5).
endangering the environment. However, new con- A new set of criteria by which firms are judged,
flicts have also resulted from the strengthened the Valdez Principles, has been offered as a plan by
environmental cause. Thousands of workers in the environmentally concerned. Named after the
environmentally hazardous industries, as in the coal Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Principles are ten rules
producing state of West Virginia, are worried that or codes of behaviour with which companies must
the new wave of Earth protectionism will cost them comply if they want people to invest with them.
their livelihood. Drawn up in time for Earth Day 1990 by a
The role of America's minority groups in the consortium of 14 environmental groups along with
environmental issue, and whether or not the inner the Social Investment Forum of 325 socially-
cities constitute a separate environmental problem, concerned stockbrokers, analysts, bankers and
have received a great deal of attention lately. It has others, the Valdez Principles are trying to legitimize
 THE AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT 275

*s
THEGROUP
OF10
THEENVIRONMENTAL
MOVEMENTS
MAINSTREAM

msHl NATURAL RESOURCES >^:r!r^>^ NATIONAL PARKS AND

~DEFENSE COUNCIL '/y^^? CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION
xs&W
~d~lw~
:~ Annualbudget:$16 million ^4J t,) Budget:$3.82 million
Membership:130,000 8^&^^ ~Membership:125,000
HjPB
~ Exlecutive
director:
JohnH.Adams .o...os~ PaulC. Prildchrd
President:
Themovement's largestandmostaggressive legal Founded in 1919 byStephenMather, thefint director
of
advocate,the NRDC seeksenforcement andinterpretation
of the NationalParkService,NPCA focusesexclusively on
a widerangeof environmental statutesinthe courtsand andenhancing
preserving the nationalparksystem.The
executivebranch.Itslargestaffof scientistsandlawyersis grouphastraditionally
favoreda low-keyapproach, butlately
oftencalledforadvicein shapinglegislation in Congress.
Last hasbecomemoreoutspoken as parkshavebecome
yearthe NRDC enteredthe eraof massmediacampaigning to newthreatssuchas acidrain.Membership
vulnerable in
forthefirsttimeto publicizeitsfindingson Alar. thegrouphasdoubledin the lasttwoyears.

STT^R?R>^' SIIERRACLUB NATIONAL AUDURtNSOCIETY

CSIERRAAnnualbudget:$32 millon National '
Auduhomn,wS* l.~- Annualbudget:$35 million
CLUB ^W* Membership:553,000 SKicty, Membership:580,000
J. Michal McCaoskey
Chairman: President:
Pter AA Berk
Astheonlymemberof the'Groupof Ten"withouttax- Founded in 1905, Audubon grewoutof a proest
deductiblestatus,the SierraClubhasthe mostfreewheeling movement bywomenseekingto stoptheslaughter of Florida
lobbyingandpoliticalapparatus of anyof thegroups. wadingbirds,whoseplumeswereusedto do-ate hats.It
Founded 98 yearsagobynaturalist JohnMuir,it has focuseson preservation
traditionally of wildlifeandnatural
membersscatteredin localchaptersacrossthe nationand resourcesandhasa reputation forbeingpoliticallymoderate.
on
focuses legislation on thestateas wellas nationallevel. Morerecently, it hastakenupcleanairas a majorobjective
Theclubaddressesthefullrangeof environmental issues, alongwith its effortsto the
preserve ArcticNationalWildlife
fromwilderness protection to publichealthto the Refuge,wetlandsandold-growth forests.
environmentalpractices of international
lendingagencies.
IZAAK WALTON LEAGUE
SIERRA CLUBLEGAL DEFENSE FUND /^^<\.. Annualbudget:$1.64 million
Annualbudget: $83 million ................... Membership: 50,000
r-- Contributors:120,000 ^^^^^ Executivedirector:
JackLenz
LLIIOI?En)?lIIISXD Frederic
Director: RPSutherland
Founded in 1922, theconservativeorganization named
Independent of the SierraClub,the so-calledlawfirmof afterthe 18thcenturyEnglishwriterandconservationist is
the environmental movement wasformedin 1971 as composedprimarily of huntersandanglers.Itfocuseson
environmentalists becamemoreconfrontational and publiceducation programs promotingresponsible useof
concemedwithstoppingpollution. Itprovides legalservices forestsandothernaturalresources.
to the environmental community but,unlikeNRDC,usually
represents otherorganizations.
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND
Annualbudget:$15 million
SSS a^i
^E IP -
NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION
Annualbudget:85.6 million
Membership: 3 million
EF Membership: 150,000
FredKrupp
Director:

^yyy^ President:
Jay D.Hair Founded in 1967 byscientistsandlawyers,EDFis best
knownin recentyearsforits analysisandsponsorship of
Thefederation's advocacyof huntingandfishingissueshas novelsolutionsto environmental problems. Itsadvocacyof
resultedinthe largestmembership of anyconwservaftion
group market-based to combatacid rainbecamethe
principles
anda generally conservativeagenda.ButunderHair's centberpiece of the Bushadministraiton's
cleanairpackage
leadership, thegrouphaswideneditsfocusbeyondprottilng lastyear.
wildlifehabitatsandbecomemoreaggressive in lobbyingon
a widerangeof environmental issues,including global
warming. f ,f FRIENDS OFTHEEARTH
r 0^ ~ budget:$2.5 millon
~Annual
Membership: 50,000
SOCIETY (anmm~urmrB
F~mmwiMUM fRfI)
'ffS^c. WILDERN&SS Executive MileCbar
director:
,-^
2'.,^ Annualbudget:$20 mllion
BrsSwj Membership: 360,000 Traditionally concerned withinternationalenvironnmental
T-,.,^ PresidentGeorpT.FramponJr. issues,FOEdramatically expandeditsscopein itsJanuary
1989 mergerwiththe Environmental a think
PolicyInstitute,
Theonlymainstream groupto focusexclusively on tankdevotedto domesticissues,andthe OceanicSociety,
protecting the nation'spubliclands,thesocietylobbies whichhadfocusedon oceanpollution. Known as thefurthest
aggressively to expandwilderness areasandsafeguard to the politicalleftof mainstream groups,it worksclosely
biological diversity inthe UnitedStates.Itsmembership has withgrass-roots organizationsandaggressivelyrepresents
morethandoubledsinceFrampton becamepresident in theirinterestsinWashington.
1986.

Fig. 3. The mainenvironmental

movements in the USA in 1990
Source:The WashingtonPost, 19 April, 1990
276 THE AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT
the idea that corporations are responsible for their
impact on the environment (Ohnuma, 1990: 24).
Conclusion
This review has shown that environmental issues
remain today in the centre stage of political activity,
and have done so in one way or another since the
1890s. Since the time of O'Riordan's third con-
servation movement there has been an upsurge of
interest and the goal of maintaining environmental
quality appears to have been the most persistent of
the environmental issues over the period. Thus,
Down's (1972) forecast that environmental concern
may prove not to be a short-lived phenomenon is
substantiated. The impressive turnouts for Earth
Days in 1989 and 1990 and the subsequent sustained
interest in the environment indicates that there is
still momentum left in the movement.
The 1980s and 1990s have seen a reassertion of
'grass root' involvement and a revitalization of
environmental groups (see Figure 3). Stimulated by
the anti-environmental approach of the Reagan
administration, the 'grass root' movement differs
from earlier such movements in several important
ways. First, it encompasses environmental issues
that extend beyond local and national boundaries.
Global environmental conservation and manage-
ment has been incorporated in so far as global
problems will affect individuals and local com-
munities. Global warming and the ozone depletion
problem are the two prime examples.
Secondly, the environmental movement, largely
through 'grass roots' groups, seems to have
managed to unite large numbers of people behind
the cause. The American peoples search for a way
to perpetuate the sentiments of Earth Day 1990.
Many people have taken to heart the slogan ' Think
Globally, Act Locally' and have started yet more
'grass root' organizations. Community newsletters,
pamphlets and magazines highlight and advise
what can be done by communities and their leaders.
Some mainstream environmental organizations are
offering classes, lectures and video cassettes about
the environment. People from all professions and
walks of life are increasingly becoming involved in
committees which not only initiate improvements
but also put pressure on government representatives
to increase and sustain environmental awareness
and action.
Lastly, the 'grass root' upsurge, through the
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