Environmental Movements in the United States Essay

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?

Since the early 20th century the environmentalism movement has migrated from the struggles of consumers versus producers, or saving the planet as a whole as shown by Donald Worster in Nature’s Economy to a more socio-economic view based on urban growth and industrial health. Robert Gottlieb’s book Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement argues that as society goes so too does the environmental movement. As the emphasis on working environments and commercial goods we buy including food changes so too does the environmental movements. It did not matter whether it was large politically prominent environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club or the Audubon Societies or any other numbers of local grassroots

In his speech, Conservation as a National Duty, Theodore Roosevelt asserts his passion for conservation and preservation onto a group of governors, statesmen, and conservationists. Throughout his message, he details several reasons for the nation to stop wasting natural resources and begin conserving them. He also states that the question of the conservation and use of the great fundamental sources of wealth, of this nation is second only to the question of morality.

Pinchot become known at the time as the man who saved U.S. forests. He introduced sustained-yield forestry---cutting no more in a year than the forests could produce new growth. Pinchot’s goal was to show private landowners that they could too can harvest trees without damaging the forest and graze livestock without denuding the range. He is known for reforming the management and development of forests in the U.S. Pinchot believed that it was important for people to depend on natural resources, and conservation must be utilitarian. The conservation movement was movement for all people and all people should control resources, not only few businesses. Pinchot believed in Government interference and regulation. He says, “The obvious and

1. Karl Jacoby book brings the remarkable accounting of the negative aspects of conservation movement to the sunlight. Jacoby uses the early years of Adirondack Park, Yellowstone National Park, and the Grand Canyon Forest Preserve to demonstrate his theme of the locals’ reactions to the creation of the park and the actions from the conservationists. And the fantasies the early conservationists’ promulgated of the locals of being satanic rapists of the environment are dispelled (193).

John Muir was a muckraker who protested against the expansion of people and animals that would ruin our soon to be national parks. Muir was a man that loved to explore natural formations in nature and traveled around the world to see as much natural land as possible. As he traveled around the world, he found out that California was his place to live. In California, his favorite places to explore and watch were the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Yosemite. As more and more settlers moved West, the land that Muir loved was soon to be destroyed by herds of animals and people looking for a place to build their homes. Muir wrote most of his 300 articles and 10 major books in Oakland, California. In Muir’s writings, he elegantly

John Muir, a brilliant Transcendentalist, has written hundreds of enlightening environmental essay to emphasize the adamant need to save these sacred kings of the forests, the Redwoods. Within Muir’s vivid and emotional entries, specifically “Save the Redwoods”, John utilizes rhetorical devices such as personification, analogy, and Religious allusion in order to express the vital need to save the trees.

One of America’s greatest conservation achievements is the Wilderness Act of 1964. Fifty-two years later, this act has a legacy to withhold. A legacy that meant something in 1964 and remains the same today: to protect unspoiled land. Even though, through this act millions of acres have been conserved, the key word is continue. That is why America should pass laws to preserve the wilderness before developers spoil them.

“Timber!” is a word that engulfed Woodrow Wilson in fear, as a loving, determined environmentalist he was the driving force behind the Organic Act of 1916. Wilson’s Organic Act set grounds for the founding of the National Park Service, which sets and enforces regulations that protect National Parks. Woodrow Wilson’s determination, conveyed by his adamant support for the Organic Act, was evident throughout Wilson’s lifetime. Wilson realized how important it was to protect America’s land and took action to protect it. Through the Organic Act, Wilson was able to save the current thirty-five national parks and land for hundreds of future national parks throughout the United States. The founding of the National Park Service was a major part of Wilson’s plan to preserve and protect America 's natural land. Wilson’s idea of preservation of the United States’ land has lived throughout the years through the National Park Service. The National Park Service today continues with the same responsibilities along with a multifarious collection of others. The actions taken in the Organic Act of 1916 have helped eternalize the ideas proposed by President Wilson by preserving the scarce remaining natural land of America.

John Muir is arguably the most influential conservationist in American history. He was an active member in the preservation of the American wilderness from the late 1800’s until he passed in 1914. Muir is often referred to as the “Father of the National Parks” because of his efforts in the establishment of several National Parks. One of the biggest flaws of American history textbooks in need of change is the fact that they do not include the conservationists who have preserved the environment so today the same beauty can be see the way that they saw it. John Muir was involved in many American conservation efforts including the co-founding of Yosemite National Park, founding of the Sierra Club, and his overall career as a

John Muir is best known for his efforts to preserve the wilderness of the United States, which greatly contributed to the preservation of countless natural areas of the US through the National Parks Service. During his travels across the country and abroad, Muir recorded his thoughts and beliefs about nature and the fundamental connection people share with the earth. By voyaging into the wild and shedding the restraints and ideals of modern society, Muir argues that people can expand their understanding of the world and experience life to its full potential through immersing themselves in nature.

“Conservation laws” (document 8) positively impacted the environment, especially the National Conservation Commision (1909) which was put in place to conserve US natural resources. The National Reclamation Act raised money from the sale of public lands which funded irrigation programs in western states. This Act was installed by Theodore Roosevelt in 1902 “to increase” the land’s “usefulness” (document 6), the irrigation systems allowed crops, animals, and people to prosper. In addition, perhaps the most important act, the National Park Service Act which was enacted in 1916 by Woodrow Wilson after he expressed that “we have not stopped to conserve the exceeding bounty of nature (document 2). The Act was put in place to conserve “scenery”, “natural and historic landmarks”, “wildlife therein” and to “provide enjoyment for future generations”(The National Park Service Act). Environmental issues in the Gilded Age such as resources depletion, ecosystem destruction, air pollution, and public land exploitation all lead to the environmental reforms of the Progressive

Environmentalism has always been two sided. Nature versus urban. locals versus national. Frequently, large tracts of public and federal land are bought and developed by industry. Pristine wilderness turned to bustling epicenters of human activity, all in the name of progress and economic growth. This tale of preserving natural wilderness is one that begins with John Muir, an advocate against the taming of Yosemite national park and the Hetch-Hetchy reservoir, while the head of the US Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot, insisted on the reservoir to supply the city of San Francisco with water. This timeless epic of conservation or preservation brings us to the Jumbo Valley, a vast expanse of uninhabited, pristine wilderness home to diverse

During his time, Aldo Leopold was a conservationist who believed in the longevity of the land and that we should protect it, even if we must protect the land from ourselves. While this was an unpopular opinion, realizing that the land and animals naturally work together in a symbiotic relationship to protect one another was very apparent to Leopold. He believed that humans should be doing our best to lessen our impact on the environment. Time has caught up with Leopold’s ideologies and it is time that our efforts and contributions to the earth did too.

Right from the end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th Century, there has been a fierce debate concerning how economic growth or development affects the environment or ecological setup of a country. The debate has its basis on whether it would be recommendable for a nation to concentrate on growing its economy while at the same time hurting or harming its ecological system. Naturalists like Pinchot Gifford, John Muir, Love Canal and Cuyahoga County always argued in favor of environmental preservation as opposed to concentrating all efforts towards developing the economy (Olmes 154; Miller 150-51). This paper will, therefore, discuss the struggle between economics and ecology specifically looking at particular events across the Twentieth Century. It will also attempt to explain the factors involved in the pursuit for change on the way people and the administration perceived the environmental conservation as opposed to economic growth.