Preserving the nation : the conservation and environmental movements, 1870-2000
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Preserving the nation : the conservation and environmental movements, 1870-2000
(The American history series)
Harlan Davidson, c2007
Available at 1 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Wellock explores the international, rural, and industrial roots of modern environmentalism that emerged in the last half of the nineteenth century - three related movements in response to a rapidly expanding economy and population that depleted the nation's resources, damaged land in rural areas, and blighted cities. The first group favoured the conservation and efficient management of natural resources for production. The second, the preservationists, sought to protect scenic and wilderness areas and to sustain the spirit of the nation's pioneer heritage and virility. The third group, the urban environmentalists, sought reform to control industrial pollution and retard urban decay. Politically powerful and widely admired, resource management overshadowed the other two movements until the 1950s. After World War II, the two less-powerful strands of the movement, preservationism and urban environmentalism, wove into one, as the accelerating effects of affluence, scientific discovery, Cold War concerns, and suburbanisation led the public to value outdoor amenities and a healthy environment.
This renamed 'environmental' movement focused less on efficient use of resources and more on creating healthy ecosystems and healthy people free of risks from pollution and hazardous wastes. By 1970, environmentalism enjoyed widespread popular support and bipartisan appeal. What all three movements always shared was a common recognition of the limits of America's natural resources and environment, a belief in preserving them for generations to come, and a faith in at least some government environmental action rather than relying purely on private solutions. Not only does the history of these movements bring to light much about the expanding role of government in environmental regulation and the growth of the modern American state, but a look at environmental campaigns over the course of the twentieth century reveals a great deal about the racial, gender, and class divisions at work in the ongoing efforts to preserve the environment. Accessible, insightful, and highly affordable, "Preserving the Nation" makes an ideal core text for use in courses in Environmental History as well as thought-provoking supplemental reading for Twentieth-century America and the US survey.
Table of Contents
- Roots and Progressive Era Conservation
- Environmental Reform in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s
- The Emergence of an Environmental Movement, 1945-1973
- Institutionalising Environmentalism and Protecting Gains, 1970s to 1990s
- Index.
by "Nielsen BookData"