SCI201 Ecology and Environmental Sustainability
Argosy University
The Industrial Revolution, which took place in the 18th to the 19th centuries, was an era during which essentially uncultivated, rural societies in America and other countries became industrial and urban. Before the Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain during the late 1700s, construction was mostly done by using hand tools or basic machines. Mechanization marked a shifted to powered, special-purpose machinery, factories and mass production. The iron and textile industries, onward with flowering of the steam engine, played important roles in the Industrial Revolution, which also saw improved systems of transportation, communication and banking. While industrialization helped boost volume and many of manufactured goods and a better way of living for some people, it also resulted in much terrible employment and living conditions for the poor and working class.
Modernized agriculture, textile, coal and iron production changed the course of history throughout the world. Despite the fact that the benefits of the industrial revolution are numberless, it also created its own contribution of environmental issues. From pollution of air and water to the reduction of the ozone layer, after centuries later, we are still finding out the full weight and damage that the industrial revolution has caused. As our knowledge of our impact on the planet and the growth of our environment, we are still continuing to take steps to back track the damage. Beginning in the 1970s several laws were enacted. Out of the movement came the “Clean Air Act” of 1970 and the “Clean Water Act” of 1972. The Clean Air Act is the law that most significantly regulates air quality in the United States (Clean Air Act, United States, 2012). This act has been an active effort abaft changes in emission standards in the auto, airline and utility industries (Clean Air Act, United States, 2012)o. Since those
References: Clean Air Act, United States. (2012). Retrieved from The Encyclopedia of Earth: http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/151129/ Summary of the Clean Water Act. (2014, July 23). Retrieved from United States Environmental Protection Agency: http://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-water-act teachinghistory.org. (2014). Retrieved from Coal and the Industrial Revolution: http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/beyond-the-textbook/23923