Environmental laws
Chapter 2
Environmental Laws, Economics, and Ethics
Lecture Outline:
I. A Brief Environmental History of the United States
A. During the 18th and 19th centuries, most Americans had a frontier attitude toward nature and its resources
B. Protecting forests
i. Numerous men contributed to the protection of American forests throughout the 19th and 20th centuries
1. Influential artists and authors (i.e., John James Audubon, Henry David Thoreau, George Perkins Marsh) aroused widespread public interest in wildlife, ecology, and environmental change
2. Theodore Roosevelt designated 21 new national forests and removed 43 million acres of forest from logging as per the General Revision Act of 1891 ii. Utilitarian conservationists are those who view forests in terms of their usefulness for people – such as in providing jobs
C. Establishing and protecting national parks and monuments
i. In 1916 Congress created the National Park Service (NPS) to manage the national parks and monuments for the enjoyment of the public “without impairment”
1. Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first national park, was established in 1872
2. Today there are 58 national parks and 73 national monuments under NPS management ii. John Muir, a biocentric preservationist, was largely responsible to the establishment of Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks in California
D. Conservation in the mid-20th century
i. Franklin Roosevelt was an influential advocate for conservation
1. During the Great Depression he established the Civilian Conservation Corps, employing more than 175,000 men to perform various activities to protect natural resources
2. In 1935 he formed the Soil Conservation Service in response to the American Dust Bowl ii. Aldo Leopold argued persuasively for a land ethic and the sacrifices such an ethic requires in numerous writings (i.e., Game Management and A Sand County Almanac) iii. An essay written by Wallace Stegner helped create support for passage of the
Environmental Laws, Economics, and Ethics
Lecture Outline:
I. A Brief Environmental History of the United States
A. During the 18th and 19th centuries, most Americans had a frontier attitude toward nature and its resources
B. Protecting forests
i. Numerous men contributed to the protection of American forests throughout the 19th and 20th centuries
1. Influential artists and authors (i.e., John James Audubon, Henry David Thoreau, George Perkins Marsh) aroused widespread public interest in wildlife, ecology, and environmental change
2. Theodore Roosevelt designated 21 new national forests and removed 43 million acres of forest from logging as per the General Revision Act of 1891 ii. Utilitarian conservationists are those who view forests in terms of their usefulness for people – such as in providing jobs
C. Establishing and protecting national parks and monuments
i. In 1916 Congress created the National Park Service (NPS) to manage the national parks and monuments for the enjoyment of the public “without impairment”
1. Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first national park, was established in 1872
2. Today there are 58 national parks and 73 national monuments under NPS management ii. John Muir, a biocentric preservationist, was largely responsible to the establishment of Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks in California
D. Conservation in the mid-20th century
i. Franklin Roosevelt was an influential advocate for conservation
1. During the Great Depression he established the Civilian Conservation Corps, employing more than 175,000 men to perform various activities to protect natural resources
2. In 1935 he formed the Soil Conservation Service in response to the American Dust Bowl ii. Aldo Leopold argued persuasively for a land ethic and the sacrifices such an ethic requires in numerous writings (i.e., Game Management and A Sand County Almanac) iii. An essay written by Wallace Stegner helped create support for passage of the