Rethinking the American Environmental Movement post-1945 turns a fresh interpretive lens on the past, drawing on a wide range of new histories of environmental activism to analyze the actions of those who created the movement and those who tried to thwart them. Concentrating on the decades since World War II, environmental historian Ellen Griffith Spears explores environmentalism as a "field of movements" rooted in broader social justice activism. Noting major legislative accomplishments, strengths, and contributions, as well as the divisions within the ranks, the book reveals how new scientific developments, the nuclear threat, and pollution, as well as changes in urban living spurred activism among diverse populations. The book outlines the key precursors, events, participants, and strategies of the environmental movement, and contextualizes the story in the dramatic trajectory of U.S. history after World War II. The result is a synthesis of American environmental politics that one reader called both "ambitious in its scope and concise in its presentation." This book provides a succinct overview of the American environmental movement and is the perfect introduction for students or scholars seeking to understand one of the largest social movements of the twentieth century up through the robust climate movement of today.
Author(s): Ellen Griffith Spears
Series: American Social And Political Movements Of The 20th Century
Publisher: Routledge/Taylor & Francis
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 289
Tags: American Environmental Movement, Social Movements, Climate Movements
Cover......Page 1
Half Title
......Page 2
Series Page......Page 3
Title Page
......Page 4
Copyright Page......Page 5
Table of Contents
......Page 6
Series Editor’s Introduction......Page 7
Illustrations......Page 8
Acknowledgments......Page 9
Abbreviations......Page 10
Introduction: A Field of Movements......Page 16
Environmentalism Redefined......Page 17
A Changing Narrative......Page 18
Transformation after World War II......Page 21
The Color Line......Page 22
Environmentalism and the State......Page 24
Conservation and Conservatism......Page 25
A Transnational Movement......Page 26
Environmentalism as a Science-based Movement......Page 27
An Intersectional Movement......Page 28
The Climate Change Movement......Page 29
Notes......Page 30
Chapter 1: Antecedents: A Wide Arc (prior to 1945)......Page 32
Natural Rights......Page 33
Resistance to Slavery: A Claim about Nature......Page 35
A Question of Sovereignty......Page 36
Reimagining Nature......Page 37
The Piggery Wars and Swill Milk: Urban Public Health Reform......Page 39
Reconstruction and Public Health Reform......Page 40
Growing Interest in Natural Science......Page 41
Conservationism Emerges......Page 42
Campaigns for the Protection of Nature......Page 43
Anti-corporate Populist Agrarianism......Page 44
Transforming Urban Landscapes......Page 45
Theodore Roosevelt: Conservation and Empire......Page 46
The Hetch Hetchy Fight......Page 48
Nature Study and Conservation Reform......Page 49
Progressive Era Women Advocate Reform......Page 50
African American Thought and Conservation Activism......Page 51
Settlement Houses Anchor Urban Reform......Page 53
Ecology: An Emerging Discipline......Page 55
Conservationism and White Racial Advancement......Page 56
The New Deal Era......Page 58
New Conservation Groups......Page 61
Race, Occupational Hazards, and Human Health......Page 62
The pre-World War II Field of Movements......Page 63
Notes......Page 64
Chapter 2: The Great Acceleration and the Postwar Rise of Environmentalism (1945–1962)......Page 70
The Rise of Environmentalism......Page 73
“A Fight for Democracy”......Page 74
International Influences......Page 76
Global Resource Development Strategy......Page 77
Conservationism in Transition......Page 78
Ecology: Science and Activism......Page 80
The Wilderness Movement Grows: Echo Park and Beyond......Page 82
Atomic Activism......Page 85
Citizen Science......Page 88
Nonviolent Direct Action......Page 90
New Understandings of the Ecology of Disease......Page 91
Urban Ecologies......Page 92
DDT Activism: “A Real Health Movement”......Page 93
Rachel Carson......Page 96
Notes......Page 99
Chapter 3: Expanding the Field of Movements (1963–1980)......Page 104
The Wilderness Act of 1964......Page 105
Fighting Pesticides......Page 106
1960s Counterculture Embraces Ecology......Page 109
Theologies for the Earth......Page 111
Responses to Urban Ecological Problems......Page 112
Rural Advocacy......Page 113
A National Environmental Policy......Page 114
Earth Day 1970......Page 115
“Black Ecology”......Page 117
A Fertile Time in Court......Page 119
The Environmental Protection Agency, 1970......Page 121
A New Movement Infrastructure......Page 122
Greenpeace Emerges......Page 125
Cold War Militarization: Native American Tribes Resist......Page 126
“Ecological Agrarianism”......Page 127
Labor and Environmental Reform......Page 128
Deindustrialization Dims Coalition Prospects......Page 130
No Nukes: “A Great Big Time Bomb”......Page 131
Population Growth and Population Control......Page 132
Grassroots Anti-Toxics Campaigns......Page 133
Three Mile Island......Page 136
Notes......Page 138
Chapter 4: The Conservative Countermovement and the Upsurge of Environmental Justice (1980–1990)......Page 144
The Rise of the Conservative Movement......Page 145
Reagan Administration Actions......Page 148
Environmental Activism Swells......Page 149
Environmental Justice......Page 154
Bhopal: Transnational Chemical Disaster......Page 157
Industry’s Response to the Upsurge in Environmentalism......Page 158
Electoral Strategies......Page 162
The Environmental Movement Expands......Page 163
Women’s Environmental Activism and Ecofeminism......Page 165
Environment and Labor......Page 166
Biocentrism and Deep Ecology......Page 168
Animal Protection......Page 169
Radical and Libertarian Environmentalism......Page 170
Religious Environmental Activism......Page 171
The Sustainability Paradigm......Page 172
Oil Disaster......Page 173
Notes......Page 174
Earth Day 1990......Page 179
A New Era of Transnational Activism......Page 180
Obstacles for Environmentalism......Page 182
Market-Based Environmental Reform: The Clean Air Act of 1990......Page 183
The Clinton Administration......Page 185
Free Market Environmentalism or “Green Capitalism”......Page 186
Environmental Justice Surges......Page 188
Environmental Justice and the EPA......Page 191
Nature Preservation Versus Land Justice......Page 194
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge......Page 196
Rio: The Earth Summit......Page 197
The “Wise Use” Movement......Page 199
Window of Opportunity Closing......Page 200
Tackling Military Toxics......Page 201
Precautionary Action in a Risk Society......Page 202
Media and Environmental Activism......Page 203
Globalization, Direct Action, and the WTO......Page 204
Notes......Page 207
Chapter 6: Intersectional Activism and Climate Justice (2001–present)......Page 212
“A Common Concern of Mankind”......Page 213
Hurricane Katrina Rips Away the Veil......Page 215
Climate Action and Climate Justice......Page 216
Stakeholders Sue EPA to Address Climate Change......Page 218
Climate Justice and the Environmentalism of the Poor......Page 220
Global Climate Action......Page 221
Climate Denialism Forestalls Action......Page 223
Climate Action Efforts Redouble......Page 224
The State of the Movement......Page 229
“Slow Violence” at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina......Page 232
Labor/Environment Alliance Tackles Green Jobs and Toxics Policy......Page 233
Food Justice Activism......Page 234
Intersectional Movements......Page 236
The Trump Era: A “Third War” on Environmentalism......Page 237
The Trump Administration EPA......Page 239
Resistance Erupts......Page 240
Notes......Page 243
Chapter 7: Hope in a Strange Season......Page 251
Regaining the Initiative......Page 253
Strengthening Alliances......Page 254
Notes......Page 256
Bibliography......Page 257
Index......Page 274
