Final Exam Prep Flashcards
- George Perkins Marsh
19th Century, Man and Nature (1864)
Born near Woodstock, VT. From a place that had gone through large scale ecologic changes as a result of the industrial revolution. Becomes a diplomat in the Lincoln Administration and serves abroad in Turkey and Italy. No environmental training, but well versed in the classics (par for the course at the time). When abroad, sees Italy as Turkey as far more arid than descriptions in the classics—surmises that a large ecological catastrophe had occurred. Argument (Striking and new at the time): Deforestation leads to over-erosion—you will end up with the collapse of civilization due to this—postulated this happening to Greek and Rome.
1. Nature exists in a fundamental state of balance, human beings are apart from nature, “Man is everywhere a disturbing agent. Wherever he plants his foot, the harmonies of nature are turned to discords.”
2. The Apocalypse—humans not only change nature, but change it for the worse—effects are deleterious. At the time, the locus of religion is moving towards nature and apocalyptic thinking becomes intertwined. (See also Hardin, “Tragedy of the Commons.”)
3. An emphasis on science and expert knowledge as a solution. A undercurrent that rural people left to their own devices would damage nature. Forest Academies to teach people about forests and put them to work in conservation.
4. Forests should not be in the hands of individual owners, but in the possession of the government. American land policy prior to this involved removing the land from Natives and placing it in the public domain, to subsequently give it to white farmers. Marsh’s stance radical.
- Lawn
Lawns became the dominant landscape in Levittown.
Grass usually settles in disturbed environments (can’t grow under trees or in woods). Prior to Levittown, grass was reserved for the rich, poor people’s yards were usually dirt, livestock, etc. Levitt incorporates his ideas from his pre-war expensive houses regarding lawns to Levittown. These houses have large lawns.
The lawnmower rises at an astounding rate to match the new prevalence of lawns. (April is National Lawn Care Month).
Most of the Grass is Kentucky Blue Grass, brought over in the Columbian Exchange from Eurasia. Requires a heavy amount of water and fertilizer, as well as imitate the grazing of sheep (original purpose) by cutting the grass with a mower. Levittown even began going through water shortages because of the vast amount of water used to water the lawns.
- The Population Bomb
-Paul Ehrlich, The Population Bomb (1968)
-Hugh More, The Population Bomb (1954)
Paul Ehrlich (born May 29, 1932) is an American biologist best known for his pessimistic—and wildly inaccurate —predictions and warnings about the consequences of population growth and limited resources. Professor at Stanford, Dr. of Biology, a much more prominent academic than Carson. Jacoby argues that Ehrlich sees the rapid increase in suburbs as a cause for alarm regarding population. Anti-suburbanization, sprawl, causing increasing smog, traffic congestion, and water scarcity. Population the “master key” that unlocks all these post war problems. Leans heavily into apocalyptic imagery. The population had more than doubled to 8 billion since the time of Ehrlich. Over the majority of the last 12,000 years, the population had stayed low until relatively recently. All of these, Malthus, Hardin, and Ehrlich argue that poverty causes overpopulation. Lack of morals, etc. The link is tenuous at very best, the link has not been demonstrated, specious in nature. In contrast, some demographers argue that some countries population growth is dropping to unsustainable levels—Japan, Korea, etc. Why do you see declining populations in some places. Efforts to limit population in the global south can take on a neo-colonial aspect. For example, World Bank not lending money to developing nations until they institute population control measures. 1976, India declares a state of emergency regarding overpopulation. Suggests putting birth control substances in water. Also compares overpopulation to cancer—uncontrolled and deleterious growth. Jacoby argues that Ehrlich is quite xenophobic.
- Earth Day
April 22nd, 1970
The idea was sparked by the power of the anti-war protests of the 1960s, and events that brought the issue of the environment and its vulnerability to pollution center stage.”As the 1960s progressed a number of environmental issues popped up,” he continued, “an oil spill in Santa Barbara, the Cuyahoga River catching on fire, Rachel Carson’s enormous visibility for Silent Spring, efforts to save the whales and freeways cutting through dynamic inner-city areas.”
Talking about sudden coming out party of Environmentalism in 1970. What drew so many people to this event? Points to the slipperyness of the term. The environment as a way to unify a divided nation. The great paradox, is since it is loosely defined—many people can attach themselves to it, but for the same reason, many people can find reasons to critique it as well.
- Levittown
1947
Levittown. Levitt serves in the CBs creating bases quickly on islands as the US is island hopping towards Japan—very simple, pre fab allows for efficient and quick construction. Before the war, developed expensive houses in the suburbs when only very affluent people could liver there. After the war, Levitt begins to apply the military mass production (36 homes per day) to Levitt town—cheaper construction, used new technology like plywood and power tools. Hired low skilled workers and had them specialize in specific tasks, some only painting white paint while others only painted red. An industrialization of homebuilding, an assembly line. Could sell homes cheaper to lower income people like returning GIs. Slab construction, no basement. Kitchen, two bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room with a fireplace, and an unfinished attic. came equipped with refrigerator, oven, and TV. First sold for under $7000, undercutting his nearest competitor by $1500 and still making a $1000 profit. Builds other Levittowns in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, also spawns many imitators. Between 1946 and 58, 85% of new homes are built in the suburbs. The only way to get around in Levittown is a car, another aspect which makes the project cheaper—puts the onus for transportation on the inhabitants rather than the developer. Also, had to be white to live there. Forbid the use of fences and close lines (see Jon Oliver HOA), vehemently avoided straight streets and the grid pattern of places like NYC. Lawns became the dominant landscape in Levittown. Grass usually settles in disturbed environments (can’t grow under trees or in woods).
Levittown barred entry to minority communities and even Jews in some cases, despite Levitt being Jewish. This was more a result of the structural racism of the time, rather than any personal racism on the part of Levitt. (One example of breaking this trend was in Chorus, St Louis, and Fergusson Missouri). But these require private mortgages, more expensive, rather than the government insured ones of the GI Bill and HOLA.
- Strontium 90
Strontium-90 is a radioactive isotope of strontium produced by nuclear fission, with a half-life of 28.8 years. It undergoes β− decay into yttrium-90, with a decay energy of 0.546 MeV.[2] Strontium-90 has applications in medicine and industry and is an isotope of concern in fallout from nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons testing, and nuclear accidents.
Initial euphoria of the bomb helping to end the war, but this is quickly overshadowed by the arms race when Russia successfully tests an atomic bomb. To test the fusion bomb, the US removed roughly 160 islanders from the Bikini Atoll. “Duck and Cover” drills in school.The bomb becomes a symbol for human hubris—potential for a real and rapid collapse of civilization. Also suggests a limit for technology—it is no longer a savior, but a destroyer. US engages in over 1,000 open-air tests (Same with Russia). Large amounts of radiation working its way into food-stuffs around the country. (Picture of mom testing milk with a Geiger counter before giving it to her child) After the Bikini Atoll test (roughly two weeks), the US send scientists to test the environment and wildlife. They realize that the nuclear fallout works its way into the food supply. It starts out a low percentage in the lowest part of the food chain, concentrating as it moves up in the food chain.
Carson tapping into fears of Nuclear fallout falling on towns, drawing on Cold War imagery, but more so a war with nature.
- Forest Reserve Act
1891
There is a delay between when Marsh puts his ideas out and action. Forest commission created by congress to study forests/deforestation. The Forest Reserve Act in 1891 is the culmination of Marsh’s ideals—grants the president the power to designate forests as preserves (What is eventually named National Forests). Conservation never appears in Marsh’s book. Gifford Pinchot is the one to add this neologism. The epitome of high-class conservation—“The outgrowth of conservation, the inevitable result, is national efficiency.” (Obsessed with ideas of efficiency). Ends up going to one of the Forestry Schools, created from Marsh’s ideas. First job is at the Biltmore Estate in NC, a private estate. In 1900, founds the Yale forestry school.
In 1901, Teddy Roosevelt becomes president after McKinley is assassinated by an anarchist. Teddy Roosevelt is a proponent of “strenuous manhood.” When Roosevelt and Pinchot first meet, they wrestle and box. TR a republican and the conservation movement (initially) is associated with this party. TR creates the Forest Service in 1905 and makes the Forest Preserves their ward. Forestry Department is put in the Department of Agriculture, forests as a resource to be farmed. Under Pinchot 55 million to 175 million acres in Forests Preserves. Pinchot contributed 4x his yearly salary to the service every year. Goal is to remove larger trees and pack more younger trees closer together within the forests.
- Ward v. Racehorse
1896, Bannock Indians, North of Yellowstone National Park.
Ward v. Racehorse, 1896, Racehorse detained by people for killing several elk outside season (60 miles from the nearest white ranch and on the border of YNP, but not inside it). Goes all the way to the Supreme Court (Roughly the same time as Plessy v. Fergusson). Treaty: “the right to hunt on the unoccupied lands of the United States so long as game may be found thereon and so long as peace subsists among the whites ad Indians.” Plessy v. Fergusson overturned later, but not the case with Racehorse. Herrera v. Wyoming a similar case, but a narrow victory of IPs. One part of the story of IPs is that conservation is used as as a tool—along with reservations—to strip them of land. Pinchot: “Conservation means the greatest good to the greatest number for the longest time.” On the face of it, a fairly benign definition, but when IPs are included, the meaning has a far more insidious meaning.
As white settlers move in, they illegally hunt in the parks. Sneaking in with Elk hooves on their shoes, knowing what they are doing is illegal, but doing so to deal with the wage-labor system that has left them poor and destitute.
- Agricultural Adjustment Act
1933
The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) was a United States federal law of the New Deal era designed to boost agricultural prices by reducing surpluses. The government bought livestock for slaughter and paid farmers subsidies not to plant on part of their land. The money for these subsidies was generated through an exclusive tax on companies which processed farm products. Ruled unconstitutional.
- Federal Highway Act
1956
The automobile of course predated this boom, but the industrial machine that was churning out weapons of war and then this was transferred to car production. Car ownership begins to take off. The Interstate Highway Act in 1956 also supports this rise in car ownership. Created as evacuation routes in case of Nuclear War. The largest public works project in the Nation’s History. Cars help bring other changes in the culture—drive in culture—movies, fast food, etc. From 1850 to 1950, the dominant source of fuel in the US was coal, but then it shifts to petroleum, primarily for vehicles but also for heat. By 1970s, the average american is using 3 times as much energy as their ancestors at the turn of the century. Didn’t achieve the settler colonialism ideas of small farms, but the US has the largest amount of home ownership in the world. (Much greater than places like France and Germany). A distorted dream.
- Wise Use Movement
1970s, in response to environmental movement.
“Critique of Environmental Movement from Without”
Wise Use Movement, an appeal to return to Pinchot’s ideas rather than the current environmentalism. Gottlieb is in essence anti-environmentalist. Free-Market environmentalists, who place themselves as the defender of the vanishing species of miners, ranchers, etc. by the predator of the Federal Government. BLM and Public Lands become a hot issue, WUM come up with a novel reading of the Constitution—argue that the bureaucrats have no right to regulate at the local level, that should be the job of the county. The WUM is strongest out west. Rhetoric is about private property, but its concerned with the quazi-privatization of public lands for mining, logging, etc. Appeals to this old conception of privatizing land. Amon Bundy and cowboy imagery.
- “Crying Indian Ad”
Iron Eyes Cody played a Native American shedding a tear about pollution in one of the country’s most well-known television public service announcements from the group Keep America Beautiful.[3] The Crying Indian commercial pointed to a larger messaging shift within KAB. Its noncorporate sponsors were pushing to change its focus from “litter” to “pollution.” By the late ’60s, pollution was a major problem in American cities. From pervasive smog to oil spills to rivers catching on fire, the decade ended on a dismal note. As activists began emphasizing the role corporations were playing in perpetuating pollution, KAB knew it needed to change its narrative.
The Ad Council hired a new agency, Marsteller, to design the Crying Indian campaign, hoping to tap into feelings of exasperation over the environmental crisis while continuing to divert attention away from industry.
- National Reclamation Act
1902
Senator Francis Newlands (possibly chosen for his name) introduce the National Reclamation Act (1902) to congress. A reclamation of the west as a place for small yeoman farmers, an effort to turn back the clock to a time before industrialization. The Act is presented as a conservation measure (imbued with manliness, Christianity). Sets up the Bureau of Reclamation who is responsible for irrigation in the West. BoR reclaims these failed private canals. BoR’s first task is spending millions to bail-out Bill Cody. Initially, the return on investment is approx. 10% of the total money spent—horribly inefficient. Essentially handing out land (at huge cost to the government) to create this vision of settlement. Often what happens is that people would get the land and then sell it immediately, and much land comes into the ownership of large companies. Irrigation being sold as helping to create yeoman farmers, but instead it became the driving force behind the rise of agribusiness. (1980, federal government selling a water-acre valued at $100 for $10–great subsidization) This also leads to a large rise in immigrant labor to support these large agricultural products.
- London Purple
First half of the 20th Century.
Calcium Arsenate—London Purple was calcium arsenite and was a byproduct of the London aniline dye industry. Later, chemists added lead to the arsenic compounds, and for the first half of the 20th Century these were the most popular insecticides. DDT was replacing pesticides that were far more toxic. By the late 19th Century, whale-soap or tobacco spread on plants is replaced with insecticides with heavy metals—Calcium Arsenate, Lead Arsenate. Under the law, human health was a far less concern than their actual effectiveness at killing insects—did they do what they said they would. Once these are used, they remain in the soil. Apple farmers in Washington having unusually high levels of lead before the realization is made. The Pesticide boom between the 1940s and 50s, in the late 50s, DDT production increases 400 percent. This is the environment in which Carson writes Silent Spring.
- Home Owners Loan Corporation
1933
I’m still grappling with how the national-level Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) influenced and fostered the creation of legal technologies—redlining maps, contracts, leases, deeds, and land us policies—at the local levels of Los Angeles and Chicago.
During the Great Depression, the housing market collapsed, and residential construction fell by 94%. Government creates Home Owner’s Loan Association—Jacoby argues that this was key in the development of suburbia as we know it today. Starts to refinance mortgages, but does it in a specific way:
1: Extends the mortgage to 20 years. (30 years today)
2: Only 10% down payment (compared to 50% before)
3. Most important, to insure, real estate agents had to evaluate lending opportunities, discrimination of minorities to maintain segregation was built into the system as well as the code of ethics of real estate agents.
Skews towards predominantly white, predominantly affluent neighborhoods. Residential Security Map, the worst grade, grade 4, is red and is where the term ‘red lining’ comes from. With NYC, the blue, grade 1, areas tend towards the suburbs. HOLA, makes mortgage companies more likely to lend because if they meet certain requirements, the government will insure them.
