History Flashcards
What did the American Revolution lead to?
greater accessibility to natural resources for the general public
What did the Industrial Revolution lead to?
made natural resources more easily exploited
What are the five major eras of conservation activity?
- disappearance of the eastern wilderness
- closing of the western frontier
- the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl era
- Population explosion and environmental pollution
- the biodiversity crisis
What did Darwin’s On the Origin of Species do?
placed humans as a part of nature rather than separate from it
What was a key point about Darwin’s theory?
organisms are adapted to a particular environment, if the environment changes then organisms face the threat of extinction
What did Henry David Thoreau do?
suggested that every township should have a park, or a wilderness area, that was maintained for instructional purposes
Who was Frederick Law Olmstead?
“father of landscape architecture,” designed NYC’s central park in order to preserve “a specimen of God’s handiwork”
What happened at the end of the 19th century?
western settlement had reached the pacific and ecology was emerging as a science
What was the nation’s first National Park? Who signed into law?
Yellowstone National Park by Ulysses S. Grant
Who was John Muir?
- influential naturalist and conservationist
- first president of the Sierra Club
What are some federal agencies established for management of natural resources?
- National Forest System
- Division of Forestry of USDA
- US Bureau of Reclamation
- US National Wildlife Refuge system
- US Forest Service
- National Park Service
What was the first national wildlife refuge? Who established it?
Pelican Island Refuge; Theodore Roosevelt, Paul Kroegal
What did Pelican Island Refuge do?
provided protection for egrets and other wading birds
What did the Great Depression crash of US Stock lead to? What else happened around this time?
- spread of agriculture into marginal lands
- South plagued by floods and erosion, droughts and wind hit central plane
What was Black Sunday?
a serious dust storm, or black blizzard, that took place in the Great Plains
What did the events of the Great Depression/dust bowl etc lead to?
recognition of the fragility of the land, and a greater understanding of the way in which human activity was linked to the environment
What 3 philosophical movements led to American Conservation efforts?
- Romantic-Transcendental Conservation Ethic
- Resource Conservation Ethic
- Evolutionary-Ecological Land Ethic
What was Romantic-Transcendental Conservation Ethic derived from?
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and John Muir
What was the message of Romantic-Transcendental Conservation Ethic?
- nature has uses other than human economic gain
- spoke of nature in a quasi-religious sense
Who made the Resource Conservation Ethic popular?
Gifford Pinchot
What was the Resource Conservation Ethic based on?
- based on utilitarian philosophy
- stressed equality -> a fair distribution of resources
Who developed Evolutionary-Ecological Land Ethic?
Aldo Leopold in his essays
What was the message of Evolutionary-Ecological Land Ethic?
nature was not a simple collection of independent parts but a complicated and integrated system of interdependent processes and components
How did Leopold’s Approach change American Conservaiton?
- wildlife included non-game vertebrates and inverts and plants
- emphasis on the provision of suitable habitat
- a national system of financial and institutional support of wildlife research
- a text, journal, and society devoted to conservation
- ecology as a fusion point for all the natural sciences
What federal agencies did Franklin Roosevelt establish?
- Tennessee Valley Authority
- Soil Conservation Service
Why did FDR form those federal agencies?
aimed at crisis related to land and water management
What did Rachel Carson do?
expressed her concerns about pesticides in Silent Spring
What did Paul Ehrilich do?
expressed concerns that the rapid growth of human population would lead to increasing problems in The Population Bomb
What did the Wilderness Act do?
established an effective system of wilderness areas in national forests, parks, and wildlife refuges
What did the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency do?
are charged with maintaining an environment safe for humans and wildlife
What did the National Environmental Policy Act do?
established a requirement for an environmental impact assessment for projects involving federal support or approval
What did the Endangered Species Conservation Act do?
designates, protects, and encourages the recovery of endangered species
What process contributed to the discipline of Conservation Biology?
- the newly energized environmental movement sought to confront the trends of wildlife management becoming decreasingly responsive/relevant by having conferences, management programs, and legislative initiatives
- profession of wildlife management had to rethink its priorities, broaden its mission, and reintegrate itself
How many extinctions has earth faced in past?
5
What is the current extinction called?
the Antropocene
Who was Edward O wilson?
one of the leading advocates of biodiversity who published extensively on the subject
Who was Thomas Lovejoy?
- coined the term biodiversity
What did concerns of biodiversity lead to?
- computerized databases and species inventories
- modelling
- national heritage programs
- gap analysis programs
- national biological service
- society for conservation biology
What degradative effects of many activities will likely continue for the foreseeable future?
- use of fossil fuels
- release of industrial chemicals
- tropical deforestation
- mismanagement of arid lands
- climate change
