The Environmental Movement

Background Conditions

  • Technological hubris -- e.g., polio vaccine, satellites, nuclear power
  • Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) and "The Sand County Almanac" (1948) -- Land Ethic
  • Eugene Odum and "Fundamentals of Ecology" (1953)

Pesticides and Food

  • DDT used during World War II on soldiers, refugees and crops, mosquitos
  • Rachel Carson (1907-1964) -- Silent Spring (1962)
  • 1973 -- DDT banned in the U.S.
  • J.I. Rodale (1898-1971) and Organic Farming and Gardening Magazine

The Rebirth of the Sierra Club

Environmental Disasters

Mainstream Environmentalism

Governmental Reforms

Radical Environmentalism

Other Useful Links


  • Environmental Movement Timeline
  • The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920 (Library of Congress)
  • Push Here to Go Back Home