History of Environmental

Science
 History of Environmental Science
Three “revolutions” are significant in the
development of environmental science
1. Agricultural Revolution
2. Industrial-Medical Revolution
3. Information-Globalization Revolution
 History of Environmental Science:
Agricultural Revolution
Gradual move from nomadic lifestyle of hunter-
gatherers to the farming of domesticated
animals and plants
Started about 10,000 years ago

Led to human population growth

Slash and Burn and Shifting Cultivation
Clearing
& burning
vegetation

Allowing
to revegetate
10 to 30 years

Planting Harvesting for

2 to 5 years
 History of Environmental Science:
ancient civilizations
 Ancient Rome – limited
awareness of (or
commitment to)
environmental dangers
and threats

 Example: unregulated
deforestation and soil
erosion may have
contributed to the
civilization’s downfall
 History of Environmental Science
ancient civilizations
 Ancient Greeks – some awareness
 Example: Greeks deforested much of
Greece but also solar power when wood
became scarce
 History of Environmental Science
ancient civilizations
 Ancient China, India, Peru – awareness of
many environmental issues
 Example: used soil conservation methods
to protect against erosion
 History of Environmental Science:
1200-mid1700s
 Middle Ages to Renaissance – beginning of
awareness of public health issues but sanitation
and regulation of use of resources very limited
 Example: plague devastated Europe but led to
beginning of public health systems
 Deforestation of much of Europe occurred
during this time – led to use of coal
 History of Environmental Science:
mid1700s - mid1800s
Beginning of Industrial-Medical Revolution
 Age of Enlightenment (approx. 1650-1800)– science
progresses; thus, society’s awareness of environmental
issues increased but new technologies led to pollution
and other problems
 Example: Ben Franklin fought against water pollution in
Philadelphia
 Example: Industry pollutes air
and water through use of coal,
other fossil fuels (London was
notorious for dirty air)
 Cultural Changes and the Environment:
The Industrial-Medical Revolution
Industrial Revolution (mid-1700’s):
began in England and spread to US in the 1800s
 people lived in improved living conditions (longer and healthier)
 environmental degradation dramatically increased
 factory towns sprung up, less people needed to farm
 The Industrial-Medical Revolution: A
shift to nonrenewable resources
 A shift took place where
humans moved from
relying on wood and
flowing water to a
dependence on machines
run by nonrenewable
fossil fuels (first coal, then
later oil and natural gas)
 The steam engine was the
“workhorse” of the
industrial revolution
The Industrial-Medical Revolution: Dramatic
Increase in Environmental Impact

 Factory towns grew

polluted, noisy and
very hazardous. (air
pollution, water
pollution, toxics)
 Coal smoke filled
cities.
 Fossil fuels powered
larger farm machines
for larger farms.
Cultural Changes and the Environment: The
Information/Globalization Revolution

 Information Revolution: Since the 1950s we have

moved towards technologies to share information
rapidly on a global scale.

Global access to information can help us understand

and respond to environmental problems, but can
lead to information overload.
 History of Environmental Science:
mid1700s - mid1800s
 Thomas Malthus (1766-1834) – British scholar, published
essays on economics, human population growth
 Believed that human populations would eventually be
kept in check by famine, disease because populations
grow exponentially, but food supply does not
 In contrast to popular view that human populations were
moving toward perfection and a Utopian society
 Dr. John Snow (1854) – first to recognize
a pattern in an epidemic and link it to the
environment – contaminated water from
one pump led to spread of cholera
 Germ theory developed in 1861
 20th Century: A Century of Growth
The inventions of the twentieth century had a remarkable
effect on daily life. They also had a devastating effect on
the environment. Human population grew tremendously.
 History of Environmental Science:
1920-1940
 Growing awareness of the effects of man-made threats
to health and the environment, yet society continues to
develop, use products and methods that are dangerous
 Examples:
– Use of poisonous lead in gasoline
– Use of carcinogenic radium to make glow-in-the-dark
clock faces - Women painting clocks with radium
would sometimes put the brush in their mouth to fix
the brush into a point. Many women developed
cancer
 History of Environmental
Science:1940-1960
 Increasing scientific knowledge
produces some things with
negative environmental impact:
nuclear weapons, DDT and other
pesticides, synthetic materials
such as plastics that are not
biodegradable
 Information-Globalization
Revolution

 Starting in 1950 but especially from 1970

 Development of technology to gain access to more
information on a global scale
 Computers, internet, phones, remote-sensing satellites
 Effects are personal, cultural, environmental
 History of Environmental Science:
Environmental Era 1960s-present
 Awakening of U.S. public to
many environmental issues
 Publication of Silent Spring
(1962) by Rachel Carson helps
propel the modern
environmental movement,
raised awareness of dangers of
pesticides and other chemicals

 Garrett Hardin (ecologist) –

wrote essay “Tragedy of the
Commons” in 1969
 Environmental History: The
Environmental Era

Rachel Carson (1907-1964):

 Started modern
environmental movement
 Documented the pollution in
the air, water and wildlife
from DDT pesticide.
 Created a wake-up call that
environment was in danger.
 Environmental History: The Environmental
Era

 The science of ecology: between 1965 and 1970 the

science of ecology emerged awakening people to the
interconnections among population growth, resource use
and pollution.
 History of Environmental Science:
Environmental Era 1960s-present
Paul Ehrlich – ecologist, 1970s, wrote
Population Bomb, which made dire
predictions about the effects of
overpopulation
 Rapid increases in the
population size of countries like
India and China caused fears of
human overpopulation and
famine, an extreme scarcity of
food.
 One prediction from the book,
The Population Bomb:
“The battle to feed all of
humanity is over. In the 1970s
hundreds of millions of people will
starve to death in spite of any
crash programs embarked upon
now. At this late date nothing can
prevent a substantial increase in
the world death rate...”
24
 Environmental Era 1970s
The Environmental Decade
 April 20, 1970 First Earth Day
 1970 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Created under Richard Nixon
 1973 Endangered Species Act
 1977 Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act
 1980 Superfund Law
 Environmental Era 1990s
Environmental awareness

 Since the 1990s environmentalist have spent most of

their time trying to fight any weakening of
environmental laws passed in the 1960s and 1970s.
 Increased awareness of important but complex
environmental issues such as sustainability,
population growth, biodiversity protection, and
threats from global warming.
 History of Environmental Science:
1960s-1980s

Certain crises cause people to “think twice”, including

– nuclear accidents (Three Mile Island 1979, Chernobyl 1986)

Increased regulation of air and water pollution

– 1970s: The Environmental Decade – passage of Clean Air Act,
Clean Water Act
 History of Environmental Science:
1960s-1980s

 More environmental activism (e.g.,

Greenpeace)
 Earth Day (April 22) was started in 1970
 Lois Gibbs – fought for community of Love
Canal that was built on a toxic waste
dump (1978)
 In 1978, homes in the city of Love Canal, New York, were abandoned due to leakage from
a massive chemical waste dump near the elementary school.
– This was hazardous waste; compounds that are especially dangerous to the environment and
human health. 29
 History of Environmental Science:
1990s-present
 Environmentalism grows in the U.S. but many recognize
the economic cost of being “green”; political factions
debate issues worldwide
 Global warming is supported by scientific
evidence (IPCC reports), but is still hotly
debated
 Developing countries
have less money to protect
the environment and still face
issues such as leaded gasoline
 Each of these worldviews
acknowledges that the Earth is
a closed system, meaning
matter
does not enter or leave it in
large amounts.
– Resources are finite.
– Wastes do not “go away”.
 These understandings form the
basis for understanding and
solving each of the issues
within environmental science.
Earthrise, taken by astronaut Frank
Borman in 1968, during the Apollo 8
mission. 31
Environmental History of the United States:
The Environmental Era

2000’s – Now: IPCC

 George W. Bush, like Reagan in the 80s, he
opposed or wanted to weaken many existing
environmental and public land-use laws and
policies
 The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC)
 The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) was
published in 2007 (Published after 5 years)
 AR5 published in 2012, AR6 in 2017
Trade-Offs in the Name of Progress
 The Future - ???
 Green consumers?
 Energy efficiency?
 New technology?
 International cooperation?

 Growing population
 Poverty
 Increasing standard of living