Download or read book Nature and the Environment in Twentieth Century American Life written by Brian C. Black and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2006-05-30 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Americans during the twentieth-century became more disconnected from the environment and nature than ever before. More Americans lived in cities rather than on farms; they became ever more reliant on technology to interact with the world around them and with each other. Perhaps paradoxically, the twentieth-century also became the period in which environmental issues played an ever-increasing role in politics and public policy. Why is this so? Perhaps because, despite what many people believe, nature and the environment remains central to everyone's daily life. Pollution, environmental degradation, urban sprawl, loss of wildlife and biodiversity - all of these issues directly impact how everyone - even city dwellers - live their lives. Nature and the Environment in Twentieth-Century America addresses a wide variety of the environmental issues that impacted the lives of people of all classes, races, and regions: ; The expansion of the National Park system and the increased desire for leisure time spent in the great outdoors ; The devastation of the Dust Bowl and its impetus toward conservation and a greater understanding of ecology ; Grassroots activism and environmental politics from Rachel Carson to Love Canal ; The impact of globalization and its environmental consequences on the daily lives of Americans Part of the Daily Life through History series, this title joins Nature and the Environment in Nineteenth-Century Americain a new branch of the series-titles specifically looking at how science innovations impacted daily life.
Download or read book Nature and the Environment in Twentieth Century American Life written by Brian Black and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 2006-05-30 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Americans during the twentieth-century became more disconnected from the environment and nature than ever before. More Americans lived in cities rather than on farms; they became ever more reliant on technology to interact with the world around them and with each other. Perhaps paradoxically, the twentieth-century also became the period in which environmental issues played an ever-increasing role in politics and public policy. Why is this so? Perhaps because, despite what many people believe, nature and the environment remains central to everyone's daily life. Pollution, environmental degradation, urban sprawl, loss of wildlife and biodiversity - all of these issues directly impact how everyone - even city dwellers - live their lives. Nature and the Environment in Twentieth-Century America addresses a wide variety of the environmental issues that impacted the lives of people of all classes, races, and regions: ; The expansion of the National Park system and the increased desire for leisure time spent in the great outdoors ; The devastation of the Dust Bowl and its impetus toward conservation and a greater understanding of ecology ; Grassroots activism and environmental politics from Rachel Carson to Love Canal ; The impact of globalization and its environmental consequences on the daily lives of Americans Part of the Daily Life through History series, this title joins Nature and the Environment in Nineteenth-Century Americain a new branch of the series-titles specifically looking at how science innovations impacted daily life.
Download or read book Nature and the Environment in Nineteenth Century American Life written by Brian C. Black and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2006-04-30 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The nineteenth-century saw a significant transformation in the United States. In one short century, the nation had seen the populating of the Great Plains and West, the decimation of native Indian tribes, the growth of national transportation and communication networks, and the rise of major cities. The century also witnessed the destruction of the nation's forests, battles over land and water, and the ascent of agribusiness. With these changes in resource use patterns and values came a concordant shift in attitudes toward nature. Conservation and preservation emerged as watchwords for the 1900s. The century that started with an attitude of environmental conquest thus ended by embracing conservation and a new environmental awareness.
Download or read book Nature and the Environment in Nineteenth Century American Life written by Brian Black and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 2006-04-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The nineteenth-century saw a significant transformation in the United States. In one short century, the nation had seen the populating of the Great Plains and West, the decimation of native Indian tribes, the growth of national transportation and communication networks, and the rise of major cities. The century also witnessed the destruction of the nation's forests, battles over land and water, and the ascent of agribusiness. With these changes in resource use patterns and values came a concordant shift in attitudes toward nature. Conservation and preservation emerged as watchwords for the 1900s. The century that started with an attitude of environmental conquest thus ended by embracing conservation and a new environmental awareness.
Download or read book Great Debates in American Environmental History 2 Volumes written by Brian C. Black and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 2008-05-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes nearly 200 scientific and political controversies involving the environment throughout the history of the US. Each entry begins by listing the time period, the parties to the controversy, other interested parties, and the general environmental issues involved; and end with sources for further information. Among the topics are whether the loss of the Roanoke Colony was caused by environmental factors, whether a whale was worth the effort to Nantucketeers, working in a coal mine, Little Bighorn and native policy, Rachael Carson and changing views of chemicals, conceiving of human evolution, Love Canal and the Superfund, the Green Party, and wolves in Yellowstone.
Download or read book Saving the Planet written by Hal Rothman and published by Ivan R. Dee Publisher. This book was released on 2000 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hal Rothman explains why Americans now see in the environment a salvation of themselves and their society, and a respite from the pressure of modern life.
Download or read book Something New Under the Sun An Environmental History of the Twentieth Century World The Global Century Series written by J. R. McNeill and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2001-04-17 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "One of those rare books that’s both sweeping and specific, scholarly and readable…What makes the book stand out is its wealth of historical detail." —Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker The history of the twentieth century is most often told through its world wars, the rise and fall of communism, or its economic upheavals. In his startling book, J. R. McNeill gives us our first general account of what may prove to be the most significant dimension of the twentieth century: its environmental history. To a degree unprecedented in human history, we have refashioned the earth's air, water, and soil, and the biosphere of which we are a part. Based on exhaustive research, McNeill's story—a compelling blend of anecdotes, data, and shrewd analysis—never preaches: it is our definitive account. This is a volume in The Global Century Series (general editor, Paul Kennedy).
Download or read book So Glorious a Landscape written by Chris J. Magoc and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2001-10-01 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: So Glorious a Landscape: Nature and the Environment in American History and Culture surveys the vast and interdisciplinary subject of American natural and environmental studies. It examines the literary landscape that has inspired a local, regional, and national sense of place; explores the dynamic meaning and significance of nature across time, place, culture, and gender; and looks at the essence and history of environmental change. The first all-encompassing introductory survey of environ-mental history and cultural studies, this volume provides students and scholars with carefully chosen selections from major essayists, naturalists, preachers, geographers,novelists, scientists, and historians whose works have shaped the fields of literary ecology and environmental history. The essays trace the changing American landscape and ideas about nature from the seventeenth century to the present. By analyzing a range of material, So Glorious a Landscape provides a fresh perspective on what nature is in American life, what forces have shaped its profound place and changing definition, and what the work of environmental historians tells about the relationship of nature, culture, and power in America. So Glorious a Landscape is an excellent resource for courses in American studies, environmental history, and American culture.
Download or read book Crabgrass Crucible written by Christopher C. Sellers and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2012-06-18 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although suburb-building created major environmental problems, Christopher Sellers demonstrates that the environmental movement originated within suburbs--not just in response to unchecked urban sprawl. Drawn to the countryside as early as the late nineteenth century, new suburbanites turned to taming the wildness of their surroundings. They cultivated a fondness for the natural world around them, and in the decades that followed, they became sensitized to potential threats. Sellers shows how the philosophy, science, and emotions that catalyzed the environmental movement sprang directly from suburbanites' lives and their ideas about nature, as well as the unique ecology of the neighborhoods in which they dwelt. Sellers focuses on the spreading edges of New York and Los Angeles over the middle of the twentieth century to create an intimate portrait of what it was like to live amid suburban nature. As suburbanites learned about their land, became aware of pollution, and saw the forests shrinking around them, the vulnerability of both their bodies and their homes became apparent. Worries crossed lines of class and race and necessitated new ways of thinking and acting, Sellers argues, concluding that suburb-dwellers, through the knowledge and politics they forged, deserve much of the credit for inventing modern environmentalism.
Download or read book Car Country written by Christopher W. Wells and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2013-05-15 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For most people in the United States, going almost anywhere begins with reaching for the car keys. This is true, Christopher Wells argues, because the United States is Car Country—a nation dominated by landscapes that are difficult, inconvenient, and often unsafe to navigate by those who are not sitting behind the wheel of a car. The prevalence of car-dependent landscapes seems perfectly natural to us today, but it is, in fact, a relatively new historical development. In Car Country, Wells rejects the idea that the nation's automotive status quo can be explained as a simple byproduct of an ardent love affair with the automobile. Instead, he takes readers on a tour of the evolving American landscape, charting the ways that transportation policies and land-use practices have combined to reshape nearly every element of the built environment around the easy movement of automobiles. Wells untangles the complicated relationships between automobiles and the environment, allowing readers to see the everyday world in a completely new way. The result is a history that is essential for understanding American transportation and land-use issues today. Watch the book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48LTKOxxrXQ
Download or read book American Environmentalism written by J. Michael Martinez and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2013-06-20 with total page 435 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Protecting the natural environment and promoting sustainability have become important objectives, but achieving such goals presents myriad challenges for even the most committed environmentalist. American Environmentalism: Philosophy, History, and Public Policy examines whether competing interests can be reconciled while developing consistent, coherent, effective public policy to regulate uses and protection of the natural environment without destroying the national economy. It then reviews a range of possible solutions. The book delves into key normative concepts that undergird American perspectives on nature by providing an overview of philosophical concepts found in the western intellectual tradition, the presuppositions inherent in neoclassical economics, and anthropocentric (human-centered) and biocentric (earth-centered) positions on sustainability. It traces the evolution of attitudes about nature from the time of the Ancient Greeks through Europeans in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the American Founders, the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and up to the present. Building on this foundation, the author examines the political landscape as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), industry leaders, and government officials struggle to balance industrial development with environmental concerns. Outrageous claims, silly misrepresentations, bogus arguments, absurd contentions, and overblown prophesies of impending calamities are bandied about by many parties on all sides of the debate—industry spokespeople, elected representatives, unelected regulators, concerned citizens, and environmental NGOs alike. In lieu of descending into this morass, the author circumvents the silliness to explore the crucial issues through a more focused, disciplined approach. Rather than engage in acrimonious debate over minutiae, as so often occurs in the context of "green" claims, he recasts the issue in a way that provides a cohesive look at all sides. This effort may be quixotic, but how else to cut the Gordian knot?
Download or read book Losing Ground written by Mark Dowie and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces the history of the environmental movement from its beginnings as private clubs, to the activism of the 1960s and 1970s, to the corporate sellout of the 1990s. Unveils the stories behind American environmentalism's undeniable triumphs and its quite unnecessary failures.
Download or read book The Republic of Nature written by Mark Fiege and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2012-03-20 with total page 601 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the dramatic narratives that comprise The Republic of Nature, Mark Fiege reframes the canonical account of American history based on the simple but radical premise that nothing in the nation's past can be considered apart from the natural circumstances in which it occurred. Revisiting historical icons so familiar that schoolchildren learn to take them for granted, he makes surprising connections that enable readers to see old stories in a new light. Among the historical moments revisited here, a revolutionary nation arises from its environment and struggles to reconcile the diversity of its people with the claim that nature is the source of liberty. Abraham Lincoln, an unlettered citizen from the countryside, steers the Union through a moment of extreme peril, guided by his clear-eyed vision of nature's capacity for improvement. In Topeka, Kansas, transformations of land and life prompt a lawsuit that culminates in the momentous civil rights case of Brown v. Board of Education. By focusing on materials and processes intrinsic to all things and by highlighting the nature of the United States, Fiege recovers the forgotten and overlooked ground on which so much history has unfolded. In these pages, the nation's birth and development, pain and sorrow, ideals and enduring promise come to life as never before, making a once-familiar past seem new. The Republic of Nature points to a startlingly different version of history that calls on readers to reconnect with fundamental forces that shaped the American experience. For more information, visit the author's website: http://republicofnature.com/
Download or read book A People s History of Environmentalism in the United States written by Chad Montrie and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2011-10-06 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a fresh and innovative account of the history of environmentalism in the United States, challenging the dominant narrative in the field. In the widely-held version of events, the US environmental movement was born with the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring in 1962 and was driven by the increased leisure and wealth of an educated middle class. Chad Montrie's telling moves the origins of environmentalism much further back in time and attributes the growth of environmental awareness to working people and their families. From the antebellum era to the end of the twentieth century, ordinary Americans have been at the forefront of organizing to save themselves and their communities from environmental harm. This interpretation is nothing short of a substantial recasting of the past, giving a more accurate picture of what happened, when, and why at the beginnings of the environmental movement.
Download or read book A Companion to American Environmental History written by Douglas Cazaux Sackman and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2010-02-12 with total page 696 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Companion to American Environmental History gatherstogether a comprehensive collection of over 30 essays that examinethe evolving and diverse field of American environmental history. Provides a complete historiography of American environmentalhistory Brings the field up-to-date to reflect the latest trends andencourages new directions for the field Includes the work of path-breaking environmental historians,from the founders of the field, to contributions frominnovative young scholars Takes stock of the discipline through five topically themedparts, with essays ranging from American Indian EnvironmentalRelations to Cities and Suburbs
Download or read book Greening the City written by Dorothee Brantz and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2011-07-01 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The modern city is not only pavement and concrete. Parks, gardens, trees, and other plants are an integral part of the urban environment. Often the focal points of social movements and political interests, green spaces represent far more than simply an effort to balance the man-made with the natural. A city’s history with—and approach to—its parks and gardens reveals much about its workings and the forces acting upon it. Our green spaces offer a unique and valuable window on the history of city life. The essays in Greening the City span over a century of urban history, moving from fin-de-siècle Sofia to green efforts in urban Seattle. The authors present a wide array of cases that speak to global concerns through the local and specific, with topics that include green-space planning in Barcelona and Mexico City, the distinction between public and private nature in Los Angeles, the ecological diversity of West Berlin, and the historical and cultural significance of hybrid spaces designed for sports. The essays collected here will make us think differently about how we study cities, as well as how we live in them. Contributors: Dorothee Brantz, Technische Universität Berlin * Peter Clark, University of Helsinki * Lawrence Culver, Utah State University * Konstanze Sylva Domhardt, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich * Sonja Dümpelmann, University of Maryland * Zachary J. S. Falck, Independent Scholar* Stefanie Hennecke, Technical University Munich * Sonia Hirt, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University * Salla Jokela, University of Helsinki * Jens Lachmund, Maastricht University * Gary McDonogh, Bryn Mawr College * Jarmo Saarikivi, University of Helsinki * Jeffrey Craig Sanders, Washington State University
Download or read book After Nature written by Jedediah Purdy and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2015-09 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Artforum Best Book of the Year A Legal Theory Bookworm Book of the Year Nature no longer exists apart from humanity. Henceforth, the world we will inhabit is the one we have made. Geologists have called this new planetary epoch the Anthropocene, the Age of Humans. The geological strata we are now creating record industrial emissions, industrial-scale crop pollens, and the disappearance of species driven to extinction. Climate change is planetary engineering without design. These facts of the Anthropocene are scientific, but its shape and meaning are questions for politics—a politics that does not yet exist. After Nature develops a politics for this post-natural world. “After Nature argues that we will deserve the future only because it will be the one we made. We will live, or die, by our mistakes.” —Christine Smallwood, Harper’s “Dazzling...Purdy hopes that climate change might spur yet another change in how we think about the natural world, but he insists that such a shift will be inescapably political... For a relatively slim volume, this book distills an incredible amount of scholarship—about Americans’ changing attitudes toward the natural world, and about how those attitudes might change in the future.” —Ross Andersen, The Atlantic
