Download or read book Pollution and Reform in American Cities 1870 1930 written by Martin V. Melosi and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book American Cities and Technology written by Gerrylynn K. Roberts and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-11-01 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Designed to be used on its own or as a companion volume to the American Cities and Technology textbook. Chronologically, this volume ranges from the earliest technological dimensions of Amerindian settlements to the 'wired city' concept of the 1960s and internet communications of the 1990s.Its focus extends beyond the US to include telecomunications in Asian cities in the late 20th century. The topics covered: * the rise of the skyscraper *the coming of the automobile age * relations between private and public transport * the development of infrastructural technologies and systems * the implications of electronic communications * the emergence of city planning.

Download or read book The Environment and the People in American Cities 1600s 1900s written by Dorceta E. Taylor and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2009-11-23 with total page 641 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Environment and the People in American Cities, Dorceta E. Taylor provides an in-depth examination of the development of urban environments, and urban environmentalism, in the United States. Taylor focuses on the evolution of the city, the emergence of elite reformers, the framing of environmental problems, and the perceptions of and responses to breakdowns in social order, from the seventeenth century through the twentieth. She demonstrates how social inequalities repeatedly informed the adjudication of questions related to health, safety, and land access and use. While many accounts of environmental history begin and end with wildlife and wilderness, Taylor shows that the city offers important clues to understanding the evolution of American environmental activism. Taylor traces the progression of several major thrusts in urban environmental activism, including the alleviation of poverty; sanitary reform and public health; safe, affordable, and adequate housing; parks, playgrounds, and open space; occupational health and safety; consumer protection (food and product safety); and land use and urban planning. At the same time, she presents a historical analysis of the ways race, class, and gender shaped experiences and perceptions of the environment as well as environmental activism and the construction of environmental discourses. Throughout her analysis, Taylor illuminates connections between the social and environmental conflicts of the past and those of the present. She describes the displacement of people of color for the production of natural open space for the white and wealthy, the close proximity between garbage and communities of color in early America, the cozy relationship between middle-class environmentalists and the business community, and the continuous resistance against environmental inequalities on the part of ordinary residents from marginal communities.

Download or read book Health Effects and Hazardous Waste Sites written by Julian B. Andelman and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 1987-06-01 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This valuable information and data for evaluating health effects from hazardous waste sites stems from the efforts of specialists representing leading research centers, hospitals, universities, government agencies and includes consultants' as well as corporate interpretations.

Download or read book The Columbia Guide to American Environmental History written by Carolyn Merchant and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2005-09-14 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How and why have Americans living at particular times and places used and transformed their environment? How have political systems dealt with conflicts over resources and conservation? This is the only major reference work to explore all the major themes and debates of the burgeoning field of environmental history. Humanity ́s relationship with the natural world is one of the oldest and newest topics in human history. The issue emerged as a distinct field of scholarship in the early 1970s and has been growing steadily ever since. The discipline ́s territory and sources are rich and varied and include climactic and geological data, court records, archaeological digs, and the writings of naturalists, as well as federal and state economic and resource development and conservation policy. Environmental historians investigate how and why natural and human-created surroundings affect a society ́s development. Merchant provides a context-setting overview of American environmental history from the beginning of the millennium; an encyclopedia of important concepts, people, agencies, and laws; a chronology of major events; and an extensive bibliography including films, videos, CD-Roms, and websites. This concise "first stop" reference for students and general readers contains an accessible overview of environmental history; a mini-encyclopedia of ideas, people, legislation, and agencies; a chronology of events and their significance; and a bibliography of books, magazines, and journals as well as films, videos, CD-ROMs, and online resources. In addition to providing a wealth of factual information, The Columbia Guide to American Environmental History explores contentious issues in this much-debated field, from the idea of wilderness to global warming. How and why have Americans living at particular times and places used and transformed their environment? How have political systems dealt with conflicts over resources and conservation? This is the only major reference work to explore all the major themes and debates in the burgeoning field of environmental history. Humanity's relationship with the natural world is one of the oldest and newest topics in human history. The issue emerged as a distinct field of scholarship in the early 1970s and has been growing steadily ever since. The discipline's territory and sources are rich and varied and include climatic and geological data, court records, archaeological digs, and the writings of naturalists, as well as federal and state economic and resource development and conservation policy. Environmental historians investigate how and why natural and human-created surroundings affect a society's development. Merchant provides a context-setting overview of American environmental history from the precolonial land-use practice of Native Americans and concluding with twenty-first concerns over global warming. The book also includes a glossary of important concepts, people, agencies, and legislation; a chronology of major events; and an extensive bibliography including films, videos, CD-ROMs, and websites. This concise reference for students and general readers contains an accessible overview of American environmental history; a mini-encyclopedia of ideas, people, legislation, and agencies; a chronology of events and their significance; and a bibliography of books, magazines, and journals as well as films, videos, CD-ROMs, and online resources. In addition to providing a wealth of factual information, The Columbia Guide to American Environmental History explores contentious issues in this much-debated field, from the idea of wilderness to global warming.

Download or read book Cities written by Ian Douglas and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-05-30 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cities are amongst our greatest creations. Yet, with cities now home to over half the world's population, there is increasing concern over their unchecked expansion and the detrimental effect this is having on the planet. This unfettered growth is affecting every ecosystem on Earth, from the deepest oceans to the highest mountains, as induced climate change and ever increasing demands upon the world's resources take effect. As the pace of urbanisation quickens, how can we make the world's cities more sustainable? Ian Douglas tells the story of cities. He shows why they exist, how they have evolved and the problems they have encountered, revealing how from the very beginning environmental management played a key role in urban life. He addresses specific problems, such as noise and air pollution, water supply and waste management, as well as the vulnerability of cities to hazards such as earthquakes and flooding. And he considers strategies to make cities more sustainable and help them adapt to climate change, such as waste recycling, energy conservation, dual water systems, sustainable housing, as well as initiatives to retrofit existing cities. Written by an acknowledged international authority, this unique volume will be welcomed by students and specialists in environment, planning, geography, ecology and the built environment.

Download or read book Effluent America written by Martin V. Melosi and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 2001-09-02 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What's the difference between an anthill and a city?Protection from weather and predators, living and working quarters, transportation networks, food storage capability—all these they hold in common. And while there are obvious differences between humans and ants, both exist in the same space and time dimension—in nature. This simple idea, imagining cities as part of the larger physical world, has driven the work of the historian Martin Melosi for twenty-five years. Melosi is one of a handful of scholars who examine urban history from an ecological perspective, using the city to help define the place of nature in human life. Cities, he maintains, are places where humans live, work, play, consume goods, and make waste—just as humans have in caves, on farms, and in villages. To imagine the city as outside of nature limits what can be known about our past, and our future. Effluent America is a collection of essays spanning this innovative scholar's career and the growing field of urban environmental history. Garbage, wastewater, hazardous waste: these are the lenses through which Melosi views nineteenth- and twentieth-century America. In broad overviews and specific case studies, Effluent America treats the relationship between industrial expansion and urban growth from an ecological perspective. He charts the development of city services, the rationale for their implementation, and how they affected growth. He explores the environmental impacts of unprecedented methods of production, the influence of new forms of energy, and changing patterns of consumption during the Industrial Revolution and beyond. In so doing, he traces how one of the richest nations in the world became also the most wasteful, a juxtaposition of affluence and effluence. Other essays consider the important role of American cities in the history of the conservation and environmental movements. Melosi sketches the reforms and reformers, born out of such urban "quality of life" issues as pollution, sanitation, public health, and the need for greenspace. He also profiles the environmental justice movement, whose response to environmental problems is a question—Who bears the most risk?Urban environmental history is a window on the past, but it also directly informs issues of the present: public health, pollution, the role of government in delivering services, etc. Effluent America is an important volume for students of history and urban affairs, as well as for policymakers and all those concerned about the one world we inhabit.

Download or read book Smell Detectives written by Melanie A. Kiechle and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2017-07-18 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What did nineteenth-century cities smell like? And how did odors matter in the formation of a modern environmental consciousness? Smell Detectives follows the nineteenth-century Americans who used their noses to make sense of the sanitary challenges caused by rapid urban and industrial growth. Melanie Kiechle examines nuisance complaints, medical writings, domestic advice, and myriad discussions of what constituted fresh air, and argues that nineteenth-century city dwellers, anxious about the air they breathed, attempted to create healthier cities by detecting and then mitigating the most menacing odors. Medical theories in the nineteenth century assumed that foul odors caused disease and that overcrowded cities—filled with new and stronger stinks—were synonymous with disease and danger. But the sources of offending odors proved difficult to pinpoint. The creation of city health boards introduced new conflicts between complaining citizens and the officials in charge of the air. Smell Detectives looks at the relationship between the construction of scientific expertise, on the one hand, and “common sense”—the olfactory experiences of common people—on the other. Although the rise of germ theory revolutionized medical knowledge and ultimately undid this form of sensory knowing, Smell Detectives recovers how city residents used their sense of smell and their health concerns about foul odors to understand, adjust to, and fight against urban environmental changes.

Download or read book Communicating Environmental Patriotism written by Anne Marie Todd and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-07 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Environmental patriotism, the belief that the national environment defines a country’s greatness, is a significant strand in twentieth century American environmentalism. This book is the first to explore the history of environmental patriotism in America through the intriguing stories of environmental patriots and the rhetoric of their speeches and propaganda, The See America First movement began in 1906 with the aim of protecting and promoting the landscapes of the American West. In 1908, Gifford Pinchot and President Theodore Roosevelt hosted the White House Conservation Conference to promote the wise use of natural resources for generations of Americans. In 1912, Pittsburgh’s smoke investigation condemned the effects of coal smoke on the city’s environment. In World War II, a massive propaganda effort mobilized millions of Americans to plant victory gardens to save resources for the war abroad. While these may not seem like crucial moments for the American environmental movement, this new history of American environmentalism shows that they are linked by patriotism. The book offers a provoking critique of environmentalists’ communication strategies and suggests patriotism as a persuasive hook for new ways to make environmental issues a national priority. This original research should be of interest to scholars of environmental communication, environmental history, American history and environmental philosophy.

Download or read book Healthy City Planning written by Jason Corburn and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-04-12 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Healthy city planning means seeking ways to eliminate the deep and persistent inequities that plague cities. Yet, as Jason Corburn argues in this book, neither city planning nor public health is currently organized to ensure that today’s cities will be equitable and healthy. Having made the case for what he calls ‘adaptive urban health justice’ in the opening chapter, Corburn briefly reviews the key events, actors, ideologies, institutions and policies that shaped and reshaped the urban public health and planning from the nineteenth century to the present day. He uses two frames to organize this historical review: the view of the city as a field site and as a laboratory. In the second part of the book Corburn uses in-depth case studies of health and planning activities in Rio de Janeiro, Nairobi, and Richmond, California to explore the institutions, policies and practices that constitute healthy city planning. These case studies personify some of the characteristics of his ideal of adaptive urban health justice. Each begins with an historical review of the place, its policies and social movements around urban development and public health, and each is an example of the urban poor participating in, shaping, and being impacted by healthy city planning.

Download or read book Green Capitalism written by Hartmut Berghoff and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2017-05-02 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can capitalism ever truly be environmentally conscious? Green Capitalism? Business and the Environment in the Twentieth Century provides a historical analysis of the relationship between business interests and environmental initiatives over the past century.

Download or read book From Workshop to Waste Magnet written by Diane Sicotte and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2016-09-21 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like many industrialized regions, the Philadelphia metro area contains pockets of environmental degradation: neighborhoods littered with abandoned waste sites, polluting factories, and smoke-belching incinerators. However, other neighborhoods within and around the city are relatively pristine. This eye-opening book reveals that such environmental inequalities did not occur by chance, but were instead the result of specific policy decisions that served to exacerbate endemic classism and racism. From Workshop to Waste Magnet presents Philadelphia’s environmental history as a bracing case study in mismanagement and injustice. Sociologist Diane Sicotte digs deep into the city’s past as a titan of American manufacturing to trace how only a few communities came to host nearly all of the area’s polluting and waste disposal land uses. By examining the complex interactions among economic decline, federal regulations, local politics, and shifting ethnic demographics, she not only dissects what went wrong in Philadelphia but also identifies lessons for environmental justice activism today. Sicotte’s research tallies both the environmental and social costs of industrial pollution, exposing the devastation that occurs when mass quantities of society’s wastes mix with toxic levels of systemic racism and economic inequality. From Workshop to Waste Magnet is a compelling read for anyone concerned with the health of America’s cities and the people who live in them.

Download or read book Cities in the Commonwealth written by Allen J. Share and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2021-12-14 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the 1780s, when Louisville and Lexington were tiny clusters of houses in the wilderness, to the 1980s, when more than half of all Kentuckians live in urban areas, the growth of cities has affected nearly all aspects of life in the Commonwealth. These urban centers have led the state in economic, social, and cultural change. Cities in the Commonwealth examines the crises that have shaped the history of Kentucky's cities and sheds light on such continuing concerns as urban competition, provision of essential services, the importance of the arts, and the struggle for racial justice. By allowing contemporaries to tell much of the story in their own words, Allen J. Share conveys a sense of the exuberance and dynamism of urban life and thought in Kentucky.

Download or read book Love Canal Revisited Race Class and Gender in Environmental Activism written by Elizabeth D. Blum and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historical snapshots of the Love Canal area -- Gender at Love Canal -- Race at Love Canal -- Class at Love Canal -- Historical implications of gender, race, and class at Love Canal

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 Nature s Bounty written by Anthony N. Penna and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-07-01 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This thorough, clearly organized text focuses on four major environmental categories: forests and land, wildlife and wildlife habitat, water and drinking water quality, and air. Each category is treated historically from the time of exploration and discovery in the seventeenth century to the present. There are also discussions on environmental public policy issues currently in our national debate. The text is integrated throughout with fascinating primary source documents -- eyewitness accounts, government reports and documents, speeches, and congressional testimony -- which illuminate the material.

Download or read book Thrift and Thriving in America written by Joshua Yates and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-03-01 with total page 633 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thrift is a powerful and evolving moral ideal, disposition, and practice that has indelibly marked the character of American life since its earliest days. Its surprisingly multifaceted character opens a number of expansive vistas for analysis, not only in the American past, but also in its present. Thrift remains, if perhaps in unexpected and counter-intuitive ways, intensely relevant to the complex issues of contemporary moral and economic life. Thrift and Thriving in America is a collection of groundbreaking essays from leading scholars on the seminal importance of thrift to American culture and history. From a rich diversity of disciplinary perspectives, the volume shows that far from the narrow and attenuated rendering of thrift as a synonym of saving and scrimping, thrift possess an astonishing capaciousness and dynamism, and that the idiom of thrift has, in one form or another, served as the primary language for articulating the normative dimensions of economic life throughout much of American history. The essays put thrift in a more expansive light, revealing its compelling etymology-its sense of "thriving." This deeper meaning has always operated as the subtext of thrift and at times has even been invoked to critique its more restricted notions. So understood, thrift moves beyond the instrumentalities of "more or less" and begs the question: what does it mean and take to thrive? Thoroughly examining how Americans have answered this question, Thrift and Thriving in America provides fascinating insight into evolving meanings of material wellbeing, and of the good life and the good society more generally, and will serve as a perennial resource on a notion that has and will continue to shape and define American life.