1. Brief Response
What challenges were faced by Presidents Ford and Carter? (list one major commonality; differences)
Both could not end “stagflation” (high prices and high unemployment)
Ford had to deal with pardoning Nixon and the Communist take-over of Vietnam
Carter championed human rights and energy responsibility, while losing Iran to religious fundamentalists.

2. Environmental Activism
p. 820

3. Today’s goal American post-war production boomed in the 1950s.
As American factories got older and more Americans had personal cars, land, water and air pollution increased.
Exploitation of local resources threatened the environment as well.
Some Americans became activists in the struggle to protect the environment.

4. Rachel Carson A marine biologist Wrote Silent Spring
Warned against the growing use of pesticides (chemicals used to kill insects and rodents = “the Green Revolution”).
Pesticides poisoned the food supply
Killing birds
Causing health issues with humans
Attacked by chemical companies as inaccurate
Threatened lawsuits
President Kennedy appointed an advisory committee
DDT would be banned in the United States

5. environmentalist
Someone who takes an active role in the protection of the environment.
President Nixon, who was not one, still spoke of the need to “make peace with nature”.
He created the EPA.
He also signed the Clean Air Act and Endangered Species Act.

6. Human Accelerated Climate Change
Changing weather patterns (climate change)
Toxification of the biosphere
air, land, and water pollution
acid rain, toxic metals, and pesticides. .
ozone depletion in the stratosphere
Desertification and land degradation
fragmentation of landscapes
deforestation,
urbanization
transportation uses. .
Fresh water decline
Widespread loss of biotic diversity at the gene, species, and ecosystem levels
Invasions of numerous exotic, pestilent species,
gypsy moth, kudzu, and zebra mussel. .
Opening of the 1973 film, Soylent Green. (about an overpopulated world facing food shortages due to global warming).

7. How did you do?

8. Human Accelerated Climate Change
As environmental concerns grew, and movements developed, Hollywood made a few films depicting a bleak environmental future.
Opening of the 1973 film, Soylent Green. (about an overpopulated world facing food shortages due to global warming).

9. toxic
Capable of causing injury or death, especially by chemical means.
Toxic waste is a constant threat as people battle over whether to use the systems and materials that cause it.
Industrial chemicals
Spent nuclear fuel
Agricultural chemical fertilizer and pesticide run-off.

10. toxic

11. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
1970, Nixon consolidated 15 pollution agencies into one.
Has the power to
Set and enforce pollution standards
Conduct environmental research
assist state and local governments in pollution control.

12. Three Mile Island
In early 1979, one of the nuclear reactors at a plant near Harrisburg, PA, malfunctioned.
It overheated after its cooling system failed
Low-level radiation did escape
100,000 residents were evacuated
The event rekindled the nuclear debate
Opponents saying that the chance of a catastrophe does not warrant the luck involved in the Three Mile Island event.
Supporters pointing out that nobody had been seriously injured or killed.
The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission strengthened its safety standards.

13. EC
What nuclear mishaps have rekindled the nuclear debate in recent years? (two)
Fukushima, Japan
San Onofre, California

14. hwk

15. p. 821, analyzing effects
It heightened Americans’ awareness that many of their activities were potentially harmful to the environment.

16. p. 822, summarizing In 1970, Nixon signed a new Clean Air Act
Congress passed the Endangered Species Act
Additional laws limiting pesticide use and curbing strip mining were passed.

17. p. 824, interpreting visual sources
People can identify with the experiences shown in the movie
Heard about it
Perhaps had personal experience with it
They educated people about the dangers of nuclear energy
But were biased by heavily political scriptwriting.

18. p. 825, analyzing effects
Opponents of nuclear power wanted the government to stop using nuclear plants.
Instead, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission tightened its standards and improved its inspection procedures.

19. p. 825, 3, interpreting graphs Supporters Opponents
Nuclear power should be used, since it is cleaner than coal or oil.
It is plentiful and cheap
Opponents
It is dangerous and the risks outweigh the benefits.

20. p. 825, 4, analyzing visual sources
The government is responsible for stopping or slowing pollution.
The government’s role as regulator should be recognized for the resulting clean air and healthy environment.

21. Earth Day
April 22, 1970
Nationwide grassroots activity to spread awareness about pollution, the growth of toxic waste, and the Earth’s dwindling resources.
Currently, on April 22, it is a worldwide event.
Started many grass-root efforts:
In the 2010s, Heal the Bay made a documentary to get people in California to vote for a state ban on plastic bags.

22. In groups
Organize the images in the correct chronological order: oldest time on top, newest on bottom.
Your best cues will be
the amount of environmental development.
The technological developments.

23. Brief Response
What caused Americans to become more environmentally active in the 1970s and to what ends?