Environmentalism in the 1970s
During the 1960s, the government became involved in environmentalism. Public interest continued throughout the following decade.
When Earth Day was celebrated nationally for the first time on April 22, 1970, Rachel Carson continued to be an important influence.
"Eight years ago, Rachel Carson wrote The Silent Spring [sic], and the world awakened to the terrifying danger of DDT -- a persistent poison accumulating in the fat of virtually all creatures on earth." -from an Earth Day speech by Senator Walter Mondale |
Shortly after the first Earth Day, President Nixon's Advisory Council on Executive Organization observed that the federal government at the time was "neither structured nor oriented to sustain a well-articulated attack on the practices which debase the air we breathe, the water we drink and the land that grows our food. Indeed, the present departmental structure for dealing with environmental protection defies effective and concerted action."
The United States Environmental Protection Agency was created to fix this problem. Several other environmental agencies were merged together into one unit. William D. Ruckelshaus, the first EPA Administrator, explained in 1970 that "[the EPA] has a broad responsibility for research, standard-setting, monitoring and enforcement with regard to five environmental hazards; air and water pollution, solid waste disposal, radiation, and pesticides. EPA represents a coordinated approach to each of these problems, guaranteeing that as we deal with one difficulty we do not aggravate others." |
1972 was a banner year for the environmental movement. Many important pieces of legislation were passed, like the Clean Water Act, which the National Resources Defense Council called "one of the strongest environmental laws ever written", and the Federal Environmental Pesticide Control Act. On the last day of the year, a ban on DDT went into effect. Other than rare, necessary exceptions, the dangerous pesticide was no longer available for public use - a far cry from the previous decades.
As time passed and the problems outlined in Silent Spring were solved, the book became less relevant. But the movement it inspired lived on...