US History Name:

Ms. Kurecki

Environmental Movement Notes

This packet will be due at the end
Bell-ringer 4/22/2016
Review from last class: How did the Civil Rights Movement inspire other groups to challenge
American society? Think of 2 examples from our class & explain how the Civil Rights Movement
inspired them.

Intro Activity

1 Who are the people in the picture?

2 What are they doing? Where are they doing it?

3 What props are they using?

4 What is their general message?

1. What news is this headline reporting?

2. What was “Earth Day”?

3. What were people protesting?

4. Why was this particularly newsworthy in 1970?

Who wrote the book Silent Spring? What was her occupation?

Silent Spring Video notes:

Did Rachel Carson have a popular viewpoint on environmental issues?

Which pesticide did Rachel Carson protest in her book?

How many pounds of DDT were used in 1955?

Why did local governments use DDT?

What event inspired Carson to write Silent Spring?

What does the name “Silent Spring” mean? Why did she call it this title?

Did Rachel Carson believe that all pesticides were dangerous?

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Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (1962)

In 1962, marine biologist Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, which documented
the harm to the enivonment wrought by pesticides – particularly the insecticide DDT
– and other chemicals. Although it sparked fierce opposition from critics who
challenged her findings, the book became a bestseller and is generally credited with
helping to foster a new environmental movement in the United States.
The opening chapter of the book appears below.
 Chapter One: A Fable For Tomorrow
There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in
harmony with its surroundings. The town lay in the midst of a checkerboard of
prosperous farms, with fields of grain and hillsides of orchards where, in spring,
white clouds of bloom drifted above the green fields. In autumn, oak and maple and
birch set up a blaze of color that flamed and flickered across a backdrop of pines.
Then foxes barked in the hills and deer silently crossed the fields, half hidden in the
mists of the fall mornings.

Along the roads, laurel, viburnum and alder, great ferns and wildflowers
delighted the traveler's eye through much of the year. Even in winter the roadsides
were places of beauty, where countless birds came to feed on the berries and on the
seed heads of the dried weeds rising above the snow. The countryside was, in fact,
famous for the abundance and variety of its bird life, and when the flood of migrants
was pouring through in spring and fall people traveled from great distances to
observe them. Others came to fish the streams, which flowed clear and cold out of
the hills and contained shady pools where trout lay. So it had been from the days
many years ago when the first settlers raised their houses, sank their wells, and built
their barns.

Then a strange blight crept over the area and everything began to
change. Some evil spell had settled on the community: mysterious maladies
swept the flocks of chickens; the cattle and sheep sickened and died.
Everywhere was a shadow of death. The farmers spoke of much illness among
their families. In the town the doctors had become more and more puzzled by new
kinds of sickness appearing among their patients. There had been several sudden
and unexplained deaths, not only among adults but even among children, who would
be stricken suddenly while at play and die within a few hours.
There was a strange stillness. The birds, for example — where had they gone?
Many people spoke of them, puzzled and disturbed. The feeding stations in the
backyards were deserted. The few birds seen anywhere were moribund; they
trembled violently and could not fly. It was a spring without voices. On the mornings
that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens,
and scores of other bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the
fields and woods and marsh.

The roadsides, once so attractive, were now lined with browned and withered
vegetation as though swept by fire. These, too, were silent, deserted by all living
things. Even the streams were now lifeless. Anglers no longer visited them, for all the
fish had died.

In the gutters under the eaves and between the shingles of the roofs, a white
granular powder still showed a few patches; some weeks before it had fallen like
snow upon the roofs and the lawns, the fields and streams.

No witchcraft, no enemy action had silenced the rebirth of new life in this
stricken world. The people had done it themselves.

This town does not actually exist, but it might easily have a thousand counterparts in
America or elsewhere in the world. I know of no community that has experienced all
the misfortunes I describe. Yet every one of these disasters has actually happened
somewhere, and many real communities have already suffered a substantial number
of them. A grim specter has crept upon us almost unnoticed, and this imagined
tragedy may easily become a stark reality we all shall know.

What has already silenced the voices of spring in countless towns in America?
This book is an attempt to explain.
 Directions: While we listen to the songs, circle or underline any lyrics of the songs that stand out
to you. After we listen to each song, I will give you 2-3 minutes to write down your own answers to
the questions below. After that, we will discuss as a class.

Joni Mitchell, “Big Yellow Taxi” (1970)

They paved paradise

And put up a parking lot ‘Til it's gone
With a pink hotel, a boutique They paved paradise
And a swinging hot SPOT And put up a parking lot
Don't it always seem to go Hey farmer, farmer
That you don't know what you've got
‘Til it's gone Put away that DDT now
They paved paradise Give me spots on my apples
And put up a parking lot But LEAVE me the birds and the bees
Please!
They took all the trees Don't it always seem to go
And put them in a tree museum That you don't know what you've got
Then they charged the people ‘Til its gone
A dollar and a half just to see 'em They paved paradise
Don't it always seem to go, And put up a parking lot
That you don't know what you've got

Look at the lines of the song in boldface. What do you think the songwriter means by
these lines?

Is the song a clear statement about environmental issues? Why or why not?

Does the song, directly or indirectly, connect with the themes of Silent Spring by
Rachel Carson? If so, cite a specific sentence or paragraph from the book and
explain the connection.
Jackson Browne, “Before the Deluge” (1974)

Some of them were angry

At the way the earth was abused
By the men who learned how to forge her beauty into power
And they struggled to protect her from them
Only to be confused
By the magnitude of her fury in the final hour
And when the sand was gone and the time arrived
In the naked dawn only a few survived
And in attempts to understand a thing so simple and so huge Believed that they were
meant to live after the deluge

Look at the lines of the song in boldface. What do you think the songwriter means by
these lines?

Is the song a clear statement about environmental issues? Why or why not?

Does the song, directly or indirectly, connect with the themes of Silent Spring by
Rachel Carson? If so, cite a specific sentence or paragraph from the book and
explain the connection.
US History Name:
Ms Kurecki

Environmental Legislation Activity

Pick 1 of the following Congressional acts to research:

1 Clean Air Act (1970)

2 Water Pollution and Control Act Amendments (1970, 1972, 1977)
3 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (1976)
4 Toxic Substances Control Act (1976)
5 Occupational Safety and Health Act (1970)
6 Endangered Species Act (1973)
7 Safe Drinking Water Act (1974)
8 Federal Land Policy and Management Act (1976)
9 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (1977)
10National Environmental Policy Act (1969)

Circle which law you decided to research J

Questions
1. What is the purpose of the law?

2. What related legislation was in place before the law's passage?

3. What events caused this law to be passed?

4. Who supported the law? What were their reasons for proposing it?

5. Who opposed the law? Why did they oppose it?

6. What has been the impact of the law on the American environment?
7. What might have been the effect if Congress never passed the law?

Your challenge:

You are a person living in the 1960’s or 1970’s. Use your research to write a letter to your
congressional representative either supporting or opposing the “new” environmental law. Be sure
to include at least 3 facts about your law in the letter. Your letter should be at least 10 sentences.
Due at the end of the class period.

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