Explain at least three historical events in detail.

Justify using examples and evidence, how historical

influences have shaped the development of the modern environment movement.

1. 1970: First Earth Day

The first earth day movement did not just happen instantly, it has been a product of the past
events that had awaken citizens to start a movement. These events are the January 28, 1969, oil rig
leaked, leaking millions of gallons of oil off the coast of Santa Barbara. A few months after it, on June 22,
1969, the Cuyahoga River incident happens on the southern shores of Lake Erie wherein it had been
caught on fire as chemicals, oil, and other industrial materials that had oozed into the river somehow
ignited. In the same year, reports surfaced that the bald eagle, a national symbol, was rapidly declining
due to the chemical DDT, and whales all over the world were being hunted nearly to extinction. These
and other events drew national media and raised public awareness of the numerous environmental
insults directed at the country and the world (US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, 2021).

As a response, the Earth Day Founder Gaylord Nelson, who served as the Governor of Wisconsin
(1958-1962) and in the U.S. Senate (1963-1981), organized a nationwide "teach-in" about environmental
on April 22, 1970. Attended by more than 2,000 colleges and universities, 10,000 public schools, and 20
million citizens participated—nearly 10 percent of the U.S. population at that time. This then gave birth
to the “EARTH DAY”. But the earth day is not the only thing that had founded that time it also helped
establish a political climate conducive to forming both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on October 3, 1970, that
had aided in protecting our environment today (US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, 2021).

US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic, and Atmospheric Administration. (2021). When Was
the First Earth Day? Retrieved May 21, 2021, from Noaa.gov website:
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/earth-day.html

‌2. 1970: Filled up landfills curbside Recycling

The environmental movement of the 1970s has been credited with shaping American recycling
programs–although concern about the post-war disposable culture goes back almost to its beginning.
The recycling program occurs when consumers and manufacturers had been paying attention to the
implications of single-use products and the lack of infrastructure for dealing with waste for years that
had caused landfills to fill up in the 1970s. (Kat Eschner, 2017). “Landfilling was the most popular form of
disposal after World War II,” Melosi says, and recycling is a way to reduce tipping the balance. “It takes
things out of the waste stream, preserving landfill space. So, recycling begins to have an economic and
strategic role, different from just saving the environment.”. This then resulted in the recycling program
(Sheila Mulrooney Eldred, 2020).
 The Curbside recycling programs ripples its effect that had solved the convenience issue, even
though the prevalence varied from city to city. Like in 1960, over 6 percent of municipal solid waste was
recycled. Since then, recycling rates have increased to about 10 percent in 1980; 16 percent in 1990; 29
percent in 2000, and over 35 percent in 2017. It helped decrease the amount of waste going to landfills
from 94 percent in 1960 to 52 percent of the amount generated in 2017. In the new millennium age, it
had given birth to the concept of Zero Waste, challenging people to produce less waste by considering
the front end of the problem—the disposable products people use instead of just the back end (Sheila
Mulrooney Eldred, 2020). Thus, giving this event of the filled up landfilled curbside recycling that up
until now is being done to help our environment.

References:

Kat Eschner. (2017, November 15). How the 1970s Created Recycling As We Know It. Retrieved
May 21, 2021, from Smithsonian Magazine website: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-
news/how-1970s-created-recycling-we-know-it-180967179/#:~:text=Waxman%20for%20Time%2C
%20%22Americans%20began,half%20of%20the%2020th%20century.%22&text=Then%20in
%201980%2C%20Woodbury%2C%20New,with%20a%20curbside%20recycling%20program.

Sheila Mulrooney Eldred. (2020, April 14). When Did Americans Start Recycling? Retrieved May
21, 2021, from HISTORY website: https://www.history.com/news/recycling-history-america

3. 1985: Antarctic ozone hole discovery

Three scientists from the British Antarctic Survey report abnormally low levels of ozone over the
South Pole in the scientific journal Nature on May 16, 1985. Their discovery, known as the Ozone Hole,
became a palpable symbol of mankind's potential to destroy the Earth's atmosphere as well as one of
the most well-known success stories in climate activism history (History.com Editors, 2020).

Ever since the 1970s, scientists had scientists have advocated for the control of
chlorofluorocarbons, chemicals used in everyday products such as air conditioners and aerosol sprays,
Because of their negative effects on this layer. The Environmental Protection Agency then banned the
production of CFCs in 1978. It was the Nature paper by Joe Farman, Brian Gardiner, and Jonathan
Shanklin, however, which specifically revealed annual depletion of ozone in a spot above the Arctic.
Resulting in the international community's quick action on the problem. In the span of two years, in
direct response to the Nature article and corroborating studies, 46 nations signed the Montreal
Protocol, pledging to phase out substances known to cause ozone depletion. All 197 members of the
United Nations would eventually ratify the treaty, and as a result, scientists now predict that the ozone
layer will return to its pre-1980 levels before the end of the 21st century. The relative speed and
unanimous adoption of the treaty around the world led former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to call
the Montreal Protocol "perhaps the single most successful international agreement to date"
(History.com Editors, 2020). Hence, making the Antarctic ozone hole discovery in 1985 significantly
impacted the world in creating actions to prevent further damage to our ozone layer, for, without its
discovery, our world would have been destroyed from all the CFC we use every day.

Reference:
History.com Editors. (2020, April 7). Discovery of Ozone Hole announced. Retrieved May 21, 2021, from
HISTORY website: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/discovery-of-antarctic-ozone-hole-
announced#:~:text=In%20the%20scientific%20journal%20Nature,ozone%20over%20the%20South
%20Pole.