Weekly essays 31- 1980s

1.) Environmental policies in the United States saw major shifts between 1945 and 1980.
The public's growing awareness of environmental issues and the understanding that
human activity was having a negative influence on the environment were the biggest
factors behind these improvements.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which was passed in 1970, represented
one of the key advances in environmental policy during this time. The public had to be
involved in the decision-making process and federal agencies had to evaluate the harmful
effects of their actions. The historic NEPA regulations indicated a change in the way the
federal government approached environmental protection. The founding of the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970 was another important event that
occurred during this time. The EPA was created to manage and uphold environmental
laws as well as unify government environmental efforts. With the development of the
EPA, the federal government's role in environmental regulation faced a major shift, and
environmental protection became a priority. The Clean Air Act of 1963 and its following
updates in 1970 and 1977, which mandated national requirements for air quality and
pushed states to prepare plans to meet those requirements, were further significant
improvements to environmental policy during this time. And, the Clean Water Act of
1972, set federal water quality standards and required that states make plans that met with
the regulations.

US environmental policies experienced major changes as a whole between 1945 and

1980. A change in the federal government's attitude to environmental regulation could be
seen by the passing of laws like NEPA and the founding of the EPA, which paved the way
for other changes to environmental policy in the years to come.

2.) a-) One specific historical development that contributed to the conservative resurgence in
the 1980s was the idea that the federal gov. Had become too powerful and had too much
effect on citizens. This was because of things such as US involvement in the Vietnam
war, Watergate, and the slowing of economic growth.

b-) One specific effect of the conservative resurgence on federal government policy
during the 1980s was a shift towards deregulation and a reduction in the size of the
federal gov. This is because conservatives felt as though gov. Regulation was holding
back economic growth and that reducing the role of the gov. Would regain economic
prosperity.

c-) One specific criticism of the conservative resurgence in the 1980s was that it
aggravated income equality and weakened the social safety net. Many people debated
that the Reagan Administrations focus on deregulation and the cutting of taxes unfairly
benefited the wealthy population of americans and reduced the attention on programs that
supported the less fortunate population.