Environmental Exploitation
We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.
-Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, 1949
-Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, 1949
America’s desire for economic progress and widespread ignorance of the long-term consequences of man’s actions led to the overuse of natural resources and the creation of hazardous living conditions.
Overuse of Resources
"...natural resources were heavily exploited, especially in the West. Land speculators and developers took over large tracts of forests and grazing land. Acreage important to water power was seized by private concerns. Mining companies practiced improper and wasteful mining practices. Assuming a seemingly inexhaustible supply of natural resources, Americans developed a 'tradition of waste.'"
- Library of Congress, American Memory Timeline, Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929
- Library of Congress, American Memory Timeline, Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929
Devastation of Land
Source: Library of Congress
|
Extinction of Buffalo
Source: W. E. Webb, Buffalo Land, 1872
|
Over Fishing
Source: The Salmon and Salmon Fisheries of Alaska by Jefferson F. Moser, 1899
|
Pollution
Air Pollution
Source: USC Libraries Special Collections
|
"[In]...1948, atmospheric conditions in the vicinity of Donora, Pennsylvania, contributed to the deaths of nineteen people within a 24-hour period...such contamination of the atmosphere was caused by the zinc smelting plant, steel mills' open hearth furnaces, a sulfuric acid plant, with slag dumps, coal burning steam locomotives, and river boats."
- James H. Duff Papers, Subject File, Letter of Mrs. Lois Bainbridge of Webster, PA, to the Governor, October 31, 1948 |
Water Pollution
|
"Beginning with the Industrial Revolution and the development of the Delaware Valley as a major industrial and manufacturing center in the 19th century, waste disposal from increasing population and industrial activities resulted in progressive degradation of water quality and loss of the once-abundant natural resources of the estuary." R.C. Albert, Delaware River Basin Commission, July 31, 1997 |
Source: Bill Roberts, Cleveland Press, July 24, 1964
|