University of Phoenix Material

Environmental Movement Matrix

Choose five items from the following list and identify their significance during the 1970s:

|Cuyahoga River, OH (Cleveland) fire 1969 |Conservationism vs. environmentalism |
|Love Canal |Acid rain |
|Silent Spring |Ozone layer |
|Population Bomb |Rainforests |
|Endangered Species Act (1966, 1969, & 1973) |Depletion of fossil fuels |
|Clean Water Act (1972, 1977) |Climate change |

|Event |Significance |
|Silent Spring |Written by Rachel Carson, Silent Spring was a book that had a huge influence on the decision to ban DDT in the |
| |United States in 1972 (Brinkley, 2012). Unlike most pesticides, whose effectiveness is limited to destroying |
| |one or two types of insects, DDT was capable of killing hundreds of different kinds at once. Silent Spring took|
| |Carson four years to complete. It described in great detail how DDT entered the food chain and accumulated in |
| |the fatty tissues of animals, including human beings, and caused cancer and genetic damage. |
|Acid Rain |Acid rain is rainfall polluted by chemical contaminants. It destroys lakes and forests (Brinkley, 2012). It |
| |was not until the late 1960’s and early 1970’s that acid rain was recognized as a regional environmental issue |
| |affecting large areas of western Europe and eastern North America. As a global environmental issue, it has |
| |frequently been overshadowed by climate change. Although the problem of acid rain has been significantly |
| |reduced in some areas, it remains an important environmental issue within and downwind from major industrial |
| |regions worldwide. |
|Ozone layer |The ozone layer forms a thin shield high up in the sky. It protects life on Earth from the sun's ultraviolet |
| |(UV) rays. “The depletion of the ozone layer as a result of the release of chlorofluorocarbons into the |
| |atmosphere, which threatened to limit the earth’s protection from dangerous ultraviolet rays from the sun; and |
| |most alarming, global warming, which if unchecked would create dramatic changes in the earth’s climate and would|
| |threaten existing cities and settlements in coastal areas all over the world by causing a rise in ocean levels” |
| |(Brinkley, 2012). |
|Rainforests |Rain forests are the Earth's oldest living ecosystems. They cover only 6% of the Earth's surface yet they |
| |contain more than half of the world's plant and animal species. Tropical rain forests have been subjected to |
| |heavy logging and agricultural clearance throughout the 20th century, and the area covered by rain forests |
| |around the world is rapidly shrinking. This destruction of the rain forests is limiting the Earth’s capacity to |
| |replenish its supply of oxygen (Brinkley, 2012). |
|Depletion of fossil |In the 1960’s, environmentalists brought to public attention the long-term dangers of the depletion of |
|fuels |irreplaceable fossil fuels (Brinley, 2012). As we keep on using oil, gas and coal for our energy needs, we’re |
| |bound to run out of fuel sooner or later. With global population growth and the development of formerly |
| |undeveloped countries, energy demand is growing fast. Renewable energies will be able to supply some of that |
| |energy, but we are still counting on fossil fuels to provide the largest part. |

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References

Brinkley, A. (2012). American history: Connecting with the past (14th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.