Activity 4.1 – US Environmental History and Major Regulations.

Most historians who study US policy agree that there were 3 major eras that were the most significant when it comes to shifting ideas and regulations on human impact on the environment. These are: The American conservation movement, The rise of environmental risk management as a basis for policy, and The integration of social and economic factors to create the sustainability paradigm.

The earliest people to settle and live in North America had no concept of an exhaustible resource. To them, plants, rivers, and animals were unlimited and if one was used up, another could be found with no concern or fear of extinction.

The beginning of the American conservation movement was a start of environmental impact consciousness with people showing interest in finding ways to conserve soil. One of the few people from the 18th century who showed interest in finding more responsible farming methods was Jared Elliot (1685-1763), designer of the drill plough. Although his concern did not impact many, some groups from a century later became increasingly concerned with the environmentally unsustainable practices of industries. These groups of people included conservationists Eugene Hilgard, Franklin Hough, Gifford Pinchot, Sterling Morton, Frederick Law Olmsted, and Alice Hamilton who played an imperative part in educating others on the harmful consequences of environmental exploitation. Their hard work led to the establishment of important institutions that still exist today such as The US Forest service, and the National park service.


In 1836 Ralph Waldo Emerson, the leader of the transcendental movement, shared his thoughts on the relationship of nature and humans and the importance of appreciating the planet we greatly depend on in his seminal essay “Nature”.

I enjoyed reading the excerpt of this essay from Chapter 2. It truly articulates in a meaningful way how nature and humans are connected in more ways that we can consciously identify, and how much we take our privilege being on Earth for granted. I imagine it must have been really hard to talk about these topics in a time period when industries were completely indifferent to social concerns of large-scale environmental impact. Other notable artists of this time period were A. B. Durand who painted beautiful scenes where the main subject was nature and humans only an added element.

Margaret Fuller edited “The Dial”, a transcendental journal, and wrote ``Leaves of Grass'', a piece of poetry that focuses on praising humans and the environment they live in.





Theis, T., & Tomkin, J. (Eds). (2018). Sustainability: A comprehensive foundation.

Russell, E., & Fairfax, S. K. (2014). Guide to U.S. Environmental Policy