Table Of ContentAMERICAN SOCIAL AND
Rethinking the American Environmental Movement post-1945 turns a fresh interpretive R POLITICAL MOVEMENTS OF
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lens on the past, drawing on a wide range of new histories of environmental activism
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to analyze the actions of those who created the movement and those who tried to
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thwart them. k
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Concentrating on the decades since World War II, environmental historian Ellen
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Griffith Spears explores environmentalism as a “field of movements” rooted in broader h Ellen Griffith Spears
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social justice activism. Noting major legislative accomplishments, strengths, and
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contributions, as well as the divisions within the ranks, the book reveals how new m
scientific developments, the nuclear threat, and pollution, as well as changes in e Rethinking the American
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urban living spurred activism among diverse populations. The book outlines the key i
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precursors, events, participants, and strategies of the environmental movement, and a
n Environmental Movement post-1945
contextualizes the story in the dramatic trajectory of U.S. history after World War II.
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The result is a synthesis of American environmental politics that one reader called n
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both “ambitious in its scope and concise in its presentation.” i
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This book provides a succinct overview of the American environmental movement m
and is the perfect introduction for students or scholars seeking to understand one of e
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the largest social movements of the twentieth century up through the robust climate t
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movement of today. l
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Ellen Griffith Spears is an associate professor in the interdisciplinary New College v
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and the Department of American Studies at the University of Alabama. She is author of
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the award-winning Baptized in PCBs: Race, Pollution, and Justice in an All-American e
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Town (2014).
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Cover image: People march from the U.S. Capitol to the White House for the People’s Climate Movement to
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protest President Donald Trump’s enviromental policies April 29, 2017 in Washington, DC. Demonstrators i
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across the country are gathering to demand a clean energy economy. Photo by Astrid Riecken/Getty Images fi
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ISBN 978-0-415-52958-7
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9 780415 529587
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RETHINKING THE AMERICAN
ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT
POST-1945
Rethinking the American Environmental Movement post-1945 turns a fresh interpre-
tive lens on the past, drawing on a wide range of new histories of environmental
activism to analyze the actions of those who created the movement and those
who tried to thwart them.
Concentrating on the decades since World War II, environmental histo-
rian Ellen Griffith Spears explores environmentalism as a “field of movements”
rooted in broader social justice activism. Noting major legislative accomplish-
ments, strengths, and contributions, as well as the divisions within the ranks, the
book reveals how new scientific developments, the nuclear threat, and pollution,
as well as changes in urban living spurred activism among diverse populations.
The book outlines the key precursors, events, participants, and strategies of the
environmental movement, and contextualizes the story in the dramatic trajectory
of U.S. history after World War II. The result is a synthesis of American envi-
ronmental politics that one reader called both “ambitious in its scope and concise
in its presentation.”
This book provides a succinct overview of the American environmental
movement and is the perfect introduction for students or scholars seeking to
understand one of the largest social movements of the twentieth century up
through the robust climate movement of today.
Ellen Griffith Spears is an associate professor in the interdisciplinary New
College and the Department of American Studies at the University of Alabama.
She is author of the award-winning Baptized in PCBs: Race, Pollution, and Justice
in an All-American Town (2014).
AMERICAN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL MOVEMENTS
OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Series Editor: Heather Ann Thompson, University of Michigan
Rethinking the Gay and Lesbian Movement
By Marc Stein
Rethinking American Women’s Activism
By Annelise Orleck
Rethinking the Chicano Movement
By Marc Simon Rodriguez
Rethinking the Black Freedom Movement
By Yohuru Williams
Rethinking the American Labor Movement
By Elizabeth Faue
Rethinking the American Prison Movement
By Daniel Berger & Toussaint Losier
Rethinking the American Antinuclear Movement
By Paul Rubinson
Rethinking the Struggle for Puerto Rican Rights
By Lorrin Thomas & Aldo A. Lauria Santiago
Rethinking the American Environmental Movement post-1945
By Ellen Griffith Spears
RETHINKING
THE AMERICAN
ENVIRONMENTAL
MOVEMENT POST-1945
Ellen Griffith Spears
First published 2020
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2020 Taylor & Francis
The right of Ellen Griffith Spears to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and
78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-415-52957-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-52958-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-08169-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
CONTENTS
Series Editor’s Introduction vi
Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments viii
Abbreviations ix
Introduction: A Field of Movements 1
1 Antecedents: A Wide Arc (prior to 1945) 17
2 The Great Acceleration and the Postwar Rise of
Environmentalism (1945–1962) 55
3 Expanding the Field of Movements (1963–1980) 89
4 The Conservative Countermovement and the Upsurge of
Environmental Justice (1980–1990) 129
5 Globalizing Environmentalism (1990–2000) 164
6 Intersectional Activism and Climate Justice (2001–present) 197
7 Hope in a Strange Season 236
Bibliography 242
Index 259
SERIES EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the American Social and Political Movements of the Twentieth Century
series at Routledge. This collection of works by top historians from around
the nation and world introduces students to the myriad movements that came
together in the United States during the twentieth century to expand democracy,
to reshape the political economy, and to increase social justice.
Each book in this series explores a particular movement’s origins, its central
goals, its leading as well as grassroots fighters, its actions as well as ideas, and its
most important accomplishments as well as missteps.
With this series of concise yet synthetic overviews and reassessments, students
will not only gain a richer understanding of the many human rights and civil
liberties that they take for granted today, but they will also newly appreciate how
recent, how deeply contested, and thus how inherently fragile, are these elements
of American citizenship.
Heather Ann Thompson
University of Michigan
ILLUSTRATIONS
1.1 African-American women hiking at Niagara Falls, c. 1905 37
2.1 Rachel Carson, 1963 81
3.1 El Malcriado, The United Farm Workers oppose pesticides, 1969 93
4.1 Southern Christian Leadership Conference leaders join
Warren County, North Carolina, anti-PCB fight, 1982 140
5.1 Labor and Environmental Groups defy the World Trade
Organization in Seattle, 1999 191
6.1 The Standing Rock Sioux and allies battle the Dakota Access
Pipeline, 2016 212
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Warm thanks to series editor Heather Ann Thompson for the invitation to con-
tribute to this valuable series. Appreciation is due to editor Kimberly Guinta, who
guided me through the early stages of this project, and editors Margo Irvin and
Eve Mayer, along with editorial assistants Daniel Finaldi, Theodore Meyer, and
Zoë Forbes, who helped guide the project to completion. Research assistants Jamie
Burke, Mary Heske, Susannah Robichaux, Sarah Asseff, Jaclyn Higgins, and Sumona
Gupta provided much appreciated aid in various stages of the project. Beth Duncan
prepared the index. At the University of Alabama, colleagues in New College the
Department of American Studies, and a College of Arts and Sciences research grant
provided valuable support. Publisher-in-Residence George F. Thompson offered
keen insights. Pat Causey fielded endless interlibrary loan requests.
A committed team of eco-activist students shared their insights: Mallory
Flowers, Caitlin McClusky, Mark Ortiz, Elyse Peters, and Heath Thompson.
Special thanks to the Environmental Law Institute for granting permission to
quote from their collection of oral histories conducted with environmental lead-
ers. The Museum of African American History of Boston, Massachusetts, kindly
provided the image of African American women hikers at Niagara Falls.
I am indebted also to Heather Elliott, Mark Fiege, Amy Hay, Adam Rome,
and Jeffrey K. Stine for insights shared at conferences and via phone and email.
Jennifer Meares provided brilliant editing advice. Chris Wells’ comments on
the entire manuscript proved extraordinarily helpful. Rethinking the American
Environmental Movement draws on a robust literature of exemplary scholarship to
suggest the contours of the contemporary reassessment of the field of movements
that defines American environmentalism. Lapses in interpretation or fact are mine
alone. A concise history of U.S. environmentalism is necessarily selective and can
only hint at key themes a deeper inquiry might consider.
Thanks always to those nearest, for their love and support, especially Brian.
ABBREVIATIONS
AAA Agricultural Adjustment Act
AAAS American Association for the Advancement of Science
ACLU American Civil Liberties Union
ACSH American Council on Science and Health
AEC Atomic Energy Commission
AFGE American Federation of Government Employees
AFL-CIO American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial
Organizations
ALEC American Legislative Exchange Council
ANWR Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
ARCH Architect’s Renewal Committee in Harlem
ASPCA American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
ATSDR Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (now com-
bined with the National Center for Environmental Health, part
of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
BAN Basel Action Network
BASF Badische Anilin und Soda-Fabrik
BLM Bureau of Land Management
BOR Bureau of Reclamation
BP British Petroleum
CASSE Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy
CBI confidential business information
CBTU Coalition of Black Trade Unionists
CCC Civilian Conservation Corps
CCL Citizens’ Climate Lobby
CCHW Citizens’ Clearinghouse on Hazardous Waste
