A

ACTIVISM FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

A Decade of Growing Activism

The 1970s were a time of rapidly growing consciousness about the importance of protecting the environment. Not since the decade after 1910 had ecology seemed so significant to such a broad group of people, including students, scientists, politicians, people in business, and the most ordinary of citizens. Of course, these groups did not always find themselves on the same side. When housewife and mother Lois Gibbs formed the Love Canal Homeowners Association to investigate and publicize the fact that a toxic-waste dump in her community was causing residents to have a high rate of illness, businessmen were hardly thrilled. Yet the words of President Nixon, a supporter of business interests, suggest how widespread the consensus on environmental issues was in 1970. He said, "A major goal for the next ten years for this country must be to restore the cleanliness of the air, the water, the broader problem of population congestion, transport and the like."

Earth Day

One measure of the unanimity about environmental problems was the national celebration of Earth Day on 22 April 1970. Millions of Americans participated in demonstrations, teach-ins, and community cleanup projects for the environment. The observance, coordinated by a group in Washington that included congressional designees in honorary positions, was modeled after the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations of 1969. Intended to galvanize public sentiment for environmental issues, it was celebrated in a variety of ways. In New York tens of thousands marched down Fifth Avenue. In Boston a small group was arrested at Logan Airport protesting noise pollution and the development of supersonic jets. Students in Minneapolis and Chicago gained entrance to stockholders' meetings of major polluters, including General Electric and Commonwealth Edison, to demand changes in policy and priorities. There was at least one sign that not everybody saw environmental issues in the same way: Secretary of the Interior Walter Hickel used the occasion to announce the approval of the proposed Alaskan oil pipeline, which environmental groups had opposed in the belief that it would destroy the unique habitat of the tundra and disturb migratory patterns of many animals.

Reducing Chemicals

The presence of artificially synthesized chemicals in food and the environment became the focus of numerous skirmishes between citizens and industry. Toxic-waste sites, the pesticide DDT, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in aerosol cans became rallying causes for those who believed the environment needed protection from big business and big science. When federal regulators, over the objection of pesticide companies, banned DDT in 1972 as dangerous to humans and wildlife, many found in this action a symbol of the need for strong oversight of irresponsible science and industry. Johnny Carson spoke for many when he said on The Tonight Show in May 1977, "I say we should trust science. Remember science has given us DDT …DDT has worked so well we don't have to use it anymore, because it's working everywhere, in the rivers, in our food, and in our lungs."

CFCs

Another chemical compound, CFCs, could be found in nearly every household, not only in aerosol cans, but also in styrofoam, foam mattresses, air conditioners, and refrigerators. Some scientists—beginning with Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina in 1973—argued that CFCs were depleting the ozone layer of the upper atmosphere, exposing life on earth to ever-increasing amounts of ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Excess ultraviolet would result in higher human skin cancer rates, lower crop yields, and a cooling effect on the global climate. Following these warnings, chemical companies, notably DuPont, insisted that if CFCs were dangerous, they would cease production immediately to protect the environment. Then they did nothing for five years and lobbied Congress to postpone efforts to restrict the chemicals, calling for more studies. To some this seemed like responsible business practice; to others, stalling. Finally, in 1978, the FDA stepped in, banning CFCs in aerosol products.

Ecofeminism

Some participants in the woman's rights movement felt that there was also a connection between what they saw as men's oppression of women and human domination of nature. They believed that the idea that women were somehow closer to nature might be part of why and how men exploited both. Susan Griffin's 1978 book, Woman and Nature, was an important statement of the movement that began to call itself ecofeminism. In this prose poem Griffin blends together mistreatment of women and nature by the rapacious male: "He says she cannot continue without him. He says she must have what he gives her. He says also that he protects her from predators. That he gives her chlordan, parathion, Malathion, chlorophenol.…"