Environmental History

Question 1

Period of First Significant Use

Answer 1

when humans began to appear in certain areas and significantly use natural resources

Question 2

What is the most common type of land present day?

Answer 2

seminatural

Question 3

Myth of Superabundance

Answer 3

resources are inexhaustible

Question 4

What was the worldview regarding natural resources?

Answer 4

nature is intended for humans to use and exploit

Question 5

Why did European settlers colonize the east coast in 1800?

Answer 5

they couldn’t cross the Appalachian trail

Question 6

What were three major effects of timber cutting?

Answer 6

deforestation, soil erosion, biodiversity loss

Question 7

How did hunting in the frontier era affect the bison population?

Answer 7

it dropped the bison population from approximately 15,000,000 to 3,000 (1865-1885)

Question 8

Why was the frontier closed?

Answer 8

Resources were depleted, superabundance was proved to be a myth

Question 9

Which law encouraged people to move west in the 1800s?

Answer 9

the Mining Act of 1872

Question 10

What were the two dominant ideas of the Progressive Movement?

Answer 10

conservation and preservation

Question 11

Who headed the conservationist movement?

Answer 11

Gifford Pinchot

Question 12

Who headed the preservationist movement?

Answer 12

John Muir

Question 13

What was Gifford Pinchot’s motivation for being a conservationist?

Answer 13

making a sustainable way of sourcing lumber

Question 14

What was John Muir’s motivation for being a preservationist?

Answer 14

he believed that nature was a gift from God, and it could not be used and destroyed

Question 15

What were the two primary conservation legislation documents?

Answer 15

Forest Reserves (1891) and the Forest Service Act (1897)

Question 16

What were the two primary Acts for preservation legislation?

Answer 16

Antiquities Act (1906) and National Park Service Organic Act (1916)

Question 17

What is the significance of the Pitman-Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act of 1937?

Answer 17

it prevented wholesale hunting

Question 18

What is conservation?

Answer 18

maximizing use of natural resources without completely diminishing their supply for the future

Question 19

What is preservation?

Answer 19

protecting natural resources by restricting their use for human consumption

Question 20

Civilian Conservation Corps

Answer 20

Roosevelt needed to give young men jobs, so he hired them to build trails in national parks

Question 21

Tennessee Valley Authority (1933)

Answer 21

nearby rivers were used to benefit people, dams were built for flood control and electricity. In turn, this made electricity very cheap

Question 22

Taylor Grazing Act (1934)

Answer 22

in order to prevent overexploitation, farmers were required to rotate out their grazing lands

Question 23

Soil Conservation Service (1935)

Answer 23

organization that works with farmers in order to preserve soil

Question 24

Poison Fog in Donora, PA 1948

Answer 24

an inversion layer trapped PA’s pollution which resulted in many deaths by suffocation

Question 25

Santa Barbara Oil Spill 1969

Answer 25

major oil leak led to oil washing up on beaches and killing wildlife

Question 26

Cuyahoga River Fire 1969

Answer 26

pollution in the water caused the river to catch fire

Question 27

Death of Lake Erie

Answer 27

algae growth due to fertilizer lead to eutrophication, which killed aquatic wildlife

Question 28

Love Canal Toxic Waste Spill 1977

Answer 28

fumes seeped up through people's houses because the housing plot was built over a toxic waste dump

Question 29

What was the legacy of the baby boomers?

Answer 29

consumer rights, civil rights, women's movement, and the antiwar movement

Question 30

Wilderness Act (1964)

Answer 30

protected areas of wilderness where people were not permitted to inhabit

Question 31

Land and Water Conservation Act (1964)

Answer 31

user fees were used to expand recreational and conservation areas

Question 32

NEPA (1970)

Answer 32

National Environmental Protection Act

Question 33

CAA (1970)

Answer 33

Clean Air Act

Question 34

FWPCA (1972)

Answer 34

Clean water act

Question 35

ESA (1973)

Answer 35

Endangered Species Act

Question 36

RCRA (1976)

Answer 36

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; chemical use and regulation

Question 37

CERCLA or Superfund (1980)

Answer 37

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act; created as a direct result of Love Canal

Question 38

SARA (1986)

Answer 38

Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act

Question 39

What was the major outcome of the Wise Use Movement (1980-1988)?

Answer 39

governmental regulation on usage of natural resources

Question 40

What were the three major natural resources regulated during the period of Ecosystem Management (1988-2000)?

Answer 40

water, public lands, and forests

Question 41

Cites (1973)

Answer 41

reduced trade in endangered species

Question 42

Montreal Protocol (1987)

Answer 42

protect ozone layer

Question 43

Kyoto Protocol (1997, 2005)

Answer 43

limit greenhouse gases

Question 44

Paris Climate Agreement (1995)

Answer 44

limit global warming to 2 degrees celsius