Environmental History

Every Civilization Contributed

Ancient Civilizations• 500 BC -- Cloaca Maxima (big sewer) is built

in Rome by Etruscan dynasty of Tarquins. As Rome grows, a networks of cloacae (sewers) and aquaducts are built.

• 535 AD -- Legal code (Institutes) of Roman emperor Justinian issued. In the section on the Law of Things, the first entry is:

"By the law of nature these things are common to mankind---the air, running water, the sea, and consequently the shores of the sea."

Progression of Environmental Issues

Hunters – Gathering Societies – “Age of man”

A. Earth Wisdom

B. Discovery of Energy

1. Sunlight

2. Fire

3. Man Power

C. Environmental Degradation – destruction of potentially renewable resources.

Agricultural Revolution

12,000 – 10,000 YA

AGROFORESTRY – Food crops & trees

SLASH & BURN – used for shifting cultivation

Agricultural Revolution • Use of domesticated Animals

• Birth Rate increase

• Irrigation was developed

• People settled down and collected materials

• Trade was established

• Establishment of villages, towns and cities

• Conflict between societies

• Increase in settlement near waterways

Ancient agricultural driven civilization which led to the Medieval age

Obtained through www.wsu.edu

Industrial Revolution260 years ago

then begun…Advanced Societies:

1. Improved Life Expectancy

2. Decreased Population Growth

3. Higher Standard of Living

4. Use of more Non-Renewable

Resources

Dark form of the peppered moth against the bark of an oak tree in England at the start of the Industrial Revolution. Dark and light peppered

moth against the bark of a darkened oak after the Industrial Revolution. Elemente der Naturwissenschaft 70: 39-51, 1999.

Reprinted with Permission

Some Key Dates

1905 – U.S. Forest Service Established

1920’s –Public Health Boards in most cities

1933 - Civilian Conservation Corp by F.D. Roosevelt

1970 - Establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency

1978 - Love Canal

1984 – Union Carbide in Bupal, India

1987 – Montreal Protocol

1989 - Exxon Valdez

1994 – Clean Air Legislation Enacted

1999 – Kyoto Summit in Japan

2010 – Deep Water Horizons, BP

www.geocities.com