Historical Context
Environmental Movement in the 1970s
On April 22, 1970, Americans celebrated the first
Earth Day, an event instigated by the U.S. sen-
ator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. Part protest,
part teach-in, and part activist inspiration, Earth
Day has served to raise public awareness of envi-
ronmental issues and concerns.
During the 1970s, a growing number of writ-
ers, poets, philosophers, and scientists began to
sound the alarm that the natural world was in
danger from human-made pollution and misuse.
Aldo Leopold’s 1949 landmark volumeA Sand
County Almanacwas one of the first books to raise
issues of environmental conservation in the
United States. In turn, Rachel Carson’s 1963 best-
sellerSilent Springpresented galvanizing environ-
mental and ecological warnings. In this book,
Carson details how the use of the pesticide DDT
results in the thinning of the eggshells of large
birds, notably raptors such as hawks, ospreys,
and eagles, leading to drastically reduced repro-
ductive rates. As a result of DDT use, many bird
species came close to extinction. Carson’s work
proved to be one of the most influential environ-
mental books ever written in the United States. By
the 1970s, both of these books were very well
known, with Leopold’s work receiving renewed
interest, and environmentalists were working
hard to protect the natural world. Many credit
Silent Springwith being directly responsible for
the banning of DDT in 1972.
Much of the decade’s concern over environ-
mental issues sprang from a series of devastating
events. In the mid-1970s, for example, a chemical
used for making fire retardants for plastics was
accidentally added to cattle feed for dairy herds in
Michigan. As a result, the cattle and the people
who consumed dairy products from these cows
suffered serious health problems. Mothers across
the state passed the chemicals to their children
through their breast milk, and dairy farmers
were forced to slaughter their herds. In 1978, a
toxic disaster was discovered at Love Canal, a
neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York,
where humans and animals suffered terrible dam-
age from exposure to chemical wastes. After manyCOMPARE
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CONTRAST 1970s:An interest in the environment and in
ecology surfaces among writers and critics.
According to the author Don Scheese in his
bookNature Writing: The Pastoral Impulse
in America, the ‘‘‘greening’ of literary studies
and ‘ecocriticism’’’ begins late in the 1970s.
Today:Literary interest in the environment
and ecology continues, as exemplified by
writers such as Oliver, Annie Dillard, and
Barry Lopez. Ecocriticism, the study of the
relationship between literature and the nat-
ural world, is an accepted branch of literaryCriticism.
1970s: Provincetown, Massachusetts, on
Cape Cod, is becoming known as a cultural
center and is the home of Oliver and other
writers such as Norman Mailer.Today:Provincetown, Massachusetts, remains
an important cultural center, attracting diverse
writers, artists, photographers, and actors.
Oliver continues to live there.
1970s:Many natural areas suffer from human
exploitation. The Massachusetts Audubon
Society, which manages the state’s Black
Pond Nature Preserve, is forced to close the
boggy area because of overuse causing envi-
ronmental degradation.
Today:While natural areas continue to suffer,
some manage to recover. The Nature Con-
servancy manages the Black Pond Nature
Preserve, and the bog has recovered. The
Audubon Society and the Nature Conserv-
ancy lead walks on the property.The Black Snake