environmental history every civilization contributed
TRANSCRIPT
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
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