Report: First along the River by Benjamin Kline
In early American society the people were mostly agrarian and expected a certain amount of Voltairean tolerance in there religion, however time would reveal a less than tolerant view of the environment. Beginning 1492 when Columbus in the name of Spain made his way to the East Indies an immediate impact was made on the environment as Columbus turned on the native people who had been very accommodating. Thereafter North American would forever be changed as a result of Columbus' discovery. The first impact was of course was the virtual annihilation of the native people in south and central America then followed by the removal of the gold and silver in those regions. Soon to follow the Spanish was England and France who both contributed mightily to the degradation of both the native species and the timber in North America. American or rather Old World ideas of the time put man as the controlling factor in nature, and that idea helped to deplete nature to the point where it could no longer produce. In the south the plantation system virtually emptied the soil of its nutrients, Dr. Kline explains it best as "by the 18th century Virginia began suffering low yields, as the best lands were eroding from overuse."(18) It seems that the col
The depression years saw many people turning toward a government supply them with jobs not a clean environment. Thus it was essentially back to the old ways of big business. This turning back of the clock was short lived however, and the 1930's saw legislation protecting the Great Plains with the Taylor Grazing act and the Soil Conservation act, no doubt in response to the dust bowl in Oklahoma which was a result of erosion do to over farming. Obligations of this kind show a determined effort to sway back the toll humans have taken from the land and it seems the United States would continue to do so in decades to come. In the 1960's America saw a surge of groups that promoted special interests and would be a prelude to a more active role by government to regulate the nation's natural resources. Arguably the most controversial President to grace the office was President Nixon, but he did more for the regulation of the environment than most past presidents. His first order of business was the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency. While certainly there was regulation in the past it would appear that this agency was a concrete effort to place an agency completely in charge of one thing, the regulation of the environment. It was clear that the people of the U.S. wanted and needed this agency as a method to secure a healthier future, but it would seem that the EPA has been more in the business of over regulation and not necessary regulation. In the years to follow under the Ronald Reagan laws and bureaucracies were downsized and business was allowed to run amuck, the EPA having its staffing cut was in no position to regulate business and as a result the administration capabilities were nil. The most palpable defect in American society can be summed up in one word; Capitalism. This is not to suggest that capitalism is a dire system, but if left completely unchecked it will, as evidenced, use every available resource at its disposal to acquire wealth. This could never have been better proven in the years that followed the Civil War. America was set back in the industrial revolution and needed to catch up with nations like Great Brittan who were solidly entrenched as an industrial leader. The United States was helped along in its pursuit of wealth with immigration of millions of people from Europe. These immigrants were the back bone of the American industrial machine. Factories sprang up all over American and each emitting its own choking fumes from its furnace. This would not be the sum of it as Americans were introduced to oil by Edwin Drake. According to Dr. Kline it would seem that 85% of the oil used was burned in homes while factories use
Some common words found in the essay are:
Dr Kline, Al Gore, Ronald Reagan, Teddy Roosevelt, Soil Conservation, Pacific Ocean21, War America, John Muir, Industrial Revolution, Protection Agency, dr kline, industrial nation, john muir, soil nutrients, clean environment, regulation environment, native people, line thinking, conserve nature, sierra club,
Approximate Word count = 1803
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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