Humans have a complex relationship with the great outdoors— nature. On the one hand, we as a species have exploited the Earth’s natural resources with devastating speed. Greed has led to clearing forests, damming rivers, killing wildlife, fouling the air, and water with pollutants. On the other hand, most take pride in the extraordinary beauty of their individual country. Americans are no different and for more than a century, many have fought to protect the environment.
The history of conservation is generally tied to the industrial age, as a kind of backlash against exploitation of uncontrolled industrial growth and unfettered capitalism of the age. But that is a simplistic answer. In reality, it goes back a few hundred more years before this. In fact, many argue that the conservation movement did not begin in the industrial era, but in a slightly earlier time. By 1662, a John Evelyn presented a work called “Sylva or a discourse on forest trees and the propagation of timber in His Majesty's dominions” to the Royal Society. Two years later, a printed book version followed and it became one of the most important early works in forestry. This work was unique in the sense that Sylva highlighted the growing problem of deforestation in England. It was way ahead of its time and it called for preservation of existing forests and the replenishment of new trees. While Evelyn may not have taken the work upon his own shoulders, pieces of work like his lay the groundwork for people to have conversations about the environment. As a result of his literature people were finding themselves increasingly concerned at the destruction of trees for Charles II building projects. Something to note though is that for as successful as the book became, concern surrounding the environment was more about the depletion of a natural resource rather than concern for concepts such as biodiversity, ecology, or even the climate.
True modern conservationism, as we define it currently grew during the industrial era, and relatively early on too. It's generally accepted that the industrial revolution began in the late 18th century. However, conservation began even before most western nations began the process of industrialization. Countries like Prussia and France, saw a development of intensive agriculture and forestry management. “Management covered aspects to maximize production but also to reduce the risk of wildfire devastating crops and resources.” Soon the first conservation laws came into reality. Sadly, these measures mostly failed due to laissez-faire economics and inability to enforce the law. But conservation didn’t die and in fact, it was only getting started.
With new scientific concepts and tools, the conservation movement recommenced during the height of the industrial age. Earlier concerns about forestry exploitation morphed to become a general concern about resource exploitation and what would happen were natural resources to run out. As the world ran almost entirely on coal power at that time, it was quite clear that coal was not an infinite resource, and some scientists pleaded in the countries of most heavy use to take steps to limit mining and burning. The developing science of climatology with its understanding of the need for chemistry made scientists concerned for the future on seeing masses amounts of carbon released into the atmosphere, but also regarding trees as a resource and the potential for depletion. Conservationists were fully aware that human activity was already damaging the environment, and not just due to cutting down trees. People like George Perkins Marsh pushed the ethical belief that humans had a duty of care to maintain the environment for the future and presented the notion that scientific investigation was paramount in determining the extent of damage and coming up with a solution. This is a period that saw the establishment of Forestry Departments within the European powers and the US too. This concern about natural resources meant the 19th century was also a great expansion in conservation in other areas. The world's first National Park opened in 1778 in Mongolia, which today is a UNESCO protected biosphere. The world's second and the first for the US was Yellowstone National Park established in 1872. The development of conservation in the US is slightly different from that in the Old World. Much of North America was either untouched or barely touched due to the nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle of the Native Americans in most cases. Over-hunting of bison and buffalo by both European settlers and Native Americans who started using horses for hunting, and many native birds of prey, the increased urbanization in the new states and industrialization all came together to demonstrate just how fragile the land was. This is why so many national parks were founded in the US in the late 19th century. However, we should never underestimate and discount the importance of key ethical conservationists such as Henry David Thoreau who believed humans had a duty to live more in tune with nature. His work and others inspired many of the early forestry laws and departments that sprung up in the states.
In the late 19th century, indeed, three different kinds of environmental problems became matters of public debate. One problem was the prospect that the world soon would run out of vital natural resources. To ensure that future generations would have adequate supplies of essential raw materials, many people joined "the conservation movement.” A second issue was the fate of "wilderness." A number of organizations began to argue that undeveloped lands of great natural beauty ought to be preserved. The third problem to attract attention before 1900 was pollution -- a horrible threat to health in the developments of fast-growing cities. That threat led to far-reaching efforts to improve the urban environment. The modern environmental movement, which became a powerful force in the 1960s, built on the earlier efforts to conserve natural resources, preserve wilderness, and control pollution. But the environmental movement also was a response to profound changes in American life after World War II. Historians have written for decades about the earliest forms of environmental activism. The conservation movement attracted attention first. Then scholars began to explore the growing appreciation of "wilderness." Studies of anti-pollution activism came next. In recent years, historians also have written extensively about the rise of the modern environmental movement.
Things are looking up as more people are getting invested into environmental conservations. It’s really gotten mainstream and that has lead to it becoming increasing prevalent in politics across the world, regulations for businesses, and generally people pitching in to limit negative impacts they may be having o the Earth’s health.
Work Cited
Matthew MasonMG Mason has a BA in Archaeology and MA in Landscape Archaeology. “Matthew Mason.” EnvironmentalScience.org, www.environmentalscience.org/conservation.
“Conservation, Preservation and Environmental Activism: A Survey of the Historical Literature.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, www.nps.gov/parkhistory/hisnps/NPSThinking/nps-oah.htm.
Hardin, Garrett. “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 13 Dec. 1968, science.sciencemag.org/content/162/3859/1243.
Sylva Foundation, www.sylva.org.uk/origins.
Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. “World Heritage List.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre, whc.unesco.org/en/list/.