1940 - 1960 Prelude to the Green Revolution 
 
        The two decades following World War II were filled with confusion and inconsistencies for the conservationists. Conservationists struggled as the nation focused on material expectations rather than on environmental concerns. 
        During the 1940's and 50's, America entered a new age of scientific and technological achievements that made it the most powerful nation in the world. Corporate America, land developers and other users of natural resources justified short-term gain by minimizing long-term losses. Despite America's confidence in the benefits of technology, alarming evidence of the damages of these innovations began to appear. It was a condition that could not be ignored, particularly by people whose love of nature was well established. Environmentalism was an integral part of the social protest movements of the 60's generation.  The publication of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" in 1962, and the first Earth Day celebration in 1970, set the foundation for the second environmental movement, the Green Revolution. 
Selected Events from 1940-1960
 
1946  July 16, the first atomic bomb exploded in New Mexico desert.  
Linnie Marsh Wolfe, won a Pulitzer Prize, for the biography of John Muir. 
1947 Deadly smog over small steel mill town of Donova, PA, killed 20 people and 6,000 fell ill.  
DDT was hailed as a miracle of modern science, the U.S. produced 124,259,000 pounds of chemical pesticides. 
1948 Ansel Adams nature photographs are paired with John Muir quotations.
1949 Air pollution damaged almost half a million in crops in Los Angeles County
1952 Rachel Carson's book "The Sea Around Us" was published. This book conveyed the technical and complex problems of environmental issues.
1955 The Clean Air Act was first established.
1956 The Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society blocked the construction of the Echo Park Dam in Dinosaur National Monument.
1960 Clean Water Act was first established.
1962 Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring" is published.  
President John F. Kennedy hosts a White House Conference on Conservation.
1963 Clean Air Act was amended, it established air quality standards for six major pollutants.  
Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
1964 Wilderness Act was passed, establishing the National Wilderness Preservation system to designate sections of forests as protected wilderness areas. 
50th anniversary of John Muir's death, government issued a commemorative stamp.
1965 Land and Water Conservation Fund was established to acquire land for national and state parks. 
President Johnson holds a White House Conference on Natural Beauty. 
Ralph Nader publishes "Unsafe at Any Speed."
1967 Environmental Defense Fund Organization formed to fight for conservation issues through the legal system and science.
1968 Paul Erlich's, "Population Bomb" sounded an alarm about the dangers of overpopulation.
1969 David Brower formed the Friends of the Earth, which took an aggressive stand on many environmental issues. 
Greenpeace International Organization founded by Canadian environmentalists. 
National Environmental Policy Act passed to coordinate government environmental departments in an effort to allay public concern. 
Council on Environmental Quality Organization established to oversee government actions and provide environmental coordination.
 
 
 
Origins | The Green Revolution | The Future | Sources and Acknowledgments
1400-1700 | 1700-1800 | 1800- 1900 | 1900-1940 | 1940-1960