Please let me know if my assignments have incorrectly ordered words! Some devices mix up the order of my paragraphs...
3/31/2021
Definition of Academic Service-Learning (AS-L):
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Academic Service-Learning at St. John’s University is a classroom/experiential site- based program that involves students in some form of required community service activity and uses that activity as a means of understanding course concepts
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Academic Service-Learning is a requirement of this course. All students must complete six hours of service at their chosen location*.
One of the most profound results of AS-L is:
To realize that you have the power to change the world for the greater good.
(14) This urban setting overlooks a coal company in 1934, when burning coal was an important power source. However, there is visible pollution caused by it in the air.
(10) This photo taken of another mining company from the late 1800s to the early 1900s shows the large amounts of coal mined due to the heavy dependence on coal.
(8) Hunting during the late 1800s to the early 1900s was popular, but was slowly driving populations into decline, which would in turn affect the ecosystems the organisms live in.
(3) A political comic from 1931 about the ignorance of pollution. It depicts the seemingly peaceful and happy life of the people on the beach, only to have threat of pollution (shown as a eerie hand) looming over them.
(6) Logging was clearing out natural environments that depended heavily on its trees, due to the lumber sought by people.
(9) A photo overlooking Yellowstone River from 1885-1890. Yellowstone National Park was the first national park of the US dedicated to environmental conservation.
Under normal conditions, the natural environment is able to support both itself and those that require its resources for themselves. However, with the increasing need of people and the improvement of technology, humans have been taking more that can be provided and causing destruction from their production. The benefits to the overall human population have resulted in serious environmental harm over the course of time and has accumulated significantly enough to also cause problems for people. As said by Rachel Carson, “But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself,” (13). In order to cease this war against both nature and people, the idea of environmental conservation turned into a movement that not only attempted to solve the problems faced, but to preserve the environment we have and to prevent any future harm.
Environmental conservation did not make much impact when it first emerged during the Industrial Revolution. With the rise of advanced machinery, production rates, and businesses, there also arose awareness about the resources used in the process. The Industrial Age relied heavily on logging for timber and burning resources such as fossil fuels and coal for power. However, there were concerns of the availability of these sources and the “…amounts of carbon released into the atmosphere,” (4). Though nothing was done at the time about burning resources, environmental conservation began, with the creation of national parks. The first opened in 1778 in Mongolia and the second in 1872 in the US (4). Into the later half of the 1800s, natural resources continued to be used without concern for any potential negative outcomes. Small organizations had emerged to raise awareness of the problems with resource scarcity and environmental
(7) Furnaces used for burning coal during 1860-1920
effects, such as the Sierra Club, founded by the naturalist John Muir in 1892, though they were unable to make great impacts during this time (5). But entering the 1900s, the conservationist movement began making an impact due to President Theodore Roosevelt’s contribution and his concerns about the harm done to the land and the decline of organisms due to industrial carelessness (1). “During his term in office, around 230m acres of land were put under Federal protection, established the US Forestry Service, and created five national parks, and several national forests,” (4).
(11) Theodore Roosevelt was able to bring impactful movement in environmental recreation.
Following the end of World War II, as even more advancements were made, people grew to oppose the cost these advancements came with as awareness of environmental effects spread. “New technologies – from the atomic bomb to chemical pesticides – brought new environmental hazards,” (2) and the idea of the harm that had been done for so long finally arose a national concern. From the 1960s, many groups and individuals have been able to make more united and successful attempts at change, and their actions have even affected the present time as well. During the late 1900s, activism in cities led to the formation of groups consisting of middle and lower classes to advocate for environmental conservation. In 1962, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring brought national attention to the environmental damage that people were causing, specifically with the use of pesticides (12). The first Earth Day was organized by Gaylord Nelson in 1970, in order to bring to public light the urgent action needed in the environmental conservation movement (2). President Richard Nixon was able to lead a national change in avoiding environmental damages caused by production and preventing any potential dangers to both human and environmental health that resulted from it. He also established the US Environmental Protection Agency to attend to environmental issues that were in urgent need of attention, which continues to conserve natural environments (12).
“‘The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction’,” – Rachel Carson (13). The environmental harm that had been growing with the rise of advancing industries had reached alarming levels, requiring change to protect from harm not only what was remaining, but the people that caused it. Since the 1960s, many of the most impactful movements and changes were made that still last to this day. Organizations established for environmental conservation continue to devote themselves to preventing harmful matters that arise and to protecting the natural environment left. When faced with the inevitable damage done due to human impact, people must be able to take up responsibility to acknowledge and restore the effects of their actions.
(1) “Conservation in the Progressive Era.” Library of Congress, loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/progressive-era-to-new-era-1900-1929/conservation-in-progressive-era/.
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(2) “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.
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(3) Kirby, Rollin. “[Pollution.].” Museum of the City of New York, 1931, collections.mcny.org/asset-management/2F3HRGTSS_S.
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(4) Mason, Matthew. “Conservation: History and Future.” EnvironmentalScience.org, www.environmentalscience.org/conservation.
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(5) Olival, Kevin J., et al. “Linking the Historical Roots of Environmental Conservation with Human and Wildlife Health.” US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, Ecohealth, 28 Sept. 2013, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3914161/.
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(6) The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. "Back cutting Douglas fir" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1860 - 1920. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-b5b2-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
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(7) The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. "Coal furnaces" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1860 - 1920. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-b49f-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
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(8) The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. "Deer hunting in Maine" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1860 - 1920. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-6afc-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
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(9) The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. "Grand Falls of Yellowstone River, from Point Lookout, 360 feet high- very fine" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1885 - 1890. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/23162fb0-964b-0135-9022-5f545fd2cb40
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(10) The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. "Surface buildings of a mining company (Homestake Mining Company?)" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1860 - 1920. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-b5da-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
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(11) The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. "Theodore Roosevelt." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/9ac31dca-719e-4d68-e040-e00a18064cc6
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(12) “The Origins of EPA.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 13 Jan. 2021, www.epa.gov/history/origins-epa.
(13) “Rachel Carson Quotes (Author of Silent Spring).” Goodreads, Goodreads, www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/15332.Rachel_Carson.
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(14) Wurts Bros. “Ash Street. Great Lakes Coal and Coke Company. View of Yards Looking Northwest.” Museum of the City of New York, 1934, collections.mcny.org/asset-management/24UFQE9TT88.