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127-455: According to the French historian of the environment Jean-Baptiste Fressoz, financial compensation (not named "polluter pays principle" at that time) is already the regulation principle of pollution favoured by industrials in the nineteenth century. He wrote that: "This principle, which is now offered as a new solution, actually accompanied the process of industrialisation, and was intended by

254-412: A "nonroad" engine program ( 42 U.S.C.   § 7547 ), which expanded EPA regulation to locomotives, heavy equipment and small equipment engines fueled by diesel (compression-ignition), and gas and other fuels (spark-ignition), and marine transport. EPA has developed a variety of voluntary programs to incentivize and promote reduction in transportation-related air pollution, including elements of

381-517: A classic text of early environmental history. In an address to the Organization of American Historians in 1969 (published in 1970) Nash used the expression "environmental history", although 1972 is generally taken as the date when the term was first coined. The 1959 book by Samuel P. Hays , Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency: The Progressive Conservation Movement, 1890–1920 , while being

508-520: A criteria pollutant, controlling it through mobile source authorities, but it was required to do so after successful litigation by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in 1976 (43 FR 46258 ). The 1977 CAA Amendments created a process for regular review of the NAAQS list, and created a permanent independent scientific review committee to provide technical input on the NAAQS to EPA. EPA added regulations for PM2.5 in 1997 (62 FR 38652 ), and updates

635-464: A generation of trained environmental historians is now active. In the United States environmental history as an independent field of study emerged in the general cultural reassessment and reform of the 1960s and 1970s along with environmentalism, "conservation history", and a gathering awareness of the global scale of some environmental issues. This was in large part a reaction to the way nature

762-522: A key determinant of human behavior. During the Enlightenment , there was a rising awareness of the environment and scientists addressed themes of sustainability via natural history and medicine. However, the origins of the subject in its present form are generally traced to the 20th century. In 1929 a group of French historians founded the journal Annales , in many ways a forerunner of modern environmental history since it took as its subject matter

889-574: A major contribution to American political history, is now also regarded as a founding document in the field of environmental history. Hays is professor emeritus of History at the University of Pittsburgh . Alfred W. Crosby 's book The Columbian Exchange (1972) is another key early work of environmental history. Brief overviews of the historiography of environmental history have been published by J. R. McNeill , Richard White , and J. Donald Hughes . In 2014 Oxford University Press published

1016-752: A new section to authorize abatement of international air pollution. The Air Quality Act of 1967 ( Pub. L.   90–148 ) authorized planning grants to state air pollution control agencies, permitted the creation of interstate air pollution control agencies, and required HEW to define air quality regions and develop technical documentation that would allow states to set ambient air quality and pollution control technology standards, and required states to submit implementation plans for improvement of air quality, and permitted HEW to take direct abatement action in air pollution emergencies. It also authorized expanded studies of air pollutant emission inventories, ambient monitoring techniques, and control techniques. This enabled

1143-526: A new title to address the issue of acid rain, and particularly nitrogen oxides (NO x ) and sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) emissions from electric power plants powered by fossil fuels, and other industrial sources. The Acid Rain Program was the first emissions trading program in the United States, setting a cap on total emissions that was reduced over time by way of traded emissions credits, rather than direct controls on emissions. The program evolved in two stages:

1270-439: A new understanding of social justice dynamics in a rapidly changing global climate, environmental history is inherently advocative. Narratives of environmental history tend to be what scholars call "declensionist", that is, accounts of increasing decline under human activity. In other words, "declensionist" history is a form of the "lost golden age" narrative that has repeated appeared in human thought since ancient times. Under

1397-513: A period of about 10,000 years. There is a tendency to difference in time scales between natural and social phenomena: the causes of environmental change that stretch back in time may be dealt with socially over a comparatively brief period. Although at all times environmental influences have extended beyond particular geographic regions and cultures, during the 20th and early 21st centuries anthropogenic environmental change has assumed global proportions, most prominently with climate change but also as

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1524-414: A post-colonial historiography that was "more inclusive in its narratives". Moral and political inspiration to environmental historians has come from American writers and activists such as Henry Thoreau , John Muir , Aldo Leopold , and Rachel Carson . Environmental history "frequently promoted a moral and political agenda although it steadily became a more scholarly enterprise". Early attempts to define

1651-471: A result of settlement, the spread of disease and the globalization of world trade. The questions of environmental history date back to antiquity, including Hippocrates , the father of medicine, who asserted that different cultures and human temperaments could be related to the surroundings in which peoples lived in Airs, Waters, Places . Scholars as varied as Ibn Khaldun and Montesquieu found climate to be

1778-572: A series of laws to reduce air pollution, and Congress began discussing whether to take further action in response. At the time, the primary federal agencies interested in air pollution were the United States Bureau of Mines , which was interested in "smoke abatement" (reducing smoke from coal burning), and the United States Public Health Service , which handled industrial hygiene and was concerned with

1905-585: A significant degree of responsibility for the environmental impacts of their products throughout the product life-cycle, including upstream impacts inherent in the selection of materials for the products, impacts from manufacturers’ production process itself, and downstream impacts from the use and disposal of the products. Producers accept their responsibility when designing their products to minimise life-cycle environmental impacts, and when accepting legal, physical or socio-economic responsibility for environmental impacts that cannot be eliminated by design. Part IIA of

2032-647: A similar publication Tijdschrift voor Ecologische Geschiedenis ( Journal for Environmental History ) is a combined Flemish-Dutch initiative mainly dealing with topics in the Netherlands and Belgium although it also has an interest in European environmental history. Each issue contains abstracts in English, French and German. In 1999 the Journal was converted into a yearbook for environmental history. In Canada

2159-602: A solely national program, the CAA imposes responsibilities on the U.S. states to create plans to implement the Act's requirements. EPA then reviews, amends, and approves those plans. EPA first promulgated SIP regulations in 1971 and 1972. The 1970 Amendments imposed eight criteria that an implementation plan must meet. The EPA is required to approve plans that adhere to the Senate's three-year mandate for primary air quality standards even if

2286-705: A spill. This mandate requires oil companies to pay for damages, regardless of whether or not the spill is their fault. The polluter pays principle is set out in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage

2413-420: A type of pollution posed any danger until after the pollution began. An example occurs in the history of climate change science which shows that considerable carbon dioxide was emitted into the atmosphere by industrialized countries before there was scientific awareness or consensus that it could be dangerous. Historian of the environment Environmental history is the study of human interaction with

2540-509: A vital role in helping humankind to understand the gale-force of artifice that we have unleashed on our planet and on ourselves". Against this background "environmental history can give an essential perspective, offering knowledge of the historical process that led to the present situation, give examples of past problems and solutions, and an analysis of the historical forces that must be dealt with" or, as expressed by William Cronon, "The viability and success of new human modes of existing within

2667-511: A volume of 25 essays in The Oxford Handbook of Environmental History . There is no universally accepted definition of environmental history. In general terms it is a history that tries to explain why our environment is like it is and how humanity has influenced its current condition, as well as commenting on the problems and opportunities of tomorrow. Donald Worster 's widely quoted 1988 definition states that environmental history

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2794-401: A warming planet will exacerbate environmental and other inequalities, particularly with regard to: "(a) increase in the exposure of the disadvantaged groups to the adverse effects of climate change; (b) increase in their susceptibility to damage caused by climate change; and (c) decrease in their ability to cope and recover from the damage suffered." As an interdisciplinary field that encompasses

2921-660: Is based on the fact that as much as pollution is unavoidable, the person or industry that is responsible for the pollution must pay some money for the rehabilitation of the polluted environment. The state of New South Wales in Australia has included the polluter pay principle with the other principles of ecologically sustainable development in the objectives of the Environment Protection Authority. The Canadian Energy Regulator mandates that oil companies must pay for any environmental impacts from

3048-540: Is based on this principle. The directive entered into force on 30 April 2004; member states were allowed three years to transpose the directive into their domestic law and by July 2010 all member states had completed this. In France , the Charter for the Environment contains a formulation of the polluter pays principle (article 4): Everyone shall be required, in the conditions provided for by law, to contribute to

3175-481: Is counted, the Clean Air Act has substantially reduced air pollution and improved US air quality—benefits which EPA credits with saving trillions of dollars and many thousands of lives each year. In the United States, the "Clean Air Act" typically refers to the codified statute at 42 U.S.C. ch. 85 . That statute is the product of multiple acts of Congress , one of which—the 1963 act—was actually titled

3302-434: Is frequently repeated and early as 1864 George Perkins Marsh was pointing out that the changes we make in the environment may later reduce the environments usefulness to humans so any changes should be made with great care – what we would nowadays call enlightened self-interest . Richard Grove has pointed out that "States will act to prevent environmental degradation only when their economic interests are threatened". It

3429-554: Is indeed a multidisciplinary subject. In 2004 a theme issue of Environment and History 10(4) provided an overview of environmental history as practiced in Africa, the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, China and Europe as well as those with global scope. J. Donald Hughes (2006) has also provided a global conspectus of major contributions to the environmental history literature. Environmental history, like all historical studies, shares

3556-400: Is most appropriate; whether environmental advocacy can detract from scholarly objectivity; standards of professionalism in a subject where much outstanding work has been done by non-historians; the relative contribution of nature and humans in determining the passage of history; the degree of connection with, and acceptance by, other disciplines – but especially mainstream history. For Paul Warde

3683-403: Is not clear whether environmental history should promote a moral or political agenda. The strong emotions raised by environmentalism, conservation and sustainability can interfere with historical objectivity: polemical tracts and strong advocacy can compromise objectivity and professionalism. Engagement with the political process certainly has its academic perils although accuracy and commitment to

3810-467: Is notably absent from nations that most adamantly reject US, or Western influences". Michael Bess sees the world increasingly permeated by potent technologies in a process he calls "artificialization" which has been accelerating since the 1700s, but at a greatly accelerated rate after 1945. Over the next fifty years, this transformative process stands a good chance of turning our physical world, and our society, upside-down. Environmental historians can "play

3937-489: Is one of the United States' first and most influential modern environmental laws . As with many other major U.S. federal environmental statutes , the Clean Air Act is administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in coordination with state, local, and tribal governments. EPA develops extensive administrative regulations to carry out the law's mandates. Associated regulatory programs, which are often technical and complex, implement these regulations. Among

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4064-400: Is strongly related to the idea of culpability. In environmental debate blame can always be apportioned, but it is more constructive for the future to understand the values and imperatives of the period under discussion so that causes are determined and the context explained. For some environmental historians "the general conditions of the environment, the scale and arrangement of land and sea,

4191-431: Is the "interaction between human cultures and the environment in the past". In 2001, J. Donald Hughes defined the subject as the "study of human relationships through time with the natural communities of which they are a part in order to explain the processes of change that affect that relationship". and, in 2006, as "history that seeks understanding of human beings as they have lived, worked and thought in relationship to

4318-500: Is the Rachel Carson Center's open access digital archive and publication platform. Environmental history prides itself in bridging the gap between the arts and natural sciences although to date the scales weigh on the side of science. A definitive list of related subjects would be lengthy indeed and singling out those for special mention a difficult task. However, those frequently quoted include, historical geography ,

4445-747: Is we mean by "environment"; confronting the way environmental history is at odds with the humanities because it emphasises the division between "materialist, and cultural or constructivist explanations for human behaviour". Many of the themes of environmental history inevitably examine the circumstances that produced the environmental problems of the present day, a litany of themes that challenge global sustainability including: population , consumerism and materialism , climate change , waste disposal , deforestation and loss of wilderness, industrial agriculture , species extinction , depletion of natural resources, invasive organisms and urban development . The simple message of sustainable use of renewable resources

4572-721: The Centre for Environmental History was established at the University of Stirling. Some history departments at European universities are now offering introductory courses in environmental history and postgraduate courses in Environmental history have been established at the Universities of Nottingham, Stirling and Dundee and more recently a Graduierten Kolleg was created at the University of Göttingen in Germany. In 2009,

4699-747: The Environmental Protection Act 1990 established the operation of the polluter pays principle. This was further built upon by The Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) Regulations 2009 (for England) and the Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) (Wales) Regulations 2009 (for Wales). The principle is employed in all of the major US pollution control laws: Clean Air Act , Clean Water Act , Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (solid waste and hazardous waste management), and Superfund (cleanup of abandoned waste sites). Some eco-taxes underpinned by

4826-606: The Network in Canadian History and Environment facilitates the growth of environmental history through numerous workshops and a significant digital infrastructure including their website and podcast. Communication between European nations is restricted by language difficulties. In April 1999 a meeting was held in Germany to overcome these problems and to co-ordinate environmental history in Europe. This meeting resulted in

4953-655: The Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society (RCC), an international, interdisciplinary center for research and education in the environmental humanities and social sciences, was founded as a joint initiative of Munich's Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität and the Deutsches Museum , with the generous support of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research . The Environment & Society Portal (environmentandsociety.org)

5080-473: The de facto standard that automobile manufacturers subsequently accepted, to avoid having to develop different emission systems in their vehicles for different states. However, in September 2019, President Donald Trump attempted to revoke this waiver, arguing that the stricter emissions have made cars too expensive, and by removing them, will make vehicles safer. EPA's Andrew Wheeler also stated that while

5207-487: The history and philosophy of science , history of technology and climate science . On the biological side there is, above all, ecology and historical ecology , but also forestry and especially forest history , archaeology and anthropology . When the subject engages in environmental advocacy it has much in common with environmentalism . With increasing globalization and the impact of global trade on resource distribution, concern over never-ending economic growth and

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5334-927: The ozone layer . Consistent with the US commitments in the Montreal Protocol , CAA Title VI, added by the 1990 CAA Amendments, mandated regulations regarding the use and production of chemicals that harm Earth's stratospheric ozone layer. Under Title VI, EPA runs programs to phase out ozone-destroying substances, track their import and export, determine exemptions for their continued use, and define practices for destroying them, maintaining and servicing equipment that uses them, identifying new alternatives to those still in use , and licensing technicians to use such chemicals. Rules for pollutants emitted from internal combustion engines in vehicles. Since 1965, Congress has mandated increasingly stringent controls on vehicle engine technology and reductions in tailpipe emissions. Today,

5461-446: The " role and place of nature in human life ", and in 1993, that "Environmental history explores the ways in which the biophysical world has influenced the course of human history and the ways in which people have thought about and tried to transform their surroundings ". The interdependency of human and environmental factors in the creation of landscapes is expressed through the notion of the cultural landscape . Worster also questioned

5588-454: The Act. The EPA's auto emission standards for greenhouse gas emissions issued in 2010 and 2012 are intended to cut emissions from targeted vehicles by half, double fuel economy of passenger cars and light-duty trucks by 2025 and save over $ 4 billion barrels of oil and $ 1.7 trillion for consumers. The agency has also proposed a two-phase program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for medium and heavy duty trucks and buses. In addition, EPA oversees

5715-618: The Agency feels the plan does not appear feasible. In Union Electric Co. v. Environmental Protection Agency the Supreme Court considered whether the Agency was required to reject plans that were not technologically or economically feasible. The court decided that states could adopt emission standards stricter than national standards and "force" technology (i.e. require installation of more advanced technologies). The 1977 CAA Amendments added SIP requirements for areas that had not attained

5842-621: The British Empire to examine the utility of the new concept of eco-cultural networks as a lens for examining interconnected, wide-ranging social and environmental processes. In the United States the American Society for Environmental History was founded in 1977 while the first institute devoted specifically to environmental history in Europe was established in 1991, based at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. In 1986,

5969-415: The Clean Air Act's major regulatory programs. Today, the following are major regulatory programs under the Clean Air Act. The National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) govern how much ground-level ozone (O 3 ), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM 10 , PM 2.5 ), lead (Pb), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) are allowed in the outdoor air. The NAAQS set

6096-460: The Clean Air Act, and another of which—the 1970 act—is most often referred to as such. In the U.S. Code, the statute itself is divided into subchapters, and the section numbers are not clearly related to the subchapters. However, in the bills that created the law, the major divisions are called "Titles", and the law's sections are numbered according to the title (e.g., Title II begins with Section 201). In practice, EPA, courts, and attorneys often use

6223-502: The Clean Diesel Campaign, Ports Initiative, SmartWay program (for the freight transportation sector), and others. The federal government has regulated the chemical composition of transportation fuels since 1967, with significant new authority added in 1970 to protect public health. One of EPA's earliest actions was the elimination of lead in U.S. gasoline beginning in 1971, a project that has been described as "one of

6350-647: The Dutch foundation for the history of environment and hygiene Net Werk was founded and publishes four newsletters per year. In the UK the White Horse Press in Cambridge has, since 1995, published the journal Environment and History which aims to bring scholars in the humanities and biological sciences closer together in constructing long and well-founded perspectives on present day environmental problems and

6477-529: The EPA test results with real-world driving. In 1996, EPA proposed updating the Federal Testing Procedures to add a new higher-speed test (US06) and an air-conditioner-on test (SC03) to further improve the correlation of fuel economy and emission estimates with real-world reports. In December 2006 the updated testing methodology was finalized to be implemented in model year 2008 vehicles and set

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6604-527: The EPA with enforcement authority and requiring states to develop State Implementation Plans for how they would meet new national ambient air quality standards by 1977. This cooperative federal model continues today. The law recognizes that states should lead in carrying out the Clean Air Act, because pollution control problems often require special understanding of local conditions such as geography, industrial activity, transportation and housing patterns. However, states are not allowed to have weaker controls than

6731-484: The EPA, as well as giving the EPA the ability to regulate the inclusion of renewable sources, notably, through a $ 27 billion green bank , among other methods. Other important but less foundational Clean Air Act regulatory programs tend to build on or cut across the above programs: The 1963 act required development of State Implementation Plans (SIPs) as part of a cooperative federalist program for developing pollution control standards and programs. Rather than create

6858-568: The Earth's land , water , atmosphere and biosphere . The second category, how humans use nature, includes the environmental consequences of increasing population , more effective technology and changing patterns of production and consumption . Other key themes are the transition from nomadic hunter-gatherer communities to settled agriculture in the Neolithic Revolution , the effects of colonial expansion and settlements , and

6985-450: The NAAQS from time to time based on emerging environmental and health science. The National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) govern how much of 187 toxic air pollutants are allowed to be emitted from industrial facilities and other sources. Under the CAA, hazardous air pollutants (HAPs, or air toxics) are air pollutants other than those for which NAAQS exist, which threaten human health and welfare. The NESHAPs are

7112-473: The Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) of air quality in areas attaining the NAAQS. The 1977 CAAA also contained requirements pertaining to sources in non-attainment areas for NAAQS. A non-attainment area is a geographic area that does not meet one or more of the federal air quality standards. Both of these 1977 CAAA established major permit review requirements to ensure attainment and maintenance of

7239-554: The SIP requirements by adding "Prevention of Significant Deterioration" (PSD) requirements. These requirements protect areas, including particularly wilderness areas and national parks, that already met the NAAQS. The PSD provision requires SIPs to preserve good quality air in addition to cleaning up bad air. The new law also required New Source Review (investigations of proposed construction of new polluting facilities) to examine whether PSD requirements would be met. The Clean Air Act provided

7366-737: The United States and Paul Warde , Sverker Sorlin , Robert A. Lambert , T.C. Smout , and Peter Coates in Europe. Although environmental history was growing rapidly as a field after 1970 in the United States, it only reached historians of the British Empire in the 1990s. Gregory Barton argues that the concept of environmentalism emerged from forestry studies, and emphasizes the British imperial role in that research. He argues that imperial forestry movement in India around 1900 included government reservations, new methods of fire protection, and attention to revenue-producing forest management. The result eased

7493-853: The acceptable levels of certain air pollutants in the ambient air in the United States. Prior to 1965, there was no national program for developing ambient air quality standards, and prior to 1970 the federal government did not have primary responsibility for developing them. The 1970 CAA amendments required EPA to determine which air pollutants posed the greatest threat to public health and welfare and promulgate NAAQS and air quality criteria for them. The health-based standards were called "primary" NAAQS, while standards set to protect public welfare other than health (e.g., agricultural values) were called "secondary" NAAQS. In 1971, EPA promulgated regulations for sulfur oxides, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, photochemical oxidants, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen dioxide (36 FR 22384 ). Initially, EPA did not list lead as

7620-427: The accusation of "presentism" it is sometimes claimed that, with its genesis in the late 20th century environmentalism and conservation issues, environmental history is simply a reaction to contemporary problems, an "attempt to read late twentieth century developments and concerns back into past historical periods in which they were not operative, and certainly not conscious to human participants during those times". This

7747-610: The administration's decision. In March 2022 the Biden administration reversed the Trump-era rule, allowing California to again set stricter auto emissions standards. Between the Second Industrial Revolution and the 1960s, the United States experienced increasingly severe air pollution . Following the 1948 Donora smog event, the public began to discuss air pollution as a major problem, states began to pass

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7874-537: The agency respects federalism, it could not allow one state to dictate standards for the entire nation. California's governor Gavin Newsom considered the move part of Trump's "political vendetta" against California and stated his intent to sue the federal government. Twenty-three states, along with the District of Columbia and the cities of New York City and Los Angeles, joined California in a federal lawsuit challenging

8001-425: The air, measure their quantity, and have a plan to control and minimize them as well as to periodically report. This consolidated requirements for a facility into a single document. In non-attainment areas, permits were required for sources that emit as little as 50, 25, or 10 tons per year of VOCs depending on the severity of the region's non-attainment status. Most permits are issued by state and local agencies. If

8128-436: The applicable NAAQS ("nonattainment areas"). In these areas, states were required to adopt plans that made "reasonable further progress" toward attainment until all "reasonably available control measures" could be adopted. As progress on attainment was much slower than Congress originally instructed, major amendments to SIP requirements in nonattainment areas were part of the 1990 CAA Amendments. The 1977 CAA Amendments modified

8255-535: The availability of resources, and the presence or absence of animals available for domestication, and associated organisms and disease vectors, that makes the development of human cultures possible and even predispose the direction of their development" and that "history is inevitably guided by forces that are not of human origin or subject to human choice". This approach has been attributed to American environmental historians Webb and Turner and, more recently to Jared Diamond in his book Guns, Germs, and Steel , where

8382-408: The causes of lung health problems. After several years of proposals and hearings, Congress passed the first federal legislation to address air pollution in 1955. The Air Pollution Control Act of 1955 authorized a research and training program, sending $ 3 million per year to the U.S. Public Health Service for five years, but did not directly regulate pollution sources. The 1955 Act's research program

8509-434: The constraints of the environment and its resources requires both an understanding of the past and an articulation of a new ethic for the future." Key journals in this field include: Clean Air Act (United States) The Clean Air Act ( CAA ) is the United States' primary federal air quality law , intended to reduce and control air pollution nationwide . Initially enacted in 1963 and amended many times since, it

8636-662: The creation of the European Society for Environmental History in 1999. Only two years after its establishment, ESEH held its first international conference in St. Andrews, Scotland. Around 120 scholars attended the meeting and 105 papers were presented on topics covering the whole spectrum of environmental history. The conference showed that environmental history is a viable and lively field in Europe and since then ESEH has expanded to over 400 members and continues to grow and attracted international conferences in 2003 and 2005. In 1999

8763-478: The discharge of pollutants into the environment. In line with the "Polluter Pays" principle, the Act requires a polluter to meet the cost of decontaminating the polluted environment. In international environmental law it is mentioned in the principle 16 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development of 1992 The polluter pays principle (PPP) has been doubted in cases where no one recognized that

8890-456: The entities producing it. In effect, it internalised the cost of waste disposal into the cost of the product, theoretically meaning that the producers will improve the waste profile of their products, thus decreasing waste and increasing possibilities for reuse and recycling. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development defines extended producer responsibility as: a concept where manufacturers and importers of products should bear

9017-469: The environment, and human thought about the environment) are generally taken as a starting point for the student as they encompass many of the different skills required. The tools are those of both history and science with a requirement for fluency in the language of natural science and especially ecology. In fact methodologies and insights from a range of physical and social sciences is required, there seeming to be universal agreement that environmental history

9144-766: The environment. Several themes are used to express these historical dimensions. A more traditional historical approach is to analyse the transformation of the globe's ecology through themes like the separation of man from nature during the Neolithic Revolution , imperialism and colonial expansion , exploration , agricultural change , the effects of the Industrial and technological revolution , and urban expansion . More environmental topics include human impact through influences on forestry , fire , climate change , sustainability and so on. According to Paul Warde , "the increasingly sophisticated history of colonization and migration can take on an environmental aspect, tracing

9271-465: The environmental and human consequences of the Industrial and technological revolutions . Finally, environmental historians study how people think about nature – the way attitudes , beliefs and values influence interaction with nature, especially in the form of myths , religion and science . In 1967, Roderick Nash published Wilderness and the American Mind , a work that has become

9398-472: The equipment required to be installed in new and modified industrial facilities, and the rules for determining whether a facility is "new". The 1970 CAA required EPA to develop standards for newly constructed and modified stationary sources (industrial facilities) using the "best system of emission reduction which (taking into account the cost of achieving such reduction) the [EPA] determines has been adequately demonstrated." EPA issued its first NSPS regulation

9525-761: The federal funding and legislation of the 1960s. In the Clean Air Amendments of 1970 ( Pub. L.   91–604 ), Congress greatly expanded the federal mandate by requiring comprehensive federal and state regulations for both industrial and mobile sources. The law established the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), New Source Performance Standards (NSPS); and National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs), and significantly strengthened federal enforcement authority, all toward achieving aggressive air pollution reduction goals. To implement

9652-476: The federal government to increase its activities to investigate enforcing interstate air pollution transport, and, for the first time, to perform far-reaching ambient monitoring studies and stationary source inspections. The 1967 act also authorized expanded studies of air pollutant emission inventories, ambient monitoring techniques, and control techniques. While only six states had air pollution programs in 1960, all 50 states had air pollution programs by 1970 due to

9779-418: The federal standards, but carves out a special exemption for California due to its past issues with smog pollution in the metropolitan areas. In practice, when California 's environmental agencies decide on new vehicle emission standards, they are submitted to the EPA for approval under this waiver, with the most recent approval in 2009. The California standard was adopted by twelve other states, and established

9906-514: The field were made in the United States by Roderick Nash in "The State of Environmental History" and in other works by frontier historians Frederick Jackson Turner , James Malin , and Walter Prescott Webb , who analyzed the process of settlement. Their work was expanded by a second generation of more specialized environmental historians such as Alfred Crosby , Samuel P. Hays , Donald Worster , William Cronon , Richard White , Carolyn Merchant , J. R. McNeill , Donald Hughes , and Chad Montrie in

10033-526: The fight between romantic preservationists and laissez-faire businessmen, thus giving the compromise from which modern environmentalism emerged. In recent years numerous scholars cited by James Beattie have examined the environmental impact of the Empire. Beinart and Hughes argue that the discovery and commercial or scientific use of new plants was an important concern in the 18th and 19th centuries. The efficient use of rivers through dams and irrigation projects

10160-414: The first stage required more than 100 electric generating facilities larger than 100 megawatts to meet a 3.5 million ton SO 2 emission reduction by January 1995. The second stage gave facilities larger than 75 megawatts a January 2000 deadline. The program has achieved all of its statutory goals. The CAA ozone program is a technology transition program intended to phase out the use of chemicals that harm

10287-461: The geographic and social spheres. A critical examination of the traditional environmentalist movement from this historical perspective notes the ways in which early advocates of environmentalism sought the aesthetic preservation of middle-class spaces and sheltered their own communities from the worst effects of air and water pollution, while neglecting the plight of the less privileged. Communities with less economic and sociopolitical power often lack

10414-413: The great public health achievements of the 20th century." EPA continues to regulate the chemical composition of gasoline , avgas , and diesel fuel in the United States. The 1990 amendments authorized a national operating permit program, sometimes called the "Title V Program", covering thousands of large industrial and commercial sources. It required large businesses to address pollutants released into

10541-462: The historical method is not necessarily threatened by environmental involvement: environmental historians have a reasonable expectation that their work will inform policy-makers. A recent historiographical shift has placed an increased emphasis on inequality as an element of environmental history. Imbalances of power in resources, industry, and politics have resulted in the burden of industrial pollution being shifted to less powerful populations in both

10668-569: The hope that through an examination of past events it may be possible to forge a more considered future. In particular a greater depth of historical knowledge can inform environmental controversies and guide policy decisions. The subject continues to provide new perspectives, offering cooperation between scholars with different disciplinary backgrounds and providing an improved historical context to resource and environmental problems. There seems little doubt that, with increasing concern for our environmental future, environmental history will continue along

10795-611: The largest Clean Air Act settlements have been reached with automakers accused of circumventing the Act's vehicle and fuel standards (e.g., the 2015 " Dieselgate " scandal). Much of EPA's regulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions occurs under the programs discussed above. EPA began regulating GHG emissions following the 2007 Supreme Court ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA , the EPA's subsequent endangerment finding, and development of specific regulations for various sources. The EPA's authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions

10922-630: The latter numbering scheme. Although many parts of the statute are quite detailed, others set out only the general outlines of the law's regulatory programs, and leave many key terms undefined. Responsible agencies, primarily EPA, have therefore developed administrative regulations to carry out Congress's instructions. EPA's proposed and final regulations are published in the Federal Register , often with lengthy background histories. The existing CAA regulations are codified at 40 C.F.R. Subchapter C, Parts 50–98. These Parts more often correspond to

11049-896: The law requires EPA to establish and regularly update regulations for pollutants that may threaten public health, from a wide variety of classes of motor vehicles, that incorporate technology to achieve the "greatest degree of emission reduction achievable", factoring in availability, cost, energy, and safety ( 42 U.S.C.   § 7521 ). EPA sets standards for exhaust gases, evaporative emissions, air toxics, refueling vapor recovery, and vehicle inspection and maintenance for several classes of vehicles that travel on roadways. EPA's "light-duty vehicles" regulations cover passenger cars, minivans, passenger vans, pickup trucks, and SUVs. "Heavy-duty vehicles" regulations cover large trucks and buses. EPA first issued motorcycle emissions regulations in 1977 (42 FR 1122 ) and updated them in 2004 (69 FR 2397 ). The air pollution testing system for motor vehicles

11176-420: The lens of three "dimensions": nature and culture, history and science, and scale. This advances beyond Worster's recognition of three broad clusters of issues to be addressed by environmental historians although both historians recognize that the emphasis of their categories might vary according to the particular study as, clearly, some studies will concentrate more on society and human affairs and others more on

11303-460: The lifetimes of pre-existing facilities. In the 1977 CAA Amendments, Congress required EPA to conduct a "new source review" process ( 40 CFR 52 , subpart I) to determine whether maintenance and other activities rises to the level of modification requiring application of NSPS. The Acid Rain Program (ARP) is an emissions trading program for power plants to control the pollutants that cause acid rain . The 1990 CAA Amendments created

11430-518: The making good of any damage he or she may have caused to the environment. In Ghana , the polluter pays principle was adopted in 2011. The polluter pays principle is also known as extended producer responsibility (EPR). This is a concept that was probably first described by Thomas Lindhqvist for the Swedish government in 1990. EPR seeks to shift the responsibility of dealing with waste from governments (and thus, taxpayers and society at large) to

11557-592: The manufacturers themselves." In modern times, the continued adherence to the polluter pays principle is supported scientifically by economics. One condition that must be satisfied in order to maximise Pareto efficiency is the assignment of all costs of a decision, such as the harm resulting from a decision to pollute, to the agent making the decision, effectively removing all externalities . The polluter pays principle underpins environmental policy such as an ecotax , which, if enacted by government, deters and essentially reduces greenhouse gas emissions . This principle

11684-485: The many human inequities environmental history is now gaining allies in the fields of ecological and environmental economics . Engagement with sociological thinkers and the humanities is limited but cannot be ignored through the beliefs and ideas that guide human action. This has been seen as the reason for a perceived lack of support from traditional historians. The subject has a number of areas of lively debate. These include discussion concerning: what subject matter

11811-866: The most important, the National Ambient Air Quality Standards program sets standards for concentrations of certain pollutants in outdoor air, and the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants program which sets standards for emissions of particular hazardous pollutants from specific sources. Other programs create requirements for vehicle fuels, industrial facilities, and other technologies and activities that impact air quality. Newer programs tackle specific problems, including acid rain, ozone layer protection, and climate change. The CAA has been challenged in court many times, both by environmental groups seeking more stringent enforcement and by states and utilities seeking greater leeway in regulation. Although its exact benefits depend on what

11938-489: The mutual relations between humankind and the rest of nature". Traditional historical analysis has over time extended its range of study from the activities and influence of a few significant people to a much broader social, political, economic, and cultural analysis. Environmental history further broadens the subject matter of conventional history. In 1988, Donald Worster stated that environmental history "attempts to make history more inclusive in its narratives" by examining

12065-601: The national greenhouse gas inventory reporting program. Following the Supreme Court decision in West Virginia v. EPA , which ruled that Congress did not grant EPA the authority to require "outside the fence" options for limiting carbon dioxide at power plants, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 specifically defined carbon dioxide, hydrofluorocarbons, methane, nitrous oxide, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride as greenhouse gases to be regulated by

12192-553: The national minimum criteria set by EPA. EPA must approve each SIP, and if a SIP is not acceptable, EPA can retain CAA enforcement in that state. For example, California was unable to meet the new standards set by the 1970 amendments, which led to a lawsuit and a federal state implementation plan for the state. The federal government also assists the states by providing scientific research, expert studies, engineering designs, and money to support clean air programs. The law also prevents states from setting standards that are more strict than

12319-537: The natural world over time, emphasising the active role nature plays in influencing human affairs and vice versa. Environmental history first emerged in the United States out of the environmental movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and much of its impetus still stems from present-day global environmental concerns. The field was founded on conservation issues but has broadened in scope to include more general social and scientific history and may deal with cities, population or sustainable development . As all history occurs in

12446-410: The natural world, environmental history tends to focus on particular time-scales, geographic regions, or key themes. It is also a strongly multidisciplinary subject that draws widely on both the humanities and natural science. The subject matter of environmental history can be divided into three main components. The first, nature itself and its change over time, includes the physical impact of humans on

12573-403: The newly created EPA immediately before major amendments in 1970. EPA has administered the Clean Air Act ever since, and Congress added major regulatory programs in 1977 and 1990. Most recently, the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA resulted in an expansion of EPA's CAA regulatory activities to cover greenhouse gases . The Clean Air Act of 1963 ( Pub. L.   88–206 )

12700-407: The next year, covering steam generators, incinerators, Portland cement plants, and nitric and sulfuric acid plants (36 FR 24876 ). Since then, EPA has issued dozens of NSPS regulations, primarily by source category. The requirements promote industrywide adoption of available pollution control technologies. However, because these standards apply only to new and modified sources, they promote extending

12827-501: The other extreme, is what may be called cultural determinism . An example of cultural determinism would be the view that human influence is so pervasive that the idea of pristine nature has little validity – that there is no way of relating to nature without culture. Useful guidance on the process of doing environmental history has been given by Donald Worster, Carolyn Merchant, William Cronon and Ian Simmons . Worster's three core subject areas (the environment itself, human impacts on

12954-420: The path of environmental advocacy from which it originated as "human impact on the living systems of the planet bring us no closer to utopia, but instead to a crisis of survival" with key themes being population growth, climate change, conflict over environmental policy at different levels of human organization, extinction, biological invasions, the environmental consequences of technology especially biotechnology,

13081-541: The pathways of ideas and species around the globe and indeed is bringing about an increased use of such analogies and 'colonial' understandings of processes within European history." The importance of the colonial enterprise in Africa, the Caribbean and Indian Ocean has been detailed by Richard Grove . Much of the literature consists of case-studies targeted at the global, national and local levels. Although environmental history can cover billions of years of history over

13208-479: The polluter pays principle include: The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has observed that the polluter pays principle has typically not been fully implemented in US laws and programs. For example, drinking water and sewage treatment services are subsidized and there are limited mechanisms in place to fully assess polluters for treatment costs. The Zimbabwe Environmental Management Act of 2002 prohibits

13335-439: The precedent of a 12-year review cycle for the test procedures. In February 2005, EPA launched a program called "Your MPG" that allows drivers to add real-world fuel economy statistics into a database on EPA's fuel economy website and compare them with others and with the original EPA test results. EPA conducts fuel economy tests on very few vehicles. Two-thirds of the vehicles the EPA tests themselves are randomly selected and

13462-402: The presence or absence of disease vectors and resources such as plants and animals that are amenable to domestication that may not only stimulate the development of human culture but even determine, to some extent, the direction of that development. The claim that the path of history has been forged by environmental rather than cultural forces is referred to as environmental determinism while, at

13589-402: The principles of nature". In this sense, they argue that environmental history is a version of human history within a larger context, one less dependent on anthropocentrism (even though anthropogenic change is at the center of its narrative). J. Donald Hughes responded to the view that environmental history is "light on theory" or lacking theoretical structure by viewing the subject through

13716-468: The reciprocal global influences of the environment and human society. The idea of the impact of the physical environment on civilizations was espoused by this Annales School to describe the long-term developments that shape human history by focusing away from political and intellectual history, toward agriculture, demography, and geography. Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie , a pupil of the Annales School,

13843-504: The reduced supply of resources – most notably energy, materials and water. Hughes comments that environmental historians "will find themselves increasingly challenged by the need to explain the background of the world market economy and its effects on the global environment. Supranational instrumentalities threaten to overpower conservation in a drive for what is called sustainable development, but which in fact envisions no limits to economic growth". Hughes also notes that "environmental history

13970-837: The remaining third is tested for specific reasons. Although originally created as a reference point for fossil-fueled vehicles, driving cycles have been used for estimating how many miles an electric vehicle will get on a single charge. The 1970 CAA amendments provided for regulation of aircraft emissions ( 42 U.S.C.   § 7571 ), and EPA began regulating in 1973. In 2012, EPA finalized its newest restrictions on NOx emissions from gas turbine aircraft engines with rated thrusts above 26.7 kiloNewton (3 short ton-force ), meaning primarily commercial jet aircraft engines, intended to match international standards. EPA has been investigating whether to regulate lead in fuels for small aircraft since 2010, but has not yet acted. The 1990 CAA Amendments ( Pub. L.   101–549 § 222) added rules for

14097-490: The resources to get involved in environmental advocacy. Environmental history increasingly highlights the ways in which the middle-class environmental movement has fallen short and left behind entire communities. Interdisciplinary research now understands historic inequality as a lens through which to predict future social developments in the environmental sphere, particularly with regard to climate change . The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs cautions that

14224-502: The rest of nature through the changes brought by time". "As a method, environmental history is the use of ecological analysis as a means of understanding human history...an account of changes in human societies as they relate to changes in the natural environment". Environmental historians are also interested in "what people think about nature, and how they have expressed those ideas in folk religions, popular culture, literature and art". In 2003, J. R. McNeill defined it as "the history of

14351-410: The scope of the discipline, asking: "We study humans and nature; therefore can anything human or natural be outside our enquiry? " Environmental history is generally treated as a subfield of history . But some environmental historians challenge this assumption, arguing that while traditional history is human history – the story of people and their institutions, "humans cannot place themselves outside

14478-400: The sheer scale, scope and diffuseness of the environmental history endeavour calls for an analytical toolkit "a range of common issues and questions to push forward collectively" and a "core problem". He sees a lack of "human agency" in its texts and suggest it be written more to act: as of information for environmental scientists; incorporation of the notion of risk; a closer analysis of what it

14605-508: The standards used for controlling, reducing, and eliminating HAPs emissions from stationary sources such as industrial facilities. The 1970 CAA required EPA to develop a list of HAPs, and then develop national emissions standards for each of them. The original NESHAPs were health-based standards. The 1990 CAA Amendments ( Pub. L.   101–549 Title III) codified EPA's list, and required creation of technology-based standards according to "maximum achievable control technology" (MACT). Over

14732-551: The state does not adequately monitor requirements, the EPA may take control. The public may request to view the permits by contacting the EPA. The permit is limited to no more than five years and requires a renewal. One of the most public aspects of the Clean Air Act, EPA is empowered to monitor compliance with the law's many requirements, seek penalties for violations, and compel regulated entities to come into compliance. Enforcement cases are usually settled, with penalties assessed well below maximum statutory limits. Recently, many of

14859-532: The strict amendments, EPA Administrator William Ruckelshaus spent 60% of his time during his first term on the automobile industry, whose emissions were to be reduced 90% under the new law. Senators had been frustrated at the industry's failure to cut emissions under previous, weaker air laws. Major amendments were added to the Clean Air Act in 1977 (1977 CAAA) (91 Stat. 685, Pub. L.   95–95 ). The 1977 Amendments primarily concerned provisions for

14986-461: The whole Earth, it can equally concern itself with local scales and brief time periods. Many environmental historians are occupied with local, regional and national histories. Some historians link their subject exclusively to the span of human history – "every time period in human history" while others include the period before human presence on Earth as a legitimate part of the discipline. Ian Simmons 's Environmental History of Great Britain covers

15113-622: The years, EPA has issued dozens of NESHAP regulations, which have developed NESHAPs by pollutant, by industry source category, and by industrial process. There are also NESHAPs for mobile sources (transportation), although these are primarily handled under the mobile source authorities. The 1990 amendments (adding CAA § 112(d-f)) also created a process by which EPA was required to review and update its NESHAPs every eight years, and identify any risks remaining after application of MACT, and develop additional rules necessary to protect public health. The New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) are rules for

15240-414: Was an expensive but important method of raising agricultural productivity. Searching for more efficient ways of using natural resources, the British moved flora, fauna and commodities around the world, sometimes resulting in ecological disruption and radical environmental change. Imperialism also stimulated more modern attitudes toward nature and subsidized botany and agricultural research. Scholars have used

15367-426: Was deemed to be insufficient. The Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Act ( Pub. L.   89–272 ) amended the 1963 Clean Air Act and set the first federal vehicle emissions standards, beginning with the 1968 models. These standards were reductions from 1963 emissions levels: 72% reduction for hydrocarbons , 56% reduction for carbon monoxide , and 100% reduction for crankcase hydrocarbons. . The law also added

15494-521: Was extended in 1959, 1960, and 1962 while Congress considered whether to regulate further. Beginning in 1963, Congress began expanding federal air pollution control law to accelerate the elimination of air pollution throughout the country. The new law's programs were initially administered by the U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare , and the Air Pollution Office of the U.S. Public Health Service , until they were transferred to

15621-544: Was originally developed in 1972 and used driving cycles designed to simulate driving during rush-hour in Los Angeles during that era. Until 1984, EPA reported the exact fuel economy figures calculated from the test. In 1984, EPA began adjusting city (aka Urban Dynamometer Driving Schedule or UDDS ) results downward by 10% and highway (aka HighWay Fuel Economy Test or HWFET) results by 22% to compensate for changes in driving conditions since 1972, and to better correlate

15748-541: Was questioned by the court in West Virginia v. EPA (2022) but restored by Congress with the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 , which clarified that carbon dioxide is one of the pollutants covered by the Clean Air Act. Standards for mobile sources have been established pursuant to Section 202 of the CAA, and GHGs from stationary sources are controlled under the authority of Part C of Title I of

15875-404: Was represented in history at the time, which "portrayed the advance of culture and technology as releasing humans from dependence on the natural world and providing them with the means to manage it [and] celebrated human mastery over other forms of life and the natural environment, and expected technological improvement and economic growth to accelerate". Environmental historians intended to develop

16002-540: Was the first federal legislation to permit the U.S. federal government to take direct action to control air pollution. It extended the 1955 research program, encouraged cooperative state, local, and federal action to reduce air pollution, appropriated $ 95 million over three years to support the development of state pollution control programs, and authorized the HEW Secretary to organize conferences and take direct action against interstate air pollution where state action

16129-423: Was the first to really embrace, in the 1950s, environmental history in a more contemporary form. One of the most influential members of the Annales School was Lucien Febvre (1878–1956), whose 1922 book A Geographical Introduction to History is now a classic in the field. The most influential empirical and theoretical work in the subject has been done in the United States where teaching programs first emerged and

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