The energy and sensibility that fueled the civil rights
movement, the counterculture, and the New Left also stimulated
an environmental movement in the mid-1960s. Many were aroused by
the publication in 1962 of Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring,
which alleged that chemical pesticides, particularly DDT, caused
cancer, among other ills. Public concern about the environment
continued to increase throughout the 1960s as many became aware
of other pollutants surrounding them – automobile emissions,
industrial wastes, oil spills – that threatened their health and
the beauty of their surroundings. On April 22, 1970, schools and
communities across the United States celebrated Earth Day for
the first time. "Teach‑ins" educated Americans about the dangers
of environmental pollution.
Few denied that pollution was a problem, but the proposed
solutions involved expense and inconvenience. Many believed
these would reduce the economic growth upon which many
Americans' standard of living depended. Nevertheless, in 1970,
Congress amended the Clean Air Act of 1967 to develop uniform
national air-quality standards. It also passed the Water Quality
Improvement Act, which assigned to the polluter the
responsibility of cleaning up off-shore oil spills. Also, in
1970, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created as
an independent federal agency to spearhead the effort to bring
abuses under control. During the next three decades, the EPA,
bolstered by legislation that increased its authority, became
one of the most active agencies in the government, issuing
strong regulations covering air and water quality.
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