First along the river: a brief history of the U.S. environmental movement

Philosophical foundations

The 1400s through the 1700s : inhabiting a new land

The early 1800s : destroying the frontier

The late 1880s : building an industrial nation

The 1900s through the 1930s : beginnings of the conservation movement

The 1940s through the 1960s : prelude to the green decade

The 1970s : the conservation movement matures

The 1980s : a conservative backlash

The early 1990s : government retrenchment and public apathy

The late 1990s : the institutionalization of the environmental movement

The environmental movement in the post-9/11 world : 2000-2010

A nation divided : 2011-2020.

1. Philosophical foundations

Biblical justification for dominating nature

Seeking new land

Rational nature of the world

Social and political thought in the eighteenth century

2. The 1400s through the 1700s : inhabiting a new land

Native Americans as prototypical environmentalists

Early colonial environmental attitudes

3. The early 1800s : destroying the frontier

Manifest destiny

Domesticating the wilderness

Final conquest of the West

Renewed interest in nature

4. The late 1880s : building an industrial nation

Population growth and consumerism

Devastating the land

Overconsumption of natural resources

Voices for nature

5. The 1900s and the 1930s : beginnings of the conservation movement

Conservation during the Progressive Era

Environmental decay during the Roaring Twenties

Conservation policies under Roosevelt's New Deal

6. The 1940s through the 1960s : prelude to the green decade

Environmental costs of scientific progress in the 1940s

The conservative 1950s

Emerging voices in the 1960s

The environmental movement begins to mobilize

7. The 1970s : the conservation movement matures

Mainstream and alternative environmental groups

New environmental legislation

Jimmy Carter and the envirocrats

8. The 1980s : a conservative backlash

Ronald Reagan's environmental deregulation

George Bush as the environmental president

Employment versus the environment

Environmental group's actions and reactions

International environmental concern

9. The early 1990s : government retrenchment and public apathy

Environmental optimism under Bill Clinton

A growing countermovement

A green revival

A conservative resurgence

10. The late 1990s : the institutionalization of the environmental movement

Clinton's moderate environmental approach

Growing public concern

New activism

Congressional action and inaction

The global future of the environmental movement

11. The environmental movement in the post 9/11 world : 2000-2010

George W. Bush

Bush and changing regulations

The debate and the gamble

Barack Obama : the presidency of 'change'

The environment and the presidential election of 2008

Obama and the environment

Copenhagen

Pros and cons

NIMBYism

The BP oil spill disaster.