Page 48 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

green or environmental movements 867

women leaders who convinced their peers that it was
better fashion not to wear feathers in their hats.
Stephen Tyng Mather, first director of the U.S. National
Park Service, organized the National Parks Association
in 1919 to provide support for the work of his agency.
Groups appeared internationally; the World Wildlife
Fund supported projects to preserve wildlife and wild-
life habitats in many nations.

Voices for Sustainable Use
Not all conservationists argued for keeping natural areas
in a pristine state. Some, often connected with govern-
A Greenpeace protester in a small boat
ments, pointed out the importance of keeping reserves,
near a large tanker.
especially forests, as a continuing source for needed
resources such as timber. France established the Admin-
istration of Water and Forests as early as 1801, and Prus-
voices.The artist George Catlin in 1832 advocated that sia established the Forest Service not long afterward. In
a section of the Great Plains be set aside as a national 1864 the U.S. ambassador to Italy, George Perkins
park to preserve bison herds and their native American Marsh, published Man and Nature, a book warning that
Indian hunters.Writers William Wordsworth in England human-caused destruction of forests, soils, and other
and Henry David Thoreau in the United States main- resources threatened to impoverish societies everywhere.
tained that the authentic human self can best be realized Marsh maintained that many of the changes that humans
in contact with wild nature. The American writer John make in the natural environment, whether accompanied
Muir became an advocate for wilderness and found by good intentions or by disregard of the consequences,
many people agreeing with him.The first national park, damage the environment’s usefulness to humans. His
Yellowstone, was designated in the United States in influence was felt in the United States and Europe and
1872, starting a movement to reserve natural areas that beyond and helped to inform the movement for conser-
spread around the world. Australia declared a national vation of natural resources. In the United States that
park outside Sydney in 1879; Canada established Banff movement was exemplified by the founding of the Amer-
National Park in 1885; and South Africa in 1898 set ican Forestry Association in 1875. Gifford Pinchot, who
aside an area that later became Kruger National Park. became the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service in 1905
Eventually more than 110 countries established 1,200 under the conservationist president,Theodore Roosevelt,
national parks. was a leading advocate of sustainable forest manage-
Through the public relations provided by many writ- ment. Pinchot had been informed by his study in French
ers, including Muir, the conservation movement grew schools of forestry and by the work of Dietrich Brandis
rapidly and produced many organizations. Muir’s and the Forest Department in British India.
group, the Sierra Club, backed nature preservation of Conservationism during the early twentieth century
many kinds, successfully urging the creation of national was largely the work of committed individuals, energetic
parks and providing opportunities for its members to but relatively small organizations, and government land-
hike and camp in them.The Audubon Society followed management agencies in several countries. It was con-
in 1905, gaining protection for birds and including cerned with the preservation of forests, soils, water,