Protections

In the 1960’s the United States used the chemical pesticide DDT that was produced during and after World War II. This chemical had serious damaging effects to the plants and animal life, specifically birds. Rachel Carson called attention to this issue and started the modern movement towards environmental protection. In 1962, Carson wrote a book titled Silent Spring. Her book came out in a time when radioactive fallout was a fear of many Americans. This generation became the leaders for the environmental movement. The environmental movement is different from the conservation movement. The conservation movement is about protecting and preserving natural resources for our own benefit whereas the environmental movement is more urgent and dire.

Then when Richard Nixon became president in 1969, he created the EPA or Environmental Protection Agency. Through this organization he passed several laws to protect the environment including halting dumping nuclear waste into the Great Lakes and the Clean Air Act. From there the EPA has taken off and continued to provide programs to clean up and protect the environment. The EPA continues to be very involved with environmental issues. They are currently focused on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change as whole, as well as finding ways to prevent all kinds of pollution (air, water, ecosystems).

Jacques Cousteau pioneered scuba gear after World War II and kick started underwater filming of the oceans. He discovered parts of the ocean depths that had never been seen before. Cousteau's documentaries brought a new world to the average American. He worked to restrict commercial whaling and stop underwater dumping of nuclear waste. However, Cousteau was not always an environmentalist. He began his life as a spear fisherman and a world explorer, not always sensitive to the animals he was filming. The more he explored the ocean, the more he saw how dangerous humans could be.

Since the publishing of Carson’s book and the creation of the EPA in the 1970’s, along with the help of Cousteau, activism for environmental protection has been on the rise. There are several organizations and foundations that have sprung up from the ideas of environmentalism and conservation, including The Ocean Cleanup and GreenPeace. Many celebrities and prestigious people have also helped this issue get into the spotlight. One of the most recent figures is Prince Charles. With his status he has been able to create several agencies geared to cleaning up the ocean like Prince’s Charities’ International Sustainability Unit. 

Boyan Slat is a 21 year old who has invented a way to clean up the ocean surfaces. Slat has invented a way for plastic to be filtered out of the ocean by arranging floating barriers, which are anchored into the sea bed, to catch the floating debris. The plastic would then move along the barriers towards a platform of some sort where it could be picked up. The plastic that would be collected would later be turned into products or oil by recycling. Slat is the founder of the organization The Ocean Cleanup.  Boyan Slat