THE GREEN AWAKENING
The American Environmental Movement, 1962-2000By Charles Raymond Kenworthy
Length6h 13m
About this audiobook
The complete narrative history of the American environmental movement — Rachel Carson, Earth Day, the Clean Air Act, and the unfinished fight to protect the natural world, 1962-2000.
On June 22, 1969, a stretch of the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught fire. Oil and chemical waste had accumulated on the surface so thickly that a spark from a passing train ignited it. The fire burned for thirty minutes. It was not even the worst fire in the river's history — but it was the one a nation finally saw, and what it saw could not be unseen. Within a year, twenty million Americans took to the streets on Earth Day. Within four years, the EPA, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act had been signed into law.
This is the story of how Rachel Carson, David Brower, Gaylord Nelson, Lois Gibbs, Denis Hayes, and the organizers of Earth Day 1970 built the modern environmental movement. Across twenty-four chapters in six parts, historian Charles Raymond Kenworthy traces the full arc of American environmentalism from Silent Spring's publication in September 1962 — when Carson submitted her manuscript knowing she was dying of breast cancer — through the climate reckoning of the late twentieth century and the unfinished work it left behind.
Inside this environmental history book:
Rachel Carson and Silent Spring — how a marine biologist's four-year investigation into DDT and biomagnification sparked a movement; the bald eagle's recovery from fewer than 500 nesting pairs to nearly 10,000 after the 1972 ban (Chapter 1)
The Wilderness Act of 1964 — Howard Zahniser's eight-year, sixty-six-draft campaign for the phrase "untrammeled by man," signed four months after Zahniser's death; today 112 million acres protected across 44 states (Chapter 2)
Earth Day 1970 — twenty million Americans in the streets; Senator Gaylord Nelson's strategy; Denis Hayes's decentralized organizing; Nixon signing the Clean Air Act eight months later (Chapter 4)
Love Canal and the Superfund law — Lois Gibbs, a homemaker who had never been politically active, organizing the families of Niagara Falls to force a federal response to buried chemical waste (Chapter 14)
The Endangered Species Act — the snail darter and the Tellico Dam; the spotted owl wars; wolf reintroduction to Yellowstone triggering a trophic cascade that transformed the entire ecosystem (Chapter 8)
The Exxon Valdez spill — oil-soaked seabirds on Alaskan beaches, corporate accountability, and the public outrage that reshaped federal spill liability law (Chapter 16)
The honest limits — the Reagan EPA rollback, Anne Gorsuch's resignation, and the manufactured-uncertainty playbook industries used to delay lead regulation for decades (Chapters 21-22)
The environmentalists of this era left institutions that still govern American air, water, and land — but also the question Carson posed in 1962: can industrial civilization live within the natural world rather than dominate it? The Cuyahoga supports recreational fishing. The bald eagle soars. Climate change now answers her question with urgency she could not have imagined.
For readers of Bill Bryson's A WALK IN THE WOODS and Michael Pollan's THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA.
Audiobook details
GenreHistory, Science and Nature
Length6 hrs 13 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Introduction
2Author’s Note
3Prologue: A Silent Spring
4PART ONE: THE BIRTH OF MODERN ENVIRONMENTALISM (1962-1970)
5Chapter 1: Rachel Carson and Silent Spring — The Book That Started a Movement
Show all chaptersShow less
6Chapter 2: The Wilderness Act — Congress Protects What the Market Cannot
7Chapter 3: The Cuyahoga Burns — Pollution, Industry, and the Public's Awakening
8Chapter 4: Earth Day 1970 — Twenty Million Americans Take to the Streets
9PART TWO: THE LEGISLATIVE REVOLUTION (1970-1980)
10Chapter 5: The EPA — Creating a Federal Environmental Agency
11Chapter 6: The Clean Air Act — Setting Standards for What Americans Breathe
12Chapter 7: The Clean Water Act — The Right to Fishable and Swimmable Waters
13Chapter 8: The Endangered Species Act — Legal Protection for the Non-Human World
14PART THREE: THE RISE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
15Chapter 9: The Sierra Club — From Hiking Club to Political Force
16Chapter 10: The Environmental Defense Fund — Lawyers, Scientists, and Legal Activism
17Chapter 11: Greenpeace — Direct Action and the Global Environmental Movement
18Chapter 12: Earth First — Radical Environmentalism and Eco-Sabotage
19PART FOUR: BATTLES AND VICTORIES
20Chapter 13: The Fight for the Grand Canyon — Tourism, Dams, and the Conservation Victory
21Chapter 14: Love Canal — Toxic Waste, Homeowners, and the Superfund Law
22Chapter 15: The Spotted Owl Wars — Old Growth Forests and the Timber Economy
23Chapter 16: The Exxon Valdez — Oil Spills, Corporate Responsibility, and Public Outrage
24PART FIVE: PEOPLE AND IDEAS
25Chapter 17: Rachel Carson — Science, Courage, and the Power of One Book
26Chapter 18: David Brower — The Archdruid and the Limits of Compromise
27Chapter 19: Lois Gibbs — Love Canal, Community Organizing, and Environmental Justice
28Chapter 20: Environmental Justice — Race, Poverty, and the Geography of Pollution
29PART SIX: LEGACIES
30Chapter 21: The Backlash — Property Rights, Wise Use, and the Anti-Environmental Movement
31Chapter 22: Climate Change — From Environmental Issue to Civilizational Challenge
32Chapter 23: International Environmentalism — Rio, Kyoto, and Global Environmental Governance
33Chapter 24: The Green Economy — Environmentalism and the Market
34Epilogue: The Unfinished Work
35Acknowledgments
36Selected Bibliography
37About the Author
More from Charles Raymond Kenworthy
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America (Annotated)Howard Irving Chapelle, Tappan Adney13h 9m4.8 (150)$0.99 · $0.00
RevolutionariesSanjeev Sanyal11h 23m4.6 (2.6K)$29 · $0.00
We Crossed a Bridge and It TrembledWendy Pearlman6h4.6 (5.2K)$24 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m4.6 (16.7K)$26 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m4.6 (16.1K)$29 · $0.00
Saving My EnemyBob Welch9h 11m4.6 (2.3K)$20
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m4.6 (6.5K)$29 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
The Red Record (Annotated)Ida B. Wells-Barnett5h 19m4.8 (102)$0.99 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m4.6 (1.4K)$33 · $0.00
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin2h 25m4.6 (159.1K)$15
EnduranceAlfred Lansing6h 1m4.6 (40.8K)$20
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m4.6 (3.2K)$33 · $0.00
Kings and PawnsHoward Bryant10h 9m4.6 (678)$29 · $0.00
No EscapeNury Turkel9h 30m4.6 (809)$28 · $0.00
Jubal Stone: U.S. Marshal: Blood Trail To Hell: A Western Adventure NovelCasey Nash3h 42m4.6 (3.2K)$18 · $0.00
Fall and RiseMitchell Zuckoff17h 23m4.6 (9.8K)$40 · $0.00
ApolloCharles Murray, Catherine Bly Cox18h 15m4.6 (3.9K)$30
The Story of BirdsSteve Brusatte11h 49m4.6 (401)$29 · $0.00
Black Earth WisdomLeah Penniman11h 54m4.6 (577)$8 · $0.00
Crystals for BeginnersKaren Frazier3h 49m4.5 (45.6K)$20
What If? 10th Anniversary EditionRandall Munroe7h 29m4.5 (41.4K)$23
Total Cat MojoJackson Galaxy10h 13m4.5 (8.4K)$23 · $0.00
Earth at NightNational Aeronautics and Space Administration2h 26m4.7 (196)$1 · $0.00
My Life Among the UnderdogsTia Torres5h 51m4.5 (4K)$24 · $0.00
What It Takes to Save a LifeKwane Stewart6h4.6 (556)$24 · $0.00
Pastoral SongJames Rebanks8h 35m4.5 (12K)$26 · $0.00
How Stella Learned to TalkChristina Hunger7h4.5 (10.9K)$24 · $0.00
Craig & FredCraig Grossi8h 6m4.5 (9.6K)$26 · $0.00
Celebrating BirdsNatalia Rojas, Ana Maria Martinez6h 47m4.6 (330)$24 · $0.00
WildingIsabella Tree12h 22m4.5 (13.4K)$23
Saving JemimaJulie Zickefoose4h 59m4.5 (749)$20 · $0.00
The Complete Dog Training, Care, & Health GuideDr. Olivia Grace7h 22m4.8 (44)$10 · $0.00
Hot Cowgirl Sh*tLacie Evans2h 15m4.7 (103)$15
We Are the Middle of ForeverDahr Jamail, Stan Rushworth13h 39m4.5 (799)$23
Will's Red CoatTom Ryan8h 23m4.5 (2.3K)$26 · $0.00
Inconvenient FactsGregory Wrightstone3h 54m4.5 (3.2K)$17
You may also like
The VortexScott Carney, Jason Miklian15h 26m4.4 (1K)$33 · $0.00
AntarcticaKim Stanley Robinson19h 10m3.8 (4.2K)$30
Summary of Silent SpringRachel Carson2h 29m4.2 (82.5K)$7 · $0.00
Sacred CowDiana Rodgers RD, Robb Wolf8h 28m4.4 (4.3K)$20
Kennesaw MountainEarl J. Hess10h 9m4.2 (265)$23
Guerrilla Warfare (Annotated)Ernesto Che Guevara6h 15m4.1 (5.7K)$2 · $0.00
Cat TaleCraig Pittman9h 45m4.3 (1.6K)$29 · $0.00
Silent Spring (Annotated)Rachel Carson13h 32m4.2 (222K)$2 · $0.00
The Indian War of 1864 (Annotated)Eugene Fitch Ware16h 42m4.3 (647)$0.99 · $0.00
Hippie FoodJonathan Kauffman9h 13m4.1 (1.4K)$29 · $0.00
The Cancer CodeDr. Jason Fung10h 48m4.5 (5.3K)$29 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m4.6 (1.4K)$33 · $0.00
Pilgrims and PuritansChristopher Collier, James Lincoln Collier1h 57m3.9 (570)$15
Food FightStuart Gillespie9h 44m4.0 (130)$29 · $0.00
History of Cuba; or, Notes of a Traveller in the Tropics (Annotated)Maturin M. Ballou7h 18m$2 · $0.00
Indians, Cowboys, and Farmers and the Battle for the Great PlainsChristopher Collier, James Lincoln Collier2h 10m3.7 (93)$15
Chicago and the Old Northwest, 1673-1835Milo Milton Quaife19h 24m$1 · $0.00
The U.S. Army Campaigns of the War of 1812 (Illustrated Edition)Center of Military History, John R. Maass, Steven J. Rauch, Richard V. Barbuto, Richard D. Blackmon, Charles P. Neimeyer, Joseph F. Stoltz III12h 59m4.8 (10)$2 · $0.00
The History of Puerto Rico (Annotated)R. A. Van Middeldyk8h 58m4.0 (202)$2 · $0.00
The Cape and the Kaffirs: A Diary of Five Years' Residence in KaffirlandMrs. Ward11h 2m$2 · $0.00