Progressivism and the Environment

John H. Brown, Joan Broome

Research output: Contribution to conferencePresentation

Abstract

The Progressive Era in the United States (1890–1920) saw the first emergence of environmental consciousness and campaigning. From the beginning, the movement was marked by a philosophical divide. The near worship of nature embodied by John Muir contrasts notably with the pragmatism of progressives such as Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot. The governing philosophy was the belief that preserving natural resources meant using them wisely to benefit the nation’s long term economic well being. Pinchot became the first director of the US Forest Service (1905–10) due to his European training at the Forest School in Nancy, France. On his watch millions of acres of forests were added to the national parks system. In this way they would be managed and harvested by the government rather than private corporations who were notorious in that era for poor practices and rampant greed. Pinchot helped found a School of Forestry at Yale that, in accord with Progressive values, began the professionalisation of forestry. The intersection of a utilitarian economic philosophy with principles of scientific management was compatible with outlook of Pinchot and Roosevelt and their pragmatic political approach to public policy innovations. The philosophical divide continues to this day.
Original languageAmerican English
StatePublished - Jul 2 2010
EventPresented at the 79th Anglo-American Conference - London, England
Duration: Jul 2 2010 → …

Conference

ConferencePresented at the 79th Anglo-American Conference
Period07/2/10 → …

Disciplines

  • Business Administration, Management, and Operations
  • Finance and Financial Management
  • Economics
  • Finance

Keywords

  • Environment
  • Environmental consciousness
  • Natural resources
  • Progressive Era
  • Progressivism

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