自那時以來，這段時間內(nèi)發(fā)生的三次主要的文化革命是一萬到一萬兩千年前的農(nóng)業(yè)革命，大約275年前開始的工業(yè)醫(yī)學革命，大約50年前的信息化和全球化革命。這些變化通過三種方式增加我們對環(huán)境的影響，例如給我們更多的能量和技術讓我們?nèi)ラ_拓土地資源滿足我們基本的需求，降低了人口的膨脹，它大大增加了我們的環(huán)境污染和環(huán)境惡化。

2.描述美國部落時代和邊境時代，早期養(yǎng)護時代和環(huán)保時代的環(huán)境史。

美國的環(huán)境史可以分為四個時期，部落，，邊境，保護和環(huán)保。一萬年前，五百萬到一千萬人口的部落他們的生活方式是狩獵和可持續(xù)農(nóng)業(yè)，對環(huán)境基本沒有影響。在早期養(yǎng)護時代保護主義者像亨利•大衛(wèi)•梭羅和喬治•珀金斯沼澤呼吁保護公眾荒野地區(qū)。從1870年到1930年，聯(lián)邦政府開始通過幾次行動保護資源，如1891年的森林儲備法等等。

1.The three major cultural changes that have occurred during this time period since then was the agricultural revolution which began around 10,000-12,000 years ago, the industrial- medical revolution which began about 275 years ago and the information and globalization revolution which began about 50 years ago. These changes increased our impact with the environment in three ways such as giving us more energy and new technologies that alter and control more of the planet to meet the basic needs, lowering expansion of the human population, and it greatly increased in the resource we use such as pollution and environmental degradation.

2. Describe the environmental history of the United States in terms of the Tribal and Frontier Eras, the Early Conservation Era, and the Environmental Era.

The environmental history of the United States can be divided into four eras which are the tribal, frontier, conservation, and environmental. Five to ten million tribal people had a low environmental impact for at least 10,000 years and their lifestyle was hunting and gathering sustainable agriculture. During the Early Conservation Era conservationists like Henry David Thoreau and George Perkins Marsh urged protection to public wilderness areas. Between 1870 and 1930, the federal government started to pass several acts to protect the resources such as the Forest Reserve Act of 1891 and much more. President Theodore Roosevelt also played a huge role in making Congress pass these acts. During the environmental era this was the reawakening and proved to improve the environmental quality. Rachael Carson researched the effects of the pesticides and wrote Silent Spring a book talking about how harmful it is to the environment and human beings. Public awareness grew and human beings are much more careful about the pollution and the loss for wildlife species. Earth Day became a huge impact on the society too. People from all over keep a lookout for all the harmful creations.

3. Compare slash-and-burn agricultural practices with the modern advanced forms of farming. State the advantages and disadvantages of each.

To prepare the land for planting, the hunter-gatherers cleared small patches of tropical forest by cutting down the trees and other plantations and then burning it underbrush. The ashes used are then fertilized and this is the slash-and-burn cultivation. This method lasted for no more than 5 years. These early farmers had fairly little impact on the environmentthough. Their dependence was mostly on human muscle power and crude stone or stick tools meant that they could cultivate only a small amount of their population. The modern day advancement is way better than the slash and burn practices because today we have mechanical machines that are durable and work way faster than the old methods. It saves time and it doesn't require humans to work. The advantage of the slash and burn method is that it provides the fertilizer once it is done being burned. The disadvantage of it is that you cannot control the fire and it might burn all of the area also it requires a long time and a lot of people to watch it. The advantage of the modern day farming is that it is done much quicker with the help of the machines. The disadvantage is that it is more costly.

4. List individuals who made major contributions to conservation/environmental movements in the United States and briefly describe these contributions.

Two early conservationists were Henry David Thoreau and George Perkins Marsh. Thoreau was shocked at the lost of all the wild species so he gained a better knowledge of nature by living in it for two years and then wrote a book called "Life in the Woods" about it. George Perkins Marsh was a scientist and member of Congress from Vermont who published "Man and Nature" which helped the legislators and citizens see the other side and need for the resource conservation. With the help of these two early conservationists, Congress started passing Acts to prevent the harmful wrongdoings to the environment. Later on, President Theodore Roosevelt played a huge role in trying to help the environment once again and he started to pass Acts such as the National Park Service Act. After he died, other Presidents also tried to conserve what they could. Rachel Carson, on the other hand played a huge impact on the pesticides involving insects. She wrote a book Silent Spring, saying that it is harmful and it is killing animals and humans when it is being sprayed on the crops that we eat.

5. Define environmental backlash. Briefly describe the effects of this backlash.

Environmental backlash was an anti-environment movement formed to weaken or do away with many of the environmental laws that were passed in the 1960s and 1970s, and to destroy all the political effectiveness of the movement. People during that time created this movement because they were very in denial. They didn't believe in all the acts that were passed by the Congress in order to conserve the environment. The effect of this backlash was when President Reagan started to cut back on the reforms. He didn't believe in this either. He cut federal funding for research on energy conservation and renewable energy resources and eliminated tax incentives for residential solar energy and energy conservation enacted during the Carter administration. He became a very popular president. And in 1988, anindustry-backed anti-environmental coalition called the wise-use movement was formed. Its goals were to weaken of repeal most of the country's environmental laws and regulations and destroy the effectiveness of the movement in the U.S.

6. Summarize the key environmental events of the 1980s in the U.S.

In 1981, Ronald Reagan became the president and he was a self-declared sagebrush rebel and advocate of less federal control. During his eight years in office he angered environmentalists by not taking in any consideration for environmental and public land regulations and policies. He cut federal funding for research on energy conservation and renewable energy resources and eliminated tax incentives for residential solar energy and energy conservation enacted during the Carter administration. And in 1988, an industry-backed anti-environmental coalition called the wise-use movement was formed. Its goals were to weaken of repeal most of the country's environmental laws and regulations and destroy the effectiveness of the movement in the U.S. Upon all this, in 1989, George H. W. Bush promised to bring back the environmental conservation works. He received a lot of criticism from environmentalists for not providing leadership on such key environmental issues as population growth, global warming, and loss of biodiversity. He allowed some environmental laws to be undercut by the powerful influence of industry, mining, ranching, and real estate development industries.

7. Compare and contrast the environmental policies of the Clinton administration and the two Bush administrations.

Both administrations received harsh criticism from environmentalists for not providing a great leadership in the conservation of the environment. The difference between the two administrations was that Clinton did a much better job than George W. Bush. George H. W. Bush the father of George W. Bush did a better job in protecting the environment by protecting valuable resources on public lands such as Clinton. Clinton protected the public lands and declaring it as national monuments. George W. Bush didn't do a good job. He failed and also repealed or tried to weaken most of the pro-environmental measures established by President Clinton.