12.1 CITIES, INDUSTRY, AND POLLUTION  IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900 - 1990 Listen to Podcast of these Slides 2. Robert Gottlieb Occidental College. Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement (1993). Environmentalism Unbound: Exploring New Pathways for Change (2001). In Major Problems: "Industrial Pollution and Reform." 3. Rise of Cities Urban Population: cities over 2500. 1800: 322,371 people; 6% of total. 1860: 6, 216,518; 20% of total. 1920: 54,157,973; 51% of total. 1970: 149,325,000; 72% of total. 1990: 187,053,487; 75.2% of total. 2000: 225,956,060; 79.2% of total. Causes:  Immigration, primarily from southern and eastern Europe; 80% settle in northeast. Rural to urban migration: rural falls from 71.4% in 1880 to 48.6% in 1920 to 24.8% in 1990 to 20.8% in 2000. 4. Industrial Capitalism 1890: U.S. surpasses Great Britain in industrial output.  Capitalist resource exploitation: coal, iron ore, lumber, petroleum. Production: steel: major production after 1870. oil: distillation of kerosene, lubricants, gasoline, commercial fuel. coal: high demand by steel, railroads, domestic heating, manufacturing, transportation. 5. Industrial Cities Near markets, on rivers, canals, and lakes. Pittsburgh on Allegheny and Monongahela. Cincinnati on Ohio. St. Louis at junction of Mississippi and Missouri. Chicago on Lake Michigan. Cleveland, Toledo on Lake Erie. Eastern seaport cities: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore. 6. The City as Wilderness Robert Woods: The City Wilderness (1898). Upton Sinclair: The Jungle (1905). Booth Tarkington: The Turmoil (1914). Sigmund Freud: Civilization and its Discontents (1930). Sam Bass Warner: The Urban Wilderness (1972); Street Car Suburbs (1962). 7. Urban Immigrants Humans and animals share a dwelling. 8. Air Pollution: Pittsburgh Smoke Stacks Air pollution. Pollution is part of progress. Prosperity. Smoke means jobs. A nuisance to be endured. 9. Women and Cinder Barrels Nose, throat, and lung contamination. "Barrels of cinders from parlor and kitchen stoves send up dust clouds causing teary eyes." Soot-covered laundry; trees die. 10. Clean Air Reform Civic Groups: Chambers of Commerce; Smoke and Dust Abatement leagues. State legislatures declare smoke a nuisance; courts impose light fines. Womenís groups: Ladies Health Association of Pittsburgh; Womenís Club of Cincinnati; Chicago Anti-Smoke League; Womenís Organization, St. Louis. Engineers; smoke inspectors; furnaces. 11. Noise Pollution: Slum Dwellers Industrial and urban noise pollution. Philadelphia. Poor are unable to escape in summer heat. No-one can sleep until after mid-night and must rise again at 5 A.M. 12. Noise Reform Anti-noise groups cooperate with local Boards of Health. Police Departments agree to suppress unnecessary noise. Atlanta: Chamber of Commerce appointed an anti-noise committee, 1918. New York: Society for Suppression of Unnecessary Noise, Julia Barnett Rice. 13. Refuse Pollution: Throwing Slop Rural garbage disposal method. Urban garbage and rubbish pile up in alleys and streets. Stench from dumps. Health hazards. 14. Main Street, Los Angeles Garbage and refuse accumulate faster than they can be collected. Disposed in open dumps in population centers. 15. Street Car Suburbs Horse car. Horse drawn carriages on rails. Health hazards and odors from waste. 16. Horse Car Terminal Horse cars on rails. Each horse discharges several gallons of urine and 20 lbs. of feces per day. 17. Horse Cars, New York City Mid-1880s in U.S.: 100,000 horses and mules pulling 18,000 horse cars on 3,500 miles of track. 1900: 3.5 million horses in cities. Chicago: 82,000 horses produce 600,000 tons of manure per year. 18. Garbage and Refuse Reform Health Boards: By 1880, in 94% of cities; in 46% there is controlled refuse collection. American Public Health Association, 1890s: Task force to gather statistics; compare European methods. Ladies Health Protective Association, 1894, N.Y.C.; G.F.W.C.: lobbied for improved sanitary conditions; street cleaning; housing; fire fighting; urban parks. 19. Incinerator First American garbage furnace at Governorís Island, N.Y., 1885. Montgomery, Alabama, 1911. Cart on ramp at left approaches unloading floor. 20. Traveling Garbage Burner Garbage burner cleans up alleys in Chicago, 1893. Cost: $20/day. 21. Garbage in the Cities Hand pushed trash carts. Migrants and blacks collect trash by hand. Early clean-up efforts local, loose, and short-lived. 22. George E. Waring, Jr. New York City. Street Cleaning Commissioner, 1895. "The Apostle of Cleanliness." Source separation: garbage, refuse, ashes in different receptacles. 23. Sorting Refuse Hand sorting of refuse in New York City, 1903. Municipal rubbish sorting plant. Salvable materials picked out and sold to offset collection costs. 24. Immigrants Sorting Paper Sorting various grades of paper, 1916. Employment for southern European migrants. 25. White Wings New York City, 1905. Can carrier; broom. 3-4 cans per sweeper. Core of sweepers with higher pay and improved working conditions. 2000 white-uniformed cleaners. 26. Flushing the Streets Horse-drawn water carts, St. Louis, 1905. 27. Garbage Scow Dumping ashes and rubbish from barges at Sandy Hook, outside New York Harbor, 1900. Dilution is the solution to pollution. New dumping scows empty waste further from shore. 28. Garbage Reform American Society for Municipal Engineers, 1894; American Society of Civil Engineers; conventions and panels. Society for Street Cleaning and Refuse Disposal. American Public Health Association: Committee on Garbage Disposal, 1897; national analysis of disposal methods. R. Hering and S. Greeley: Collection and Disposal of Municipal Refuse, 1921. 29. Questions for Discussion Are social movements the most effective forces for environmental reform? Is "nature" in the city a social construct?