J Scott Hill's List: environmental anthropology

• Antienvironmentalism
• The long-standing debates that continue between antienvironmentalists and environmentalists have important influence on both legislators and policy makers as they address environment-related issues.
• A severe backlash against environmentalism began to occur when Ronald Reagan replaced Jimmy Carter as president of the United States in early 1981.
• Many environmental laws and regulations, which the new presidential administration viewed as barriers to economic progress, were weakened or abolished.
• A large number of federal judges who had started their careers during the 1960's retired, and they were replaced by politically conservative judges who began to interpret existing laws in favor of industry. The office of the EPA was weakened, and funding for environmental enforcement and remediation was slashed. Secretary of the Interior James Watt, who had been a leader of the Sagebrush Rebellion, promoted legislation to open previously protected areas to mining and oil exploration. The general public, experiencing growth and prosperity for the first time in many years, began to favor short-term economic gains and turned a blind eye to news of the weakening environmental movement.

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