Environmental Issues In The United States

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There are countless issues that are significant in the United States today. One of the major issues that is very important to our future is the environment. Whether you care about the Earth’s natural beauty or not means very little. Earth was the one thing freely given to the human race and throwing that gift away is the most foolish thing that we can do. Not only is the Earth amazing, it is also our way of life. Not only does it provide us with vivid scenery and pleasant smells, it also provides us with the oxygen and water we need to survive. There is no guarantee that the Earth will be like it is now for ever. We must learn to safeguard it against ourselves for we are what will destroy it. The United States has been working to preserve our environment and Earth for quite some …show more content…
The first time our government took environmental action was with the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation act of 1899. The act was initiated to preserve the integrity of our natural waterways. In the early 1900s President Theodore Roosevelt worked to conserve our natural treasures and created national parks. It was with Roosevelt that the public began to really think about the environment and the conservation of our surroundings. Although the early 1900s were a very important time for environmental law, the real period of environmental change in the United States took place in the seventies and the eighties. While Roosevelt could be considered the spokesperson for the early conservation era, Nixon’s presidential administration was the most prominent environmentally in the seventies and eighties. Under President Nixon the Environmental Protection Agency, or the EPA, was created. The EPA was founded to protect and preserve our nation and its inhabitants. You will learn more about the EPA later. Obama cited environmental concerns to be a major issue during his 2008