The 1960s And 1970s: The Power Of The Environmental Movement

In the 1960s and 1970s, the environmental movement emerged as a powerful lever of change, challenging the status quo and drawing attention to the consequences of human actions on our planet. Among the many factors that contributed to this movement, the power of photography stood out as a crucial influence that impacted the hearts and minds of the American people. Images like the iconic Earthrise photo and others, such as Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother, not only raised awareness, but instigated action, shaped public policy, and ultimately reinstated the people’s relationship with their home planet. As the environmental movement progressed, photography emerged as a powerful tool to catch the public’s attention; images like Earthrise provoked

The photo made headline news, bringing attention to New York, “which then had the worst air pollution among big cities in the United States” (Dwyer). Environmental photography during the 1960s and 70s powerfully transformed abstract concepts into pressing issues, successfully making this a front-porch political issue, promoting people to talk about the collective responsibility that comes along with living on a planet that has a very likely course towards future vulnerability. The 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill’s devastating visual documentation and Ansel Adams’ influential photos of America’s beautiful landscapes jointly fueled the flowering environmental movement by graphically illustrating the urgent need for ecological stewardship and restoration. The initial impacts of the Oil Spill were as expected, thousands of birds, covered in oil, died throughout the Santa Barbara beaches bringing oodles of media attention, “The suffering and deaths of so many animals helped get the public's attention and spur lawmakers to action”

This directly impacted the people living there, mainly Republicans, causing them to feel a responsibility to actually do or make something to create a change, “Santa Barbara was home to a lot of wealthy Republicans who had helped elect Nixon.Nixon himself was no environmentalist.as American public concern grew about damage to the environment that this could potentially be a winning issue for him”, although Nixon’s intention of signing new environmental policies into place had no roots in him being an environmentalist, he still did in order to gain leverage politically, which ultimately pushed the movement to grow Ansel Adams was another powerful lever in bringing the image of American natural beauty into American homes. His images of places like Yosemite National Park and Acadia National Park helped to raise awareness of the importance of preserving these natural wonders for future