> TURNING TO THE HISTORY OF ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM IN THE UNITED STATES, AFTER A YEAR OF CONSTANT CLIMATE CATASTROPHES, IN HIS NEW BOOK, SILENT SPRING REVOLUTION, DOUGLAS BRINKLEY LOOKS AT THE 1960s TO BRING ATTENTION TO THE CLIMATE CHANGE MOVEMENT.

HE JOINS WALTER ISAACSON TO DISCUSS THE ENVIRONMENTAL AWAKENING.

THIS IS PART OF THE PUBLIC MEDIA INITIATIVE, PERIL AND PROMISE, ON THE CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS OF CLIMB CHANGE.

DOUG BRINKLEY, WELCOME TO THE SHOW.

THANK YOU FOR HAVING ME, WALTER.

THIS BOOK YOU’VE JUST WRITTEN IS THE THIRD IN A TRILOGY.

YOU STARTED WITH TEDDY ROOSEVELT AND SORT OF THE PRESERVATION MOVEMENT.

THE OUTDOOR CONSERVATION MOVEMENT.

HOW IS THE MOVEMENT.

1960s THAT YOU WRITE ABOUT, HOW IS THAT DIFFERENT AND HOW IS IT CONNECTED TO THE TEDDY ROOSEVELT ERA?

A GREAT QUESTION.

WE’VE HAD THREE WAVES OF CONSERVATION/ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENTS IN AMERICA.

THE FIRST, 1901 TO 1909.

THAT’S WHEN THEODORE ROOSEVELT WAS PRESIDENT.

HE ASSIGNED 340,000 ACRES.

HE CREATED THE NATIONAL FOREST SERVICE, FEDERAL BIRD RESERVATIONS, NEW NATIONAL PARKS, AND HE ELEVATED CONSERVATION AS THE NUMBER ONE ISSUE OF OUR TIME.

JOHN MUIR AND OTHERS WERE INVOLVED BUT IT WAS ABOUT PRESERVATION OF OPEN SPACES AND ICONIC HEIRLOOM PARKS LIKE THE GRAND CANYON.

THE SECOND WAVE WAS FD FRMPB ARE 1933 TO 1945.

IN THE MIDST OF PARTICULARLY THE DUST BOWL, THE GREAT DEPRESSION, ROOSEVELT STARTS BRINGING FEDERAL LARGENESS INTO THE PICTURE TO START SAVING A VERY DRAINED AND DESTROYED AMERICA.

WE PLANT A COUPLE OF BILLION TREES IN AMERICA WITH THE CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS, AND FDR SAVES PLACES LIKE THE BEGINNING OF SAVING THE EVERGLADES AND CHANNEL ISLANDS IN CALIFORNIA, ON AND ON.

THE THIRD WAVE THAT I’M WRITING ABOUT.

‘SILENT SPRING REVOLUTION’ IS DIFFERENT.

IT IS NOT ABOUT A PRESIDENT.

IT IS ABOUT HOW THE BOOK IN 1962 LAUFRLGED A REVOLUTION SAYING, I LOVER THE WILDERNESS LOBBY.

I LOVE WHAT T.R. AND FDR DID, BUT NOW DUE TO WORLD WAR II, WE HAVE NUCLEAR FALLOUT.

WE HAVE, WALTER, SO MANY NUCLEAR TESTS IN NEVADA THAT WERE MAKING PEOPLE SICK.

AND DDT BEING SPRAYED OUT OF PLANES OVER VAST ACREAGE WERE MAKING PEOPLE SICK.

SO A COULD THAT SERVATION STARTED BECOMING A PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERN.

AT THE SAME TIME, SMOG HAD TAKEN OVER LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK.

OUR LAKES AND RIVERS WERE DYING.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL AWAKENING OF THE 1960s LED BY RACHEL CARSON HAD THREE PRECEDENTS FOLLOWING HER AND THE PUBLIC DEMAND.

AND I WERE ABOUT THOSE PRESIDENTS, KENNEDY, JOHNSON AND NIXON AND ALL THE THINGS WE ACCOMPLISHED.

LET’S START WITH RACHEL CARSON.

I THINK THERE WAS A QUOTE FROM LINCOLN ONCE ABOUT MEETING HARRIET BEECHER STOW WHO WROTE UNCLE TOM’S CABIN.

TO WHAT EXTENT DOES RACHEL CARSON’S BOOK IGNITE A MOVEMENT AND HOW?

WE DON’T HAVE BOOKS LIKE THAT THESE DAYS.

IT IS RARE WHEN A BOOK GALVANIZES SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

SHE WAS FROM SPRINGDALE, PENNSYLVANIA, ALONG THE ALLEGHANY RIVER.

LOVED THE NATURAL WORLD AND HAD A LITTLE RARE GIFT.

SHE WENT TO DO HER MASTER’S AT JOHN HOPKINS.

STUDIED AT THE FAMOUS OCEANOGRAPHIC LABORATORY RIGHT DOWN THE ROAD FROM THE KENNEDY COMPOUND IN CAPE COD.

AND THEN WROTE, UNDER THE SEA WIND.

IT BECAME A MEGA BEST SELLER.

TWO MORE BEST SELLERS.

BY THE TIME —

LET ME INTERRUPT THERE.

WHY DID THEY BECOME BEST SELLERS?

WAS THERE A HUNGER FOR THIS AT THAT TIME IN THE ’50s?

NOBODY WROTE ABOUT THE OCEANS WITH THE BEAUTY OF RACHEL CARSON.

SCIENTIFIC EXACTNESS WITH THE GRACE OF A GREAT NOVELIST.

THEY ALL HOLD UP TODAY.

YOU READ THEM AND YOU LEARN ABOUT EELS, STARFISH, THEY’RE REMARKABLE.

AND JOCK COUSTEAU STARTED KICKING IN.

THERE WAS IN THE 1950s AND 1960s, A REAL INTEREST IN OCEAN STUDIES.

OCEANOGRAPHY.

THERE WERE BOOKS ABOUT THAT.

DOLPHINS ARE AS SMART AS HUMANS.

WE WERE RECORDING THE SONG OF WHALE SONGS AND THE LIKE.

AND CARSON WAS THE LEADER OF WHAT I WOULD CALL THE OCEAN CONSERVATION MOVEMENT.

THEN SILENT SPRING GETS YOU INTO DDT.

A WHOLE DIFFERENT GENRE.

AS A GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRAT, IF YOU LIKE, SHE LEARNED ALL ABOUT THE TESTS GOING ON AT A PLACE, PATUXENT, MARYLAND.

THEY WOULD USE THESE NEW CHEMICALS LIKE DDT ON A RIVER, TEST THEM, GET THE SCIENTIFIC DATA ABOUT HOW IT WAS AFFECTING THE OSPREY OR THE EAGLES.

SHE WAS BASICALLY A WHISTLEBLOWER.

SHE HAD CANCER IN SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND, FIGHTING AGAINST THE CLOCK SHELF WOULD DIE TWO YEARS AFTER HER BOOK CAME OUT OF CANCER.

SO IT IS AN EPIC STORY OF WRITING THIS BOOK.

AND LAUNCHING IT, FIRST IN A FAMOUS SERIALIZATION IN THE NEW YORKER.

THEN JOHN F. KENNEDY AT A PRESS CONFERENCE ADDRESSES HER BOOK AND CREATES A STIR.

AND THEN THE BOOK COMES OUT.

AND IT IS DISGUSTING TO SEE WHAT BIG CHEMICAL, THE CONGLOMERATES DID TO TRY TO DESTROY CARSON AND HER RESEARCH.

BUT DDT WAS BANNED AND IT TOOK A DECADE TO GET IT BANNED IN NORTH AMERICA.

FINALLY IN 1972 BY RICH NIXON.

AND A TRUE MAN OF SCIENCE, AND FACED THE FACT THAT YOU COULD NOT BE PUTTING THIS MUCH DDT INTO OUR GROUND OR ATMOSPHERE.

SO THIS BOOK COMES OUT IN 1962.

CHEMICAL COMPANIES STARTED ATTACKING IT AND JOHN KENNEDY WAS PRESIDENT.

WE KNOW HIS LOVE OF THE OCEANS.

HE’S FAMILIAR WITH HER.

STARTS GETTING ATTACKED?

THE BIG THING WAS THE GREEN JUSTICE.

WHEN YOU SAY JUSTICE, HE WAS A SUPREME COURT JUSTICE.

HE’S FROM YAKIMA, WASHINGTON, HE WAS A HENRY THOREAU DYED IN THE WOOL FUNDAMENTALIST.

AND HE DOCUMENTED HER IN EVERY WAY IMAGINABLE.

THEY’RE IN CAHOOTS TOGETHER.

AND DOUGLAS IS EXTREMELY CLOSE TO THE KENNEDY FAMILY.

AND RACHEL CARSON HELPED WRITE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY PLANK IN 1960 ON ENVIRONMENTAL ECOLOGY.

SO SHE WAS A KENNEDY-ITE.

SO JOHN KENNEDY WAS BACKING ONE OF HIS OWN WHEN HE SAID, LOOK, WE’RE GOING TO LOOK INTO RACHEL CARSON.

I’M GOING TO PUT THE BEST SCIENTISTS IN AMERICA TO STUDY HER BOOK.

AND THE VERDICT WILL COME IN.

AND THE VERDICT CAME IN THAT RACHEL CARSON WAS RIGHT.

YOU TALK ABOUT SUPREME COURT JUSTICE WILLIAM O’DOUGLAS.

HE IS AN INCREDIBLE ACTIVIST.

ETT.

HE IS NOT JUST SITTING THERE ON THE SUPREME COURT TRYING TO JUDGE CASES.

WE THINK NOW THE REPORT THAT HAS BECOME ACTIVIST BUT THIS REALLY SURPRISED ME, HOW PARTISAN, WELL, ACTIVIST, AND IDEOLOGICAL HE BECAME.

WHEN PEOPLE ARE REAL ENVIRONMENTALISTS, THEY THINK ABOUT IT IN A REAL WAY.

SAVING PLANET EARTH.

AND HE WAS ONE OF THEM.

HE BENT THE LAW TIME AND TIME AGAIN.

HIS OFFICE BECAME A CLEARING HOUSE FOR THE SIERRA CLUB AUTOBAHN SOCIETY AND OTHERS.

THERE WAS NO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY IN 1970.

WAIT, WAIT.

WAS THAT APPROPRIATE FOR A SUPREME COURT JUSTICE IN HIS OFFICE IN CHAMBERS TO BE SORT OF A FOCUS OF A MOVEMENT THAT WOULD HAVE CASES IN FRONT OF THE COURT?

HIS VIEW WAS, I’M A CITIZEN.

I CAN WRITE AND SAY WHAT I WANT.

AND HE STARTED FIGHTING.

ADVOCATING TO A NEW BILL OF RIGHTS.

A WILDERNESS BILL OF RIGHTS THAT EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD BE BORN WITH THE RIGHT TO CLEAN AIR AND CLEAN WATER.

SO YES.

ONE OF THE DRAMATIC PARTS OF MY BOOK IS EXPOSING DOUGLAS.

IF YOU’RE A DIEHARD ENVIRONMENTALIST.

YOU’RE SKRAMPG YOUR LAW SAYING HOW IN THE HELL DID HE GET AWAY WITH IT?

HE WAS ALWAYS A MAVERICK INDIVIDUALIST TO THE EXTREME.

AND BELIEVED A LOT IN LIBERTY.

PARTICULARLY BELIEVED THAT WILD AMERICA WAS A BIRTH RIGHT.

THEN ON THE OTHER SIDE, YOU HAVE SUPREME COURT JUSTICE LEWIS POWELL WHO IS VERY MUCH AN ACTIVIST WITH THE CORPORATE SIDE IN THE CHEMICAL COMPANY.

ABSOLUTELY.

THEY’RE PITTED AGAINST EACH OTHER.

POWELL WRITES TO THE CHAMBER OF CONGRESS.

HE BECOMES SUPREME COURT JUSTICE IN 1972.

BUT POWELL IS WARNING, DOUGLAS HAS TAKEN OVER.

RACHEL CARSON HAS TAKEN OVER.

RALPH NADER HAS TAKEN OVER.

AND POWELL WAS SAYING THE LEFT, OR ENVIRONMENTALISTS, IF YOU LIKE, HAD TAKEN OVER THE UNIVERSITIES, MEDIA CULTURE, ‘THE NEW YORK TIMES,’ THINK TANKS, BOOK WORLD, OUT OF THE MEMO GIVES BIRTH TO KAITO INSTITUTE, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE, HERITAGE FOUNDATION, INDUSTRY NONPROFITS, THE COORS INDUSTRY.

MEANING, THEY SAW THAT ENVIRONMENTALISM WAS HYPER FEDERAL REGULATIONS WOULD COST THE EXTRACTION INDUSTRIES A LOT OF MONEY.

BY THE TIME NIXON BECOMES PRESIDENT, HE’S INHERITING ALL THIS ENVIRONMENTALISM AND HAS TO DECIDE HOW TO PLAY HIS HAND.

BACK THEN, IT WAS A NONPARTISAN ISSUE.

I WAS SURPRISED TO READ UNANIMOUS SENATE VOTES IN THE EARLY 1970s ON THINGS LIKE THAT.

WHY WAS IT NONPARTISAN AND WHAT HAPPENED TO DESTROY THAT?

YOU KNOW, THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT SIGNED BY NIXON, DECEMBER 28, 1973.

IT PASSED THE SENATE 92-0.

THIS WAS THE BEGINNING OF SAVING ALL OF OUR SPECIES.

YOU JUST TAKE A STATE, LET’S SAY FLORIDA.

I CAN DO IT FOR ANY STATE.

SUDDENLY THE CROCODILE GETS SAVED.

THE ALLIGATOR.

MANATEE.

THEY’RE GETTING MEDIA ATTENTION IN ALL OF THIS.

THE REPUBLICANS WERE STILL THEODORE CONSERVATION BACK THEN.

YOU SHOULD READ HOWARD BAKER’S TESTIMONY ON THE CLEAN WATER ACT OF ’72.

IT’S A BEAUTIFUL ENVIRONMENTAL MANIFESTO DEMANDING CLEAN WATER.

PART OF IT WAS HOW COULD YOU BE A POLITICIAN AND DEFEND CUYAHOGA RIVER BEING ON FIRE IN OHIO?

IF YOU’RE IN OHIO, YOU’RE NO LONGER — WHAT PARTY MATTERS WHEN YOUR RIVERS ARE BURNING?

NIXON’S STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH IN 1970 IS AN AMAZING DECLARATION IN FAVOR OF ENVIRONMENTALISM.

TELL ME HOW THAT CAME ABOUT.

IT WAS BECAUSE OF EARTH DAY, 1970.

IT WAS SUCH A BIG NATIONAL EVENT.

EVERYBODY PARTICIPATED.

NIXON THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE A LEFT WING LIBERAL PLOT BUT NEVERTHELESS, HE PLANTED A TREE ON THE WHITE HOUSE WITH PAT FOR EARTH DAY.

NIXON STARTS SEEING ENVIRONMENT AS A WINNING SHOOXT.

HE PASSED THE CLEAN AIR ACT OF 1970 AND ESTABLISHED NOAA AND MUCH MORE.

ONE OF THE REASONS NIXON GETS ABANDONED BY CONSERVATIVES, BY THE POWELL MEMO PEOPLE, THEY DON’T LIKE WHAT HE DID.

EVERYBODY LIKES TO TELL THE BARRY GOLDWATER TOLD NIXON HE’S A LIAR AND I DON’T TRUST AND YOU WATERGATE.

GOLDWATER WAS LIVID AT NIXON FOR HIS EPA WORK AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT.

HE WAS SPENDING BILLIONS OF FEDERAL DOLLARS ON THE ENVIRONMENT THAT THE HARD RIGHT OF THE PARTY DIDN’T LIKE.

BUT NIXON IN 1973 SHIFTS BACK A BIT.

WHY IS THAT?

WALTER, HE SHIFTS BACK BECAUSE OF HIGH GASOLINE PRICES AND THE ARAB OIL EMBARGO.

THAT WAS 1973.

WHEN INFLATION KICKS IN, THE RIGHT, HIS BASE, IS FURIOUS.

HE JUST WON A BIG OLD LAND SLIDE IN 1972.

HE DECIDES, I’M GOING TO BACK AWAY FROM MORE ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION.

AND WATERGATE JUST CONSUMES NIXON.

SO REALLY, THAT WAVE I’M TALKING ABOUT, THE RACHEL CARSON WAVE, ENDS IN 1973 WITH THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT.

IT HAS A LITTLE POP MOMENT WHEN JIMMY CARTER IS PRESIDENT BECAUSE HE MOVED IN AND DID SUCH GREAT WORK ON SAVING ALASKA LANDS.

BY 1980 WITH REAGAN, ENVIRONMENTALISM BECOMES SEEN AS A DEMOCRATIC PRIORITY.

WHILE THE REPUBLICANS ARE FOR THE OIL, GAS EXTRACTION CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES.

AND WE HAVEN’T BEEN ABLE TO GET BACK TOGETHER ON THE SAME PAGE SINCE ’73.

THE 1960s MOVEMENT SEEMS TO ME TO BE A BACKYARD THING WE CARE ABOUT OCEANS AND FISH AND SORT OF OUR NATURAL HABITATS AND STUFF.

DID THEY HAVE ANY SENSE OF THE MUCH BIGGER ISSUE?

THINGS LIKE CLIMATE?

YES, THEY DID.

WE FIRST LINED ABOUT CLIMATE FROM A REPORT, REALLY, 1958.

WE KNOW ABOUT IT.

I WRITE IN MY BOOK ABOUT HOW KENNEDY, KENNEDY KENNEDY’S ADMINISTRATION KNEW THAT CLIMATE, MEANING GLOBAL WARMING, WOULD BE A PROBLEM DUE TO FOSSIL FUELS.

LBJ GIVES A SPEECH ABOUT IT.

IT JUST GETS BURIED BECAUSE SO MUCH IS GOING ON WITH CIVIL RIGHTS, VIETNAM AND THE LIKE.

I WRITE IN THE BOOK ABOUT DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN’S ALARMING MEMO.

HE SAYS, LOOK, THIS CLIMATE CHANGE.

THE DATA IS RIGHT.

HE THEN SOMEWHAT JOKINGLY SAYS, THAT MIGHT MEAN GOODBYE MIAMI.

GOODBYE, NEW YORK, GOODBYE, WASHINGTON.

I DON’T KNOW ABOUT SEATTLE.

AND IT TELLS YOU HOW FRUSTRATING IT IS TO TALK ABOUT CLIMATE ISSUES, SUCH A BIG ONE, BUT THE MEDIA NEVER PUTS AT THIS TIME WAY THEODORE ROOSEVELT PUTS CONSERVATION AS THE NUMBER ONE ISSUE.

ENVIRONMENT, WE HAD MID-TERM ELECTIONS AND CLIMATE CHANGE WAS PROBABLY AT BEST, FIFTH ON THE LIST OF NATIONAL CONCERNS.

IT SEEMS ONLY GENERATION Z PEOPLE ARE PUTTING IT AT THE TOP OF THEIR AGENDA.

THE 1960s, THE LONG 1960s.

BETWEEN 1962 WHEN RACHEL CARSON DOES HER BOOK TO 1973 OR SO, THIS IS A NONPARTISAN ISSUE.

REPUBLICANS ARE ALMOST IN THE FOREFRONT OF SOME OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL ACTS THEN.

HOW IS IT WE CAN GET IT BACK TO BEING A NONPARTISAN ISSUE?

IT’S GOING TO BE HARD TO GET ON THE SAME PAGE NOW BECAUSE PEOPLE DON’T LIKE TO CALL THINGS, INCLUDING THE MEDIA, A CLIMATE EVENT.

ANY TIME IT’S A HURRICANE, THEY SAY, WELL, THERE WERE HURRICANES SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME.

HOW DO YOU DECIPHER WHAT IS CAUSED BY CLIMATE CHANGE AND NOT?

BUT WE ARE GOING TO MEET OUR COME UPPANCE HERE.

I THINK WE NEED A LEADER.

LEADERSHIP.

TALKING ABOUT AN EARTH SHOT.

I’VE WRITTEN ABOUT THE MOON SHOT.

GOING TO THE MOON.

WE NEED TO SAVE PLANET EARTH NOW.

AND REALIZE LIKE T.R. WOULD SAY, EVERY FLOWER, SPECIES, IS A MASTER PIECE.

WE DON’T WANT TO LOSE THEM.

UNFORTUNATELY, WE’RE HAVING MASSIVE SPECIES EXTINCTION GOING ON RIGHT NOW.

AND I THINK IT NEEDS TO BE ELEVATED ON THE LIST OF PUBLIC CONCERNS.

I HOPE WITH DOCUMENTARIES, NOVELS THAT WE’RE CREATING A NEW AWARENESS THAT THERE ARE SIGNS THAT THE 20-YEAR-OLDS GET IT AND THEY’RE READY TO BE THE GENERATION THAT TRIGGERS THAT RACHEL CARSON MOMENT.

DOUG BRINKLEY, THANK YOU FOR JOINING US.

THANK YOU, WALTER, I REALLY APPRECIATE IT.