Historians’ book explores environmental movement

ORONO – With campaigns over landfills, dams, endangered species and other issues, environmental activism came of age in the latter part of the 19th century. The movement grew out of historical traditions and what historians Richard Judd of the University of Maine and Christopher Beach of Unity College call “the environmental imagination.”

To explore the relationship between the political and cultural dimensions of environmentalism, Judd and Beach have written a new book, “Natural States: The Environmental Imagination in Maine, Oregon and the Nation,” published by Resources for the Future Press.

Going into circumstances behind the headlines, Judd and Beach describe how local perceptions of the natural world blended with regional and national movements to affect public policies. Their focus is the period after World War II to 1975.

The authors chose to study Maine and Oregon because the two states have passed progressive environmental legislation dealing with issues such as recycling, water pollution, forestry and rivers. Both states have developed identities based on natural beauty and rural economies. Among the cases they describe are efforts to protect the Allagash and St. John rivers in Maine and the Rogue River in Oregon, as well as attempts to address urban sprawl and preserve seacoasts.

Their research illuminates national trends in environmental consciousness, such as how debates about the landscape have changed over time and why changes occurred. Maine and Oregon serve as examples of the importance and the possibility of securing environmental protection.

Their analysis is based on information contained in newspapers, magazines, legislative records, books and published speeches.

“I wanted to understand the motives that drove the movement during this exciting period of its formulation,” said Judd. “Understanding the relation between political action and perspectives on nature seems to me to be a key to understanding why environmentalism has persisted over the last three decades, in spite of onslaughts from political figures like Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.”

Judd also is the author of “Common Lands, Common People: The Origins of Conservation in Northern New England;” “Socialist Cities: Municipal Politics and the Grassroots of American Socialism;” and “Aroostook: A Century of Logging in Northern Maine, 1831-1931.”

“Natural States” is available from Resources for the Future Press, by calling (410) 516-6956, (800) 537-5487, or visit www.rff.org.