9.6 Consumer and Environmental Revolution

Open Ended

Analyze Charts How did legislation enacted during the 1960s lead to the expansion of rights for minorities?

Multiple Choice

Who led the consumer rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s?

• George Mitchell

• Eunice Shriver

• Ralph Nader

• Dee Brown

Open Ended

An Environmental Wake-up Call

Americans’ awareness of environmental warning signs came from first-hand experience and what they read in newspapers and other sources. Following the publication of Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring in 1962, environmental issues became national concerns.

Read the quote from Silent Spring and then answer the questions.

Write a few sentences in response to each of the following questions:

• What do you think happened to this small town Carson is describing?

• How might private citizens and the government react to these concerns?

Write a list of four or five actions that Americans might take to protect the environment.

Open Ended

Analyze Data Use the tables to determine whether 1970s environmental legislation had a positive, neutral, or negative effect on the environment and the American public.

Multiple Choice

What did Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring describe?

• • the impact of toxic chemical dumping on birth defects and cancer

• • a deadly smog that killed thousands of people in London

• • a fire in Cleveland caused by byproducts of industrialization

• • the harmful impact of pesticides on animals

Open Ended

Analyze Maps This is how the EPA organizes its work by region. In what ways might hazardous waste vary by region?

Open Ended

Analyze Political Cartoons What do you think the palm trees on the island suggest about the release of radiation at Three Mile Island?

Multiple Choice

How did the nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island affect the United States?

• • It caused severe long-term diseases in local communities.

• • It led to the shutdown of all nuclear power plants in the nation.

• • It increased public fear of disasters and opposition to nuclear energy.

• • It released a radioactive gas that forced people to abandon their homes.