ABSTRACT
The technical controversy ripened and proliferated, with mass media playing an ever increasing role. The 1960s and 1970s were decades of protest— civil rights, the Vietnam War, and the beginning of the modern environmental movement— often emphasizing the dark side of industrial "progress" and the fearfulness of military technology. Some of the early postwar technical controversies were both cause and effect of the greater environmental awareness that developed in 1960s America. Conventional histories place the roots of modern environmentalism in the conservation movement of Theodore Roosevelt's day, focused on saving scenic places and charismatic animals. Modern environmentalism is as rooted in these urban problems: tuberculosis, waterborne diseases, sewage and horse manure in the streets, filthy air and spoiled food, especially pollution, as in conservation. The very presence of specialist reporters, who came to know and trust sources within the scientific, environmental, and consumer rights communities, facilitated many new warnings concerning pollutants, food additives, nuclear weapons, and consumer goods.
