The Industrial Revolution: The Indutrial Revolution

The Indutrial Revolution began in Britain in the 1700’s and spread throughout different parts of world. During this peiriod, vast amounts of people started moving from rural areas to urban areas looking for better job opportunities. Prior to the Industrail Revoliution, manuafcturing was often done in people’s homes. Slowly indutrialization established new machinery including the devlopment of the steam engine along with iron and textile industries. This was a great advancemt for the United States. Factories helped produce more goods, in less amounts of time. However, it led to the development of numerous enviromental hazards.The use of factories and mass production casued a depletion of certain resources such as coal and iron. It increased air polution, water pollution, population growth, and disrupted rural villages with the construction of railroads.

Rivers that passed through urban areas became a holder for human waste products. Factories began releasing pollutants directly into rivers and streams. By the 1850’s inhabitants began experiencing epidemics of cholera and typhoid. In 1969, chemical waste releasaed into Ohio’s Cuyahoga River caused it to burn into flames and the waterway became a symbol of how insutrial pollution was destroying America’s natural resources. Aditionally, mining activties also affected water pollution by increasing the amount of toxic elements released into the environment. When coal and other minerals were extracted from underground, they emited several metal waste which was harmful for the water. It is evident that the Indutrial Revolution caused a lot of evnviromental problems for individuals. Without social protest it is doubtful politicians would have responded to the environmental crisis…in the late 1960’s and ealry 1970’s (Halbert, par. 1). Individuals were conserned about their health and congress decided to pass the Clean Water Act of 1972 to reduce water