Citizen Environmentalists

Images

This panoramic photo of Pittsburgh, and others like it, was used by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development to promote local smoke control in the 1940s and 50s. The Ohio River in the foreground is formed at the confluence of the Allegheny, left, and Monongahela, right. Courtesy Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction or usage prohibited. The Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation steel mills on both sides of the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh itself, from the Boulevard of the Allies. This image, from November 1947, predates both the smoke control of the 1950s and tougher air pollution control of the 1970s. Courtesy Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction or usage prohibited. The Pittsburgh Press caption for this image notes that “A little ‘air pollution’ is appropriate as commissioners adopt new county code” on December 17, 1969. Left to right: Thomas J. Foerster, Leonard C. Staisey, Dr. William R. Hunt. Copyright © Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2009, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. gasp member Mrs. Irving Nadelhaft selling cans of clean air at the Jenkins Arcade table, January 16, 1970. This picture appeared on the front page of the Pittsburgh Press to illustrate the news that a winter inversion had trapped pollution at ground level, exceeding newly set emergency levels and prompting orders to temporarily close polluting industry. Copyright © Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2009, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. gasp founder and first president Michelle Madoff, never shy about expressing her opinion, makes her feelings clear. Used by permission of the Archives of Industrial Society, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh. Pat Newman, at the time gasp’s publicity chair and later its second president, speaks at the microphone for a hearing on the proposed Article XVIII, May 12, 1972. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette quotes Newman: “Every time a polluter claims he’ll have to cut back or close a facility due to pollution control laws, he should be required to open his financial records.” Copyright © Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2009, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. Jeannette Widom signs a fund-raising cookbook at a gasp information table. The cookbooks provided a surprising amount of funding for the group, but more importantly linked gasp to both the corporate world and a dense network of women’s civic organizations. Used by permission of the Archives of Industrial Society, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh. Mrs. Johanna Hicken and two-year-old son, Robert, in the Pittsburgh Press on January 22, 1971. The accompanying story says that Hicken believed that individuals should take action: “That’s why I’m joining [gasp]. They seem to be doing something effective to clean up our air.” Copyright© Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2009, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. A cartoon image of gasp mascot Dirtie Gertie and brood perched in their nest, located precariously close to industrial sources of pollution. This still image is from one of the animated public service announcements that appeared on local television. Courtesy of the Group Against Smog and Pollution, Inc. An unidentified gasp member—there is still some evident embarrassment about who, exactly, wore the costume at different occasions—appears as Dirtie Gertie, caring for an off-balance child costumed as Dirty Dick, the Poor Polluted Chick. The costume was a part of gasp’s educational mission, emphasizing maternal as well as environmental themes. Courtesy of the Group Against Smog and Pollution, Inc. Allegheny County Health Department Bureau of Air Pollution Control engineer and gasp member Bernard “Bernie” Bloom, pictured July 21, 1972. Behind Bloom is the Bureau’s computer, used to compile air pollution monitoring network data and compile the daily air pollution index, a metric that Bloom created. Copyright© Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2009, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. The Clairton Coke Works of U.S. Steel, widely described as the largest in the world, spread along the Monongahela River, June 27, 1976. Copyright © Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2009, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. Smoky Clairton, April 18, 1973. Clairton was a particularly difficult industrial source to regulate; its size, economic importance, U.S. Steel’s intransigence, and the profoundly dirty process of coking made the site emblematic of all industrial air pollution in the region, even as other sources were successfully regulated. Copyright © Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2009, all...