Environmental issues are more and more becoming part of the American society. We have gone from a people who have no need to conserve items such as power, water, and oil, to people who are infatuated with the idea of cleaning up the environment. Once litter ruled the road sides, and now we have programs that are meant to clean the gutters and roadsides. From the late 70's through the 80's Americans as a whole began to see the good that conservation, and environmental protection bring to our nation.
             In the early 70's the big three automakers went from creating large, fast and powerful muscle cars, to moving toward the more fuel economic, and environment friendly compact cars. Rather than consume gasoline at the alarming pace the muscle cars did, these vehicles were specifically designed to save gas and emit less carcinogens into the environment. Up to this point Americans had never even thought of conserving oil and gasoline. But after the gas shortages of the 1970's people began to realize that oil was a resource that we could not do without. America had turned itself into a nation of motorized vehicles. Considering that our relations with the Middle East highly depicted prices of oil, and therefore the prices of gas, it was imperative for people to find ways to use less gas, as relations are typically fragile with these countries. This resulted in the compact vehicle revolution mentioned above. And lead to less and less pollutants being emitted into the air and environment.
             Another interesting outcome of the 80's conservation movement is the classification of wild lands into new and differing access areas. I remember in the early to mid 80's when you could pretty much drive anywhere your car or truck could go. However, those times have changed. Conversationalists have lobbied to make wild lands more and more protected. Progressively throughout the 80's it became harder and harder to...