2. What was happening in the 1970s?
70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79
The Beatles break up in 1970 - Computer floppy disks are introduced in this year - A Palestinian group hijacks five planes
United Kingdom changes to decimal system for currency - VCRs are introduced
M*A*S*H TV show premiers - Terrorists attack at the Olympic Games in Munich - Pocket calculators introduced
U.S pulls out of Vietnam - U.S Vice President resigns - Ros vs Wade legalises abortion in the US
Terracotta Army discovered in China - U.S President Nixon resigns
Cambodian genocide begins – Civil war in Lebanon – Microsoft founded – Pol Pot becomes the Communist
dictator of Cambodia – Saturday Night Live premiers – Two assassination attempts against U.S President
Dictator of Cambodia
First Ebola virus outbreaks strike in Sudan and Zaire – North and South Vietnam join to form the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Elvis found dead – Star Wars movie released – South African anti-apartheid leader Steve Biko was
tortured to death
First test tube baby was born – John Paul || becomes Pope
Iran takes American hostages in Tehran – Margret Thatcher first women prime minister
of Great Britain – Mother Teresa awarded the Nobel Peace Prize – Nuclear accident at
Three Mile Island – Sony introduces the Walkman
3. ∙ Lassa Fever
∙ Legionnaires’
disease
∙ Environmentalism
∙ Ecofreaks
∙ New Age
∙ Noise pollution
∙ Doomwatch
∙ Global warming
∙ The pill
∙ Hippy
∙ The Flower People
∙ Pizza
∙ Nuke
∙ Listed building
∙ Database
∙ Black hole
∙ Super model
∙ Gas-guzzler
∙ Chat-show
New/coined words
and phrases
4. The
environmenta
l concerns of
the 1970s
The 70s was a transitional decade from the movements that occurred in the ‘swinging
sixties’, oil prices were rising along with divorce rates, new diseases where emerging and
there was a growing movement towards environmentalism as the children from the baby
boom reached their twenties.
There were many environmental issues bought to light in the 70s, however this is
considered one of the first ‘green eras’ illustrating the movements to try and stop or prevent
the damage being caused. This lead to the introduction of new words such as Ecofreak.
Environmental problems in MEDCs included pollutants caused by industrialisation,
whereas LEDCs were falling victim to the exploitation of their natural resources, causing a
loss of biodiversity.
Urban sprawl meant that we were becoming reliant on other countries to meet the
increasing demand for oil, this was a cause for concern with regards to the environment
due to air pollution, hence the introduction of words such as ‘gas-guzzler’.
5. • Pollution from communities surrounding Lake Erie became
so toxic that it was uninhabitable by plants and fish in the
late 60s/early 70s.
• The Cuyahoga River in Ohio spontaneously combusted due
to severe pollution from chemicals and oil dumped in the
river by surrounding factories.
• In the States urban sprawl lead to the construction of many
freeways allowing easy access between the suburbs and the
city centre, however this caused even more damage to the
environment.
• Earth Day was started as a grassroots effort to raise
awareness of the poor environmental health and the lacking
efforts of governments to limit the detrimental effects of
environmentalism. Several policies where introduced as a
result of this, including the Clean Air Act of 1970, the
Clean Water Act of 1972 and the Endangered Species Act
of 1973.
6. Flower power
The term flower power was first
introduced in the late 60s/early 70s
as a symbol of passive resistance.
The expression was coined by the
American beat poet Allen
Ginsberg in 1965 as a way to
transform war protests into
peaceful events.
‘Hippies’ embraced this ideology
by dressing in vibrant floral
clothing and distributing flowers to
the public, becoming known as the
Flower Children.
However this term later picked up
connotations of the counterculture
of drugs, psychedelic music and
art.
“The cry of Flower Power echoes
through the land. We shall not wilt.
Let a thousand flowers bloom.” –
Abbie Hoffman, Workshop in Nonviolence,
May 1967
7. Technological
and Scientific
Advancements of
the 1970s
The 1970s saw several dramatic
steps forward in science and
technology, the most significant
being The Voyager Program. This
consisted of two space launches in
the summer of 1977. Both
spacecraft performed close flybys of
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and
Neptune, before continuing on into
interstellar space as part of the
Voyager Interstellar Mission. These
spacecraft explored our solar system
until the late 1980s and made some
of the most influential discoveries
with regards to our understanding of
our solar system. This is why before
unheard of words such as black hole
entered peoples vocabulary
Notas del editor
In 1970 the Beatles broke up. VCRs were introduced in 71. The TV show MASH premiered in 72 and there was a terrorist attack on the Olympic Games in Munich. In 73 the US pulled out of Vietnam and abortion was legalised in the US . In 1974 the terracotta army was discovered in China and US president Nixon resigns. The following year Microsoft was founded, Pol Pot became the communist dictator of Cambodia and Saturday Night Live premiered. In 76 the first Ebola virus outbreaks were documented in Sudan and Zaire, also North and South Vietnam joined to form the socialist republic of vietnam. In 77 Elvis was found dead, Star Wars was released and South African anti-apartheid leader Steve Biko was tortured to death. 78 was the year that the first test tube baby was born. And finally in 1979 Margret Thatcher was the first women prime minister of Great Britain, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and Sony introduced the Walkman.
Newly coined words and phrases in this decade included Ecofreak, Hippy, Global Warming, The Flower People, Gas-guzzler and Pizza.
The 70s was a transitional decade from the movements that occurred in the ‘swinging sixties’, oil prices were rising along with divorce rates, new diseases such as Lassa fever where emerging and there was a growing movement towards environmentalism as the children from the baby boom reached their twenties. There were many environmental issues bought to light in the 70s, however this is considered one of the first ‘green eras’ illustrating the movements to try and stop or prevent the damage being caused. This lead to the introduction of new words such as Ecofreak.
Environmental problems in MEDCs included pollutants caused by industrialisation, where as LEDCs were falling victim to the exploitation of their natural resources, causing a loss of biodiversity.
Urban sprawl meant that we were becoming reliant on other countries to meet the increasing demand for oil, this was a cause for concern with regards to the environment due to air pollution, hence the introduction of words such as ‘gas-guzzler’.
Pollution from communities surrounding Lake Erie became so toxic that it was uninhabitable by plants and fish in the late 60s/early 70s.
The Cuyahoga River in Ohio spontaneously combusted due to severe pollution from chemicals and oil dumped in the river by surrounding factories.
In the States urban sprawl lead to the construction of many freeways allowing easy access between the suburbs and the city centre, however this caused even more damage to the environment.
Earth Day was started as a grassroots effort to raise awareness of the poor environmental health and the lacking efforts of governments to limit the detrimental effects of environmentalism. Several policies where introduced as a result of this, including the Clean Air Act of 1970, the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
The term flower power was first introduced in the late 60s/early 70s as a symbol of passive resistance.
The expression was coined by the American beat poet Allen Ginsberg in 1965 as a way to transform war protests into peaceful events.
‘Hippies’ embraced this ideology by dressing in vibrant floral clothing and distributing flowers to the public, becoming known as the Flower Children.
However this term later picked up connotations of the counterculture of drugs, psychedelic music and art.
The 1970s saw several dramatic steps forward in science and technology, the most significant being The Voyager Program. This consisted of two space launches in the summer of 1977. Both spacecraft performed close flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, before continuing on into interstellar space as part of the Voyager Interstellar Mission. These spacecraft explored our solar system until the late 1980s and made some of the most influential discoveries with regards to our understanding of our solar system.
