In Episode III, we continue our survey of a brief history of pollution by looking at the string of environmental legislation passed in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s in the lead-up to a number of highly publicized environmental crises that were beginning to grip the nation, including Love Canal.

As the general public and lawmakers came to the realization that our landscape was peppered with thousands of abandoned toxic waste sites, they passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980—CERCLA—establishing the Superfund program.

Public awareness of the issue led to mobilization of communities in the form of protests, volunteerism, and engagement, which propelled movements of citizen science, environmental justice, and environmental literacy.