A United States event that occured in the 1970's, were the Embargo Years. The Embargo Years were the result of the environmental movement and energy crisis. Many citizens in the US during this time hopped on board with these movements and grew passionate towards protecting the environment and finding natural, healthier resources to power the country. During the Embargo Years imports of oil to the US dropped, and prices rose dramatically. Nixon was president at this time and things like "Project Independence" and The Federal Energy Office was created in attempts to help and/or get rid of the oil problems. The embargo lasted 6 months, and after it was all said and done, many new environmental policies developed over the years. In 1978, congress passed the National Energy Act, the Natural Gas policy act, and the Department of Energy was created all in order to better the natural world. All of this connects across to Europe in the 1970s, because during this time in Europe the rise of the environmental movement was growing and developing rapidly. Just like in the US, people in Europe grew extremely passionate and committed to saving the environment because of all the terrible effects that the industrial development had created. Although the United States and Europe are an ocean apart, the people living on each shared the same drive and interests when it came to the environment. So while the Embargo Years were going on, many groups and individuals in the US also joined together to protest the destructive consequences happening to the environment. In Europe, this too was occuring. The environmental movement grew and protests occured. One of the most famous events during the environmental movement in Europe at this time was the event that student protesters took on at the Univerity of Copenhagen in 1969. They took over a scientific conference on natural history by locking the doors and spraying the professors with polluted lake water. They also held up and oil-doused duck, shouting, "Come and save it... you talk about pollution, why don't you do anything about it?!" These events that occured across continents connect simply because of the dramatic times that were happening due to the crazed fight to save the environment. Both the US and Europe experienced turmoil in these areas, and the environmental movement came out of it along with protests and new policies to conserve the environment and it's resources.
Another United States event that was occuring during this time was the creation of the "new left." The new left in the US was influenced primarily by The Vietnam War. The new left was a term that was associated with liberal and radical political movements during the 1960's, and mainly made up of college students. These people were strongly against the US's involvement in Vietnam and protested sending our troops over to fight. The term "hippies" is closely linked to the new left, because both go hand-in-hand with eachother during their time periods and what the believed in. They sought to create a large amount of reforms that advocated for democracy and civil rights. This new left that developed in the United States also had developed in Europe, as well. The new left in reference to the European ways is defined as - a movement of students in the West who advoacted simpler, purer societies based on an updated, romanticized verison of Marxism. They sought to create a more humanitarian style of socialism and sought to correct the errors of the "old left." The Europeans apart of the new left also dreamed of complete freedom and simpler, purer societies. Many student activists in western Europe rose up just like in the US, and protests also occured there. The new left in the United States connects across to the continent of Europe because they both share almost exactly the same definition, motives, and dreams as one another. On both Europe and the US the new left was made up of groups and individuals believing in the same things and sharing the same values and ideas.
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