Credit: WITF, Inc.
Transcript:
Background music:Celtic-style guitar playing gentle melody throughout
Sound effects:
None
Narrative:
When European settlers first arrived in Pennsylvania, they were both thrilled and astonished.
Video:
Colonial-era ships with large white sails crossing the ocean.
Narrative:
Penn's Woods was a vast colony, filled with rich soils, trees and wildlife.
Video:
An overhead view of a lush Pennsylvania forest, a bird singing in a tree, a deer grazes on grass.
Narrative:
The discovery of huge deposits of coal, iron, natural gas and oil eventually led to Pennsylvania's status as an economic and industrial powerhouse.
Video:
A large shovel scoops up a pile of coal and brings it toward the camera, a photo of a natural gas pump, oil draining from a pipe with gears and wheels in the background, iron workers and iron ore sparking in a factory.
Narrative:
But as the air became filled with soot and smoke...
Video:
Smokestacks belching dirty smoke into the air.
Narrative:
...as land was relentlessly strip-mined...
Video:
Shot of a strip mine that has obviously been in use for quite some time.
Narrative:
...and as waterways became polluted...
Video:
Shot of a waterfall, close-up of a murky, polluted stream.
Narrative:
Penn's woods began to lose their beauty and their bounty.
Video:
Panning shot of a deforested area with stumps and twigs.
Narrative:
Finally in the mid-20th century, community leaders began to take action. Beginning in the 1950s, Pennsylvania passed a broad network of laws to protect its environment and conserve its resources for generations to come.
Video:
Shot of Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, beautiful meadows, light shines through the trees in a forest.
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