Concern about environmental issues is a relatively recent phenomenon worldwide. Until the 1960s, citizens were not interested in air and water pollution, waste disposal, and wetlands destruction.

An important figure in bringing these issues to public attention was Russell Eroll Train. He was born in Jamestown, Rhode Island, on June 4, 1920, the son of a rear admiral in the United States Navy. He attended St. Alban's School and Princeton University, from which he graduated in 1941. After serving in the United States Army during World War II, Train entered Columbia Law School, where he earned his law degree in 1948.

Train's early career suggested that he would follow a somewhat traditional life of government service. He took a job as counsel to the Congressional Joint Committee on Revenue and Taxation in 1948 and five years later, became clerk of the House Ways...