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Environmental movement

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The environmental movement (a term that sometimes includes the conservation and green movements) is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement.

In general terms, environmentalists advocate the sustainable management of resources and stewardship of the natural environment through changes in public policy and individual behavior.

In its recognition of humanity as a participant in (not enemy of) ecosystems, the movement is centered around ecology, health, and human rights.

The environmental movement is represented by a range of organizations, from the large to grassroots. Due to its large membership, varying and strong beliefs, and occasionally speculative nature, the environmental movement is not always united in its goals.

At its broadest, the movement includes private citizens, professionals, religious devotees, politicians, and extremists. Environmentalists are also often linked with other social movements, such as human and animal rights and pacifism.

History

The environmental history of the United States: The early conservation era was from 1832 to 1960. During the first years there were two early conservationist that made an impact, Henry David Thoreau and George Perkins Marsh. Thoreau was concerned about the wildlife from Massachusetts. He wrote Walden; or, Life in the Woods as he studied the wildlife from a cabin. George Perkins Marsh was influential about the need for resource conservation.

The roots of the modern environmental movement can be traced to attempts in nineteenth-century Europe and North America to expose the costs of environmental negligence, notably disease, as well as widespread air and water pollution, but only after the Second World War did a wider awareness begin to emerge.]

During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, several events illustrated the magnitude of environmental damage caused by man. In 1954, the 23 man crew of the Japanese fishing vessel Lucky Dragon was exposed to radioactive fallout from a hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll. In 1962 the publication of the book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson drew attention to the impact of chemicals on the natural environment. In 1967 the Torrey Canyon oil tanker went aground off the southwest coast of England, and in 1969 oil spilled from an offshore well in California's Santa Barbara Channel. In 1971 the conclusion of a law suit in Japan drew international attention to the effects of decades of mercury poisoning on the people of Minamata.

At the same time, emerging scientific research drew new attention to existing and hypothetical threats to the environment and humanity. Among them were Paul R. Ehrlich, whose book The Population Bomb, published 1968, revived concerns about the impact of exponential population growth. Biologist Barry Commoner generated a debate about growth, affluence and "flawed technology." Additionally, an association of scientists and political leaders known as the Club of Rome published their report The Limits to Growth in 1972, and drew attention to the growing pressure on natural resources from human activities.

Meanwhile, nuclear proliferation and photos of Earth from space emphasized the consequences of technological accomplishments, as well as Earth's truly small place in the universe.

In 1972, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm, and for the first time united the representatives of multiple governments in discussion relating to the state of the global environment. This conference led directly the creation of government environment agencies and the UN Environment Program. The United States also passed new legislation such as the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act- the foundations for current environmental standards.

Love Canal

In 1978, a major environmental catastrophe at Love Canal, New York led to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) commonly called the "Superfund Act."

In the Love Canal incident, the local school board purchased land near Hooker Chemical's toxic burial site for $1 and constructed a new elementary school. In 1978, resident Lois Gibbs led an effort to investigate community concerns about the health of its residents. Neighborhood residents had observed strange odors and substances in the area, an extremely high rate of cancer, and an alarming number of birth defects. Gibbs' own children were hospitalized regularly for epilepsy, asthma, and urinary tract infections.

Because nobody was willing to pay for a solution to the problem, Ms. Gibbs struggled to gain attention until President Jimmy Carter announced a federal emergency. However, scarcity of government funds allowed for only residents nearest to the contaminated area be evacuated.

Later, when more money was secured, the government relocated and reimbursed more than 800 families. More than $200 million was used to clean up the site, and Congress passed the Superfund Act, which holds polluters accountable for misdeeds. So-called superfund sites are widespread in the United States, and are documented on a website run by the EPA [1].

Since the 1970s, public awareness, environmental sciences, ecology, and technology have advanced to include modern focus points like ozone depletion, global climate change, acid rain, and the harmful potential of GMOs.

Scope of the movement

Biological studies

  • Environmental science is the study of the interactions among the physical, chemical and biological components of the environment;
  • Ecology, or ecological science, is the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of living organisms and how these properties are affected by interactions between the organisms and their environment.

Primary focus points

  • The environmental movement is broad in scope and can include any topic related to the environment, conservation, and biology, as well as preservation of landscapes, flora, and fauna for a variety of purposes and uses. See List of environmental issues
  • The conservation movement seeks to protect natural areas for sustainable consumption, as well as traditional (hunting, fishing, trapping) and spiritual use.

Other focus points

  • Environmental health movement dates at least to Progressive Era, and focuses on urban standards like clean water, efficient sewage handling, and stable population growth. Environmental health could also deal with nutrition, preventive medicine, aging, and other concerns specific to human well-being. Environmental health is also seen as an indicator for the state of the natural environment, or an early warning system for what may happen to humans.
  • Environmental Justice is a movement that began in the U.S. in the 1980s and seeks an end to environmental racism and prevent low-income and minority communities from an unbalanced exposure to highways, garbage dumps, and factories. The Environmental Justice movement seeks to link "social" and "ecological" environmental concerns, while at the same time preventing de facto racism, and classism.
  • Ecology movement could involve the Gaia Theory, as well as Value of Earth and other interactions between humans, science, and responsibility.
  • Deep Ecology is often considered to be a spiritual spinoff of the ecology movement.
  • bright green environmentalism is a currently popular sub-movement, which emphasizes the idea that through technology, good design and more thoughtful use of energy and resources, people can live responsible, sustainable lives while enjoying prosperity.
  • Primitivism seeks to abolish all the technology as inherently damaging to both Earth and humans.
  • Dark green environmentalism is a movement sympathetic to the view that technology is inherently evil, but it does not promote outright abolition of it.

Environmental law and theory

Property rights

Many environmental lawsuits question the legal rights of property owners, and whether the general public has a right to intervene with detrimental practices occurring on someone else's land.

Citizens' rights

One of the earliest lawsuits to establish that citizens may sue for environmental and aesthetic harms was Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference v. Federal Power Commission, decided in 1965 by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The case helped halt the construction of a power plant on Storm King Mountain in New York State. See also United States environmental law and David Sive, an attorney who was involved in the case.

"Nature's rights"

Christopher D. Stone's 1972 essay, "Should trees have standing?" addressed the question of whether natural objects themselves should have legal rights. In the essay, Stone suggests that his argument is valid because many current rights-holders (women, children) were once seen as objects.

Environmental reactivism

Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) and NIMBY syndrome

Numerous criticisms and ethical ambiguities have led to growing concerns about technology, including the use of potentially-harmful pesticides, water additives like fluoride, and the extremely dangerous ethanol-processing plants.

NIMBY syndrome refers to public outcry caused by knee-jerk reaction to an unwillingness to be exposed to even necessary developments. Some serious biologists and ecologists created the scientific ecology movement which would not confuse empirical data with visions of a desirable future world.

Modern environmentalism

Today, the sciences of ecology and environmental science, rather than any aesthetic goals, provide the basis of unity to most serious environmentalists. As more information is gathered in scientific fields, more scientific issues like biodiversity, as opposed to mere aesthetics, are a concern. Conservation biology is rapidly-developing field. Environmentalism now has proponents in business: new ventures such as those to reuse and recycle technical equipment are becoming more and more popular. computer liquidators are just one example.

Criticisms of the environmental movement

Skeptics believe that environmentalism is more deeply rooted in politics than science, citing an uneasiness about compromising capitalistic ideals, or a sacrifice of a comfortable lifestyle. These concerns are often made valid by extremists associated with the movement who overshadow real accomplishments and scientific findings.

One recent critic is the American author Michael Crichton, who appeared before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works to address concerns illustrated in his novel that questions the existence of the global climate crisis.

Dr. Crichton recommended use of double-blind experimentation in environmental research, which is a standard in medicine and many other scientific fields.

A consistent theme acknowledged by both supporters and critics is that scientists are constantly learning more about nature's complexities, and that the environmental debate deals with many points of view.

Environmental studies are also criticized for the reliance on recent data to define long-term environmental trends. Because of this, many environmentalists support the precautionary principle, or to err on the side of caution when making public policy. This conjecture, however, is precisely what makes skeptics nervous.

See also

In alphabetical order:

Regional environmental movements

Notes and references

  • John McCormick, The Global Environmental Movement, London: John Wiley, 1995
  • Sheldon Kamieniecki, editor, Environmental Politics in the International Arena: Movements, Parties, Organizations, and Policy, Albany: State Univerisity of New York Press, 1993, ISBN 0-7914-1664-X
  • Philip Shabecoff, A Fierce Green Fire: The American Environmental Movement, Island Press; Revised Edition, 2003, ISBN 1559634375
  • Paul Wapner, Environmental Activism and World Civil Politics, Albany: State University of New York, 1996, ISBN 0-7914-2790-0
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