Preview

Environmental Movement

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1234 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Environmental Movement
The environmental movement, a term that includes the conservation and green politics, is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues.

Environmentalists advocate the sustainable management of resources and stewardship of the 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 on 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.
History of the movement
The roots of the modern environmental movement can be traced to attempts in 19th-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.
The US environmental movement emerged in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, with two key strands: preservationist such as John Muir wanted land and nature set aside for its own sake, while conservationists such as Gifford Pinchot wanted to manage natural resources for human use. Among the early protectionists that stood out as leaders in the movement were Henry David Thoreau, John Muir and George Perkins Marsh. Thoreau was concerned about the wildlife in Massachusetts; he wrote Walden; or, Life in the Woods as he studied the wildlife from a cabin. John Muir founded the Sierra Club, one of the largest conservation organizations in the United States. Marsh was influential with regards to the need for resource conservation. Muir was instrumental in the creation of Yosemite

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the first two centuries of U.S. history was a widespread environmental destruction. In the 19th century there were four people who played a key role in protecting the environment; Henry Thoreau, John Audubon, George Marsh, and President Theodore Roosevelt. The modern environmental movement was in the 19th century Europe and North America as they exposed the cost of environmental negligence. Rachel Carson a Marie Biologist wrote a book in the 1960’s about the effects of pesticides. This brought public awareness to the effects of pesticides and retractions on the use of pesticides. In the 1960’s the media also started to report environmental incidents to the public. These incidents included the death toll in New York from the pollution in the air, the death of fish and closers of beaches because of the pollution in the water. All of this led up the establishment of the EPA in 1970.…

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    All life depends on energy from the sun, solar capital, and the resources and ecological services of the earth, natural capital, to survive. An environmentally sustainable society provides for the current needs of its people without undermining the ability of future generations to do the same.…

    • 4269 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Kingsolver

    • 1311 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Environmental sustainability is the concept of nature enduring over time. Kingsolver in her book mysteriously unfolds the idea that the environment is cracking and part of the sustainability piece is losing ground. She places the butterflies on a mountain, and allows the reader to find them. She builds the story from there. Tretheway presents the reader with the catastrophe, and works back towards sustainability. Environmental sustainability is reliant upon both upon society and the economy to maintain effectiveness; and society and the economy is reliant upon the sustainability of the environment: (i.e. you cannot have a sawmill without trees).…

    • 1311 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    3. Environmentalism is a social movement dedicated to protecting the earth’s life-support systems for us and other species, and is political in nature. Sustainability, also known as durability, is the ability of earth’s various systems to survive and adapt to changing environmental conditions indefinitely.…

    • 1438 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    3. Environmentalism is a theory that views environment rather than heredity as the important factor in the development and especially the cultural and intellectual development of an individual or group; advocacy of the preservation, restoration, or improvement of the natural environment; especially the movement to control pollution.…

    • 1473 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    During the 1960 's, due to the obvious weakening of the natural and inner-city environments the environmental movement grew. Some environmentalists saw nuclear energy as a way to decrease pollution even though the majority of the people who joined the movement by now had anti-nuclear attitudes, and all the way through that time the anti-nuclear movement was chosen within the environmental movement, although a huge portion of the people who identify themselves as environmentalists, favour nuclear energy.…

    • 1125 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sierra Club Environment

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Whether it’s advocating a diverse number of Acts, promoting responsible treatment of the environment, or just spreading awareness of humanity’s negative effects on the earth, it is clear that the organization has gained some serious influence and accomplishments. “The Sierra Club positioned to fight back with a grassroots operation that draws on the resources and members of the largest, most influential environmental organization in the country” (Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia 2016). This influence can be seen within the various Acts that The Sierra Club managed to help get approved. Acts such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act, were only able to become successful due to the efforts of The Sierra Club. This sort of Bio-politics is at the heart of the organization, as they aim to manage human life processes under the guise of environmental protection. As such, protecting the environment is in turn, protecting the population. “One answer can be found in Foucault's analysis of race as a particular concern of bio-politic. Bio-politics itself is a manifestation of particular forms of state power focused on the preservation of the life of the populace through the surveillance, management, regulation and control of the population at the level of the body” (Sasser 2014,1245). These bio-politics allows an agreement within a majority of a population in which to enact such changes about environmental policy. The accomplishments of The Sierra Club are not to be taken lightly, as without the organization, much of the changes seen to better the environment and preserve it would most likely not exist today. The Sierra Club’s stances on these environmental policies are usually advocating change in some way or another in order to protect the ecosystem. These stances of change are what demonstrates the liberal…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Here in the U.S. we think of an environmental activist as a person with a picket sign fighting to save the whales outside of Sea World. However, we do not realize there is a completely new meaning to the term being built in countries like Brazil, The Philippines, Mexico, and many more. Indigenous people are being slaughtered for protecting their homes and our earth. They are being hunted down and murdered without even a mention in the local news. Injustices are committed everyday not just to the land but to the people protecting it as well. So who are the real activist?…

    • 1079 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    We as humans have an important role to play when confronted with an issue which is in any way concerned with our relationship to nature. Although we coexist on this planet with numerous other species of life, ours is the only one whose decisions can potentially have a significant influence on the status quo of the delicate system that is Earth. Our attitudes and connections towards nature are important because they directly affect how we will realize the goal of sustainability. Nonetheless, in order to begin this task we must first ascertain what it is exactly that we are working with. The words ‘nature’ and ‘sustainability’ are often used but rarely defined, therefore an interdisciplinary approach is required to provide a working definition of these terms, because we will not know whether we have achieved our goal if we never truly understood what it was.…

    • 1804 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1. What would you include in a brief summary on the history of the modern environmental movement, from the 1960s to the present? There were many notable events during this time period. The very first environmentally sound act was the Air Pollution Control Act of 1955. The act declared that air pollution was harmful to public health as lung carcinoma became more prevalent within communities. Strict Government regulations and pollution requirements became the norm for other facets of the Environment as well. www.epa.gov/air requirements. The Federal water pollution control act followed in 1965 gave the Government limited controls to federal water pollutants due to limited enforcement authorities and money. This act was finally solidified in 1970 revision with an imposed clean water act without exceptions. www.water.epa.gov. My own personal favorite involves the marine conservation law of the seas. Developed by the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999, the act was designed to protect and manage threatened migratory and marine species: Including Wales, Dolphins, Porpoises and threatened Fauna. www.environment.gov.au/marine species.…

    • 581 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mr John Travola

    • 4159 Words
    • 17 Pages

    Environment - Environment Since the environmental movement began four decades ago, there have been many differing opinions as to what role the government should play in protecting and preserving the environment. What standards should government set and at what expense. Most environmental or “green” issues are often presented as choices of…

    • 4159 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Apes Vocabulary

    • 1021 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Environmentalist:any person who advocates or work to protect the air,water, animals, plants, and other natural resources from pollution or its effects…

    • 1021 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Green Christianity

    • 4545 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Environmentalism is an advocacy toward protecting the natural environment from destruction or pollution. This is certainly not a static movement. Instead, it is constantly evolving in response to new scientific discoveries, leading to conscious awareness of an earth in danger. In the 1970s and 80s, environmentalism aimed at a candid approach by simply trying to preserve certain resources and nature reserves. Today, forward-looking environmentalists are taking more action by developing a sustainable and renewable future. They address environmental issues within many contexts, including economic, social, cultural, and religion. Each context contributes in its own way. Specifically, I am interested in the religious role in preserving the environment.…

    • 4545 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Environmentalism Is Bad?

    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Cited: Berlau, John. “Our Unhealthy Future under Environmentalism.” Colombo, Gary, Robert Cullen and Bonnie Lisle. Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. Eighth. Bedford Books of St. Martin 's Press, 1992. Print. 772-784 Rpt. "Eco:Freaks: Environmentalists Is Hazardous to Your Health" (2006). Print.…

    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Environmental movement of the 1960s opened doors for long time conservationists and preservationists. I should say though, the movement did not originate in the 1960s, but became a more apparent situation due to the changing effects of our nation during this time. Theodore Roosevelt had a part in the environmental movement, but of course, this took place in the late 19th century. He was responsible for several preservation policies that nearly doubled national parks. Historically, this movement has changed the way American industrial businesses have had to operate and led to numerous government policies and regulations. The movement made way for the Environmental Protection…

    • 970 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays