“The modern form of the word environment comes from an older word that we hardly use anymore: environ, to surround, to form a ring around, to encircle” (Stoll 3). The meaning of the word environment did not become a major factor in the lives of humanity until 1945. The tragic events that led to the end of World War II sparked a chief movement in history: American Environmentalism. Global decision-making changed as well as human unity due to the mere purpose that fate of all people and the environment became intertwined (Stoll 1). I will further discuss the dramatic attempts made by some Americans to bring the importance of preserving our environment to the surface to show if and how we have evolved.
“On July 16, 1945, a six-kilogram sphere of plutonium exploded over the New Mexico desert with a force equal to 20,000 tons of dynamite” (Stoll 1). Shortly after, “on August 6 and 9, the United States dropped nuclear bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki” (Stoll 1). The levels of radiation released caused a lot of damage to humans and the environment .
There were a few whom took interest in the world’s ecosystem. Those who did had a more profound appreciation for nature and wanted to preserve it. Ansel Adams (commercial photographer); “visited the Yosemite Valley with his family in 1916 and soon began taking pictures of it” (Adams 29). “Later his photographs took on a more pointed purpose: to inspire people who might never visit wilderness to join the organization and give money to its political action funds” (Adams 29). Marjory Stoneman Douglas was also inspired by the beauty of the wilderness, “she published The Everglades: River of Grass in 1947” (Douglas 31). Through her efforts, Marjory was successful in...
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...49. Print.
Stoll, Steven. U.S. Environmentalism since 1945: A brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007. Print.
Adams, Ansel. “Clearing Winter Storm ,1944.” Stoll 29. Print
Douglas, Marjory Stoneman. “The Everglades, 1947.” Stoll 31. Print
Callenbach, Ernest. “Ecotopia, 1975.” Stoll 111. Print
Brown, Lester. “Outgrowing the Earth, 2004.” Stoll 67. Print
Leopole, Aldo. “Thinking like a Mountain, 1949.” Stoll 72. Print
Meadows, Donella and Dennis. “Limits to Growth, 1972.” Stoll 62. Print
Johnson, Bird Lady. “Remarks before the General Session, 1965.” Stoll 127. Print
Devall, and Sessions, Geaorge. “On Cultivating Ecological Consciousness, 1985.” Stoll 89. Print
Bagdikian, Ben H. “The Rape of the Land, 1966.” Stoll 129. Print
Miller, Vernice D. “The Quest for Environmaental Justice, 1963. “Stoll 149. Print.
In Mark Fiege’s book “The Republic of Nature,” the author embarks on an elaborate, yet eloquent quest to chronicle pivotal points in American history from an environmental perspective. This scholarly work composed by Fiege details the environmental perspective of American history by focusing on nine key moments showing how nature is very much entrenched in the fibers that manifested this great nation. The author sheds light on the forces that shape the lands of America and humanities desire to master and manipulate nature, while the human individual experience is dictated by the cycles that govern nature. The story of the human experience unfolds in Mark Fiege’s book through history’s actors and their challenges amongst an array of environmental possibilities, which led to nature being the deciding factor on how
Theodore Roosevelt: The Great Environmentalist This Paper will outline President Theodore Roosevelt’s role in helping to conserve our environment during his administration (1901-1909). It will also examine his theory of a stronger American democracy through environmental conservationism. “The movement for the conservation of wildlife, and the larger movement for the conservation of all our natural resources, are essentially democratic in spirit, purpose, and method.” (Roosevelt 274)
The Conservation movement was a driving force at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was a time during which Americans were coming to terms with their wasteful ways, and learning to conserve what they quickly realized to be limited resources. In the article from the Ladies’ Home Journal, the author points out that in times past, Americans took advantage of what they thought of as inexhaustible resources. For example, "if they wanted lumber for their houses, rails for their fences, fuel for their stoves, they would cut down half a forest at a time; and whatever they could not use or sell they would leave to rot on the ground. They never bothered their heads to inquire where more wood was coming from when this was gone" (33). The twentieth century opened with a vision towards the future, towards preserving the land that had previously been taken for granted. The Conservation movement came along around the same time as one of the first major waves of the feminist movement. With the two struggles going on: one for the freedom of nature and the other for the freedom of women, it stands to follow that they coincided. As homemakers, activists, and citizens of the United States of America, women have had an important role in Conservation.
Chapter 1 of the book gives an introduction to environment and history. The topic discusses the role that man has played in the changes that take place in environment and how man’s activities are becoming a threat to those of nature that are important for sustaining life. Citing the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment of 2005, Mosley says that the first global report on the planet’s health showed that the ecosystem services responsible for supporting life are being damaged by man’s ever increasing demands for natural resources (p.1). Also discussed is how nature activities played a role in the subsequent activities of man. The breaking up of Pangaea resulted in many different countries and continents which contributed to globalization as man started to explore the world. Globalization resulted in the exchange and introduction of new species of plants and animals to different lands as man travelled. When the environment became a political issue, it brought about the emergence of environmental history. This study analyses the role and place of nature in human life. It aims to reveal how environmental change and human action are intertwined (Mosley, p.2). The chapter also described the four levels through which historica...
In 1989, seventy five percent of Americans identified themselves as environmentalists, and the number has continued to grow since then (Walls 1). Environmentalism is now the most popular social movement in the United States, with over five million American families donating regularly to environmental organizations (Walls 1). Environmentalists today focus on what kind of world they hope to see in the future, and largely deal with limiting pollution and changing consumption rates (Kent 1 and 9). Modern environmentalists also have much different issues than those Carson’s America faced. With climate change becoming more threatening each year, protection of the natural world is needed more than ever. Pollution has caused the warmest decade in history, the deterioration of the ozone layer, and species extinction in extreme numbers (Hunter 2). It not only threatens nature, but also human populations, who already suffer from lack of clean water and poisoning from toxic chemicals (Hunter 16). Unlike environmental actions in the 1960’s, which were mostly focused on protection, a massive increase in pollution has caused efforts to be focused on environmental restoration (Hunter 16). Like in the time of Silent Spring, environmentalists are not only concerned with one country. Protecting the environment remains a global issue, and every nation is threatened by the
Over the years, past resources have quickly dwindling. Since then conservation has broadened beyond the use of natural resources, and has become a movement. Many critics of conservation believed it would stifle industrial development, however, the conservation movement has increased development over the years because it forced the need to find an alternative source of power. One of the main concepts of conservation is that it should be used to benefit the many not for the profit of the few, like big business that destroy large areas of wilderness without care for what they are destroying. Preserving wilderness areas will help with the conservation of America’s resources that are quickly dwindling. The resources we had years ago is much less due to the supply and demand of society today. Preserving certain areas will allow us to...
Although nuclear technology can be used for good, it can also be used for destruction. One example of this was the bombing of 2 Japanese cities using the a...
The atomic bombs “Little Boy” and “Fat man” killed 150,0000 people and furthermore left 125,000 impaired. 60,000 more people had died from sustained injuries as well as radiation illness. (Sullivan)
Magoc, Chris J. Environmental Issues in American History: A Reference Guide with Primary Documents. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2006. Print.
Japan will never forgotten the day of August 6 and 9 in 1945; we became the only victim by the atomic bombs in the world. When the atomic was dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was World War II. The decision of dropping the atomic bombs was affected by different backgrounds such as the Manhattan Project, and the Pacific War. At Hiroshima City, the population of Hiroshima was 350,000 when the atomic bomb dropped. Also, the population of Nagasaki was around 250,000 ("Overview."). However, there was no accurate number of death because all of documents were burned by the atomic bombs. On the other hand, the atomic bombs had extremely strong power and huge numbers of Japanese who lived in Hiroshima
In the article The Clash of Cultures, William Cronon and Richard White delve into “the interrelations between people and their environment,” (11) specifically, between the American Indians and the Europeans and the Americas. The reason Cronon and White wrote this article was, “In part, a result of our current concern with pollution and the exhaustion of valuable natural resources, but it has also proved to be a valuable way of learning more about how people of past generations and different cultures dealt with nature and with one another.” (11)
During the 1970’s the single event of Earth Day can be represented as the emergence of modern environmentalism that generated the relationship between the population and their environment. Finis Dunaway, and associate professor in the department of history at Trent University, clearly emphasizes in his article Gas Masks, Pogo, and the Ecological Indian: Earth Day and the Visual Politics of American Environmentalism, the multiple events that involved the effect of mass media and environmentalists that led to the awareness of the environmental crisis occurring throughout the nation.
This book is a collection of reports (and entries taken from his personal diary) sent to Times-Post by William Weston. Ernest Callenbach used Weston’s observations to tell us about an extraordinarily progressive nation that respected nature and environment. What Weston found in Ecotopia was a progressive society completely connected and in harmony with nature. According to Callenbach, in that nation, people were “literally sick of bad air, chemicalized food, and lunatic advertising”. (Callenbach, pg.47) The novel gives us a vision of how a modern society can be restructured according to environmental principles. This book has succeeded in inspiring environmentalists and students of environmental history who are all looking forward to a society that is ecologically stable and sustainable.
“Unless humanity is suicidal, it should want to preserve, at the minimum, the natural life-support systems and processes required to sustain its own existence” (Daily p.365). I agree with scientist Gretchen Daily that drastic action is needed now to prevent environmental disaster. Immediate action and changes in attitude are not only necessary for survival but are also morally required. In this paper, I will approach the topic of environmental ethics from several related sides. I will discuss why the environment is a morally significant concern, how an environmental ethic can be developed, and what actions such an ethic would require to maintain and protect the environment.
Modern humans have inhabited this Earth for long periods of time and dwelled for much of it without causing much irrevocable harm to the environment. However, the widespread abuse, overexploitation, and pollution started affecting the environment negatively over the last few centuries. The environment is not only the undeveloped land, such as forests, oceans, deserts, etc. When we hear the term environment, maybe some of us may think of the times they have been at a local or national park, visited the beach, or took a trip to the mountains. It is true that each of these is an example of the environment, but also our home, school, work, car; even we are a part of the environment. The environment is everything that surrounds us on the Earth.