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conservationists in the progressive era
environmental movement research paper
environmental movement research paper
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Recommended: conservationists in the progressive era
Rhetoric of Social Movements
The Environmental Movement
The environment and nature have played huge roles in the history of the United States. Nature has always been an essential key to the success of the United States. Since the first settlement in the country, farming and agriculture has been a critical part of survival and an economy. But the one thing the early settlers never imagined is that one day all of these resources, that were so abundant at the time, could all expire. This is where the environmental movement comes into play. In this paper, I will discuss the extensive history of the environmental movement from its early days of conservation and ecology to the modern day of radical protests and policy changes. I will also explain some of the top organizations involved in the environmental movement and discuss what they are doing in terms of conservation and overall strategies to make change.
There is an extensive history of environmentalism and conservationism in the United States that dates back to the beginning of the country. The first interest in nature and ecology was around 200 to 300 years ago when the first settlers came to the United States. The country had a vast amount of land and natural resources. The first settlements were based on agriculture and farming, and wood and other resources were used to build homes, so the early settlers had a close relationship with nature. When people began moving westward, [DATES] they did not think that natural resources would ever expire. Because of the size and vastness of the West, migrants thought that the resources were endless. However, the Native Americans had an intimate relationship with nature. They worshiped plants, animals, and water sources...
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... the generation. The organizations currently involved in the movement are doing a lot to change the policies and regulations within the federal government. The movement continues to develop into a stronger and more powerful cause as time goes on.
Works Cited
"About the Sierra Club." Sierra Club. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.
"About." WorldWildlife.org. World Wildlife Fund, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
"Audubon's Statement on Diversity and Inclusion." National Audubon Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Kuzmiak, D. T. "The American Environmental Movement." The Geographical Journal157.3 (1991): 265-78. Jstor. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
"National Audubon Society." National Audubon Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
"Our Mission and History." Environmental Defense Fund. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
"What We Do." Greenpeace. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
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
“All machines have their friction―and possibly this does enough good to counterbalance the evil… But when the friction comes to have its machine… I say, let us not have such a machine any longer” (Thoreau 8). In Henry David Thoreau’s essay “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience,” the author compares government to a machine, and its friction to inequity. He believes that when injustice overcomes a nation, it is time for that nation’s government to end. Thoreau is ashamed of his government, and says that civil disobedience can fight the system that is bringing his country down. Alas, his philosophy is defective: he does not identify the benefits of organized government, and fails to recognize the danger of a country without it. When looked into, Thoreau’s contempt for the government does not justify his argument against organized democracy.
The battle between humanity and nature began when the industrial civilization started threatening our environment and natural resources. Hunters, like Theodore Roosevelt and Aldo Leopold, were the first Americans to realize that nature is something that we need to preserve. Leopold’s awakening was seeing a fierce green fire in the eyes of a wolf he had shot. He was able to understand what it means to take away pieces of life and how it affected the important role of earth’s grand scheme of nature. People started to become environmentalists when they experienced the same realization as
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.
Since the rise of the American environmental romanticism the idea of preservation and conservation have been seen as competing ideologies. Literary scholars such as Thoreau and Muir have all spoke to the defense of our natural lands in a pristine, untouched form. These pro-preservation thinkers believed in the protecting of American lands to not only ensure that future generations will get to experiences these lands, but to protect the heavily rooted early American nationalism in our natural expanses. Muir was one of the most outspoken supports of the preservation ideology, yet his stylistic writing style and rhetoric resulted in conservation being an adopted practice in the early 20th century
He delves into the history of the word “environmental” as well as the history of environmental activism. He pinpoints the beginning of the movement to Rachel Carson. According to Quammen, she began the revolution by publishing her book Silent Spring. He says the negative connotations of the word began with her book, pairing “environment” and “the survival of humankind” as if they go hand in hand. This played a major role in the distortion of the word and the intentions of environmentalists.
Would everyone like to see how the community is affected ? The community and neighborhood is facing some major consequences. According to “Excerpts Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau described how this one person refused to pay the taxes to the government he decides to say something but his saying resulted to him being sent to prison for trying to stand up to the government. The government has not been telling us the actual issues . Based on the excerpt from the “Civil Disobedience” there are exactly three main points to the story. The first main idea is the people have been using their own ideas to try to get a way to end the government way for all of us to live because we need to see the point for all of us to live a life in
When making note of the Civil Rights movement, one can’t help but think of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr; as a civil rights activist, King is known for practicing nonviolence, especially in the fight for freedom. On the tenth anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez published an essay that makes note of the significance of the practice of nonviolence resistance. When addressing the audience- members of a religious organization devoted to helping those in need- Chavez develops a serious and profound argument through the use of various complex rhetorical strategies.
Henry David Thoreau, author of “Civil Disobedience”, is arguably the first person who coined that term. It was done as a result of his anger at American slavery and the Mexican war, and called people to commit actions above the law to make changes they deemed necessary. His statement that conscience trumps one’s duty to external authorities is both true and inaccurate. The truth is in that there are necessary situations that require civil disobedience and they have had successful outcomes. The issue with following consciousness is that the results are extremely variable and can make the situation worse.
In earlier years, observing nature brought happiness. One look around at the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee or at Lindsey’s Rainbow Farm in Arkansas showed everything the world offered—tall grassy fields, magnificent black bears, chilly fall nights, clear streams, slimy trout, and the warmth of the sun on my face at sunset. Breathtaking sights awaited us around every corner. Nature seemed endless. Today, places such as these appear to be found less and less. With the expansion of not only civilization but also its economy, Americans slowly destroy the once symbiotic relationship between nature and community. Americans face such a difficult situation due to the way we live our lives—specifically, the way we obtain our food.
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.
The term politics is generally being understood as state politics such as legislators, bureaucrat and government departments. ‘Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them’ (Paul Valery, Fr. Poet). Paul Hirst suggests that politics exists where there’s a plurality of actors, with different ways of calculating their interests, and the possibility of conflict. This essay will explain how is the study of rhetoric helpful in making sense of politics by defining at the terms politics, power relations, rhetoric and I will use Kevin Rudd’s apology speech to illustrate it.
Social movements have played a defining role for society’s actors since the mid-18th century when followers of the English politician, John Wilkes, ran for the lower house of parliament on a platform to promote civil rights for all citizens of England . This social movement was not phenomena, but a direct response to changes occurring at the time namely: urbanization, use of print media, and the growing idea of popular sovereignty . In addition, the Enlightened writings of European, mostly French, philosophes were impacting much of the Western world which was just on the cusp of several revolutions for independence from the dominating and repressive political culture . According to Francis Fukuyama, “civil society serves to balance the power of the state and to protect individuals from the state’s power” . Civil society promotes democracy. Global civil society is also democratic in nature and creates a platform for dialogue . However, even in democracies, there are injustices and inequalities. Enter the role of social movements in global civil society. Social movements “organize and mobilize those who have failed to find redress for their grievances through the existing political system” . They seek to bring to the forefront issues that often challenge the dominant social, political, or economic structure.
Boggs, Grace Lee, and Scott Kurashige. The next American revolution: Sustainable activism for the twenty-first century. University of California Pr, 2012. Print.
As an environmentalist (or a "radical" environmentalist, as I am often labeled by members of the mainstream environmental movement), I feel it is my duty as a protector of the Earth's well-being to write this editorial as a means of bringing into the American consciousness a variety of frightening environmental issues. Though some of you may be aware of these problems, I know many are not, and thus may be shocked to learn about the degradation of our Earth and the people living in it. Indeed, I truly believe that "since the dawn of the industrial age, America has behaved like an alcoholic with a good job—prospering despite a lifestyle that jeopardizes the future and ruins much of what is good with irresponsible behavior.