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Environmental movement research paper
Environmental movement research paper
Essay on environmental movement in the us
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Historically speaking, the American Environmental Movement was founded by small groups of people that discovered a common interest in preserving both nature and those that inhabit it. These types of groups are currently termed as grassroots organizations, which essentially means that the main body of the organizations are comprised of ordinary people (Tutman). The mid to late 1900s brought with it a dramatic change in the fundamental composition of the American Environmental Movement. Professionalism of environmental organizations began and as many groups became political they also revisited their views and specific goals, “Long-standing debates about protection versus management and recreation values versus development values came to be modified …show more content…
An example of grassroots environmental organizations drastically affected the environmental movement is the creation of the Citizen’s Clearinghouse for hazardous Wastes (CCHW) in 1981 by Lois Gibbs. With housewife origins Gibbs grew to be an activism leader of great significance in the grassroots environmental movement starting with her work at Love Canal in which activists protested industrial waste being disposed of in a reckless manner. Gibbs’ grassroots organization, the CCHW, initially had a solid standing in the environmental movement, “Through its network, which eventually reached thousands of communities, the group confronted industry forces, government agencies, and occasionally mainstream environmentalists supportive of existing approaches. The CCHW also challenged the way mainstream groups used expertise and lobbying to frame waste and toxics issues.” (Gottlieb 224). Despite the eventual disbanding of the CCHW, it succeeded in setting an example for numerous grassroots environmental organizations to come by demonstrating how peaceful protest and community efforts can be used to spread ideas and create …show more content…
Specifically, it was mothers joining the anti-toxics movement in the effort to protect their children that drastically altered the gender statistics. Women in positions of power within environmental grassroots organizations further demonstrated the importance of local and small scale environmental groups as well as their specialized skill sets, “These skills, derived from women’s experiences in managing their homes, engaging in activities concerning their children’s school, and in holding their families together, have been particularly relevant in the context of a movement of neighbors and residents characteristic of the anti-toxics group” (Gottlieb 277). Small-scale, community centered environmental organizations are able to do what mainstream environmental organizations are not able to do; collectively organize people who are directly affected by health risks in the home or the workplace and protest in a very public manner. It should be noted that the success of grassroots organizations is owed largely to the methods of peaceful protests developed by the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement as well as all concurrent movements significantly helped shape the methods of protesting that environmental groups were then able to adapt to express their views peacefully and
The first Earth Day had the largest demonstration by having twenty million people attend, creating the next big wave of environmentalists. The neighborhood of Love Canal was a toxic waste dump. It had twenty thousand tons of poisonous chemicals buried beneath the ground that was leaking into the homes and schools of its residences. Lois Gibbs led the movement against Love Canal when she read an article by Michael Brown exposing the problem. Gibbs discovered that the majority of the neighborhood’s elementary school children were sick from chemical residue in the school’s basement. The chemical leakage was also causing birth defects and miscarriages. Lois Gibbs vigorously fought and protested for two years until the state was forced by the federal government to evacuate and relocate Love Canal’s
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.
John Muir helped the development of the American conservation movement during the late nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. The creation of the National Park Service, the creation of several major national parks, including Yosemite National Park and the creation of the Sierra Club were all because of John Muir. In the late nineteenth century America was in a stage of expansion and economic development that used as well as threatened much of the natural world. Much of the economic development was in the form of industrialization that took its toll of the environment with both its consumption of natural resources as well pollution. This expansion and economic development had adverse consequences on the environment of the United States. During this time of development many became aware of the damage being done to the natural world and attempted to prevent or limit this damage being done. It is during this time of both industrialization and spiritual awakening that the conservation movement arose with one of its most famous activists, John Muir.
Without the civil rights movement, the women’s movement likely would never have taken off on its own. The civil rights movement and the activists involved gave women a model for success. The method the civil rights movement used demonstrated the power of solving social problems through collective action. By using lunch counter sit-ins, organizing into national networks like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and reaching into college campuses through the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the civil rights movement was able to bring together northerners and southerners, older and younger citizens and men and women to work for a single cause. Women took inspiration from this in the creation of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and other feminist groups – NOW even states in its Statement of Purpose that “there is no civil rights movement to speak for women, as there has been for Negroes and other victims of discrimination” and that NOW must take on that responsibility.
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
In Beyond Nature’s Housekeepers, Nancy Unger synthesizes a trans-historical and cultural synthesis of American women’s experience and their relationship with the environment in her 333 pg book. The language she uses in capable of being grasped by someone from any back ground. Unger text contains thoughtful connections between the exploitations of capitalism, failures of legislation, gender oppression, racism, and environmental justice. Unger's purpose is to show that these connections have been as relevant to U.S. history and how it is still affecting modern environmental relationships. Beyond Nature's Housekeepers is an extensive examination that employs
But when the “Women’s Movement,” is referred to, one would most likely think about the strides taken during the 1960’s for equal treatment of women. The sixties started off with a bang for women, as the Food and Drug Administration approved birth control pills, President John F. Kennedy established the President's Commission on the Status of Women and appointed Eleanor Roosevelt as chairwoman, and Betty Friedan published her famous and groundbreaking book, “The Feminine Mystique” (Imbornoni). The Women’s Movement of the 1960’s was a ground-breaking part of American history because along with African-Americans another minority group stood up for equality, women were finished with being complacent, and it changed women’s lives today.
Changing the messaging of their argument to racial discrimination moved the focus from the polluting facility to the people who would be victimized by its presence. This communication method is further explored in the case of The Ancient Forest Rescue (AFR), a group of concerned, mostly white, young activists fighting against a mining operation in the heart of the San Luis Valley, a mostly Latino populated region. The AFR was against a toxic mining operation that would cause tremendous amounts of soil erosion, which would nearly destroy that area’s watershed. These activists were well intentioned, but local residents had to make them aware of the historical and cultural context of discriminatory environmentalism (Westra and Lawson 2001). The Chicano community needed a safe space for themselves in order to communicate about the cultural significance in preserving their land.
Hawken writes that the movement, a collective gathering of nonconformists, is focused on three basic ambitions: environmental activism, social justice initiatives, and indigenous culture’s resistance to globalization. The principles of environmental activism being closely intertwined with social justice rallies. Hawken states how the fate of each individual on this planet depends on how we understand and treat what is left of the planet’s lands, oceans, species diversity, and people; and that the reason that there is a split between people and nature is because the social justice and environmental arms of the movement hav...
It wasn’t until a study called Toxic Waste and Race done by the Church of Christ in 1987 showed that the most significant factor is deciding a location of a hazardous waste facility was racial did the movement gain momentum. While there are many debate on what environmental justice is, most would say the first significant documentation of it was when the Principles of Environmental Justice was written, signed, and sent to DC to be reviewed in the 1990’s. Various community leaders from churches to council members to school teachers came together at the National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit and made a point in showing that the citizens are not happy with how their environment has been handled and the ideals that legislation has come to fruition under. Ideals such as fairness when making policy, responsible use of renewable resources, balanced relations with native americans, use of military force on peoples, and mitigation for victims domestically and abroad are only a few controversial topics they
Boggs, Grace Lee, and Scott Kurashige. The next American revolution: Sustainable activism for the twenty-first century. University of California Pr, 2012. Print.
A growing population of women’s activists can be attributed to the growing number of courses being offered and information available. Only a few decades ago this would not have been heard of. It is due to the increasing amount of awareness on the topic of women’s status as second class citizens that activism has increased. Through various media, we have learned of topics such as the “glass ceiling”, the working conditions of women in Third World countries, the current injustices against women being carried out in the First World, reproductive rights, as written about by Angle Davis, and other limitations imposed on women.
The Earth Charter website states that, the Earth Charter “is an extraordinarily diverse, global network of people, organizations, and institutions that participate in promoting and implementing the values and principles of the Earth Charter” (“The earth charter initiative”, 2009). As I browsed through the site, I also learned that the Earth Charter is a “declaration of fundamental ethical principles for building a just, sustainable and peaceful global society in the 21st century.” (“What is the earth charter”, 2009) Presently, in Fort Myers and Estero, FL., there are a few local businesses that supports the Earth Charter’s initiative. Even with the support of over “4,500 organizations, including many governments and international organizations,” there are still issues that concern the Earth Charter’s group (“What is the earth charter”, 2009). One of the central concerns is “with the transition to sustainable ways of living and sustainable human development” (“What is the earth charter”, 2011). There are so many people who have lived the same patterned l...
Gender and the environment don’t sound like two things that would be well together. Surprisingly they do very well, starting with the article, “Gender and Place: Women and Environmentalism” written by Gottlieb we find out that it took women years for them to be recognized as main workers in the work place as well as major forces who fought for the environment. An example would be Cora Tucker, a huge activist who unfortunately found out, “…that environmental issues were white issues.” (Gottlieb 276). This is extremely wrong because every race has a voice about the environment. She goes on to saying that those in power who try to change small communities have no business doing it themselves because they have no idea what the people are going
Greenpeace is an independent organization campaigning to ensure a just, peaceful, sustainable environment for future generations. It began in Canada in 1971 and today has a presence in more than 40 countries with 2.4 million supporters worldwide. Greenpeace Australia was founded in 1977 and today we have more than 75,000 supporters.