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19 November 2010

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Environmental Movement’s Birth

 

There is no single event that can be pointed to

for which can be said: “Aha! That’s when the environmental movement began”

 

Environmentalism grew slowly from a developing sense that human activity was degrading Nature. That’s as far as the Western world is concerned.

 

There is evidence that in non-Western cultures ideas about sustainable resource use, respect for the land and sea as providers, and consumption on an as-needed basis existed long ago among Aboriginal peoples: just as they continue to exist today.

 

Industrial Revolution

Triggers Environmental Awareness

In England, Thomas Malthus (left), as far back as the late 18th century, had an awareness of the dangers of growth. The start of the Industrial Revolution led to forest clearing and mining.

 

By the early 19th century, it was hard not to notice the factories belching smoke into the air and spewing filth into rivers and streams.

 

There were isolated complaints about pollution such as that of an official in Pittsburgh named Presley Neville. According to the Environmental History Timeline, Neville wrote in 1804 about “the general dissatisfaction which prevails and the frequent complaints which are exhibited, in consequence of the Coal Smoke from many buildings in the Borough, particularly from smithies and blacksmith shops...” He said the smoke affected the “comfort, health and... peace and harmony.”

 

In the 1994 book, The Environmental History of Britain Since the Industrial Revolution B.W. Clapp says that scientific concerns about damage to the environment began to emerge in the 1860’s.

 

First Environmental Writers

James Fenimore Cooper writes The Pioneers (1823) in which he contended that humans should “govern the resources of nature by certain principles in order to conserve them.”

 

In 1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson anonymously published an essay entitled Nature. In the essay he set out his belief that all elements in nature are interrelated and interdependent. The essay was read and taken to heart by Henry David Thoreau.

 

In 1864, Thoreau published The Maine Woods, in which he called for the establishment of “national preserves” of old-growth forest. The book was based on his observations of changes taking place in woodlands.

 

Twenty years later, George Bird Grinnell, editor of Forest and Stream, invited readers to write in and sign a pledge against harming any bird. An amazing 40,000 responded and they became the first members of the Audubon Society for the Protection of Birds. Mr. Grinnell named the society after the American naturalist and bird artist John James Audubon (1785-1851).

 

John Muir and the Sierra Club

Throughout his life, John Muir (1838-1914) was concerned with the protection of Nature both for the spiritual advancement of humans and, as he said so often, for nature itself.

In 1892, he contacted the editor of Century Magazine. He wrote: “Let us do something to make the mountains glad.” His letter sparked interest that led to the foundation of the Sierra Club.

 

However, both the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club tended to focus on preserving wilderness and wildlife for the enjoyment of the social elite. They still viewed Nature as somehow separate from the human existence; humans were not part of Nature, they were superior to it.

 

Environmentalists then were less concerned with the broader issues of pollution and resource depletion that are central to today’s environmental movement.

 

 

Image credit

Gavin Schaefer

 

Sources

Environmental History Timeline

“New Study Ranks Countries on Environmental Impact.” Science Daily, May 7, 2010.

 

© Canada and the World, October 2010

All rights reserved

 

 

 

 

About 8,000 years ago deforestation caused communities in what is now southern Israel and Jordan to collapse.

 

HALL OF SHAME

According to a study by the University of Adelaide’s Environment Institute in Australia, Brazil has the worst environmental record of all countries in the world in absolute terms.

 

The South American country is following (in order, worst first) by the United States, China, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, India, Russia, Australia, and Peru.  

 

However, if environmental degradation is related to resource availability in countries - such factors as natural forest loss, natural habitat conversion, marine captures, fertilizer use, water pollution, threatened species and carbon emissions -  the rankings show a completely different picture.

 

Using the second measure, the worst performers are: Singapore, Korea, Qatar, Kuwait, Japan, Thailand, Bahrain, Malaysia, Philippines, and Netherlands.

 

 

University of Adelaide Environmental Professor Corey Bradshaw notes: "There is a theory that as wealth increases, nations have more access to clean technology and become more environmentally aware so that the environmental impact starts to decline.”

 

He says his studies do not confirm this theory; as countries become wealthier they do not necessarily adopt cleaner technologies.