Blessed Unrest Chapter Summary

14. What are the goals of the environmental justice movement, and why are they relevant to sustainability?

During the late 1960s, the environmental movement focused mostly on public health and industrial themes. During this time of initial modern development, it received little attention from the champions of the social movements of the times such as civil rights and women’s equality. Most of the emphasis on environmental matters in these early years came from environmentally driven sociologists such as Paul Goodman, Murray Boochkin, and Herbert Marcuse. Many were exhilarated to become the heads of ecologically based institutions that would fight against government and corporation ecological mistreatments. Often times they would research and issue articles that pointed out abuses that directly affected the common household such as Boochkin’s “The Problems of Chemicals in Foods.” This type of research pointed out new types of environmental issues that either did not exist or did not matter before World War II and just now became identified. These types of papers had a message that reached everybody not just select individuals like many of the previous issues such as water management, and land

In “The Changing Nature of Nature: Environmental Politics in the Anthropocene” environmental politician Paul Wapner depicts the human impacts on nature, and their significant intervention in ecosystem dynamics. His research outlines the “end of nature” (Wapner, 37) and aims to put emphasis on the beginning of the Anthropocene, suggesting that we are finally realizing that nature is not merely a material object. With this in mind, Wapner argues that the ways in which we protect nature should be significantly different, this, justifying his study. In order to form an argument, Wapner begins by summarizing a general piece of academic research, and through this is then able to provide an organized overview of the logic of his argument. The alternation

In a chilling recollection of mankind’s current misdeeds towards the environment in “The End of Nature,” McKibben’s call for action is one paramount to the survival of the human race. In essence, McKibben argues that the futures of both nature and ourselves are delicately yet undeniably interconnected. Furthermore, he urges that “we” (ALL humans) are the deciding chip in said bond. By doing so, McKibben implies that action must be situated if we are to expect any change in such bleak a situation. This argument can clearly be found when McKibben speaks out on a myriad of environmental issues in the past, present, and future. McKibben begins to accustom readers to a pattern in which human ignorance juts out from past environmental experiences.

In her essay “The Obligation to Endure”, Rachel Carson alerts the public to the dangers of modern industrial pollution. She writes about the harmful consequences of lethal materials being released into the environment. She uses horrifying evidence, a passionate tone, audience, and the overall structure of her essay to express to her readers that the pollution created by man wounds the earth. There are many different ways that pollution can harm the environment, from the nuclear explosions discharging toxic chemicals into the air, to the venomous pesticides sprayed on plants that kills vegetation and sickens cattle. The adjustments to these chemicals would take generations. Rachel

In 2004, Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize for her achievements with the Green Belt Movement, which is a non-profit NGO that she founded in her native Kenya. Planting trees for food, timber and fuel isn’t an act that anyone could see as the first step to winning a Nobel Peace Prize. Although, with that simple action, Wangari Maathai of Kenya started down the path that helped to regain her country’s land from a period of deforestation while supplying new sources of nourishment to rural communities. Terry is a Mormon who grew up loving nature and aiming to keep it natural so it was hard for her to understand why there were many people who didn’t care. She found peace in a bird refuge where she then went multiple times. This was her hideaway place, where things made sense. At Great Salt Lake, the bird refuge is home to her, and her family before her. She learned a lot from her grandmother about the ways of the lake, the animals, and how it was to be conserved. Williams clearly takes an ecofeminist stand in Refuge because women are more connected with nature than men. and equality between humanity and earth is very important. The push Williams forces towards women’s rights sends a strong message of resistance about the male patriarchy. Because of the positive outcomes her changes would bring, Williams viewpoint for ecological safety is very significant. There is a lot of progress to be made, but by

The thesis of “Despair Not” is “… the time has come for outspoken, full-throated heroism in the face of the great moral danger of our own day: the environmental crisis – an unfolding calamity whose main victims are our own children and grandchildren.”

As environmental and suitability movements continue to evolve and grow, the importance of bringing society from a state of awareness to one of consciousness is key to their long term success. Finding a way for people to have an emotional connection and reaction to the issues that face our world today as they relate to sustainability will likely be the turning point for more universal support and

As The World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do To Stay In Denial, by Derrick Jensen and Stephanie McMillan, is a graphic novel about the state of our environment. They use cartoons and abundant sarcasm to convey the message that the attempts people are making to save the environment are not enough to do any real good. Their message challenges both those of Edward O. Wilson and the University of Connecticut in that Jensen and McMillan’s ideas are much more radical and suggest that the ideas posed by Wilson and UConn, such as the importance of recycling and sustainability efforts, are ineffective at saving the environment. We must resolve the challenges posed by Jensen and McMillan so that all of the ideas put forth in the sources may work together rather than against each other. In order to do this we must accept that some of the ideas given by Jensen and McMillan may be too extreme to do any real good and that the ideas suggested by Wilson and UConn, though slightly ineffective, are nonetheless important steps in saving the environment. Taken alone, none of their ideas will save the environment; instead it is necessary to combine the ideas of Wilson, UConn, and Jensen and McMillan in order to create a more realistic plan to save the planet.

107) Also, it relates back to my main theme because I can use this to know the politics that comes with environmental justice issues such as knowing which questions to ask, such as who, what, when and where environmental hazards get dumped on them. Also, I can actually see and understand how ideas that I learned in my classes like “not in my back yard” are used in case studies, not just as slogans in social

Shared orientations of green movements – because of the diversity in environmental justice they are not identical but they share three common traits (1) the politics of being green, (2) the multi-issue basis of green theory and oppression of those green theories, and (3) the appeal to the historically situated theories.

To start with, Pezzullo successfully demonstrates how citizens critically interrupt the success story narrative about environmental activism in Warren County. Throughout the course of this reading, we see the residents of Warren County try to come up with a new conclusion to those narratives, one of which would include environmental cleanup. Additionally, Pezzullo presents two rhetorical tensions

The purpose of this piece is to draw awareness to the many contradictions relating environmental justice movements and to create a society more conscious of decisions by considering consequences.

Modernism represents an optimistic view of human impact on the environment that has been the dominant viewpoint for the last 200 years. The knowledge that mankind holds the ability to control the environment heavily stresses why climate change is not such a problem to worry about. One of the core beliefs of the modernistic perspective is that people have no need to fear future environmental disaster because the next technological advancement that will prevent it is right around the corner. Furthermore, those who share this view do not include themselves in their image of the ecosystem, believing they are detached from it. Lastly, a laissez-faire approach is taken to environmental problems, focusing on progression through technology, stressing that as long as progress is made in this area all problems will be fixed. For a modernist, climate change is nothing to worry about. This may be a real situation, but it will be solved with advancements in technology before one’s way of life is changed. What people should be worrying about is ensuring a laissez faire approach to the market with sponsorship to new technologies. As a result of reusable energy technology already existing, modernists believe that the problem of climate change has been solved and without disrupting free market system these technologies will be further implemented. As long as there are people given the opportunity to innovate, some will focus on and ultimately solve the concern of climate change. The issue of

Attending the January 13, 2016, Climate Change Research and Action in Washington State symposium, gave me hope for common and individual action. One of the keynote presenters Dr. John Byrne, was at the UNFCCC COP 21 in Paris, France and he spoke of how internationally, we are struggling to address concerns, but nations, states, and towns are making things happen. A polycentric approach to our local and global concerns. Local people, helping people in our individual communities. However, Dr. John Byrne at his meet and greet prior to the symposium, eluded to a lack of discussion for those who are disadvantaged in society. We are still struggling for democracy.