Environmental Activism And Its Impact On Society

Since the early 20th century the environmentalism movement has migrated from the struggles of consumers versus producers, or saving the planet as a whole as shown by Donald Worster in Nature’s Economy to a more socio-economic view based on urban growth and industrial health. Robert Gottlieb’s book Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement argues that as society goes so too does the environmental movement. As the emphasis on working environments and commercial goods we buy including food changes so too does the environmental movements. It did not matter whether it was large politically prominent environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club or the Audubon Societies or any other numbers of local grassroots

Environmentalism has been difficult for us to keep control of and the use of the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act explain how we are supposed to keep our air and water clear for our own use. During the 1970s most of these laws were passed and hopefully during Presidents Trump's campaign will have a better idea of our environment and how we can change America to becoming a better country environmentally. America is one of the countries that need to be changed environmentally for us to have a better living place for us now, instead of for works working in mines and gaining bad lungs from breathing in the wrong type of air. If we change these laws to fit our environment

In the early 1980s, Environment Justice activist prioritized their efforts to focus on the unequal amounts of waste dumps in minority communities. The increased awareness of these situations led to the development of EJ from the civil rights movement that happened around the same time. Environmental Justice is defined by its recognition that, “disparate and disproportionate environmental impacts occur among different communities across racial and socio-economic lines, affected communities should be appraised of environmental issues affecting them, and these communities should be incorporated in any decision-making process.” (Middendorf, 2007)

She emphasizes writings that surround social movements and the media, which are then studied within the conceptual/theoretical framework of political economy. Richardson goes on to analyze texts on Greenpeace and other NGO’s, particularly on what media tactics they use to push their ideas and gain recognition in the mainstream. In order to further explore her research questions, she conducted a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of media coverage on the Great Bear Rainforest from both the Globe and Mail and the Vancouver Sun from January 1, 1995 – January 1, 2007. In her analysis, she examined fifty-seven articles in order to study the way those protesting the logging of the Great Bear Rainforest were regarded in the media and if there was any common themes or developments in the ways the media reported on them. Through analyzing the news articles using the CDA methodology, the author can easily make connections within the political economy framework. CDA, a popular method used by researchers, can help to reveal the structures of domination in social relationships. Richardson looks at what can be learned from the achievements and shortcomings of the environmental movement and the ways in which they used the media to gain the support of the

The action of the environment was ethical because even though the ecological activists did not mean for anyone to get hurt. The ecological activists were being reckless and did not care or think about consequences of their action. Ethical teach people different between right and wrong. Ethical also teach people the of freedom, choice and think about the choice we make The ecological activist should have been more careful. The ecological should take responsibility for their action. Also, the ecological activist should learn and try to be better so people and living things do get hurt.

“Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies”. In other words, your health should not suffer because of the environment where you live, work, play or learn. The idea of environmental justice began as a movement in the 1970s due to the realization that an excessive number of polluting industries, power plants, and landfill areas were located near low-income or minority communities. The movement was set in place to guarantee fair distribution of environmental burdens among all people regardless of their background.

Greenpeace is an organization which often collides with governments in countries all over the world in its attempt to stop things like global warming, deforestation, overfishing and more. Greenpeace tries to reach their goals by direct action and lobbying. This is the part where they often collide with the governments.

To a certain extent, I believe that ecological activists need to be supported , as they create awareness on everything concerning the environment but when they start using violence and hurting others it becomes unethical.Lumbering which is the trade of cutting, preparing and selling timber results in the degradation of forests, the activity is always done through saw mills. The industry should be controlled and regulated to reduce the destruction of forests, and replanting the trees they harvest should be part of the industry so future generations can also enjoy them.

The Progressive Era was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States from the 1890s to the 1920s (Boundless 2016). The depression from the financial panic of 1893 affected farmers, workers and many businesses.

When starting a movement, it is vital to have something like a mission or ideology that defines what the movement is about. In the case of the Earth Day and the environmental movement it the mission is very simple which allows for many interpretations. Although the main goal is to help the environment, the ways in which everything was brought together for Earth Day had various angles. Woodhouse (2014) in the article After Earth Day the Modern Environmental Movement explains the mission as, “It was neither centralized nor focused on a specific message or political agenda; instead it was heterogeneous and intended to educate as much as to protest” p557. In the case of Earth Day, they were looking for a way to connect to communities without force and doing it through education is much more palatable especially when part of the goal is to convince someone that here is even an issue occurring. First fixing the ignorance then going for policy is a great move. I think it is similar to the feminist movements start with first talking to working women then challenging policy of the country. Also, when the mission of the movement is so simple like Earth Day it allows for many groups of people interested in the environment to be on board not just issues with pollution and air quality (Woodhouse 2014:557). When different groups of people work together using the idea of education as their mission there is really no path that

Everyday in society people make decisions, interact with others, and react to the adversities in life. Social sciences are the study of all aspects of society past or present, ranging from the behavior of humans to the digging up of ancient pottery. Through the research of social scientists, we see how humans have developed culturally, and socially as individuals or members of society. Research of social phenomena commonly occurs overtime due to the continuous change in society. A very common and important study among researches are the different social movements that have occurred and are occurring around the world.

According to Webster dictionary, the word environment can be defined as “a : the complex of physical, chemical, and biotic factors (such as climate, soil, and living things) that act upon an organism or an ecological community and ultimately determine its form and survival b : the aggregate of social and cultural conditions that influence the life of an individual or community” (Merriam-Webster). Environmental risks are actual and or potential threat of adverse effects on living organisms and environment by effluents, emissions, wastes, resource depletion, etc., arising out of an organization's activities.

Environmental movements in Britain have a long history with the ‘Commons, Open Spaces and Footpath Preservation Society’ being founded in 1865, followed by the foundation of The Royal Society for Birds in 1889 and The National Trust in 1895 (Rootes 2003). These societies show the traditional side to British environmental movements, with Rootes writing that ‘environmentalism in Britain was thoroughly moderate, respectable and reformist’ (Rootes 2003: 2). There are an estimated 200 national environmental organisations in the Britain with around 4-5 million members between them (Rawcliffe 1998; Rootes and Miller 2000, cited in Carter 2007). Since 1991, there has been a surge in radical protest in Britain (Doherty 1999) which have changed the nature of British environmentalism and forced an otherwise closed political system to listen to the environmental concerns of the nation. With reference to examples, this essay will examine the mechanisms used by environmental movements in Britain and assess how successful these attempts have been.

Living in a highly industrialized world that is ruled by capitalism, the concern for the environment often takes a back seat. Individuals or companies nowadays prioritize achieving optimal profit without putting into mind what their respective actions or productions may have an effect on the environment. They do not realize how important the role of our environment plays in the quality of human life. We can say that a good environment leads to a better quality life, while a bad environment could lead to a harmful and unproductive life. Now, it becomes unfair and unjust when the risks and costs of a company affect a certain group of people and on the opposite side of the spectrum another group of individuals enjoy the benefits without costs. The individuals that are affected badly are usually from Third World Countries where the distribution of risk and costs are not even (Low and Gleeson 1999). This is where Environmental Justice comes in. Environmental Justice mainly concerns the welfare of human beings (Low and Gleeson 1999). Talking about cities where capitalism surges from, it has been argued that these cities are ‘unfairly structured’ (Low and Gleeson 1999). Basically, what this is saying is that the wealthier you are, the better or cleaner the environment. On the other hand, if you are poor, then the environment around you will have more health risks. This kind of injustice or disparity is what adds fuel to the fire of environmental justice. In

Development processes is connected with environmental degradation and use of natural resources. Rudel et al. (2011) assumes the present of two distinct waves of development power which control environment. The first wave of political economy deals with the power of capitalism as the main agent for environmental degradation, while the second wave concern with the social power (community) to control the use of natural resources.