The And Policy Talks, The Ecological Crisis

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

It is a process of dehistoricization and deresponsabilization. To abandon the critique to capitalism, when it is most needed, since its logic is the main cause of the imminent human catastrophe, is the major fault of contemporary social science, the failure to confront the historical momentum in a stubborn denial of the importance to engage critically with the reality of the environment. (The Ecological Rift, Foster, p. 31).

Rachel Carson’s Man and the Stream of time possesses enlightening perspectives of nature that have been marinating in her mind for ten years. Her writing reflects upon the effects that man has on nature and the role he plays in the ever changing environment. Her sole observation is that it is man’s nature to want to conquer the world, but nature is not one to be conquered. The writer affirms that nature is an entity that must be dignified, Like English poet Francis Thompson said, “Thou canst not stir a flower without troubling of a star.” Most environmentalist would agree that nature is not stationary, we cut the trees now today, its not just the trees that disappear ten years from now. As humanity advances, we create a multitude of

“The End of Nature,” by Bill McKibben is a startling book of non-fiction depicting the future in store for the environment and humans. His somber yet hopeful approach allows readers to sense the real intensity of this situation of mass environmental changes whilst remaining expectant of the advancements in the

The essay, “The Environmental Crisis: The Devil Is in the Generalities” by Ross McKitrick, points out the simple fact that most of the population is so overwhelmed by the environmental propaganda offered in the media that they do not seek to understand the factual science behind the messages. McKitrick highlights the fact that there exists a general belief that the condition of the environment has been deteriorating over the past years; however, he then references much scientific data that refutes this claim. His use of these scientific references reinforces his position as an environmental economist, and therefore; a specialist whom one should believe and trust. While he is an environmental economist, he argues that the term “environment”

In the book The Future of Life, author Edward O. Wilson highlights the ineffective nature of the debates between the two side of environmentalism. He achieves this by pointing out parallels and similarities of the language between two sides in the satirical piece.

The “Rise of ecology” was a very interesting and mind refreshing documentary film depicting the 10 different disasters that have devastated our planet. This documentary was a good teachable moment for us to take the necessary measure to ensure the safety of the citizens and the planet. The film also emphasized that we should minimize the amount to pollution that we release in to our atmosphere. We see that its always the people who suffer at the hands of major corporations who are just hungry for profits. The film mentions that these major corporations take the consequences of catastrophic events lightly. They do everything they can to increase the profits even at the expense of their own workers. The movie “Pandora” which I recently watched shares a lot of similarities to the documentary film “Rise of ecology” in a way that took me by a surprise. The movie tells a story of how human error came to cause the malfunction of a nuclear power plant causing the nation to go in to panic mode. The movie starts in an interesting way, a flashback where the main character and his friends were just children making assumptions of what the new mysterious development in their town was all about. Some of the kids responded by saying that the nuclear reactor plant was a rice cooker, another a robot and finally the little girl responded by saying that her teacher told her that “it was a box and that if it was open they would all be in trouble”.

In The Future of Life by Edward O. Wilson, Wilson, a contemporary scientist, illustrates the unproductive nature of environmentalists and the people-firsts or anti-environmentalists. Wilson also identifies the parallels of each group and their unexpected similarities. He satirizes the language that each group would typically use against the other. It is concluded that people in today’s world are all too literal. When everything said is taken to heart, it is difficult for the real issues to ever be resolved.

In reference to your opening paragraph, the author of the textbook, The Environmental Policy Paradox, wrote that the problems policy makers and environmentalists face are economic and political. And this is also similar to what have discussed in class so far in regards to environmental regulations. Now you made a strong argument that “If American business is the engine of growth that our politicians make it out to be, why can't we find new ways to do things that save money, cut pollution, and make our companies more competitive,” this question can spark a heated debate that might probably have no end, most especially when you have a country that is governed by, technically, two- party system (Republicans and Democrats). Saying that many Republicans

Collapse, a novel by Jared Diamond, discusses current and future problems on Earth to warn readers of what is happening around them. Diamond goes into detail about specific societies, and then analyzes its meaning in the final chapter. Using the title “The World as a Polder,” he examines twelve major issues that are expected to worsen in the future. These issues include deforestation, overfishing, loss of diversity of species, loss of soil, growth of the human population, and the effect of more people. The limit on energy, freshwater, and sunlight is also mentioned, as well as the challenges brought up by toxic chemicals, alien species, and atmospheric gases.

The inspiration for environmental ethics was the first Earth Day in 1970 when environmentalists started urging philosophers who were involved with environmental groups to do something about environmental ethics. An intellectual climate had developed in the last few years of the 1960s in large part because of the publication of two papers in Science: Lynn White's "The Historical Roots of our Ecologic Crisis" (March 1967) and Garett Hardin's "The Tragedy of the Commons" (December 1968). Most influential with regard to this kind of thinking, however, was an essay in Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac, "The Land Ethic," in which Leopold explicitly claimed that the roots of the ecological

White’s thesis in The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis states that in order to confront the expanding environmental crises, humans must begin to analyze and alter their treatment and attitudes towards nature. The slow destruction of the environment derives from the Western scientific and technological advancements made since the Medieval time period. “What people do about their ecology depends on what they think about themselves in relation to things around them” (RON p.7). Technology and science alone will not be able to save humans until we adjust the way of thinking and suppress the old ideas of humans power above nature. Instead, we need to learn how to think of ourselves as being

in an effort to solve problems, which can be seen with the Clean Water Act.

Right from the end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th Century, there has been a fierce debate concerning how economic growth or development affects the environment or ecological setup of a country. The debate has its basis on whether it would be recommendable for a nation to concentrate on growing its economy while at the same time hurting or harming its ecological system. Naturalists like Pinchot Gifford, John Muir, Love Canal and Cuyahoga County always argued in favor of environmental preservation as opposed to concentrating all efforts towards developing the economy (Olmes 154; Miller 150-51). This paper will, therefore, discuss the struggle between economics and ecology specifically looking at particular events across the Twentieth Century. It will also attempt to explain the factors involved in the pursuit for change on the way people and the administration perceived the environmental conservation as opposed to economic growth.