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The Environmental Movement (sometimes inclusive of the conservation or green movements) is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement. In general terms, environmentalists advocate the sustainable management of resources, restoration, and protection of the natural environment. Environmentalists usually advocate changes in public policy, as well as social and individual behavior. In its recognition of humanity as a participant in (not enemy of) ecosystems, the movement is centered around balancing ecological and human health.

Key issues include corporate accountability, global overpopulation (exponential rises in human population and growing pressures on natural systems), and poverty, with a focus on the divide between industrialization and stewardship.

The movement is represented by a range of organizations, from the large to grassroots.

Due to its large membership, varying and strong beliefs, and occasional speculative nature, the Environmental Movement is not entirely united.

At its broadest, the movement includes private citizens, professionals, religious devotees, and extremists. Environmentalists are also often linked with other social movements, such as human and animal rights and pacifism.

Timeline

The Environmental Movement expressed itself most prominently in 1962, when Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, the first call of environmental action regarding DDT and mankind's potentially-destructive use of chemicals.

Prior to this point, a commonly-held belief was "The solution to pollution is dilution."

During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, several events raised awareness of environmental damage caused by man. In 1954,the 23 man crew of the Japanese fishing vessel Lucky Dragon was exposed to radioactive fallout from a hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll. Carson's Silent Spring called attention to bird dieoffs in 1962. In the late 1960s, Paul R. Ehrlich published The Population Bomb, oil spilled from an offshore well in Califonia's Santa Barbra Channel, and American biologist and political figure Barry Commoner protested nuclear testing.

Meanwhile, nuclear proliferation and photos of Earth as a result of space travel emphasized the consequences (positive and negative) of technological accomplishments, as well as Earth's truly small place in the universe.

In the United States, the 1970s saw the passage of landmark laws like the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, and National Environmental Policy Act, the foundations for current environmental standards.

In 1978, a major environmental catastrophe at Love Canal, NY led to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) commonly called the "Superfund Act."

In the Love Canal incident, the local school board purchased land near Hooker Chemical's toxic burial site for $1 and constructed a new elementary school. In 1978, resident Lois Gibbs led an effort to investigate community concerns about the health of its residents. Neighborhood residents had observed strange odors and substances in the area, an extremely high rate of cancer, and an alarming number of birth defects. Gibbs' own children were hospitalized regularly for epilepsy, asthma, and urinary tract infections.

Because nobody was willing to pay for a solution to the problem, Ms. Gibbs struggled to gain attention until President Jimmy Carter announced a federal emergency. However, scarcity of government funds allowed for only residents nearest to the contaminated area be evacuated.

Later, when more money was secured, the government relocated and reimbursed more than 800 families. More than $200 million was used to clean up the site, and Congress passed the Superfund Act, which holds polluters accountable for misdeeds. So-called superfund sites are everywhere in America. To learn more, visit this website run by the EPA.

Since the 1970s, public awareness, environmental sciences, ecology, and technology have advanced to include modern focus points like ozone depletion, global climate change, acid rain, and the harmful potential of GMOs.

Scope of the movement

Biological studies

  • Environmental Science is the study of the interactions among the physical, chemical and biological components of the environment;
  • Ecology, or ecological science, is the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of living organisms and how these properties are affected by interactions between the organisms and their environment.

Primary focus points

  • The Environmental Movement is broad in scope and can include any topic related to the environment, conservation, and biology, as well as preservation of landscapes, flora, and fauna for a variety of purposes and uses.
  • The Conservation movement seeks to protect natural areas for sustainable consumption, as well as traditional (hunting, fishing, trapping) and spiritual use.

Other focus points

  • Environmental health movement dates at least to Progressive Era, and focuses on urban standards like clean water, efficient sewage handling, and stable population growth. Environmental health could also deal with nutrition, preventive medicine, aging, and other concerns specific to human well-being. Environmental health is also seen as an indicator for the state of the natural environment, or an early warning system for what may happen to humans.
  • Environmental Justice is a movement that began in the U.S. in the 1980s and seeks an end to environmental racism and prevent low-income and minority communities from an unbalanced exposure to highways, garbage dumps, and factories. The Environmental Justice movement seeks to link "social" and "ecological" environmental concerns, while at the same time preventing de facto racism, and classism.
  • Ecology movement could involve the Gaia Theory, as well as Value of Earth and other interactions between humans, science, and responsibility.
  • Deep Ecology is often considered to be a spiritual spinoff of the ecology movement.

Environmental law and theory

Property rights

Many environmental lawsuits question the legal rights of property owners, and whether the general public has a right to intervene with detrimental practices occuring on someone else's land.

Citizens' rights

One of the earliest lawsuits to establish that citizens may sue for environmental and aesthetic harms was Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference v. Federal Power Commission, decided in 1965 by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The case helped halt the construction of a power plant on Storm King Mountain in New York State. See also United States environmental law and David Sive, an attorney who was involved in the case.

"Nature's rights"

Christopher D. Stone's 1972 essay, "Should trees have standing?" addressed the question of whether natural objects themselves should have legal rights, including the right to participate in lawsuits. In the essay, Stone suggests that his argument is valid because many current rights-holders (women, children) were once regarded "things." However, his essay is still often regarded as logical fallacy.

Environmental reactivism

Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) and NIMBY syndrome

Numerous criticisms and ethical ambiguities have led to growing concerns about technology, including the use of potentially-harmless pesticides, water additives like Flouride, and Ethanol-processing plants.

NIMBY syndrome refers to public outcry caused by knee-jerk reaction to an unwillingness to be exposed to even necessary developments. Some serious biologists and ecologists created the scientific ecology movement which would not confuse empirical data with visions of a desirable future world.

Modern environmentalism

Hard science

Today, the sciences of ecology and environmental science, rather than any aesthetic goals, provide the basis of unity to most environmentalists. With basic common interests in mind, most environmentalists willingly allow scientific input to influence decisions about biodiversity or forest use. In fact, conservation biology is rapidly-developing field.

It is suggested that a natural evolution of the movement- and avoidance of the "ism" stigma- is to move from NIMBY activists and anti-nuclear groups to more scientific NGOs like the Union of Concerned Scientists, or groups devoted to responsible stewardship, protection of biodiversity, and awareness of climate change.

Status reports

The Club of Rome published a report called Limits to Growth in 1972, which outlined some environmental concerns. Another report released by the Council on Environmental Quality called The Global 2000 Report to the President reported similar findings. More recently, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment is said to vindicate the movement.

Renewed focus on local action

The Environmental Movement today also involves many smaller groups, usually within ecoregions. Some resemble the old U.S. conservation movement- whose modern expression is the Nature Conservancy and Audubon Society, and focus largely on small-scale local preservation. These "politically neutral" groups tend to avoid global conflicts. The Water Keepers Alliance is one such example.

Criticisms of the Environmental Movement

Skeptics believe that environmentalism is more deeply rooted in politics than science, citing an uneasiness about socialism, "tree-hugging," or a sacrifice of a comfortable lifestyle. These concerns are often made valid by extremists associated with the movement who overshadow real accomplishments and scientific findings.

One such critic is author Michael Crichton, who appeared before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works to address concerns related to global climate change.

Mr. Crichton recommended the employment of double-blind experimentation in environmental research, which is a standard in medicine and many other scientific fields. Crichton also suggested that because environmental issues often already politically-charged, policy makers need neutral, conclusive data on which to base decisions.

A consistent theme acknowledged by both supporters and critics is that scientists are constantly learning more about nature's complexities, and that the environmental debate deals with many entrenched points of view. Environmental Economists, for example, in an attempt to balance environmental health and economics, may face opposition from strict environmentalists who believe that there should be no balance.

Environmental studies are also criticized for the reliance on recent data to define long-term environmental trends. Because of this, many environmentalists support the precautionary principle, or to err on the side of caution when making public policy. This conjecture, however, is precisely what makes skeptics nervous, as people want complete freedoms when the evidence supports their claims.

Some people also criticize environmentalism as environmental imperialism. Such critics believe that environmentalists wish for people to sacrifice a comfortable lifestyle with only ambiguous justifications. A common rebuttal among environmentalists, however, is that environmentalism is essentially based around human rights, as common goals like pollution reduction and sustainability are believed essential to keeping people happy, healthy, and prosperous. More moderate environmentalists and scientists will also attempt to distance themselves from the extremists who subscribe to something akin to environmental imperialism, and instead opt for a more practical view.

Notes and references

See also

External links

Environmental movements | History of ecology

Umweltbewegung | Milieubeweging | Энвайронментализм | Miljörörelsen | 环境保护

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Environmental movement".

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