Read complete books and articles on: Environmentalism

Environmentalism - movement to protect the quality and continuity of life through conservation of natural resources, prevention of pollution, and control of land use. The philosophical foundations for environmentalism in the United States were established by Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. In 1864, George Perkins Marsh published Man & Nature, in which he

Organized environmentalism began with the conservation movement in the late 19th cent., which urged the establishment of state and national parks and forests, wildlife refuges, and national monuments intended to preserve noteworthy natural features. Early conservationists included President Theodore Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, and John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club. Conservationists organized the National Parks and Conservation Association, the Audubon Society, the Izaak Walton League, and other groups still active. After World War II increasing encroachment on wilderness land evoked the continued resistance of conservationists, who succeeded in blocking a number of projects in the 1950s and 1960s, including the proposed Bridge Canyon Dam that would have backed up the waters of the Colorado River into the Grand Canyon National Park.

The "New Environmentalism"

In the 1950s and 1960s, the public was becoming aware that conservation of wilderness and wildlife was but one aspect of protecting an endangered environment. Concern about air pollution, water pollution, solid waste disposal, dwindling energy resources, radiation, pesticide poisoning (particularly as described in Rachel Carson's influential Silent Spring, 1962), noise pollution, and other environmental problems engaged a broadening number of sympathizers and gave rise to what became known as the "new environmentalism." Public support for these issues culminated in the Earth Day demonstrations of 1970.

The new movement had a broader goal—to preserve life on the planet. The more radical groups believe that continued industrial development is incompatible with environmentalism. Other groups, notably Greenpeace, which advocated direct action to preserve endangered species, often clashed violently with opponents. Less militant organizations called for sustainable development and the need to balance environmentalism with economic development.

Environmental Legislation

The environmental movement generated extensive legislation, notably the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), signed into law in 1970, which established an Environmental Protection Agency and a Council on Environmental Quality; the Clean Air Acts of 1970 and 1990; the Water Pollution Control Act, as amended in 1972; other laws regulating noise, pesticides, toxic substances, and ocean dumping; and laws to protect endangered species, wilderness, and wild and scenic rivers. NEPA requires all federal agencies to file impact statements assessing the environmental consequences of proposed projects such as highways, jet runways, bridges, dams, and nuclear power plants. Moreover, the new laws provide for pollution research, standard setting, monitoring, and enforcement. Citizens are empowered to sue both private industry and government agencies for violating antipollution standards. Subsequent legislation includes the Safe Drinking Water Act (1974), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (1976), and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, commonly known as the Superfund Act (1980). In the 1980s under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush many acts were allowed to expire and the scope of environmental protection was curtailed.

Environmental Organizations and Conferences

Several environmental organizations, among them the National Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Defense Fund, specialize in bringing lawsuits. Other environmentalist groups, such as the National Wildlife Federation, World Wildlife Fund, Friends of the Earth, the Nature Conservancy, and the Wilderness Society, disseminate information, participate in public hearings, lobby, stage demonstrations, and purchase land for preservation. A smaller group, including Wildlife Conservation International and the Worldwide Fund for Nature, conduct research on endangered species and ecosystems. More radical organizations, such Greenpeace, Earth First!, and the Earth Liberation Front, have more directly opposed actions they regard as environmentally harmful. While Greenpeace is devoted to nonviolent confrontation, the underground Earth Liberation Front engages in the clandestine destruction of property, the release of caged or penned animals, and other acts of sabotage.

On an international level, concern for the environment was the subject of a UN conference in Stockholm in 1972, attended by 114 nations. Out of this meeting developed the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (1992).

Bibliography

For a general introduction, see C. Merchant, The Columbia Guide to American Environmental History (2002). See also R. J. Dubos, So Human an Animal (1970); R. M. Chute, Environmental Insight (1971); Environmental Action Association, Earth Tool Kit, ed. by S. Love (1971); P. R. Ehrlich, comp., Man and the Ecosphere (1971); Population, Resources, Environment (with A. H. Ehrlich, 2d ed. 1972), and Human Ecology (with others, 1973); J. L. Sax, Defending the Environment (1972); G. J. Marco et al., ed., Silent Spring Revisited (1987); D. A. Dunnette and R. J. O'Brien, ed., The Science of Global Change (1992); P. Shabecoff, A New Name for Peace (1997).

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16 of the Best Books and Articles on: Environmentalism

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

The Environmental Debate: A Documentary History » Read Now
by Peninah Neimark, Peter Rhoades Mott. 323 pgs.

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This unique collection of primary documents examines the evolution of concern about environmental degradation, pollution, and resource conservation in America from the colonial period to the end of the twentieth century. These documents, ranging from government reports and court cases to the...
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This unique collection of primary documents examines the evolution of concern about environmental degradation, pollution, and resource conservation in America from the colonial period to the end of the twentieth century. These documents, ranging from government reports and court cases to the writings of naturalists, economists, and novelists, offer a broad array of perspectives about such major environmental issues as population growth, air pollution, land and water use, toxins and waste disposal, and the use of timber and mining resources. The historical introductions to each part and to each document provide a context for analyzing each document and will aid readers of the book to better understand the various debates over how, why and if our environment needs to be protected. Students and other interested in environmental problems are encouraged to consider all sides of these complex issues before drawing their own conclusions.
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2.

Modern Environmentalism: An Introduction » Read Now
by David Pepper. 376 pgs.

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This book presents an entirely new introduction to the history of ideas about nature and environment and how these ideas relate to modern environmental ideologies. It examines key environmentalist ideas from different radical viewpionts.
3.

Where We Live, Work, and Play: The Environmental Justice Movement and the Struggle for a New Environmentalism » Read Now
by Patrick Novotny. 120 pgs.

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Numerous studies have revealed that the poor disproportionately bear the burden of environmental problems in America today. Issues range from higher levels of poisonous wastes, carbon dioxide, and ozone, to greater than normal incidences of asthma and lead poisoning. The environmental justice...
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Numerous studies have revealed that the poor disproportionately bear the burden of environmental problems in America today. Issues range from higher levels of poisonous wastes, carbon dioxide, and ozone, to greater than normal incidences of asthma and lead poisoning. The environmental justice movement, which has emerged in working class and low-income African American and Latino communities since the early 1990s, is an effort that is reinterpreting the definition of the environment as "where we live, work, and play" to connect new constituencies traditionally outside of the postwar environmental movement. Novotny documents this expanding constituency through case studies of four community groups ranging from South Central Los Angeles to Louisiana.
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4.

Free Market Environmentalism » Read Now
by Terry Lee Anderson, Donald Leal. 196 pgs.

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The original edition of this seminal book, published in 1991, introduced the concept of using markets and property rights to protect and improve environmental quality. Since publication, the ideas in this book have been adopted not only by conservative circles but by a wide range of environmental...
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The original edition of this seminal book, published in 1991, introduced the concept of using markets and property rights to protect and improve environmental quality. Since publication, the ideas in this book have been adopted not only by conservative circles but by a wide range of environmental groups. To mention a few examples, Defenders of Wildlife applies the tenets of free market environmentalism to its wolf compensation program; World Wildlife Federation has successfully launched the CAMPFIRE program in southern Africa to reward native villagers who conserve elephants; and the Oregon Water Trust uses water markets to purchase or lease water for salmon and steelhead habitats. This revised edition updates the successful applications of free market environmentalism and adds two new chapters.
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5.

American Environmentalism: Values, Tactics, Priorities » Read Now
by Joseph M. Petulla. 239 pgs.

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...MARTIN V. MELOSI, General Editor American Environmentalism American Environmentalism Values, Tactics, Priorities By...Publication Data Petulla Joseph M American...
6.

The Promise of Green Politics: Environmentalism and the Public Sphere » Read Now
by Douglas Torgerson. 222 pgs.

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Our present political system is dominated by business news and the stock market. But those in support of green politics ask whether human profit should continue to be the bottom line of political deliberations or whether it is time for the interests of the natural world to combine with or even...
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Our present political system is dominated by business news and the stock market. But those in support of green politics ask whether human profit should continue to be the bottom line of political deliberations or whether it is time for the interests of the natural world to combine with or even displace them.In The Promise of Green Politics Douglas Torgerson offers a survey of different strands of ecological schools of thought, discusses their implications for the larger political sphere, and advances a three-dimensional concept of politics that emphasises ethics and discourse, as well as strategy.Arguing that the environmental movement has the potential to contribute to contemporary developments in political theory and social action by changing discursive practices at grassroots gatherings and along the corridors of power, Torgerson draws on the theories of Hannah Arendt and others to advocate a performative type of political debate that values a plurality of opinions and is not always oriented toward the narrowing of debate down to a single conclusion. In a world stuck in administrative, scientific gridlock, Torgerson argues, the theatrical, comic aspects of green politics are as important as other, more goal-oriented, aspects. Gestures of the carnivalesque-such as protestors sleeping in hammocks slung from trees targeted for destruction or funeral processions held for dying rivers-could be the key to the creation of what Torgerson refers to as a "green public sphere," one which promises a reconfiguration of the relationship between human creativity and the natural world. While offering a number of concrete policy suggestions, his focus remains on the complexity and heterogeneity of green thinking, and on the transformative promise implicit in green politics. In creating new ways to speak about the environment, Torgerson argues, the green movement offers a chance to productively rethink many larger issues of political theory and action.The Promise of Green Politics will serve as a gateway to new thinking about green politics and the emerging possibilities of a diverse and vital green public sphere. As such, it will be valued by those interested in environmental and public policy, political theory, social activism, and the future of political action.
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7.

The Environmental Crisis » Read Now
by Miguel A. Santos, Randall M. Miller. 254 pgs.

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This resource, by a professor of ecology and environmental science, features the latest information on the global environmental crisis in the 20th century. Ideal for student research, it examines the main causes of environmental concern and the key players who raised the environmental consciousness...
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This resource, by a professor of ecology and environmental science, features the latest information on the global environmental crisis in the 20th century. Ideal for student research, it examines the main causes of environmental concern and the key players who raised the environmental consciousness of the public. Following a timeline of key events and a historical overview of the environmental crisis, topical essays examine each of the major areas of enviromental concern: our vanishing wilderness, pollution, overpopulation, and the long-term problem of how we can coexist with our environment without destroying it. Ready-reference features include biographical sketches, the text of key primary documents, a glossary, over 40 tables, charts and illustrations, and an annotated bibliography.
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8.

Conservative Environmentalism: Reassessing the Means, Redefining the Ends » Read Now
by James R. Dunn, John E. Kinney. 282 pgs.

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Dunn and Kinney argue that the environmental movement as it now operates is counterproductive; solutions can be found only through rational, non-political efforts based on reality, not ideological propaganda. The authors show what the facts are and how they have been distorted to benefit what are...
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Dunn and Kinney argue that the environmental movement as it now operates is counterproductive; solutions can be found only through rational, non-political efforts based on reality, not ideological propaganda. The authors show what the facts are and how they have been distorted to benefit what are often misguided, self-serving political agendas. For anyone uncertain of the facts and baffled by conflicting viewpoints, Conservative Environmentalism will come as fresh air, bringing hope and encouragement that solutions are possible. To solve the problems they see, the Left uses regulations that severely impede technology and efficient productivity - the very things that improve environmental conditions. Rather than supporting the regulation of industrial productivity, Dunn and Kinney argue for its expansion. The authors compare "downside" and "upside" effects of environmental actions in both First World and Third World countries and examine the negative effects that U.S. EPA and USAID edits and proscriptions have on development and the environment.
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9.

Green Delusions: An Environmentalist Critique of Radical Environmentalism » Read Now
by Martin W. Lewis. 294 pgs.

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...Environmentalist Critique of Radical Environmentalism Martin W. Lewis Duke University...1 The Varieties of Radical Environmentalism 27 2 Primal Purity...that masquerades...
10.

A Sensible Environmentalism, in Public Interest » Read Now
by Steven F. Hayward. 14 pgs.

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...A sensible environmentalism. by Steven F. Hayward...conflicts that pervade contemporary environmentalism." Renewable resources The...Arguing in favor of a "promethean...
11.

Liberal Democracy and Environmentalism: The End of Environmentalism? » Read Now
by Yoram Levy, Marcel Wissenburg. 220 pgs.

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In recent decades, environmental issues have increasingly been incorporated into liberal democratic thought and political practice. Environmentalism and ecologism have become fashionable, even respectable schools of political thought. This apparently successful integration of environmental...
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In recent decades, environmental issues have increasingly been incorporated into liberal democratic thought and political practice. Environmentalism and ecologism have become fashionable, even respectable schools of political thought. This apparently successful integration of environmental movements, issues and ideas in mainstream politics raises the question of whether there is a future for what once was a counter-movement and counter-ideology. Liberal Democracy and Environmentalism provides a reflective assessment of recent developments, social relevance and future of environmental political theory, concluding that although the alleged pacification of environmentalism is more than skin deep, it is not yet quite deep enough. This book will appeal to students and researchers of social science and philosophers with an interest in environmental issues.
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12.

Entrepreneurial Environmentalism: A New Approach for the New Millennium, in Environmental Law » Read Now
by Earl Blumenauer. 14 pgs.

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...Entrepreneurial environmentalism: a new approach for the new...environmentalism is necessary to make our communities...bright. VI. ENTREPRENEURIAL ENVIRONMENTALISM All of...
13.

Healing the Planet: Strategies for Resolving the Environmental Crisis » Read Now
by Paul R. Ehrlich, Anne H. Ehrlich. 365 pgs.

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...HEALING THE PLANET PAUL R. EHRLICH AND ANNE H. EHRLICH A Publication of the Center for Conservation Biology, Stanford University HEALING THE PLANET...
14.

The Making of Green Knowledge: Environmental Politics and Cultural Transformation » Read Now
by Andrew Jamison. 205 pgs.

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The Making of Green Knowledge provides a wide ranging introduction to the politics of the environment and the development of environmental knowledge. Focusing in particular on the quest in recent years for more sustainable forms of socio-economic development, it attempts to place environmental...
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The Making of Green Knowledge provides a wide ranging introduction to the politics of the environment and the development of environmental knowledge. Focusing in particular on the quest in recent years for more sustainable forms of socio-economic development, it attempts to place environmental politics within a broad historical perspective, and examines the different political strategies and cultural practices that have emerged. The Making of Green Knowledge is a uniquely personal exploration of the relationship between sustainable development, public participation, and cultural transformation. Through a highly accessible mix of theory, practical analysis and personal reflection it seeks to bring the making of green knowledge to life. Andrew Jamison is an American who has lived in Sweden since 1970 and is now Professor of Technology and Society at Aalborg University, Denmark. He is the co-author with Ron Eyerman of Social Movements: A Cognitive Approach (1991), Seeds of the Sixties (1994) and Music and Social Movements (1998).
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15.

The Making of the New Environmental Consciousness: A Comparative Study of the Environmental Movements in Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands » Read Now
by Jacqueline Cramer, Ron Eyerman, Andrew Jamison, Jeppe Laessoe. 216 pgs.

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16.

Empire Forestry and the Origins of Environmentalism » Read Now
by Gregory Allen Barton. 192 pgs.

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Environmentalism began with the establishment of the first empire forest in 1855 in British India. During the second half of the nineteenth century, over ten per cent of the land surface of the earth became protected as a public trust. The empire forestry movement spread through India, Africa...
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Environmentalism began with the establishment of the first empire forest in 1855 in British India. During the second half of the nineteenth century, over ten per cent of the land surface of the earth became protected as a public trust. The empire forestry movement spread through India, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the U.S. and to other parts of the world. Gregory A. Barton's pioneering study views the origins of environmentalism in global perspective.
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