Environmentalism: A Global Perspective

Focusing in on environmentalism as a general topic for my research paper, I decided to read Environmentalism: A Global History written by Ramachandra Guha.   Coming out of reading Guha’s book, one of the points that stuck with me is that to one degree or another, the entire environmental movement romanticizes a relationship with nature.  Extremist environmentalists are more heavily influenced by the ideals of living in harmony with the land than more moderate, since many extremists argue for an anti-growth agenda that ultimately funnels back to living a simple agrarian lifestyle.  From a historical perspective, the environmental movement largely developed its philosophy coming out of the Industrial Revolutions of England and the United States.  To a certain effect, three different branches of the environmental movement originated: Back to the land, scientific conservation and wilderness idea.  Each of these facets of the initial philosophical movement eventually morphed into a more streamlined ideology as the environmental movement officially rose to power in the 60s.  One side point to make as well, people have been romanticizing about nature for centuries, however the environmental movement combines man’s interactions with nature into something of a social movement.  There is a distinct difference between nature appreciation and environmentalism.   The modern environmental movement can more or less trace its roots back to the release of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, an ahistorical book that lead to a revival in environmental thinking.  From here, a number of movements within the environmental community originated and lead to the broad spectrum of belief systems that we see today. 

Overall, this book was extremely helpful in taking a look at the big picture as to how the environmental community rose to where it is today and where it’s philosophy arose.  It will be a useful reference to use as I go throughout the research process, specifically because it provides a larger context to the movement.  As far as giving me a sense of direction with my research, there are a few different paths that I’m going to look down and explore over the coming weeks.  The early origins of American Environmentalism are particularly interesting to me at the moment.  The book covers some of the work that John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club, as well as a few of the people who worked alongside him.  Environmentalism has a strong history in America, and it would be interesting to take a look at these early origins.  The other path that intrigues me at the moment is the philosophical ideals that sprung out of the release of Silent Spring.  Works by Paul Ehrlich and several environmental philosophers followed the release of Silent Spring, and work that originated during this time-frame largely influences the environmental movement today, more so than the works of the 19^th century.  It is very likely that I might choose to focus on the post-Carson philosophy instead of how the environmental community romanticizes man’s relationship with nature.