The Evolution of Environmentalism

Recently, I’ve had a chance to dive deeper into the evolution of the environmental community, and in the process, I’ve learned a lot that’s influenced not only my research paper, but also my own ideology.  In the past, I’ve been… vocal in my criticism of the environmental community, and if anything, this project has only continued to further solidify my notions of the environmental community.  

Throughout my research process, my primary focus was looking at the origins and evolution of the environmental community.  These origins are firmly rooted in the rise of Industrial America during the Industrial Revolutions.  This initial rise of environmental thinking sparked the rise of the Conservation and Preservation Movements during the late 1800s and 1900s.  Organizations such as the Sierra Club originated during this time, for example.  For several decades, this “First Generation” of environmentalism lead to the establishment of the National and State Park systems as well as efforts to preserve American forests.  In the years following the First World War up until the early 1960s, there was a period where the environmental movement was cast aside.  Post-war America was left disillusioned by the senseless loss the nation and world had experienced as a result of WW1.  Following the Second World War, there was a drive for near-limitless growth with little regard for the environment.   This growth can be compared to the early years of the Industrial Revolution in that environmental factors were often disregarded in order to allow for cheap development.   It was with the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring that the environmental movement officially originated.  The release of the book sparked a new generation of environmental thinking with some famous philosophers being Paul Ehrlich, Bill McKibben and Amory Lovins.   Additionally, climate change has become the central issue that the environmental movement has come to revolve around. 

My paper will look at the similarities in the philosophy between the first and second generations of environmentalism.  At this point, I’ve looked at the underlying philosophies that drove each of the generations.  I’m now in a position where I can easily compare and contrast the similarities between these two underlying philosophies.  While I’m not necessarily in a position to gauge the success of each generation, based off of what I know, I would say the first generation of environmentalism was significantly more successful than the second.   Today, the legacy of the first generation is deeply evident throughout our nation.  However, I would question the extent of the success that the second generation has had.  This is one of the areas where I could examine further.  However, it is unlikely that I will adapt my paper much at this point if I choose to further explore this direction. 

One of the major themes that I would like to capture in my paper is that the environmental community throughout its history has deeply romanticized man’s relationship with nature.   This notion of man’s relationship with nature has driven many of the solutions that the movement has advocated for.  For example, solar and wind are often thought of being harmonious energy sources compared to natural gas or nuclear.  Wind and solar, after all, are carbon-free sources of energy and don’t release pollutants into the atmosphere (One a side note, this ideology has turned me off from much of what the environmental community advocates for).