Module 8

How can we explain the dramatic increase in the human impact on the environment in the twentieth century?

Because of industrialization, factories were producing carbon dioxide emission which led to air that was less sanitary than before. The use of chemicals in factors not only polluted air, but it also polluted water as fossil fuels were increased. There was an increase in population, and an increase in living standards which led to the depletion of natural resources. Cities were overcrowded and smoky with wholly insufficient sanitation, periodic epidemics, endless row houses and warehouses, few public services or open spaces, and inadequate often polluted water supplies. The environmental movement during the 1960s and 1970s focused on Congress passing laws to fix the pollution in the air and water, and tried to come up with different ways to get rid of toxic wastes. Rachel Carson wrote “Silent Spring” which discussed DDT on human health and our environment. 

What differences emerged between environmentalism in the Global North and that in the Global South?

In the Global South environmentalism was more locally based and had fewer organizations. It involved more poor people in direct actions. They were “less engaged in political lobbying and corporate strategies; it was more concerned with issues of food security, health, and basic survival than with the rights of nature or wilderness protection; and it was more closely connected to movements of social injustice,” (Strayer). Environmentals in the North cared about protecting forests that were not fully inhabited, and were a part of the “tree hugging” movement. They sought to protect farmers, artisans, and herders living in areas where deforestation was prominent. 

Read the Zooming In segment titled “Rachel Carson, Pioneer of Environmentalism” on page 1058. In what larger contexts might we understand Rachel Carson and the book that gained her such attention? If you have read Silent Spring, bring your insights from that reading into your response.

Rachel Carson criticized the unregulated use of pesticides. She assembled data about the impact of pesticides on natural ecosystems and human health. She didn't want them to be illuminated, but she wanted there to be great care and sensitivity to the environment that was being filled with pesticides. She wanted natural biotic agents as a preferable alternative for pest control. In a larger context, Carson and her book did a good job at “criticizing government regulatory agencies for their negligent oversight and scientific specialists for their ‘fantical zeal’ to create ‘a chemically sterile insect-free world,”(Strayer). This highlights major problems in our world today. Our lack of attention to the things that we throw out that pollute our environment have caused great damage to the life around us. An example of this is the vast extinctions of various animals. Turtles have been exposed to plastic in the oceans which have caused various deaths. Things like oil spills that have killed wildlife in our oceans are also examples of our pollution. The pesticides that we use result in run off that are taken to the oceans. This can damage coral reefs that are prominent ecosystems in our oceans. These are things Carson was concerned about.