What is the Green Movement and what is its origin?
To understand the green movement of today first we need to look back to see how it all started.
One of the key pieces of literature that captured peoples attention was the 1962 publication Silent Spring by Rachel Carson but the movement’s origin can be traced back even further to Henry David Thoreau and Teddy Roosevelt. In fact, elements of the go green movement can be traced back throughout a large part of human history even if it wasn’t named as such.
Environmentalism today can be defined as:
“Environmentalists advocate the sustainable management of resources and stewardship of the environment through changes in public policy and individual behaviour. In its recognition of humanity as a participant in (not enemy of) ecosystems, the movement is centred on ecology, health, and human rights.”
The Modern Green Movement
Teddy Roosevelt was a major supporter of environmentalism and helped to bring national parks and wildlife conservation to the forefront of the public’s consciousness however when world war 2 started it faded into the background and took many years to resurface. After tragedies like the Donora Fluoride Fog and the Cuyahoga River catching on fire people started taking notice of the dangers that were posed by ignoring our environment.
The Donora Fluoride Fog or the Donora Death Fog killed 20 people and left hundreds injured or dying and was caused by the fumes of a nearby smelting plant which covered the town for 4 days in a toxic fog. The Cuyahoga River was covered in oil and chemicals and caught fire, the flames reached up to five stories high.
Most recently Al Gore’s film, An Inconvenient Truth, highlighted the problems we still face today from chemically treated food to contaminated water and serves as a reminder that we still have a long way to go if we want to conserve our environment for future generations.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_movement
http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2008/08/17/a-brief-history-of-the-modern-green-movement/
http://www.brighthub.com/environment/green-living/articles/77266.aspx
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