Relevance of Environmental Movements - Essay Example

RELEVENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENTS By Student’s Name Code + Name of Course Professor/Tutor Institution City/State Date Relevance of Environmental movements Garrett Hardin formulated the ‘Tragedy of the commons’ economic theory. The theory confers to an impasse that arises from the situation whereby several individuals, acting rationally and independently and driven by their individual-interest, will eventually deplete a mutual limited reserve even when it is apparent that it is not in the best long-term interest for the whole community or for this to happen (Hardin 1968, 1243). The concept was published in 1968 and is connected with sustainable development, environmental protection, and economic growth. On the other hand, the ‘Silent Spring’ is a book on environmental science authored by Rachel Carson in 1962. The book documents the destructive impacts, which result from increased use of pesticides that eventually harm insects, animals, and birdlife. These often render consequences on humans in the long term. Carson blamed the chemical industry for disseminating misinformation and the public officials of affirming to industry claims without care. This essay will analyze the relevance of these writings in the 21st century. Thesis statement: The environmental writings by Carson and Hardin documented in the 1960’s contain lessons, which are certainly as urgent and relevant now as they were in modest times in different ways. The ‘Tragedy of the Commons’ is witnessed everywhere and entails the extravagant use of resources of all sorts because they are considered as "free," and therefore used badly by "free riders" or a few people who use them in excess to the disadvantage of other consumers in the society at large (Hardin 1993, 19). By observing the environment, it is discerned that certain resources are few while others seem unlimited. There are a few, like the sun’s light, which no one can deny other people from exploiting. Nevertheless, some which seemed to be in interminable amounts, have been misused by some people to the disadvantage of the many e.g. water and air (Hardin 1998, 683). When self-centered economic players pollute water and the air because it is of diminutive or does not cost them, it destroys the use of those resources to other people in the society. Hardin’s principles are relevant as they touch of the numerous actions, which can be taken up in societies in order to prevent the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’. For instance, dividing land into individual plots so that every owner can control his or her individual property (Sinden 2007, 533). Other mechanisms comprise setting aside huge tracts of land for the benefit of many as opposed to the exploitation by a few people for example, establishing national parks, passing legislations and laws against all kinds of pollution. Included here can also be making polluters’ foot for the costs of their activities. It is clear that the extravagant use of natural resources eventually leads to poverty (Hardin 1968, 1244). The less obvious but equally true issue is that the extravagant uses of social, economic, and political resources also generate their ‘Tragedies of the Commons’. In Hardin's theory, he suggested that the answer to the overpopulation challenge must be founded on "mutual compulsion, commonly agreed upon" approaches and the outcome should be relinquishing the liberty to breed (Feeny, Berkes, McCay & Acheson 1990, 7). Hardin’s theory is framed in another book “Managing the Commons” where he prescribes his ideas in terms of the need to restrict the right to reproduce in order to protect all other rights. This policy has been adopted the China. ‘Tragedy of the Commons’ can be deliberated in relation to environmental sustainability. The commons impasse stands as a design for a great diversity of resource challenges in the modern world such as forests, water, fish, forests, and sources of non-renewable energy such as coal and oil. Situations that demonstrate the "tragedy of the commons" comprise overfishing and congestion brought about by driving cars (Hardin 1993, 23). Driving usually causes numerous harmful externalities such as traffic accidents, pollution, and carbon emissions. Another revolutionary concept propagated by Hardin’s theory is that people should plea restoration of individual responsibility to public policy and all facets of life. Another idea is that all people should declare that in in the future no one would be allowed to act recklessly towards the "common" environmental resources of taxpayers. The theory is applicable to the governed and the governments and it provides that all people should live within their means. Articulating answers to ‘the tragedy of the commons’ is a major challenge of political philosophy. In the absence of rational personal-interest, some federation or form of authority is required to find solutions to the collective action challenge. The theory has aided many governments in different parts of the world to pass regulations as means of regulating or limiting the amount of “common good,” which is available for any individual to use. Permit schemes for extractive commercial activities such as timber extraction, mining, hunting, fishing, and livestock raising are illustrations of this tactic (Hardin 1993, 24). Likewise, restrictions to pollution are instances of administrative intermediation on the common’s behalf. Alternatively, in the twenty first century, users of resources can collaborate to preserve the available resources in the name of shared benefit. The tragedy of the commons has provided a meaningful solution for several resources through the conversion of common goods into individually owned property, providing incentives to the new owners who enforce their sustainability. Rachel Carson’s book ‘Silent Spring,’ released in 1962, changed the way people comprehend their association with the natural environment. Explicitly, Silent Spring documented how haphazard application of pesticides, agricultural chemicals, and other contemporary chemicals caused pollution, damaged animal and bird populations, and initiated severe medical complications for human beings (Sideris & Moore 2008, 12). Silent Spring instigated a paradigm shift in the way chemists conduct their discipline as well as the way the wider society relates to science. To comprehend how deeply her book has transformed the modern perspective, the period between the Second World War and the later in the 1950s when she wrote Silent Spring is considered. Emerging technologies thrived during the war as physicists, biologists, chemists, and others were recruited to assist the military. When the war ended, industry and science translated these progresses and others into commercial goods aimed at refining the value of life for residents (Lytle 2007, 12). DDT, a potent insecticide, which is referred to as dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane is an example. The insecticide was good at averting the spread of malaria, typhoid, and other illnesses spread by insects, and many countless lives were saved during the war. At the war end, the Department of Agriculture of the US promoted the insecticide and other strong chemicals to augment domestic productivity and tackle several ills (Carson 2002, 16). The widespread use of DDT is mirrored by the variety of commodities in which it was vended. Carson’s work in the Silent Spring book is often documented as the facilitators that enthused the environmental movement, which started early in the 1960s gaining national and global impetus in the 1970s. The motion generated by the book resulted in the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency of the US and the legislation of many laws for human health and environmental protection, comprising a ban on local use of DDT to its extensive overuse and damaging influence on the environment (Sideris & Moore 2008, 15). From the time the Silent Spring was published, the chemistry field has grown to comprise green chemistry the scheme, expansion, and application of chemical processes and products, which minimize or eradicate the use or production of products that are dangerous to the environment and to human health. Moreover, there are emerging roles for chemists in evaluating the influence of human actions on the environment. In the 21st century, policy makers, scientists, and the community at large now identify and consider trade-offs of fresh technologies (Gunter & Harris 1998, 179). Many generations have grown to embrace Carson’s principles of environmental protection, conservation, and ecological awareness. The influence of the Silent Spring was not as a mere piece of environmental works. The works is accredited with taking a central role in the prohibition of the DDT pesticide in America after its publication in 1970s. Currently, its effect still echoes heavily within conservational spheres. Nevertheless, half a century later, other pesticides keep threatening many species. A modern campaign group named “Friends of the Earth” asserts that bees are under the major risk, because the “fresh generation” neonicotinoid pesticides, which are harmful toxic to bees. The researches by “Friends of the Earth” appear to document a stark up rise in the demises of queen bees, which are exposed to chemicals. This organization through its nature campaigner Sandra Bell has called for robust government intervention to end the application of neonicotinoids (Gunter & Harris 1998, 182). The strategy assisted in the suspension on the application of neonicotinoid pesticides and laid a platform that helped farmers to minimize their dependency on chemicals. Rachel Carson passed on two years after publishing the Silent Spring. Although her book took an important role in minimizing the universal application of DDT, the 21st century has generated a fresh, refined, and more harmful selection of pesticides (Wilson 2006, 26). Carson’s five decade-old works remains relevant like it was upon its publication and the irony is to reason the idea, which seems trivial that man is enabled to control his own future through proper selection of an insect spray. In conclusion, Hardin formulated the ‘Tragedy of the commons,’ a theory connected with sustainable development, environmental protection, and economic growth. The author’s principles are relevant in the modern world as they touch of the numerous actions that can be adopted in societies in order to prevent the ‘Tragedy of the Commons.’ The theory provides answer to the overpopulation challenge based on ‘mutual compulsion’ mechanism. The theory is important as a plea to people to restore individual responsibility to public policy and all facets of life. On the other hand, the ‘Silent Spring’ book by Rachel Carson documents the destructive impacts, which result from increased use of pesticides that eventually harm insects, animals, and birdlife. Carson’s book has changed the way people comprehend their association with the natural environment. The works has instigated a shift in the way the wider society relates to science. The discussion generated by the book has resulted in the establishment of legislations meant to preserve human health and for environmental protection such as banning the use of DDT insecticide. Bibliography Carson, R 2002. Silent spring. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Feeny, D, Berkes, F, McCay, B & Acheson, J 1990. ‘The tragedy of the commons: twenty-two years later.’ Human ecology, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 1-19. Gunter, V & Harris, C 1998, ‘Noisy winter: The DDT controversy in the years before Silent Spring.’ Rural Sociology, Vol. 63, no. 2, pp. 179-198. Hardin, G 1968, ‘The tragedy of the commons.’ science, Vol. 162, no. 3859, pp. 1243-1248. Hardin, G 1993. Living within limits: Ecology, economics, and population taboos. Oxford University Press. Hardin, G 1998, ‘Extensions of" The Tragedy of the Commons’. Science, vol. 280, no. 5364, pp. 682-683. Lytle, M 2007. The gentle subversive: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and the rise of the environmental movement. Oxford University Press. Sideris, L & Moore, K 2008. Rachel Carson: Legacy and Challenge. Suny Press. Sinden, A 2007. ‘Tragedy of the Commons and the Myth of Private Property Solution.’U. Colo. L. Rev., vol. 78, no. 6, pp. 533. Wilson, E 2006. The creation: An appeal to save life on earth. New York: Norton. Read More