Roots of the post Second World War environmental movements - Essay Example

Roots of the Post Second World War Environmental Movements The Second World War was described as a 'watershed' that developed into environmental activism that spawned quickly during the 1960s. The Second World War was a time of difficulty for many people around the world, it was also realized that the world was a small space that needed to be protected from the constant destruction by man towards the environment. After the war, the 50s was a fast-paced moving world littered with images of the perfect life, the perfect housewife in advertisements. These images were to accommodate a growing push towards a more materialistic life as more and more inventions were being made and used. Among a lot of the products available during the 1950s were items that were actually hazardous to the environment like the hairspray from the musical 'Hairspray' for example that encouraged the use of hairspray in modern hairstyles as well as the release of dangerous chemicals such as CFC (Chlorofluorocarbon) and vinyl chloride which was a known carcinogen. It was also during the 1950s and the 1960s as more and more industrial accidents occurred that affected the environment that caused a revived concern about how we treated our ecology. The modern livelihood of man was farfetched from the roots that they have begun as hunters and gatherers who are more ecologically aware and attentive to the adverse effects of man and their exploitation and manipulation of their environment (Sahlins 1971) but as industrialization began to boom even more quickly the way man lived prior to the Second World War was a far cry from contemporary man. With the growth of the retail industry and as commodities started becoming cheaper and cheaper the more resources were needed and used to accommodate the demand. Clothes for example, which at first could only be afforded a few for the rich and a modest one or two for the poor was becoming extremely cheap that even the lowest layman at least could have afforded five to ten outfits for his or her use. In addition to this retail more and more cotton, chemicals and energy were needed to produce these items therefore abusing more and more of the environment and slowly but surely depleting our natural resources to be turned into garments and transient objects. Aside from the growth of industrialization man continued to try and change their environment to bend to their own will. For example, if during Victorian times a garden was simply a garden and ways to control pesticides from invading gardens were by utilizing simple home remedies such as using vinegar. With the growth of industrialization and as many more people became wealthy enough to own a garden albeit with lesser time due to work quicker pesticides were used as a solution to pest problems in home gardens and in industrial farms. In 1960, a naturalist by the name of Rachel Carson began to publish a series of writings that were concerned with the adverse effects of the use of chemicals in the control of natural environments (Nash 1990:192-194). For example, she argued that the use of DDT which was only to get rid of weeds and pesticides affected the surroundings of the weeds themselves therefore also pointlessly poisoning the earth for no apparent reason in gardens except to make them look good and for industrial farms the ability of evolution would only create and cause even more stronger pesticides who will be resistant to the effects of the DDT and therefore needing even stronger more dangerous chemicals. Although cries such as Carson on the effects of chemicals were heard but not fully heeded it was also a backlash against government policies which tended to support industrial growth rather than protect the environment for the 'benefit' of the people. The politics of pollution during the 50s and 60s was a climate that favoured a 'little bit' of pollution and some money to be made over the unalterable effects on the earth's nature. For example, in the 1950s to the early 1960s the United States of America was involved with the Soviet Union in an arms race. The effects include a burgeoning nuclear policy and an expansive military policy which included more nuclear power plants between the Soviet Union and the US, and nuclear and atomic bombs between the two to show which one had the better resources in the race of world superpower. It was a childish race between the powers of communism and capitalism. The Cold War was about the 'containmment of communism' and the 'freedom' of capitalism' and in a series of wars that included policies such as the Korean War and the Vietnam War, more and more activists as well as hippies in hopes of flower power tried to stem the so-called war against communism when all it was was the allowance to open up new avenues for capitalism to spread throughout the world. The '60s and the early '70s showed a penchant for radicalism and mass involvement of students in politics in hopes to curb the widespread destruction of war for capitalist gains. Its widespread of environmental activism was apparent in hippie culture that promoted a more green lifestyle that included hippie communes for lesser use of electricity and a lifestyle that avoided the trappings of modern contemporary life that depended on ecological abuse. By the 1970s people such as Barbara Epstein promoted the use community living which was more ecologically harmonious and was able to create a more egalitarian lifestyle rather than the hierarchical social stratification which was apparent in highly industrialized highly capitalized societies. For example, the Clamshell Alliance which Epstein promoted took on a series of mass disobediences of people who refused to allow certain capitalist projects to be completed or should reach a consensus which pollution could be managed easily that would not cause extreme adverse effects towards the environment. Non-governmental organizations such as the Clamshell Alliance thrive on more transparent policies of the government and well-informed decisions of the people not to allow capitalist gains to ruin the future of the world as well as the human race. In the background of such political upheaval other more important means of reaching the people were through music and television. More often it was apparent in the cultural lifestyle and music of artists such as Bob Dylan who in the 1960s amidst a wave of mass protests by Black Civil Rights Movements, the onset of the Vietnam War, produced political protest songs in hopes that his message can be heard by masses (Wayne 150-152). The songs contained poetry that cutely described the social situations of America and the political powers behind it, adamant to the environmental and social implications of their actions. In conclusion, the 1960s was a time of serious political activism and change of social culture that was so extremely strict and watertight during the 1950s. In a novel by Graham Greene, The Quiet American, through the eyes of an experienced British journalist it was also apparent that the American attempts towards Vietnam were nothing more but attempts of capital gain and to erode communism altogether. The world was beginning to become smaller and smaller as communications improved between places and more and more began to realize that they were being exploited and manipulated by the higher powers. The Second World War was a beginning of awareness that brought on nationalism in the colonized world and environmental and political awareness in the Western world. References: Hampton, Wayne. Guerilla Minstrels. Knoxville: University of Texas Press, 1986 Hewlett,Charles (ed.). History of the American Peace Movement 1980-2000.Lewiston: Edwin Mellon Press, 2005 Nash,R. American Environmentalism: Readings in Conservation History (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill, 1990 Sahlins, Marshall. Stone Age Economics. New York: Aldine Publications,1972 Read More