"The Death of Environmentalism"

This essay, published in January of 2005 by Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus, has been the focus of a heated debate among environmentalists (and their critics) ever since.

Here are a few selections:

We believe that the environmental movement's foundational concepts, its method for framing legislative proposals, and its very institutions are outmoded. Today environmentalism is just another special interest. Evidence for this can be found in its concepts, its proposals, and its reasoning. What stands out is how arbitrary environmental leaders are about what gets counted and what doesn't as "environmental." Most of the movement's leading thinkers, funders and advocates do not question their most basic assumptions about who we are, what we stand for, and what it is that we should be doing.

Environmentalism is today more about protecting a supposed "thing" -- "the environment" -- than advancing the worldview articulated by Sierra Club founder John Muir, who nearly a century ago observed, "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."

Thinking of the environment as a "thing" has had enormous implications for how environmentalists conduct their politics. The three-part strategic framework for environmental policy-making hasn't changed in 40 years: first, define a problem (e.g. global warming) as "environmental." Second, craft a technical remedy (e.g., cap-and-trade). Third, sell the technical proposal to legislators through a variety of tactics, such as lobbying, third-party allies, research reports, advertising, and public relations. . . .


. . . Our thesis is this: the environmental community's narrow definition of its self-interest leads to a kind of policy literalism that undermines its power. When you look at the long string of global warming defeats under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, it is hard not to conclude that the environmental movement's approach to problems and policies hasn't worked particularly well. And yet there is nothing about the behavior of environmental groups, and nothing in our interviews with environmental leaders, that indicates that we as a community are ready to think differently about our work.

What the environmental movement needs more than anything else right now is to take a collective step back to rethink everything. We will never be able to turn things around as long as we understand our failures as essentially tactical, and make proposals that are essentially technical.

Hetch Hetchy Commercial

I found this off youtube during my search for visual representations of Hetch Hetchy Valley/Dam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRnW3ijvXwE

Worth a look if you want to see the visual changes as well as see that the Hetch Hetchy preservation movement lives on today.

Heres is a link to the Restore Hetch Hetchy website: http://www.hetchhetchy.org/index.html

"The Purse Seine" and "Shine, Perishing Republic"

Here are two readings from the syllabus by the California poet Robinson Jeffers:

"The Purse Seine"

"Shine, Perishing Republic"

Timeline of Environmental History

This timeline can be a very useful resource, especially as a starting point for your term paper research.

The World Without Us

Last week in class, someone brought up The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. Here is a review.

Two blades from one origin

I looked into the origin of the frequently stated "two blades of grass from where one grew before" statement in our readings (I have seen it Worster's book where Thoreau uses the statement to support polytheism, and in the Marsh article)

The origin is from Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver Travels" (publ. 1726). In the book a character, King Brogdingnag, says "Whoever could make two ears of corn or two blades of grass grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and would do more essential service to his country then the whole race of politicians put together" (see JSTOR article, review of" two blades of grass": http://www.jstor.org/view/10711031/ap040106/04a00180/0)

White, Linneaus, and Thoreau

As a supplement to the Donald Worster readings this week, here are some good online sources for Gilbert White, Carl Linnaeus, and Henry David Thoreau.

Keep America Beautiful PSA, 1971

Here is a video link to the famous "Crying Indian" public service announcement of 1971, one of the most famous, and parodied, spots in television history.

Welcome to HI 570

HI 570
U.S. Environmentalism
Fall, 2007
Boston University
R. S. Deese

Course Goal: To trace the development of American environmental thought, culture, and politics from the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century. The primary theme of this course will be the evolving relationship between conceptions of progress and nature in American history, as reflected in what historian Donald Worster has called the “imperial” and “Arcadian” strains of modern ecological thought. This course will begin with the publication of Man and Nature by George Perkins Marsh in 1864, and survey the major developments in American environmental thought and politics through the Gilded Age, Progressive Era, New Deal, Cold War, and the post-Cold War decades. Students will be required to write two book reviews, give one class presentation, and write one 15-20 page research paper. The reading assignments for each week, including handouts, should be completed by every Thursday in order to assure an informed discussion. Attendance and participation will account for 20 per cent of each student’s final course grade.

Grade Breakdown:
20%: Class Participation
20%: Book Review 1 (due in class on 9/27)
15% Class Presentation (TBA)
20%: Book Review 2 (due in class on 10/25)
25%: Research Paper (due in class on 12/11)






REQUIRED TEXTS:

Carson, R. - Silent Spring: 40th Anniv. Edition (HM), ISBN 978-0-6-1824906-0
Cronon, W. - Uncommon Ground, (Norton), ISBN 978-0-3-9331511-0
Hays, S. - Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency, 59 (UCP), ISBN 978-0-8-2295702-7
Leopold, A. - Sand County Almanac, (Random), ISBN 978-0-3-4534505-9
McNeill, J.R. - Something New Under the Sun, (Norton), ISBN 978-0-3-9332183-8
Phillips, S. - This Land, This Nation, (Cambridge), ISBN 978-0-5-2161796-3
Sale, K. – The Green Revolution, (Ingram), ISBN 978-0-8-0901551-1
Worster, D. - Nature's Economy, 2nd (Cambridge), ISBN 978-0-5-2146834-3

Basic Ground Rules:


1. Turn off all cell phones, beepers, etc. before all class meetings begin.

2. Always come on time to all class meetings, and participate in all discussions. Please don’t be shy about speaking up in class discussions, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Virtually all original scholarship begins by posing questions that others have overlooked or dismissed as simply not worth asking; therefore, the very question you might be afraid to ask because it seems naïve or unorthodox could well be the most interesting and groundbreaking question that anyone could raise. Don’t hesitate to ask it. Also, please remember that I am more than happy to field your questions and address your concerns via email, telephone, and during my regular office hours.

3. Always come to class prepared to discuss all readings for that week. When you do the assigned reading each week, be sure to underline passages that you see as important, and write down questions that you would like to raise in our section meetings and in my office hours.

Term Paper: For this course you will be required to write a 15-20 page research paper that explores the scientific, cultural, and political dimensions of a single environmental issue within a specific historical context. Your Student Presentation will be based on your research paper.

Regulations Against Plagiarism: Needless to say, the work you present must be entirely your own and all sources must be diligently credited in your footnotes and bibliography. Any attempt at plagiarism, representing the work of another person as your own, will be result in failure in this course and severe disciplinary action by Boston University. If you should need more information on this subject, consult the website of the History Department.



Week One

9/4: Introduction

9/6: George Perkins Marsh and the Gilded Age

Donald Worster, Nature’s Economy pp. 1-111

David Lowenthal, George Perkins Marsh, HANDOUT


Week Two

9/11: Pinchot, Muir, and the Progressive Era

9/13: Hetch Hetchy
Donald Worster, Nature’s Economy, pp. 114-253

Samuel P. Hays, Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency, FINISH.

Anne Whiston Spirn, “Constructing Nature” Uncommon Ground, pp. 91-113

John Muir, A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf, HANDOUT

Gifford Pinchot, Breaking New Ground, HANDOUT

Mary Hunter Austin, Land of Little Rain, HANDOUT

Week Three

9/18: The Natural and Technological Sublime

9/20: Reshaping Nature

Sarah T. Phillips, This Land, This Nation, FINISH

David E. Nye, The American Technological Sublime, HANDOUT

Julian Huxley, What Dare I Think?, HANDOUT

Robinson Jeffers, “Shine, Perishing Republic” & “The Purse Seine”: HANDOUT

Week Four

9/25: Dr. New Deal, Dr. Win the War, & Dr. Strangelove

9/27: Aldo Leopold and the Birth of Cold War Environmentalism

Donald Worster, Nature’s Economy, pp.256-338

Aldo Leopold, Sand County Almanac, FINISH

Mark Fiege, “The Sense of Wonder” Environmental History July 2007: HANDOUT

Ramachandra Guha, How Much Should a Person Consume? Ch. 6, HANDOUT


Week Five

10/2: The Atomic Age

10/4: Fallout

Donald Worster, Nature’s Economy, FINISH.

Aldous Huxley, selections from Ape and Essence and The Human Situation, HANDOUT

Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, HANDOUT



Week Six

10/9: Rachel Carson, Oceanographer and Naturalist

10/11: Reaction to Silent Spring

Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, FINISH

Aldous Huxley, Island, HANDOUT

Week Seven

10/16: The Quiet Crisis

10/18: Earth Day, 1970

Kirkpatrick Sale, The Green Revolution, FINISH

Stewart Brand, The Whole Earth Catalogue, HANDOUT

Shepard Krech, III, The Ecological Indian, HANDOUT

Press Clippings on Earth Day, 1970: HANDOUT


Week Eight

10/23: Ecofeminism

10/25: “Deep Ecology”

Carolyn Merchant, “Reinventing Eden” in William Cronon, ed., Uncommon Ground, pp. 132-159

George Sessions and Bill Devall, Deep Ecology, HANDOUT



Week Nine

10/30: The Monkey Wrench Gang

11/1: Something New Under the Sun

J.R. McNeill, Something New Under the Sun, pp. 1-117

Edward Abbey The Monkey Wrench Gang, HANDOUT


Week Ten

11/6: The Reagan Era and After

11/8: Earth Day, 1990

J.R. McNeill, Something New Under the Sun, pp. 118-227

Press Clippings on Earth Day, 1990: HANDOUT



Week Eleven

11/13: The End of Nature?

11/15: Post-Cold War Environmentalism

J.R. McNeill, Something New Under the Sun, FINISH

Bill McKibben, The End of Nature, HANDOUT


Week Twelve

11/20: Ecocriticism

11/22: The Trouble With Wilderness

Lawrence Buell, The Future of Environmental Criticism, HANDOUT

Ramachandra Guha, How Much Should a Person Consume? Ch.9, HANDOUT

William Cronon, “The Trouble With Wilderness” Uncommon Ground, pp. 69-90


Week Thirteen

11/27: “Everybody talks about the weather…”

11/29: Visions and Revisions; Student Presentations / Peer Review

Richard White, “Are You an Environmentalist, or Do You Work for a Living?” Uncommon Ground, pp. 171-185

Jennifer Price, “Looking for Nature at the Mall” Uncommon Ground, pp. 186-203


Week Fourteen

12/4: Student Presentations / Peer Review

12/6: Student Presentations / Peer Review

Susan G. Davis, “Touch the Magic” Uncommon Ground, pp. 204-217


Week Fifteen

12/11: All Term Papers Due in Class

Cronon, et al. “Toward a Conclusion” Uncommon Ground, pp. 447-459