There is much debate about what was the true start of the environmental movement. Was it Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring or was it the iconic Earthrise photo of 1968? Both events had a significant impact on how history unfolded in the following decades.
Although not her initial intention, in 1962, Silent Spring ignited a growing awareness and concern for the environment. Carson’s investigation of pesticides and DDT was revolutionary at the time. Using her scientific background, she found large areas of the US were sprayed aerially to kill insects. Through investigating osprey birds, she found that the pesticides made their way through the food chain, from insects to birds and could in turn, harm and sicken children.
“Silent Spring”, which has sold over two million copies, made the powerful argument that our destructive attempts to control the environment through pesticides would turn negatively against humankind and enforce a reoccurring hazard to ourselves. This concept is a consistent theme for modern day environmental issues, including the impact of fossil fuels, the poaching of exotic animals for wet-markets, the burning of rainforests and in extreme disaster planning. Her influential analysis popularised modern-day ecology. “Every once in a while in the history of mankind, a book has appeared which has substantially altered the course of history”, said Ernest Gruening of Carson’s work.
Her humble upbringing in the town of Springfield, USA catalysed the book. Her old bedroom apparently faced onto the smokestacks of a coal-fired power plant just miles away. She saw first-hand the impact of unregulated industry via the stench of the local abattoirs. Today the repercussions of her work can be traced to the revolt against the tobacco industry and exploitative ways of the fossil fuel industry.
In 1968, just seven months before the iconic moon landing of July 1969, the team of Apollo 8 took one of the most important photos of the century– Earthrise. The image captures a spherical marble balancing in the vast blackness of space, rising up from the chalk white foreground of the moon.
The image marked a new era of environmentalism. Only by distancing ourselves from earth were we able to gain perspective on our environment in all its fragility. By 1968, the tensions of WWII had largely dissipated. No longer it was about Allies and Axis powers, it was about the state of the earth we inhabit. The real possibility of blowing up the planet within the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 reverberated across the planet. And we came very close to a disastrous climax of nuclear weapons.
Both Silent Spring and Earthrise offered new perspectives on the earth we inhabit. Silent Spring created a movement based on fact and science, while Earthrise was more symbolic and reflective. Both events laid the foundation for the environmental movement we see today, from the Kyoto Protocol to eating ethically.
References
Griswold, E. (2012). How the “Silent Spring” ignited the environmental movement. The New York Times Magazine,.https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/magazine/how-silent-spring-ignited-the-environmental-movement.html
Wikipedia. (2020). Silent Spring. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Spring
Ian Sample. (2018). Earthrise: How the iconic image changed the world. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/dec/24/earthrise-how-the-iconic-image-changed-the-world
Patty Wetli. (2020). “Earthrise”, the photo that propelled the Environmental Movement and led to earth day. Wwtw,. https://news.wttw.com/2020/04/22/earthrise-photo-propelled-environmental-movement-and-led-earth-day
Wikipedia.. Environmental Movement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_movement
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