...Michael Crichton’s paper “Environmentalism as Religion Run Amok” questions the validity of modern day environmentalism. Environmentalism can now be considered a faith-based movement is ignoring modern scientific evidence to promote a “doomsday” scenario similar to that of modern day religions. The author has a clear grasp of the information and facts need to support his argument. He has thoroughly researched and clearly understands the facts and statistics associated with the environmentalism movement. He draws examples from human history, personal experience and scientific evidence to support his claim. He believes environmentalism has moved away from scientific evidence to support global efforts for improvement, to that of a religious movement basing predictions on faith and idealism. This in turn has hurt the movement as the public is misinformed and incapable of making a proper decision to improve our world as many predictions have been failures in the past. Emotion plays a significant role in helping the argument of the author. He uses emotion effectively to gain the attention of the reader. He does this by referring to the similarities of religion to that of environmentalism. Religion is a very emotional, personal and controversial topic that gets the attention of any reader. He uses religion as imagery, referring to the “Garden of Eden” as an example of an ideal paradise environmentalist are trying to create. He then brings the audience back to the reality of...
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...By the early 1970s, thanks to investigative writers like Rachel Carson who looked at the use of pesticides in Agriculture and especially, thanks to the media attention surrounding Santa barbara oil spill . There is this strong national trend in America towards Environmentalism; It became very popular. The media really played a very big part in advancing this cause here. In the early 1970s, the Keep America Beautiful organization was founded. This is essentially created and launched this new public service campaign. They designed a clean community system which was essentially a group of national local community anti- litter campaigns. But their biggest contribution in terms of cultural icons was called the “Crying Indian”. The Native American...
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...Environmentalism in Manga and Anime In Western news stories, Japan and the environment usually only come up together in one form: Japan is ruining the environment. Japan is hunting endangered whales; Japan is overfishing depleted fishing stocks; Japan has walled up the last of its wild rivers; Japan is building up all its wild areas. All these accusations are, unfortunately, true to some large degree. Even in anime, all too often what we see are images that point to a continuation of the current trend: metal and concrete mega-cities, like those in the anime Dominion, Akira, Gunnm, or in Bubblegum Crisis, or any of the other hard science-fiction worlds. Not a pleasant picture --- and in fact, in those "cyberpunk"-ish stories, the world is not a pleasant place to be in, in general. But, running through other works is a thread of a different hue. Listen closely, and a different voice is heard --- the voice of dissent, the voice protesting the loss of green spaces and clean waters and open air. Where has this voice come from? I'm not quite qualified to say for sure, but I can guess. Some of it is obvious: people who are tired of seeing tranquil forests razed, or seeing their favorite beach turned into a concrete nightmare (such as in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan); people who read the news and hear of oil spills and extinctions and pollution problems. But another aspect is surely the traditional sense of Taoism that runs deep in Japanese culture. Taoism was the primary...
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...My Take on Environmentalism There are many types of environmental problems that the world is experiencing nowadays, be it the pollution found in the cities, deforestation of natural rainforests, and the melting of the polar ice caps. One of the worst environmental problems, if not the worst, that the Earth is currently facing is global warming. Global warming is the gradual increase of the Earth’s surface temperature, mainly due to the effects of certain greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide emissions from either deforestation or monoxides found in pollution. These gases would trap the heat that would supposedly escape from the surface of the Earth, which would effectively increase the Earth’s surface temperature. From the name itself, we can already know the main effect of global warming to the Earth. There is this gradual change in temperature, more specifically, a rise in temperature of the Earth’s climate system. From this rise in temperature, more side effects would be branching out. Some of these include the depletion of different bodies of water, forest fires, unpredictable weather, and the melting of the polar caps. It would be fair to say that humans must reap what they sow, that because we have been burning fossil fuels and cutting down trees, we deserve to suffer the consequences given by global warming. Although, it is not just humans who are experiencing these side effects, plants and animals alike also pay for the cost of our negligence to our environment...
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...Responsibility The Holy Bible gives clear instructions concerning the natural environment and the Christian’s sacred duty to preserve and restore the planet Earth. God has provided direct instructions as well as guidelines in principle, for all Christians to obey and honor. The question arises, what conduct and actions are imperative and biblically mandated for Christians to engage in concerning the environment and its preservation and restoration? Research reveals that God requires mankind to contribute as caretakers and stewards over His wonderful creation. The Reason for Christian Environmentalism The dictionary definition for environmentalism is expressed as: “Advocacy of the preservation, restoration, or improvement of the natural environment; especially: the movement to control pollution.” The primary foundational reason for the practice of environmentalism is, because of the universal pollution inflicted upon all of creation as a result and consequence of mankind’s Original Sin. The fallen angel Satan introduced sin into the universe in his rebellion against God; and the first human parents, Adam and Eve contaminated all of mankind in their sin and rebellion against God. Those dreadful actions committed by Satan and Adam and Eve resulted in the pronouncement of God’s curse upon the earth; exhibiting spiritual and physical death and eternal separation from God. This grave disaster implemented the decay and pollution of the...
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...FREE MARKET ENVIRONMENTALISM Free market environmentalism is the political position that argues that the free market, property rights, and tort law provide the best means of preserving and saving the environment, internalizing costs, and conserving resources. Many argue that free markets can be more successful than government and this has been proven to be true throughout history. Although free market environmentalism can work, this point of view is kind of sketch because many of the environmental problems stem from market failure. In the traditional view, many environmental problems are caused by decision makers who reduce costs by polluting on those who are downwind. Other environmental problems come from private decision makers failing to produce public goods, such as preserving a national park(Stroup, Richard: Free-Market Environmentalism). For markets to work in the environmental field, rights to each important resource must be clearly defined, easily defended against invasion, and transferable by owners on terms of buyer and seller(Stroup, Richard: Free-Market Environmentalism). Many well-functioning markets require property rights. This allows people to defend themselves against pollution and a standard is set by the community on how much is acceptable. In local communities these standards are often different because many of the people with similar views cluster together. There are not only standards set for air pollution but in some states and local communities people...
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...How to Take Environmentalism Back from a Religion Crichton wrote about a concern for the environment with Environmentalism becoming a religion as opposed to a scientific field. He uses all of the classical principles of argumentation to support his argument about the religion of environmentalism. By using ethos, pathos, and logos, he makes a strong argument. Through his descriptions, he uses some fact and some emotion to give reason why this religion should be disbanded. He shows emotion, or pathos, through his comparison of the Judeo-Christian religion to the Environmentalism Religion, stating: The reason that I have no wish to debate these convictions is that I know that I cannot. These are not facts that can be argued; these are issues of faith. So it is, sadly, with environmentalism. Increasingly, it seems, facts are not necessary because the tenets of environmentalism are all about belief" (P. 595 para 5-6). Crichton has an emotional connection to his argument. He feels deeply about the amount of environmentalism becoming fantasy instead of being strictly composed of fact. As a student of anthropology, he learned about what makes up religion, leading to his belief of environmentalism becoming more a religion than a science. (p. 594, para 3) He finds many connections between Christianity and Environmentalism. Crichton relates The Garden of Eden to an Environmentalists idea of a Paradise. When discussing the idea behind the resources for our planet, the writer shows...
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...Environment Perhaps the greatest threat to environmentalism was the already weaken environment. By the 1960s, the effects of war were signs or the dramatic economic growth of the postwar era was becoming a big eye sore. Water pollution has always been a big issue to the environment and the wildlife that shares it. In Cleveland, Ohio, the Cuyahoga River would actually catch on fire from time to time beginning in the 1950s from petroleum waste run of flowing into the river. Perhaps more alarming was the growing awareness that the air pollution has become unhealthy, there was concerns with the harmful fumes from the factories and power plants but you could not leave out the pollution from the exhaust from cars that was poisoning the atmosphere. Scientist would kindly set a new factor into everyday life referencing to “smog” levels using a new word that was drafted from the words smoke that was combined with fog. In larger cities like Los Angeles and Denver were the ones over ran with big smog clouds that became part of everyone life, graduate growing through the day, blocking out the sun, and creating breathing problems for a lot of concern people living in the city. Environmentalists also brought to public attention some longer-term dangers of unchecked industrial development: The over use of oils and other non-makeable fossil fuels; the recreation of lakes and forests as a result of acid rain. The rapid destruction of vast rain forests without putting back the supply we take...
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...School of Government FCOM 111 Trimester 1, 2014 Government Essay Cover Sheet Instructions Please complete and sign this form and attach it as the cover page to your assignment. Student Name (Please print): | | Student ID No: | | Tutor Name: | | Tutorial Day and Time: | | Due Date: | Monday 31 March 2014 at 1:00 p.m. | Date Submitted: | | Word Count: | | Plagiarism Declaration Plagiarism is a form of cheating which undermines academic integrity. Plagiarism is prohibited at Victoria. Plagiarism is presenting (without due acknowledgement) someone else’s work as if it were your own, whether you mean to or not. Plagiarism takes many forms and includes material from books, journals or any other printed source, the work of other students or staff, information from the internet and other electronic material. You are expected to adhere to the VUW Statute on Student Conduct and its references to plagiarism. The Statute may be assessed at http://www.victoria.ac.nz/home/about /policy/students.aspx. I have read and understood the University’s policy on plagiarism outlined as above and declare that this Government Essay is my own work and that all source material used in this essay is accurately acknowledged. Signed: ___________________________ Date: ____________________ Political ideologies are vague and not as regimented and defined throughout New Zealand politics. An ideology represents political philosophies, views, core principles...
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...SCI/256: Week 1 NOTES – Environmental Science and Environmentalism ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Environmental Science is the study how humans interact with their environment. Environmental Science is interdisciplinary - brings together information from several physical, biological and social sciences. The main goal of environmental science is to solve environmental problems using science. What is “Natural Environment”? –Environment is our natural surroundings consisting of living and nonliving things. The Earth is part of our environment, comprising 4 “Spheres” Biosphere (living things), Hydrosphere (water), Atmosphere (Air) and Lithosphere (land). Human Impacts: Humans are altering the environment and creating environmental problems. Our main problem involves human population growth and the use of earth’s resources and environmental pollution. Environmental Problems – Examples (a) Depletion of Natural Resources (b) Deforestation (c) Global climate changes (d) Loss of biodiversity (e) Pollution of Air, Water, Land Ecological Footprint is a measure of humanity’s demand on nature. A carbon footprint is "the total set of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by a person Impacts of Rapid Population Growth: Rapid population growth depletes the Earth’s resources diminishes, quality of life, and damages the environment. Impacts on the environment include, (a) land degradation, (b) air and water pollution...
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...Woopee look at me I'm green! Date: May 29, 2015 James Adonis is one of Australia's best-known people-management thinkers It's all the rage for businesses to strut their environmental credentials. Do you buy it? Countless businesses publically profess their environmental sensibilities then proceed to trash the planet. In the recent past, businesses engaged in philanthropy and environmental practices without fanfare. It was just the right thing to do. That no longer seems to be the case. Doing something good for the planet or for a favoured charity is now a carefully crafted marketing strategy. The primary intent is symbolism – an attempt to nab more customers, rather than make a real difference. Such window dressing might not be a big deal. Many business leaders think if they're going to spend money greening the office or helping the community, they may as well make a dollar out of it. Which is perhaps understandable. Maybe. That's why so many businesses display a list of philanthropic logos on their website. Or why they feel the urge to declare the percentage of profits they donate to charity. Or why they include environmental messages in their email signatures. What's the point of being so open if not to woo the public? The problem with such an approach, according to US Professor Bruce Johansen, who conducts research in this area, is that it's greenwashing; a ubiquitous pantomime of inauthentic corporate social responsibility. In his new book, Eco-Hustle, released...
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...contradictive topic of environmentalism leads to unproductive discussions. Edward O. Wilson’s satire illustrates this concept through a unique structure, parallelism, and diction. The discussions of the topic, environmentalism, are unproductive and redundant in nature. The parallelism of the two passages show how contradictive both arguments are. In the beginning, the passages both share the commonality of name calling. The use of parallelism illustrates how a discussion of this topic is useless. If both sides of the argument are only coming up with statements to oppose each other, there can not be a clear victor. In this circumstance, parallelism serves to primarily illustrate the satirical lens of the argument. Both passages view the ultimate agenda of the environmentalist and the “brown- lasher;” both claiming that each other is after either capitalism, or governmental power. The obvious structure of the passages, also illustrate that there is an unsettling nature of environmentalist discussions. The divisions of the two topics into two separate passages show how people are contradictive. This also emphasizes on the parallelism of the two passages. Parallelism in the entirety of the passages exemplifies that the nature of such discussions are ridiculous and unproductive in nature. The satirical lens of the literary work cannot be over looked. The sarcastic and critical diction emphasizes on the opposing attitudes about environmentalism. Additionally, the ridiculing...
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...In his book, The Future of Life, aimed at those with opposing attitudes about environmentalism, Edward O. Wilson presents two exaggerated accounts of the accusations used from both perspectives by “environmental wackos” and “sagebrush rebels” towards each other. Wilson conveys his purpose to illustrate the unproductive nature of such discussions used to denounce the opposing groups by using satire. The two accounts are very similar in structure. Inversion is used in the two titles, “The People-First Critic Stereotypes The Environmentalists” and “The Environmentalist Stereotypes The People-First Critic”, alluding to the similarity of the arguments presented in the two passages. The first few lines of each passage are dedicated to name-calling and revealing the other side’s intentions and agendas, which both consist of gaining political power. The invective used attacks on both sides, almost making the passage a diatribe. This can be seen in situations whereby the environmentalists call the conservatives “worst bunch of hypocrites”, while the opposing side repeatedly calls the environmentalists “wackos”. Regardless of the right or the left wing, each passage accuses the other of having a “hidden agenda”. Another rhetorical device used by Wilson to reveal the uselessness of the arguments is bathos; towards the end of the first passage, property owners are exalted people who “know their own land”, are caring towards animals and plants, and are the “real grass roots” of the country...
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...Following World War II ecology gained the reputation of being a subversive science. The question is was this reputation warranted. According to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary subversive is the adjective form of the noun subversion and is defined as a systematic attempt to overthrow. Using this definition most sciences, not just ecology, can be argued are subversive. Science should attempt to, at the very least, grow upon earlier knowledge and, if needed, to subvert previous thought in order to replace older ideas that are proved to be wrong. The ecologist Paul Sears declared, in the 1950’s, ecology was indeed a subversive science (Worster, 1994). Research in ecology following World War II attempted to overthrow the centuries old notion that man lived apart from nature and in being separate were not bound to the same rules. The idea was, as humans, what happened in the environment did not have an effect on us. The researchers and scientific writers of the day were able to show what humans did to the environment did, in fact, have an effect on us even if we did not realize it. In this sense then, yes, ecology was and is a subversive science. In 1962, Rachel Carson published her work Silent Spring. She had spent years gathering scientific evidence that showed that persistent pesticides, such as DDT, progressed through the food chain and even had an effect on penguins in Antarctica thousands of miles away from the application site (Worster, 1994). Steinberg (2009)...
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...University of Phoenix Material Environmental Movement Matrix Choose five items from the following list and identify their significance during the 1970s: • Cuyahoga River, OH (Cleveland) fire 1969 • Love Canal • Silent Spring • Population Bomb • Endangered Species Act (1966, 1969, & 1973) • Clean Water Act (1972, 1977) • Conservationism vs. environmentalism • Acid rain • Ozone layer • Rainforests • Depletion of fossil fuels • Climate change Event Significance Silent Spring The publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962 marked the beginning of modern environmentalism. Carson, known as the “godmother of modern environmentalism, impacted the American public’s consciousness with her detailed exposition on the dangers of environmental pollution to human health. By examining the ecological impacts of hazardous substances that pollute both the natural and human environments, like pesticides, Carson fundamentally altered the way Americans perceived the environment and the dangers of toxins to themselves. Conservationism vs. environmentalism By the 1870s, resource exploitation dominated development patterns in the West. Natural resources were devoured by destructive practices in mining, overgrazing, timber cutting, monocrop planting, and speculation in land and water rights. In 1902, for example, the Reclamation Act established the Reclamation Service, whose mission was to accomplish “the reclamation and settlement of the arid lands. The Reclamation...
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