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Ecology After Wwii

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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) says Carson showed the fate of the human race was indeed tied to the environment. Carson used the idea of trophic levels to show that chemicals sprayed on the plants could find its way through the food chain and given enough time could actually end up on our plates. The use of pesticides during this time period was blossoming and the chemical industry was touting their use as a miracle of the modern world. Carson tried to warn that the use of the chemicals was no less dangerous than radioactive fallout to the human race (Steinberg, 2009). The views Carson used in her book were extremely controversial and remain so today but what she did was bring the idea that as humans are not removed from the environment but are in fact tied to the fate of the world around us. Previously wilderness was thought to be separate but ecology suggested that all life is interconnected.
The notion that, as humans, we could do anything we wanted and not have to worry about the consequences is an old notion. In 1955 a symposium was held in Princeton, New Jersey concerning the state of the human-nature relationship. Many prominent researchers and scholars were in attendance, including Carson and Sears, who at the time was the head of the conservation program at Yale University. Sears presented a review of the human impacts on the world’s environment. The impacts he reviewed were from the explosion of human population, intensification of agriculture, and water and air pollution. He argued man is dependent on all the organisms not just for survival but to maintain the conditions that make survival possible. Sears and his colleagues at the symposium concerning the state of man’s relationship with nature did not identify with the title of environmentalist but the focus of the symposium did in fact lay the foundation for the movement that would later come to be known as environmentalism (Worster, 1994). The movement of environmentalism was closely related to the preservationists of the conservation movement 50 years earlier and, in fact grew out that movement (Nash, 2001). During the period following World War II also saw the birth of environmental politics. Environmental politics brought ecology in the political ring adding an additional reason ecology gained the epithet of subversive science. Barry Commoner was one of the first scientists to enter this new world of environmental politics. Commoner studied the effect nitrate based fertilizers seeping into drinking water had on the effect of oxygen transport in the human body. He also raised the alarm concerning the eutrophication of Lake Erie caused by the use of phosphate in household detergents. Commoner accused the chemical industry of keeping safer but less profitable substitutes under wraps in order to expand the corporate profit margin. The Commoner’s political advocacy from an ecological standpoint came to a head in his 1971 book The Closing Circle, in which he advocated for an “awakened public, led by informed scientists, to force the government to restrain the development and marketing” new environmentally harmful products (Worster, 1994). Ecology rightfully gained the reputation of being a subversive science following the conclusion of World War II. Ecologists challenged the long held believe that nature was a world apart. Ecology is about the interconnectedness of the planet and we, as humans, are caught up in that web. How we treat the environment can have a profound effect on the world as well as human civilization. Carson showed in her book that DDT was persistent and moved through the trophic levels. Leading scientists were on the front lines of the new movement environmentalism and environmental politics. The movement into politics by scientists lends credence to the subversive nature of science and not just ecology. As the economist Robert Heilbroner said in 1970, “Ecology has become the Thing.” (Steinberg, 2009). Ecology moved from the scientific world into cultural and religious thought, economics, and politics. To answer the question above, yes ecology is a subversive science.
Works Cited
Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. (2012). Subversion. Retrieved 12 4, 2012, from Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subversion
Nash, R. F. (2001). Wildernes & The American Mind (4th ed.). Yale University Press.
Steinberg, T. (2009). Down to Earth Nature's Role in American History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Worster, D. (1994). Naiture's Economy. New York: Cambridge University Press.

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