Heather Mattsongrosso -- Blog 2: Environmental Foundations

By Heather Mattsongrosso

Enviornmentalists, often times are given a bad wrap for either being too pushy or too radical in trying to bestow their beliefs on others.  While yes, some environmentalists do go overboard in their efforts to protect the Earth,  it is important to understand that many of them are just doing all that they can to preserve the land that they love.

Writer Wendel Berry is a perfect example of an environmentalist who has built a simple life for himself and his family.  By living a simple lifestyle, Berry helps preserve the small bit of land that he and his family live on.  In an excerpt by Berry, "The Making of a Marginal Farm," the reader can clearly see that Berry truly loves the land that he lives on, almost worshiping it.  At the beginning of this piece, Berry tells the reader how he wished that he could move back to the land that he grew up on that was located across from the Kentucky River Valley.  After marrying, Berry and his wife did in fact return to the place where he was raised. Berry loved this spot so much, and he even stated that it was all that he needed.  While speaking about this land that was so near to his heart, Berry describes it as if it were human.  When he explains the effects that a developer had on the land, Berry describes the land as being "scarred" and "badly abused by developer's bulldozers."  Using words such as "scarred" and "abused" gives the land human-like characteristics, which makes the reader feel like there is harm being brought to a human rather than the land.  This writing style of personifying the Earth and giving it human characteristics is also used by environmentalist writer Bill McKibben.  In McKibben's "The End of Nature," he describes the human-inflicted destruction of the Earth as the equivalent to inflicting pain on a human, by a human.  He compares polluting the Earth to stabbing a man with toothpicks; how us as humans were once sure that the Earth was too big and too strong to be lessened by our pollution, just as a man's vital organs would not be damaged by being stabbed with toothpicks. This was a great comparison made by McKibben because it helps the reader understand that just because the initial effects of pollution were not disastrous all at once, does not mean that gradually pollution is wrecking the Earth. I believe that Berry and McKibben's writing styles of personifying the natural environment add a sentimental value towards the Earth, because they allow the reader to truly understand that harming the Earth is just as bad as harming any other living organism.

In the film "A Fierce Green Fire," directed by Mark Kitchell there was a different approach to portraying the harm that humans have on the Earth.  The film showed a series of stories, all about human inflicted harm made on the environment.  The story that I felt was very moving was the contamination of Love Canal.  The canal's contamination affected a great percentage of the residents and created problems such as birth defects, miscarriages, and cases of cancer.  The Love Canal story included actual footage from the protests that were held, as well as an interview with Louis Gibbs, the woman who was at the forefront of the Love Canal protests.  I was moved by the footage from the Love Canal protests because of the mothers and fathers who fought for government funded relocation, so that their children could live in a clean sustainable environment. This aspect of the film was touching and could  move anyone who has people close to them that they wish to keep safe.  This primary footage also makes the severity of the issue much more believable to skeptics.  

One woman who made leaps towards creating a better environment, in regards to pollution and conservation was author of "Silent Spring," Rachel Carlson.  One of Carlson's greatest fights was against synthetic pesticides. In "Silent Spring," Carlson explained how pollution from chemicals and pesticides is not only from mass spraying, but from "small-scale exposures to which we are subjected day by day, year after year."  When expressing how harmful the chemicals found in products that just about anyone could get their hands on, Carlson took a witty and somewhat sarcastic approach.  "If a huge skull and crossbones were suspended above the insecticide department the customer might at least enter it with the respect normally accorded death-dealing materials.  But instead the display is homey and cheerful, and, with the pickles and olives across the aisle…"  The sarcastic writing style used by Carlson lets the reader know that she is shaking her head and possibly wondering, "How could we be so stupid?"  This approach could lead to the reader asking themselves that same question, and thinking twice before using synthetic chemicals.

Now unfortunately there are environmentalists out there who have a more violent approach towards fighting for the rights of the planet.  Throughout the years these radicals have done all they can to make it known that the Earth is entitled to just as much if not more rights as the human race.  Paul Watson, former member of Green Peace and active member of Sea Shepherd Conservancy has made it his mission  to protect the rights to sea creatures such as Sperm Whales.  Watson is considered by many to be an eco-terrorist which by definition is someone who acts on violence to ecology or environmental causes.  According to Watson, being an eco-terrorist can be considered a good thing because it instills fear in those who he is trying to protect the sea creatures from.  However I believe that acts of violence to prevent other acts of violence are simply counter productive and hypocritical.  You can watch Watson's full view on eco-terrorism in the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6_IJtQaM2M