Green: The Evolution From A Color To A Movement

Have you ever wondered how the green movement began? How green went from being just an ordinary color to becoming a symbol of environmental consciousness? Or maybe how people came to realize the hazards of our careless actions towards nature and the environment?

Many people believe that environmental theories first arose between the 1960s and the 1970s, as the beginning of the green movement is usually associated with Rachel Carsons groundbreaking book, Silent Spring, along with the 1970s legislative enthusiasm towards environmental conservation. However, the beginnings of the green movement stem all the way back to the intellectual thought of the 1830s and 1840s. In fact, environmentalism is essentially American, deeply rooted in the American philosophy.

There is no doubt that Rachel Carson helped shed the light back on the green movement, but it all started with Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau, who is sometimes seen as the father of environmentalism, encouraged the conservation of nature and demanded respect for it in his noted book, The Maine Woods (1864), where he also called for the federal protection of forests. Another pioneer of the green movement was George Perkins Marsh, who was an avid supporter of the preservation of the natural environment.

American Transcendentalism and Pragmatism were other factors that helped shape the green movement and led to several steps towards the conservation of nature. First, in the 1860s, the US government realized the importance of setting aside land for public good and acknowledged the need to start creating parks. Then, in 1892, the Sierra Club was founded, and John Muir was its first president. Muir, along with Teddy Roosevelt, was mainly responsible for popularizing the idea of conservation. After highlighting the importance of preserving the environment, many improvements took place in the United States that helped progress the green movement. For example, in 1916, the National Park Service was established. However, the World Wars and the Great Depression that occurred during that period of time overshadowed environmental concerns, as the public had seemingly greater and more personal issues to deal with.

Soon after World War II, environmental efforts continued to develop, but they were largely focused on the conservation of land, with no regard for more micro-level issues like food security or consumer products. Yet, that soon changed after incidents such as the 1948 Donora smog, which struck the US and caused national uproar. The Donora disaster, accompanied by technological and industrial advancements of the cold war era, led to a focus on new environmental issues that were about much more than saving trees and creating parks. Heres where Rachel Carsons Silent Spring comes back into the picture.

Through her bestselling book, Carson exposed the toxins in chemical products and, in a philosophical manner, declared that controlling nature is both arrogant and morally bankrupt. This caught the attention of the public and helped bring environmentalism back into the limelight. Also, around that time, the Sierra Club prevented the damming of the Grand Canyon and an unfortunate oil spill at Santa Barbara further infuriated the public. As a result, The Wilderness Act, which limited the construction of dams and other structures on valuable land and landmarks, was passed in 1964. Most importantly, during these years, the Environmental Protection Agency was founded. And so, the late 1960s and 1970s witnessed the significant growth of the modern green movement.

During the 1970s, many significant steps were taken to clean up the environment. Such steps include the National Environment Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, the founding of Earth day and many more similar initiatives. On the other hand, oil spills were common throughout the 1980s and this further added to the publics concern for the environment. The 1990s, however, was defined by the rise of radical environmentalism with groups like PETA, Earth First and ELF, who gained large levels of media and public attention. Around this time, fervent young activists known as tree huggers rose to fame, as they earned their nickname from famously chaining themselves to trees.

Such radical actions became notorious but sadly depicted environmental activism as being cult-like and anti-social. Moreover, by the end of the decade, as the theory of climate change gained more attention, the majority of the people were not yet convinced of the concept. But as the millennium rolled on, natural disasters tangled with catastrophic and unusual weather conditions worried the people. With scientific figures that confirmed environmental concerns, and films such as Al Gores An Inconvenient Truth, everyone was suddenly that much more interested in the state of the environment and the phenomenon that is climate change. Some solid proof teamed with the issue becoming more and more personal to everyone, going green became a priority to many.

This leads us back to where we currently are. Nowadays, companies and brands are jumping on the green bandwagon, everyone is striving for eco-friendly consumption, and there is an obvious increase in the number of hybrid and electric cars on the streets. Prioritizing recycling, switching to organic food and the rise of urban agriculture are all a result of the ever-growing green movement. Its influence dates way back, with many challenges and skeptics, but eventually green has become the lifestyle of choice for many. Most notably, nations of the world are becoming increasingly more aware of the importance of sustainability, as they work hard to ensure a better quality of life for their people through a sustainable, healthy environment.

Source: The Urban Times