Earth Day/ Environmentalist movement

Part 1.
In the film "A Fierce Green Fire" the beginning of the environmental movement in the 1960's was discussed. We now live in an age where Human Industrialism has grown to a point to where it threatens our Earth and people became aware of this in the 60's and started the Environmental movement. In the 1960's an environmental group called the Sierra Club Used techniques including raising environmental awareness and advertisement to successfully stopped the production of 15 dams in the Colorado river and a dam that would be in the Grand Canyon that would render its river dry. In the late 60's people began to protest air/water pollution, leading to governmental acts that helped slow the problem, later in the 70's Earth day was established. A topic of environmental controversy, regarded a neighborhood, being effected by chemicals being dumped in a nearby canal. Many of the citizens in the area tested positive for birth defects, in fact 56% of children had birth defects. After a heated debate that eventually ended with Government compensation the citizens got justice and got relocated, However, this event ignited The Environmental Justice Movement; citizens demanding to live in a clean, chemical free area. In the mid 70's Green Peace was founded as a Non-violent organization, dedicated to Ecological Preservation and anti-war movements, Green Peace used non-violent techniques to try and stop Whale and Seal hunting, after many years of this eventually congress passed a bill in 1992, making whaling illegal. Chico Mendez organized a non-violent group dedicated to protecting the forests in the Amazon, these people often stood in front of trees without moving to protect them. Chico Mendez was later killed but his movement continued resulting in the Brazilian government making 40% of the Amazon forest off limits for production.

Part 2.
Pollution/mass-industrialism of the Earth is a growing issue regarding environmentalism that speaks to me. Since the age of industrialism humans have been abusing earths resources and polluting the ozone; air pollution occurs as a result of combustion, construction, agriculture and warfare from humans. Motor vehicles, nuclear plants, power plants etc. All of these are exponentially growing in use by humans and the result of this is a peak of Co2 in the air along with many other pollutants. The mass air pollution generated currently; threatens humans health along with the health of almost all other living beings on earth, it also leads to extinction of animals, climate change and mass planet-deformation. Mankind is also responsible for destroying much of the earths natural habitats, which has actually led to the extinction of many species and has threatened others. Roughly 400 million metric tons of hazardous waste is generated worldwide each year, the U.S is responsible for 250 million metric tons of hazardous waste each year, U.S citizens consist of only 5% of the total population of earth, this 5% is responsible for half of the hazardous waste produced in the world. The chemical waste produced annually ends up polluting the air and the physical waste, which there is a lot of, ends up in many natural environments(like the ocean) and it directly affects these habitats. All of these pollutants; including chemical pollutants and trash pollutants, combined with the industrialism and destruction of natural habitats could easily reduce the earth to a nearly uninhabitable environment for many species on earth, including humans.

To prevent pollution and industrialism from destroying the earth as we know it; Humans (specifically China, America, India and Russia)would have to decrease their emission of fossil fuels, reduce waste output and use sources of clean energy. Meaning everybody would have to drive less, be mindful of waste(recycle, not litter, make sure nothing man-made ends up in natural habitat), Nuclear power(power plants, etc.) would have to be eliminated, Natural Habitats and animals would have be left alone meaning less consumption of meat, paper from trees would need to stop and the forests and oceans would have to be untouched, with the exception of minor use for obtaining human goods like fish or cows.







sources;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollution#Sources_and_causes
https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/pollution
http://www.greenstudentu.com/encyclopedia/pollution
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/pollution