2. Today is an introduction to concepts: Development Environmentalism
Week 2: Definitions and contexts
Today is an introduction to concepts:
Development
Environmentalism
‘Sustainable development’
Mags Liddy
Department of Education and Professional Studies

3. Origins of environmentalism
Key words- preservation and conservation
Industrial Revolution onwards
Industrialisation- pollution, smoke
Urbanisation- sanitation, water issues
Romantic poets and anti-urbanisation
Fashion: Royal Society for Protection of Birds 1889
Sierra Club 1892 by John Muir

4. Global Development After WW2: UN system and sister agencies
Concept of underdevelopment (1949)
60s decade of development: growth plus change
Focus on industrialisation and progress
Promotion of education
Infrastructural projects to aid economy: dams, transport
Funding from World Bank through loans
Impact on environment and communities

5. 1960s environmentalism
New social changes after WW2; affluence, fossil fuels, technology
Questioning fundamental beliefs
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson 1962
Highlighted affects of pesticides on insect and bird life
Question: can industrialisation and progress occur without environmental damage?
The Population Bomb 1968; Limits to Growth 1972; Small is Beautiful 1973

6. Custodians of Earth
The Blue Marble is a famous photograph of the Earth taken on December 7, 1972, by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft at a distance of about 29,000 kilometres

7. 1970s New strands to environmentalism Environmental justice
Deep ecology
Anthropocentrism vs ecocentrism
Linked with spirituality and feminism
Activism and protests
UN meetings and treaties: 1972 Stockholm; 1992 Rio summit; 2009 Copenhagen
First Earth Day April 22nd

8. 1980s Development questions Environmental concerns
International debt crisis; Mexico defaulted 1982
Famine: Ethiopia 1984
HIV/ AIDS from mid 80s onwards
Environmental concerns
Bhopal chemical gas spill 1984
Chernobyl nuclear accident 1986
Ozone layer 1985

9. Origins of…
UN World Commission on Environment and Development to find answer
Note use of ‘and’ not ‘or’
Finding a compromise?
‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’
Our Common Future, 1987

10. means…change Politics and policy-making Technology to provide answers
International agreements and law
Technology to provide answers
Replace fossil fuel with..
Cultural values and ethics
lifestyle change-more eco-centred

11. Wangari Maathai: Nobel Peace Prize 2004
Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life-support system...
In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other.
That time is now

12. readings Google E-resources Books
What do we mean by development? By Lalage Brown
E-resources
The roots of modern environmentalism by David Pepper (summary on web- JPE)
Green history [electronic resource] by Derek Wall
Books
Blessed unrest by Paul Hawken
Environmentalism in Ireland by Hilary Tovey
Contemporary environmental politics, by Stephens, Barry and Dobson