Argumentative Environment
Currently, a controversy is swirling over the issues raised by the despoiling of the world's natural environment. Poet Stanley Kunitz in "The War Against the Trees" depicts a man watching his neighbor, "who sold his lawn to standard oil" (Kunitz 122), laugh as bulldozers ruin the natural beauty of the grounds with its "forsythia-forays and hydrangea-raids" (Kunitz 123). As industry wages war not just against flowers and shrubbery, but also against the town's pleasant past. Kunitz's speaker is angry that this war "against the great-grandfathers of the town" (Kunitz 123) is destroying these ancestors' attempt to preserve nature, not allow "the green world" (Kunitz 123) to be turned into a "death-foxed page" (Kunitz 123) of barrenness. Some pro-environmentalists, like Sioux medicine man John (Fire) Lame Deer, claim that the damage industrialized society has done to nature is both immense and nearly criminal , the result of greed. Lame Deer complains that the white men "have not only despoiled the earth, the rocks, the minerals, all of which they call 'dead' but which are very much alive; they have even changed the animals, which are a part of us, part of the Great Spirit, changed them in a horrible w
Silent Spring was responsible for the environmental movement in the United States. The book itself created a concern across the nation about the dangers of pollution. Carson made it clear to humans that we are the ones responsible for the damage through uses of toxic chemicals. I received this article from Mrs. Channell. She had a book containing exerts from well-known books. ay, so no one can recognize them" (Erodes 209). On the other hand, conservatives frequently label environmentalists as extremists who despise almost all of capitalism's practices regarding ecology. That is, some extremist defenders of the profit motive name call, terming environmentalists "vandals" (Huber2 1) who prefer "forests over jobs" (Huber2 1) that the industrial age provides. Clearly, the issue has been politicized. Nonetheless, no one can deny that the earth, while not on the brink of annihilation, has been polluted and our air contaminated by the inroads created by the mechanized era. Furthermore, no caring person should recommend a "do-nothing" policy regarding the preservation of our environment which we ourselves are in the process of ruining. The answer to the ecological dilemma is to assess realistically the extent of the damage and work to create a sensible, practical solution to the problem of our eroding environment through cooperative efforts. A conservative approach to environmentalism is included in this article, which is from the magazine Forbes. However, the author believes that concern over our degenerating environment is necessary. Ball, Terence H. Cooper, et al. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1994. 248-250. This is an original article from Forbes magazine. This article is useful in showing how bitter and nasty extremists can be over environmental issues. I found this article through a search on Infotrac. I used the keyword environmentalism. Forbes 159 (January 13, 1997): 1pp. Infotrac. Online. 27 Oct. 1998. Kunitz, Stanley. "The War Against the Trees." A Survival Kit. Eds. Howard Siegel and Roger Boedecker. New York: Canfield Press, 1971. 122-123.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Lame Deer, NBC December, Cold War, Silent Spring, Middle Ages, Infotrac Online, War Trees, Neanderthal Age, South Mexico, Research Inc, lame deer, infotrac online, kunitz 123, oct 1998, silent spring, environmental encyclopedia, magazine article, sowell 1, 27 oct 1998, 'moral melodramas', environmental issues, forbes magazine article, green alchemy misbegotten, infotrac online 27, online 27 oct,
Approximate Word count = 2313
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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