Origins of Environmentalism

      As most college students do, I was strolling through my social media accounts, updating myself on the lives of others around me and the general world. Facebook tends to be one of the first websites I go to when I start my routine. A couple days ago, one of my Facebook friends shared a video that I found really interesting. The video was recorded in Barbados at Burke’s Beach. What makes the video intriguing is that hundreds of dolphin had swam up to the shore, not realizing that they were pretty much on the land. Several of them got stuck on the shoreline and couldn’t get back in the water. The reaction of those at the beach was startling to me. Everyone immediately jumped in to rescue the dolphins. Those who didn’t physically get in contact with the animal yelled out ways to get the dolphins back in the water. It was amazing to see the team effort that was put into saving the animals. The link to the video is as followed: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10151838587417813&fref=nf  . Please take a minute or two to watch the video. It will give you a better understanding of the story that I am trying to tell. Saving the dolphins was clearly an act that stemmed from environmentalism. After watching the video, I immediately related it to some of the ideas brought up in class. This post will explore the origins of environmentalism, evaluating whether it branched solely from colonialism or whether it was came out of religious ideas and morals.

     Author of Ecological Imperialism, Alfred Crosby, shares with us an idea behind why the western world’s culture is more European driven than anything else. He explains that the earth’s latitude is at the core of colonialism. According to him, Europeans migrated to areas that were attractive to them because they were able to survive there. As a result, during the early 1800s there was a large movement of Europeans to the West. When they migrated here, they brought with them their culture, practices and way of life. They would sow the same crops, speak their native language, and practice the religion that they have practiced for centuries. With all the transfer of knowledge that occurred during this time, there is no doubt in my mind the ideas of environmentalism was spread throughout the world through colonialism. Author of Green Imperialism, Richard Grove makes it clear that environmentalism is not a new concept. In fact, there were forest conservation policies in British colonial States. Conservation is the act of preventing deterioration. Over time there has been a growing understanding of the relationship between man and the earth, particularly the idea of conservation. Colonialism promoted the rapid growth of scientific ideas. With this growth came an understanding of how the world works. This eventually led to environmentalism because people are now able to connect the state of their environment with their actions. With all of this being said, colonialism could be viewed as the start of environmentalism, especially in the New World.

     Though colonialism seems like the start of the environmental movement, other factors may have played a major part. Religion, which is defined as a particular system of faith and worship, may also be the catalyst of environmentalism. In the 1400s, Christopher Columbus made several voyages to the New World. Here he came into contact with the Native Americans. The Europeans labeled these people as uncivilized. They did not acknowledge their way of life as one that was sophisticated enough, and therefore inferior to theirs. This included their language as well as their faith. As a result, the Europeans took it upon themselves to bring some type of “civilization” to these people. They educated the Natives on European languages, introduced them to European trinkets and exchanged religion with them for gold. Religion is a very important aspect in molding the ethics and moral of people, though one can be ethical without religion. At the time, Europeans were mainly Christian. In the Christian faith, the belief is that god made the world and that we should have a sense of care for what he has provided us. Care for the environment is the main argument of environmentalism. When the Europeans brought their religion to the West, they may have brought with them the ideas of environmentalism, which has evolved into a widely known movement today.

     It is hard to distinguish between whether colonialism or religion, two things that helped shape the world that we live in today, started the environmental movement. However, I know that they both played a role somehow. Religion to me is the obvious start of the ideas that created environmentalism. It was here before scientific discoveries were here, which was way before colonialism. It created the idea of conserving what god has given to us and using our resources wisely. It helped to create a sense of what is right and what is wrong. When the Europeans moved to the New World they brought their religion with them, hence, bringing the ideas of conservationism with them. This ideas were then shared with the people that were already present here. As a result, colonialism had an effect on the spread of the environmental movement. Today, these ideas have been ingrained so deeply into society that the people at Burke’s Beach, Barbados, found it necessary to help pull the dolphins back into the ocean. This was only the “right” thing to do.