Taylor Lawrence

NR 002
Final Exam
4/29/11

Question 2:

Pollution, shockingly, has become one of the most important issues of

our current ecological crisis, due to consumption. “The most alarming of all man’s
assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea
with dangerous and even lethal materials” (Carson 6). Chemicals will be the
specific area of pollution that I will deal with.
“Chemicals sprayed on croplands or forests or gardens lie long in the
soil, entering into living organisms, passing from one to another in a chain of
poisoning and death” (Carson 6). The abilities of most of these chemicals are
endless. These “non-selective chemicals that have the power to kill every insect,
the “good” and the “bad,” to still the song of birds and the leaping of fish in the
streams,” have become “universal” even though the “attended target may be only
a few weeds or insects” (Carson 7).
The pollution solution lies in the hands of the people. As Rachel said,
this specific environmental problem is the “most alarming of all man’s assaults
upon the environment” (Carson 6). Although marginally in progress, a switch over
from synthetic ingredients to organic ingredients needs to prevail. For example,
since most pesticides are “deadly,” more organic ways of dealing with pests need
to be used (Carson 8). However, the worst problem lies in the hands of human
nature. “Man can hardly even recognize the devils of his own creation” (Carson 6).

The main issue with capitalism is profit-maximization. “Profit seeking activities have
unhealthy side effects” (Barnes ix). Changing our capitalist profit-maximizing attitude to that of a
conservative environmentalist is the main problem with our current society. Corporations are the biggest
part of the problem. “These corporations have an explicit mission: to maximize return to stock owners”
(Barnes 20). Due to capitalistic ways, sales of corporations almost doubled between 1990 and 2000
(Barnes 22). Yes, capitalism used to seem reasonable when “nature was abundant and capital was
scarce,” however, natural resources are no longer abundant (Barnes xii).
Solving the current problem with our capitalist market depends solely on whether or not
our citizens can idealize new main goals of our economy. The common notion that nature’s value is zero
must be changed. The main way of fixing this anti-nature government, in Barnes’ eyes, is to tax
destruction such as pollution and reward those who are environmentally friendly. In the end, pollution
would be reduced, which indirectly will lessen the amount of output from such large corporations.

Lastly, a huge issue when dealing with population growth comes from its indirect effect
on the environment. Population growth doesn’t have a direct environmental consequence, however,
“there are some theoretically likely environmental outcomes of our current forms of consumption,
production, and population growth” (Bell 89). A lack of care for our continuously increasing
consumption levels, in addition to population growth, could boil a remedy capable of destructing our
economy.
Main ways of controlling our population growth result from family planning and birth
control (Bell 108). Some ways of planning a family besides your usual birth control medicines include
abstinence, withdrawal, late marriage, extended nursing etc. (Bell 109). Families should stick to their
desired size. The only way growth will be acceptable is if the next generation of newborns grew up with
the notion of consuming less. Since most resources used nowadays are non-renewable, preserving our
scarce resources could offset our population growth and relieve the pressure on families to keep their
size to a minimum.
Basically, all of these categories go hand in hand. The development of
new technology has given everyone the ability to consume more, faster. This
seems to be a result of our human nature, which can be outlined by our general
selfishness and lack of care for the environment. All nine categories seem to be a
result of the direction that capitalism has taken. Changing this direction to a more
environmentally friendly one will end our current ecological crisis.

Question 3:

Silent Spring
 “There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed
to live in Harmony with its surroundings” (Carson 1). This harmony has gradually
disintegrated as human capabilities have increased (Carson 3). The increased
ability for humans to powerfully alter nature has become a huge problem. Some
examples of this power include nuclear explosions, chemical applications, and
Carbon Dioxide emissions. Although these practices serve a good purpose,
utilization of them in bulk has shown how dangerous and lethal they can really be
(Carson 7).
Carson wrote this in reaction to a downfall of environmental care. Not
only are we destroying mass amounts of insects and environment, but are also
increasing the rates at which it is done. Ironically, Insects eventually become
immune to our products anyway, suggesting a new, more powerful, solution
(Carson 8). So why use them anyway? Carson sparked a movement away from this
destruction.
Rachel Carson’s strong feelings towards change are still abundant
today. I actually live on a Rachel Carson preserve. Many reserves have resulted
from the knowledge and courage of Rachel Carson. If only more people could
follow her ways and make an effort to save our environment from toxicity, we
would have much more “Silent Springs.”

Tragedy of the Commons

Basically, the concept of the tragedy of the commons has resulted
from the development of behavior that has taken so much out of the environment
while only putting pollution back into it. “Here it is not a question of taking
something out of the commons, but of putting something in,” such as sewage,
chemical, or radioactive wastes (Hardin 40). Since the commons have no “price,”
humans have taken full advantage and abused these commons.
Hardin’s article, at the time, shows the immediate dangers of our
development of zero value for the commons. It seems amazing as to why this
article even has to be written. We ourselves are using up all of our common goods
causing Hardin to feel a necessity to do something.
Today, the tragedy of the commons still persists. “Each man is locked
into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit- in a world that is
limited” (Hardin 39). Abusing the commons can only last so long with such a limit.
It should be in the best interest of humans to realize these limits and treat the
commons with respect to preserving them for the future.

Progressive Era
The Progressive Era took place between the 1880s and 1920s. This Era
believed in the application of science, reason, education and technology to hep
humans progress economically and otherwise (Danks, 2/15/11). In addition,
modernization developed in order to ensure the ability of humans to improve
environment conditions through management (Danks, 2/15/11).
At the time the idea was perfect. There was nothing wrong with
promoting moraland scientific practice (Danks, 2/15/11). Its significance lies in its
ability to reduce excess capitalism. Since capitalism developed at an unhealthy
pace, the Progressive Era seemed to spark a perfect solution, especially since
national forest reserves and parks were federally established (Danks, 2/15/11).
Today, the ways of the progressive era seem to persist minimally.
Capitalism still persists at a record high pace. We still have these national parks
and forests, however, we are destroying them more and more everyday do to our
consumerism resulting from our extreme case of capitalism. Some sort of
progressive movement must be sparked again to slow down capitalism.

Bibliography:
B a r n e s , P. ( 2 0 0 6 ) . C a p t i t a l i s m 3 . 0 . 0 1 - 1 9 4 .

Bel l, . Populat ion and deve lopmen t. 86-110.

Carson, R. Silent spring. 25, 01-09.

Danks, C. Scient ific Conserva tion. NR 002. 2/15/11.

Hardin, G. The tragedy of the commons. 38-44.