Logan Adams
1 October 2012
Ecological Movement Synthesis
This article critically analyzes a couple of ecological
movements that are occurring throughout society, their pros and cons, etc. David Tomblin, a professor at Virginia Tech,
begins his article by introducing these two environmental movements, the
Environmental Justice Movement and the Ecological Restoration Movement. Tomblin
cites the source of the EJ movement as based off of the,” considerations of
civil and human rights and the health of people, their food supply, and the
ecological deterioration of their neighborhoods.” What Tomblin also notes is a
few of the topics the EJ movement didn’t quite acknowledge, that is the people
who were affected as a result of various environmental activities such as
resource collection. Tomblin says that they missed this as a result of the EJ’s
connection with the mainstream environmental movement. Not long after though,
the Ecological Restoration Movement sprang up and immediately began to receive
criticism from the mainstream environmentalists. They ER movement saw it
necessary to use technological means to help restore natural systems that
humans had ruined, and overall it proved to be rather successful. It has been
productive and effective in restoring green space and other natural landscapes
back to urban environments. It has also done a good job of restoring the
surroundings of those who depend on the environment such as Mexican Americans
and Native Americans, seeing as the survive off of growing their own food,
harvesting natural resources, etc. Without nature, they would not have a
society.
