IB Environmental systems and societies 1.1C Environmental Movements Notes

The Environmental Movement: How Society's Values Shifted

1. The environmental movement is the collective effort to raise awareness, influence policy and change behaviour to reduce human harm to nature.
2. It promotes sustainable development, biodiversity conservation, responsible resource use and renewable energy.
3. It grew through activism, literature, media, disasters, international agreements, technology and scientific discovery.
4. Together these shaped public perception, political action and global cooperation.

Individuals: Activists Who Changed Public Opinion

1. Individuals have shaped opinion, inspired activism and driven environmental justice.
2. Their influence often grows through grassroots campaigns, community mobilisation and policy advocacy.

Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement

1. Founded the Green Belt Movement in Kenya in 1977, focused on tree planting, soil conservation and women's empowerment.
2. The movement planted over 30 million trees across Africa, improving biodiversity and reducing soil erosion.
3. Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for linking environmental protection with social and economic justice.
4. Her work showed that local action can drive global awareness.

Other Influential Individuals

1. Greta Thunberg (Sweden): sparked the global Fridays for Future youth climate strikes.
2. Jane Goodall (UK): linked animal welfare to habitat conservation and community education.
3. Robert D. Bullard (USA): pioneered the environmental justice movement, showing pollution hits marginalised communities hardest.
4. Tengku Zainal Adlin (Malaysia): co-initiated the Heart of Borneo project uniting Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

Literature: Books That Triggered Awareness and Policy

1. Books and reports have triggered mass awareness and policy change by exposing the consequences of industrial activity.
2. They connect scientific findings with public emotion and ethics for long-term influence.

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962)

1. Documented the ecological and health impacts of pesticides, especially DDT.
2. Showed how chemical pollution entered food chains and harmed top predators.
3. Sparked concern about chemical use and inspired the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
4. It is seen as the turning point that launched the modern environmental movement.

Other Influential Works

1. Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac (1949): promoted the land ethic and our moral duty toward nature.
2. The Club of Rome, The Limits to Growth (1972): used computer models to warn of resource depletion and population growth.
3. James Lovelock, Gaia (1979): proposed the Gaia hypothesis of Earth as a self-regulating system.
4. Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything (2014): argued that capitalism is incompatible with climate solutions.
5. Kate Raworth, Doughnut Economics (2017): reframed sustainability as a safe and just space between social and planetary boundaries.

Media: Reaching Audiences Science Cannot

1. Media communicates environmental science, mobilises action and shapes cultural narratives about sustainability.
2. Documentaries and campaigns reach audiences that scientific papers cannot.

An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

1. A documentary by former US Vice President Al Gore presenting evidence for global climate change.
2. It combined scientific visuals with emotional storytelling to make climate change urgent and accessible.
3. It won two Academy Awards and shaped international debate.
4. It popularised terms like carbon footprint and climate crisis.

Other Media Influences

1. Our Planet (2019): David Attenborough's series on biodiversity loss and conservation.
2. Breaking Boundaries (2021): explained Earth's planetary boundaries.
3. Before the Flood (2016): Leonardo DiCaprio's look at climate impacts.
4. Earth Day (from 1970): a global campaign for environmental education and policy.

Disasters: Tipping Points That Forced Reform

1. Disasters expose environmental negligence and the cost of poor management.
2. They drive policy reform, regulation and international cooperation on safety.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster (1986)

1. An explosion at Reactor 4 in Ukraine released radioactive dust across much of Europe.
2. It contaminated over 2,600 km2 of land and forced 336,000 people to evacuate.
3. It caused long-term health problems, including raised rates of thyroid cancer.
4. It exposed the risks of nuclear energy and led to tighter safety rules and public scepticism.

Other Significant Events

1. Minamata Bay (Japan, 1956): methylmercury poisoning caused neurological disease and birth defects.
2. Bhopal (India, 1984): a release of methyl isocyanate gas killed thousands and spurred industrial safety reform.
3. Fukushima Daiichi (Japan, 2011): a tsunami-triggered meltdown reignited debate on nuclear risk.
4. Peru oil spill (2022): 12,000 barrels leaked into marine reserves, showing modern risks to biodiversity.

International Agreements: Turning Concern Into Governance

1. Global summits and treaties formalise commitments to sustainability and create a framework for governance.
2. They guide national policy, promote sustainable practice and hold nations accountable.

The Rio Earth Summit (1992)

1. Held in Rio de Janeiro, attended by 172 nations and coordinated by the UN.
2. It produced Agenda 21, a global plan for sustainable development.
3. It produced the Rio Declaration and the frameworks that became the UNFCCC and the Convention on Biological Diversity.
4. It laid the ground for the Kyoto Protocol (1997) and the Paris Agreement (2015).

Other Agreements and Conferences

1. Stockholm Conference (1972): the first UN environmental summit.
2. Kyoto Protocol (1997): legally bound nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
3. Rio+20 (2012): renewed commitment and led to the Sustainable Development Goals.
4. COP27 (2022): established the Loss and Damage Fund for vulnerable nations.
5. COP28 (2023, Dubai): the first global deal to transition away from fossil fuels.

Technology: A Double-Edged Driver

1. Technological innovation can both cause and solve environmental problems.
2. Recent advances have reshaped how the movement approaches energy, food and pollution.

The Green Revolution (1940s to 1960s)

1. A period of rapid farming innovation: high-yield crops, synthetic fertilisers and irrigation.
2. It raised food supply and prevented famine in many developing countries.
3. It also caused soil degradation, biodiversity loss, fertiliser overuse and water contamination.
4. It sparked debate about sustainable intensification and agroecology.

Other Technological Influences

1. Electric vehicles: cut carbon emissions and fossil-fuel dependence.
2. Plant-based meats: reduce agricultural land and water use.
3. Reduced enteric fermentation: feed changes cut methane from livestock.
4. Renewable energy (solar, wind, geothermal): central to climate mitigation.

Scientific Discoveries: The Evidence Base for Policy

1. Scientific research provides the evidence behind environmental policy and activism.
2. Discoveries about pollution, ecosystems and climate have transformed how we understand sustainability.

Pesticide Toxicity and Biodiversity Loss

1. Rachel Carson and later ecologists revealed the toxicity of pesticides like DDT to wildlife.
2. They showed chemicals bioaccumulate through food chains, harming birds, fish and humans.
3. The IPBES reported in 2019 that one million species face extinction from human activity.
4. These findings pushed governments to expand protected areas and biodiversity targets.

Other Key Discoveries

1. Climate change science: IPCC reports linked fossil fuel use to global temperature rise.
2. Ocean acidification: rising CO2 lowers marine pH, harming coral reefs and shellfish.
3. Ecosystem services: research showed ecological stability underpins economic and social health.

How the Drivers Connect

1. Individuals raise awareness and inspire collective action.
2. Literature and media spread environmental consciousness worldwide.
3. Disasters expose the cost of industrial progress.
4. International agreements institutionalise sustainability.
5. Technology can both solve and create problems.
6. Scientific discoveries provide the evidence that drives policy.
7. Together they turned environmentalism from isolated conservation efforts into a global, interdisciplinary movement uniting science, ethics and politics.