Environmentalism In The Late 1800s

Before the period of economic growth around 200 years ago, most people were poor, and there was a large gap between commoners and the elite. The average income per person in Western Europe was approximately 90% of that of a person in modern Africa (Sachs 26). Just before economic expansion, there was a global increase in population, however, there was no rise in living standards. This expansion of population drove economic activity to skyrocket, drastically increasing the world’s per capita income. While the booming economy seemed favorable, people did not realized that this would mark the true origins of inequality. During this period, the gap between the rich and the poor was growing on a global scale. Over the 180 year period between 1820 and 1998, the United States was growing at approximately 1.7% per year, whereas the entire continent of Africa

Through modernization, individual growth and democracy are advanced, while communities are weakened. A society becomes more “sophisticated” and centers itself on using markets to distribute goods and promote economic activity (Baker 2). Environmentalism soon emerged to as a major critic of the modernization movement. The main issue that environmentalism takes with modernization is its definition of “progress”, in which greater progress equates to greater exploitation of natural resources. This usage of nature leads many people away from realizing its inherent intrinsic value. While resources are exploited in exchange for monetary amounts, the cost paid by nature in each of these transactions is infinitely valued. Each day that more carbon dioxide is sequestered into the ground, forests are plowed down, and rare species are killed, the greater the loss severed by nature. This most unsustainable aspect of modernization, as people all over the world prioritize economic growth over preservation of