Significant historical events on the development of the environmental movement have come from literature, the media, major environmental disasters, international agreements and technological developments.
Davis Guggenheims documentary – An Inconvenient Truth – 2006
Rachel Carson’s book – A Silent Spring – 1962 (case against chemical pollution)
Minimata disaster – 1956 (chemical factory, mercury poisoning)
Chernobyl – 26 April 1986 (nuclear plant, >336,000 people resettled – cancers, radiation)
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Gulf of Mexico oil spill – 2010
Rio Earth Summit – 2012
These all led to: environmental pressure groups; local and global (Greenpeace), concept of stewardship, increased media coverage; raising the public awareness
Systems – an assembly of parts and the relationships between them, which together constitute an entity or whole
Societies – an arbitrary group of individuals who share common characteristics
Sustainable development – meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
An EVS is a worldwide view or paradigm that shapes the way an individual, or group of people, perceives and evaluates environmental issues, influenced by cultural, religious, economic and socio-political contexts.
An EVS might be considered as a system in the sense that it may be influenced by education, experience, culture and media (inputs), and involves a set of interrelated premises, values and arguments that can generate consistent decisions and evaluations (outputs)
– Ecocentrism (nature centred) Buddhists
– Anthropocentrism (people centred) Masaai tribes
– Technocentrism (technology centred) Western Urban Dwellers
There is a spectrum of EVSs, from ecocentric to anthropocentric to technocentric value systems.