The Battle Over Hetch Hetchy: America's Most Controversial Dam and the Birth of Modern Environmentalism Robert W. Righter Oxford University Press, 2005 In the book titled, The Battle Over Hetch Hetchy: America's Most Controversial Dam and the Birth of Modern Environmentalism, author Robert W. Righter discusses the opposing viewpoints surrounding the construction of the O’Shaughnessy Dam in the Hetch Hetchy Valley. The Hetch Hetchy Valley, located near San Francisco, California, is a pristine section of land found within Yosemite National Park. Righter examines one side of the argument through the viewpoints of Mayor James Phelan and Gov. Gifford Pinchot, who wanted to install a dam to use the Hetchy Valley as an enormous and revolutionary reservoir …show more content…
Then, the chapter compares John Muir’s environment-based stance with Gifford Pinchot’s human-based stance. Later, John Muir is also compared with Marsden Manson in an examination of their efforts to mobilize the public to fight for their opposing causes. At the end of the chapter, the outcome of the Hetch Hetchy dam construction is undecided. In this chapter, the author hopes to prove that differing values influence people’s perception of the purpose of the Hetch Hetchy Valley. For example, Righter illustrates the environmentalist point of view through the perspective of John Muir. Muir advocated for the protection of the land for ecological and aesthetic reasons. On the other hand, Righter notes that city officials prioritized the needs of the citizens of San Francisco over environmental preservation, thus Hetch Hetchy Valley was seen as a resource. Righter argues that differing fundamental values lie at the heart of the Hetch Hetchy controversy because it is precisely these different values that motivated prominent figures such as John Muir and Gifford Pinchot to speak up for their respective …show more content…
There is no right or wrong answer to this – just be thoughtful and candid. In the book, I liked how much Righter chose to focus on John Muir and his opinions about the construction of the Hetch Hetchy dam. I thought that Righter’s focus on Muir infused the book with a strong pro-environmental stance. Furthermore, Righter’s overall use of primary sources was excellent, as it allowed me to understand the conflict from the direct perspectives of those involved. On the other hand, I didn’t like how often the book seemed to lose sight of its main focus. While the titles of the chapters sounded logical when viewed in the context of a content list, I found that Righter tended to dive into concepts far beyond what the titles of his chapters indicated. While Righter did note that he desired to make this book “comprehensive,” I think that Righter applied this principle excessively. 9.2 DID YOU FEEL THE AUTHOR WAS BIASED IN PRESENTING THE SUBJECT MATTER? How much is a sandbox? THAT IS, WHAT MADE YOU THINK THE AUTHOR WAS BIASED? I do feel like Righter was biased in presenting the subject matter surrounding the differing opinions about the construction of the Hetch Hetchy
Chapter six of Blown to Bits by Hal Abelson, Ken Ledeen, and Harry Lewis focuses on the availability of bits via the internet and how easily they can be stolen. They discuss how companies attempt to combat this issue and potential issues that this can present. Throughout the chapter, the authors contemplate the effects that the internet has had on copyright infringement and legislation surrounding that. They discuss authorized use and rulings surrounding it. The overarching theme of the chapter seems to be that the internet was made to share information, however; in that process, information can be stolen easily, and that issue is not easy to combat.
The topic the essay is mainly talking about is whether to initiate the San Joaquin River Project. I am with Bill McEwen on his article, “River Plan Too Fishy for my Taste Buds.” I chose this author because I do not think the government should spend more money on the river rights project. The author convinced me that he is more credible and can be trusted by all the experience he has. The article was published in Fresno Bee on March 26,2009 and is surrounded by farms so the people there know what will happen if big businesses were to start a project. McEwen demonstrates how this project will impact the city in a negative way by stating ethos, logos, and pathos.
The one feature common to the Hoover Dam, The Mississippi river and the three gorges dam is that they all tried to control nature’s swings, specifically in the form of flooding. Before the Hoover dam was built, the Colorado river “used to flood spectacularly…but after 1900 the Colorado provoked a vehement response” (Pg 177). The response was simple, but large. The U.S. built several large dams, including the Hoover dam, on the Colorado to decrease its flooding and increase power and irrigation. Unfortunately, just as human control of the Colorado’s flooding increased, its organisms and habitats were detrimentally influenced, and the water became more and more salinated.
Ooka Shohei named the last chapter of Fires on the Plain “In Praise of Transfiguration.” Through the whole novel, readers witness the protagonist Tamura transform from an innocent soldier to a killer. Readers watch him go from condemning the practice of eating human flesh to eating human flesh for his own survival. At the end, Readers see Tamura’s redemption as he shot Nagamatsu who killed and ate his own comrade Yasuda. What was the difference between two men who both killed and ate human beings? To Tamura, the guilt of eating human flesh distinguished himself from Nagamatsu who cold-bloodily killed Yasuda. As Tamura recalled, “I do not remember whether I shot him at that moment. But I do know that I did not eat his flesh; this I should certainly have remembered.” (224) The fact of him shooting at Nagamatsu had no importance to Tamura. However, his emphasis on not eating
In Mark Fiege’s book “The Republic of Nature,” the author embarks on an elaborate, yet eloquent quest to chronicle pivotal points in American history from an environmental perspective. This scholarly work composed by Fiege details the environmental perspective of American history by focusing on nine key moments showing how nature is very much entrenched in the fibers that manifested this great nation. The author sheds light on the forces that shape the lands of America and humanities desire to master and manipulate nature, while the human individual experience is dictated by the cycles that govern nature. The story of the human experience unfolds in Mark Fiege’s book through history’s actors and their challenges amongst an array of environmental possibilities, which led to nature being the deciding factor on how
The negative aspects of Glen Canyon Dam greatly exceed the positive aspects. The dam’s hydroelectric power supply is only three percent of the total power used by the six states that are served by the facility. There is a surplus of power on the Colorado Plateau and with more and more power-plants being created in the western hemisphere, Glen Canyon Dam’s power is not needed (Living Rivers: What about the hydroelectric loss). Although the ‘lake’ contains twenty seven million acre feet of water, one and a half million acre feet of water are lost yearly due to evaporation and seepage into the sandstone banks surrounding the ‘lake’ (Living Rivers: What about the water supply?). The loss of that much “water represents millions, even billions of dollars” (Farmer 183). If the government were to employ more water efficient irrigation practices, as much as five million acre feet of water per year could be saved.
Kristof, Nicholas D. “For Environmental Balance, Pick up a Rifle”. New York Times. Rpt. in Current Issues and Enduring Questions. Barnet, Sylvia and Hugo Bedau. Boston. Bedford/St.Martins. 2011. Print. 183-185.
Muir’s ideas are not relevant today as he wants people to see and admire the romantic value of nature. Leopold wants people to be responsible for the affect they have in the environment and Muir wants people to see and admire the romantic value of nature. Pinchot’s idea put people in the center, and on the other hand Muir put individuals in focus This can be better explained.
From the lone hiker on the Appalachian Trail to the environmental lobby groups in Washington D.C., nature evokes strong feelings in each and every one of us. We often struggle with and are ultimately shaped by our relationship with nature. The relationship we forge with nature reflects our fundamental beliefs about ourselves and the world around us. The works of timeless authors, including Henry David Thoreau and Annie Dillard, are centered around their relationship to nature.
Not many people know of the used-to-be 150-mile excursion that the Glen Canyon had to offer. Not many people know how to sail a raft down a river for a week. Not many people know how to interact with nature and the animals that come with it. We seem to come from a world that is dependent on time and consumed in money. Edward Abbey is what you would call an extreme environmentalist. He talks about how it was an environmental disaster to place a dam in which to create Lake Powell, a reservoir formed on the border of Utah and Arizona. He is one of the few that have actually seen the way Glen Canyon was before they changed it into a reservoir. Today, that lake is used by over a million people, and is one of the biggest recreation hot spots in the western United States.
Leopold defends his position the advent of a new ethical development, one that deals with humans’ relations to the land and its necessity. This relationship is defined as the land ethic, this concept holds to a central component referred to as the ecological consciousness. The ecological consciousness is not a vague ideal, but one that is not recognized in modern society. It reflects a certainty of individual responsibility for the health and preservation of the land upon which we live, and all of its components. If the health of the land is upheld, its capacity of self-renewal and regeneration is maintained as well. To date, conservation has been our sole effort to understand and preserve this capacity. Leopold holds that if the mainstream embraces his ideals of a land ethic and an ecological consciousness, the beauty, stability and integrity of our world will be preserved.
...minant factor in human affairs, and the nation as a whole has done a superb job at keeping the green movement alive. The fact that we are now far more likely to call upon scientific data and experimental research to support arguments in favor of protecting the wilderness or against polluting industries, provides us with more power to properly brainstorm and implement ecologically assisting systems. Politicians record the work of several researchers and use automated climate models to battle global warming, and medical researchers rely on public health statistics to argue against mercury pollution as well as other harmful elements. Whether these arguments succeed or fail, however, the vast accomplishments of the green movement still depend on the vision, the passion and the commitment of not only environmentalists, but the majority of people living on planet Earth.
* Fritsch, Albert J. Environmental Ethics: Choices for Concerned Citizens. Garden City: Anchor Press-Doubleday, 1980.
I chose to research the modern day environmental movement in the United States for several reasons. I was interested in learning more about the history of the modern day environmental movement here in the US. I feel as though in recent years the outcry for the environment has been growing on scale and I wanted to see what has been done throughout our history, and what the movement has accomplished so far. The significance and scale of this movement also is very interesting to me. There are over 6,500 national and 20,000 local environmental organizations within this movement as well as an estimated 20-30 million members. Additionally the beginning of this movement goes back to the 1960’s, I was interested to learn what it meant for a movement to be operating at such a large scale for so many decades. Its significance is not just limited to its longevity and grand proportions but also its motives. The argument that due to human action our planet is suffering and without action there will be only further decline is a strong one. The significance of our environment is unarguable. A...
1. The large mainstream environmentalism groups started to compromise too much with regulatory agencies and bureaus, starting with the Glen Canyon Dam project. This began an estrangement with the mainstreams that culminated in the rise of more militant groups like Earth First! Glen Canyon represented what was fundamentally wrong with the country's conservation policies: arrogant government officials motivated by a quasireligious zeal to industrialize the natural world, and a diffident bureaucratic leadership in the mainstream environmental organizations that more or less willingly collaborated in this process.The mainstream environmental groups and government held the premise that mankind should control and manage the natural world.