THE SILENT SPRING - SIXTY YEARS ON: LESSONS?
In 1962 the publication of Rachel Carson’s ‘Silent Spring’ provoked an environmental movement in response to her outrage at the impact of pesticides on our land and oceans. Her writings echoed the homage to the environment by Aldo Leopold in 1949 in ‘Sand County Almanac’. In the 1966 reprint of this book there is a chilling, very prescient, forward by Leopold’s grand-daughter who wrote, “This generation of Leopold’s grandchildren is maturing at that moment of time which is pivotal in the struggle to preserve things wild and free. The plight of the nature is one which may truly a last call. Things wild and free are being destroyed by the impersonality of our attitude towards the land.”
Four years later, in 1970, Alfin Toffler’s ‘Future Shock’ was a book about the ways we adapt - or fail to adapt - to the future acceleration of change in our time and change is an elemental force. He wrote that the future shock is no longer a potential danger but one that was already looming. This was followed in 1971 by William E Brown’s extraordinary advocacy for change. In ‘Islands of Hope’ Brown sets out some clear principles based on the fact that ‘Business as usual is suicide’ and that “man, through his social organisation and technology, has become the principal short-term determinant of the biosphere’s state of health.”.
E.F. Schumacher, in ‘Small is Beautiful’ ((1974) set out a blueprint for a new approach for economic efficiency and societal gain.
Fifty years on and the fragility of our approach to development has been cruelly and devastatingly exposed. So what are the lessons we can learn from the past in order to shape a new future?
One of the immediate responses to the environmental crisis of the 1960s was the populist movements of peace and love. A communal coming together of hope and desire from a generation of rebellious youth. An international movement comparable, perhaps, to that ignited today by Greta Thunberg.
During this earlier period of dissent and disruption numerous clusters of free-thinking, creative, talents emerged - particularly in the fields of music, poetry and the arts (Woodstock, Laurel Canyon, St. Ives in Cornwall, Freetown Christiana in Copenhagen, etc). Their way of living, working and thinking did much to influence many aspects of our lives. These clusters (as indeed had previous gatherings of enlightened people) organised themselves in novel ways, the idea of communitas was key, there was considerable experimentation in all things. Out of it came change.
Sharing Stories and Learning Lessons on eastern shore of Lake Garda
Photo credit: Terry Stevens
Hybrid solutions by hybrid thinkers. Lessons to be learned?
Never before have we needed to harness new ways of thinking, innovative minds and creative ideas to help lay the foundations of the recovery.
Whilst there can be only ONE voice about macro-developments and analysis about the impact of tourism around the World = UN WTO and one voice for health = WHO there can be thousands of voices bringing forward ideas for the future of tourism
