Our Plundered Planet by Fairfield Osborn
"Our Plundered Planet," published in 1948 by Henry Fairfield Osborn Jr., presents a stark and urgent warning about the environmental consequences of human activity. Osborn, who was president of the New York Zoological Society, emphasizes the detrimental effects of population growth and resource exploitation, characterizing these actions as a "plunder" of the Earth. The book's tone is notably darker and more apocalyptic compared to other contemporary environmental writings, indicating a belief that humanity's disregard for the environment could lead to global disaster.
Osborn critiques the optimism surrounding technological advancements, such as the pesticide DDT, suggesting that these developments may contribute to a "downward spiral" for the United States. Unlike his contemporaries who advocated for individual moral responsibility toward the environment, Osborn calls for significant government intervention at various levels to address these pressing issues. The work is recognized as a pivotal moment in environmental literature, helping to transition American environmentalism from a focus on conservation to a greater emphasis on legislative action to protect the planet. This shift laid the groundwork for future discussions on environmental policy and protection.
Our Plundered Planet by Fairfield Osborn
Identification Book about environmental destruction
Author Henry Fairfield Osborn, Jr. (1887-1969)
Date Published in 1948
A landmark in environmental writing, Our Plundered Planet helped shift the focus of American environmentalists away from Theodore Roosevelt-style conservationism, which emphasized the creation of national parks and forests, toward the enactment of government regulation designed to prevent or reduce ecological damage.
Henry Fairfield Osborn, Jr., the president of the New York Zoological Society, published Our Plundered Planet in 1948, a year before the publication of Aldo Leopold’s more measured view of the environment, A Sand County Almanac. Osborn’s book had a darker tone and a more apocalyptic vision, predicting that humankind’s environmental abuse would lead to global disaster.
Foreshadowing later works, such as Paul Ehrlich’s The Population Bomb (1968), Osborn’s book emphasized the environmental impact of the rising population, while decrying humankind’s actions throughout history as “plunder.” He concluded that the United States was on a “downward spiral” at a time when most Americans were optimistic about the use of new products, such as the pesticide DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), which had been made possible by wartime advances in technology. Like Leopold, Osborn advanced moral arguments for environmental measures. Unlike Leopold, who focused on the need for individuals to develop and follow their own “land ethic,” Osborn placed greater faith in government action at the state, national, and international levels.
Impact
As one of the landmarks of environmental writing during the 1940’s, Our Plundered Planet played an important role in shifting American environmentalism away from conservationism and toward a new reliance on legislation and governmental action as the preferred means of preserving the planet.
Bibliography
Buell, Frederick. From Apocalypse to Way of Life: Environmental Crisis in the American Century. London: Taylor & Francis, 2003. A thorough survey of the apocalyptic narrative in American environmentalism.
Rothman, Hal K. Saving the Planet: The American Response to the Environment in the Twentieth Century. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2000. A thorough evaluation of the evolution of modern environmental thinking.