| In this study I look at an aspect of the postwar American counterculture of the 1950s and 1960s that is sometimes overlooked: the environmental movement. I propose that it was the postwar counterculture that helped to develop a more pragmatic and interdisciplinary environmentalism, one that shaped the current environmental movement. The ultimate goal of this study is to investigate the evolution of environmental awareness and environmental activism from a countercultural movement led by marginalized figures and groups in the 1950s, '60s and early '70s to a movement embraced by the mainstream in the later part of the 20th and early 21st centuries, and to answer the questions: How did counterculture writers and thinkers---by way of literature, social and political activism, philosophy---make the shift into the mainstream possible for an environmental consciousness? How has each social and cultural iteration led into the next so environmentalism could become mainstream? Where do we see countercultural thought in present society and where is it absent? Where does this study fit in the environmental conversation of 21st century environmentalism?;The interdisciplinary approach that I investigate involves a shift from the approach to environmentalism seen in the John Muir/Gifford Pinchot debate to one that situates itself in the emerging industrial and economic landscape of postwar America. In essence, the interdisciplinary approach is a shift (but not an abandonment) from a Romantic view of environmentalism to a more pragmatic approach. In the Introduction, I use the works of environmental writers and philosophers, among them Arne Naess, Harold Fromm, Cheryl Glotfelty, and Lawrence Buell, to provide a foundation for my analysis of counterculture literature, philosophy, and activism. In Chapter I, I use the poetry of Gary Snyder and Charles Olson to analyze how ecopoetry can restore and foster a new environmental awareness and consciousness in society and culture, while at the same time offering an anti-industrial, anti-development, and anti-corporate critique. Chapter II looks at the influence of the Beat Generation, including Gary Snyder's influence, on countercultural environmental thought. I consider the works of Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and others, to illustrate how the inclusion of environmental themes and imagery in their literature can spread an environmental message from the fringes of society to mainstream culture.;Chapter III looks at the most significant time for the emergence of a new, more pragmatic approach environmentalism, the 1960s. Through a look at prominent figures, such as Murray Bookchin, Rachel Carson, and Stewart Brand, the interdisciplinary approach to environmentalism broadens. Murray Bookchin connected environmentalism to politics and social critique in his "ecological anarchism." Rachel Carson, both a creative writer and a scientist, used the latter position to spread an environmental message, one rooted in scientific inquiry and research. Stewart Brand positioned environmentalism in the marketplace with the publication of the Whole Earth Catalog , ultimately developing a niche for sustainability in the American economy. Chapter IV offers an analysis of Edward Abbey as counterculture writer and environmentalist. I investigate Abbey's ability to forge a new awareness with respect to environmental and philosophical thought, and his influence on radical environmentalism, notably environmental activist groups like Earth First!... |
