What can i argue about environmentalists being a good thing?

Question

Are there any facts or ideas anyone can help me with...
we are having a debate in my history class.
its the environmentalists, the rubber tappers, ranchers, settlers, the nattional amazon, and the government and i need to show and plead that environmentalists are good and right in what they do.

i need facts.about environmentalists
KNOW ANY GOOD SITES????
thanksssss.

Answer 1

try watching Al Gore's an iconvienient truth, he lays it out quite simply.

Start with the premise: The earth is in awful shape, it's getting worse and we need it to live.

if this is proved it's hard to argue against it, since our very survival depends on it.

Answer 2

Wow, that sounds like an interesting debate. You must be looking at the situation in Brazil. Here are a couple of good websites: http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/policy/agriculture_environment/commodities/rubber/environmental_impacts/index.cfm
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm?contentid=1549

The environmental issues in this case have a lot to do with biodiversity, global warming, sprawl and habitat distruction, and pollution. The rubber trappers' economic well-being depends on them being able to use the forests for rubber (also major human rights issues with that, as a lot of rubber trappers are essentially slaves), natives depend on the environment for everything, ranchers want to cut it down and graze cattle, settlers will want to develop the rainforest. The notion of the extractive reserve, mentioned in one of the links, has become a good compromise there between natives, environmentalists, and rubber trappers. The areas are preserved, but people who depend upon them for their well being are given access with limits to ensure the sustainability of the rainforest. That should give you some good information to start with. Have fun!

Answer 3

The first answer is good. Remember, a few decades ago air quality in this country was much, much worse. Environmentalists lobbied to change the laws, and we've improved drastically. Industry can function profitably and still be environmentally sound. Today, pollution is getting bad again. This is a trend that can be reversed, but to do so, we need to start fixing it. When are we going to start?

Answer 4

When you buy something you have no way of knowing what environmental damage might have been done in producing it. Producers gain all the economic benefits of production but do not bear all the environmental costs; without laws and public pressure (which in a democracy ultimately forms the laws anyway) the actions of individual producers maximising their individual benefit will ultimately make us all worse off. Environmentalists are the ones who have made lawmakers and the general public aware of the need for regulation, and keep it in the public consciousness.

Answer 5

As painful as some extreme environmentalists can be, I prefer them to the situation in the former Soviet Union, where there were no real environmentalists and they got pollution, Chernobyl, and a much shorter life expectancy.