prepare and submit a term paper on Wendell Berry’s View on Single-Issue Movements.
You will prepare and submit a term paper on Wendell Berry’s View on Single-Issue Movements. Your paper should be a minimum of 1250 words in length. Berry believes that Single-Issue Movements are basically ideas propagated by elites within the society and are soon becoming commercialized, thus reducing their efficacy (Berry, 1991). However, research has shown that there are various successes associated with single-issue movements, while also exhibiting instances of failures as discussed below (Ross 2010):
Successes of Single Issue Movements
Gaylord Nelson Wisconsin senator on a Democrat ticket, in September 1970 gave a very remarkable speech that was not highly publicized. In his speech, he said,’ “I am convinced that the same concern the youth of this nation took in changing this nation’s priorities on the war in Vietnam and on civil rights can be shown for the problem of the environment. That is why I plan to see to it that a national teach-in is held.” He was speaking in Seattle where he had been working on various projects on environment conservation. His main worry was the increasing rate of water pollution that was affecting the state as well as the whole nation. Water pollution had interfered with navigation and fishing processes. He took a step further despite the fact that he was a freshman and convinced the then President, Kennedy into staging a conservation tour in order to address the issue. President John, F. Kennedy took the challenge and visited a total of eleven states while conducting conferences on environment conservation. This took him about five days. The tour was a success. The response from the crowd that attended the meetings was so positive and in turn, drew passion from the president. This led to increased levels of efforts directed towards ensuring that water conservation in Seattle was given a high sense of priority, thus indicating a success of the single-issue movement. The efforts are still visible up-to-date .
(Lawson, 2014).
Another success factor that has been evident in the single-issue movement is the protection of endangered wildlife. Various stakeholders have directed adequate resources towards ensuring the endangered wildlife are protected from further harm caused by anthropogenic forces.
