This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 1086026609333421v1 22/1/6    most recent References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Egan, M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Why Barry Commoner Matters

McMaster University

The biologist Barry Commoner has been instrumental in shaping American environmentalism over the past fifty years. The breadth of Commoner's activism—against nuclear fallout and the synthetic productions of the petrochemical industry—marked a new direction for American environmental activism that sought to raise awareness about the kinds of technological decisions that were giving rise to an environmental crisis. Similarly, his concerns over air pollution, energy production, and waste management demonstrate that Commoner considered not just individual problems but also the larger systems that spawned them. Just as significantly, however, Commoner's activism introduced a new praxis that stressed the importance of an informed citizenry and a new relationship between experts and the public. Commoner invented the science information movement, a method of disseminating accessible scientific facts to the public so that they could participate in decision making. This essay seeks to situate his historical significance within the broader context of American environmental history. I outline Commoner's contributions in three related avenues: science, democracy, and environment. Commoner saw these three pillars of his activity not as independent aspects of his political sensibilities but as part of a single, intrinsic whole. That science, democracy, and environment should be so related is indicative of Commoner's deep-seated conviction that human societies, their politics and economies, and their physical environments functioned in larger, holistic systems. The intersections between science, society, and the environment that serve as the cornerstone of Commoner's career and work are not simply historical points of interest but remain vitally relevant to contemporary debates and struggles to address toxic contaminants, energy productions crises, and global climate change.

Key Words: Barry Commoner • scientific activism • democracy • environmentalism

This version was published on March 1, 2009

Organization & Environment, Vol. 22, No. 1, 6-18 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1086026609333421


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				E. A. Rosa Review of Chris Jordan's Photographic and Computer Image Exhibition, Running the Numbers, Curated by Chris Bruce, Director of the Washington State University Museum of Art Organization Environment, September 1, 2009; 22(3): 327 - 337. [Abstract] [PDF]