In 1962, biologist and writer Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, a book about the widespread use of agricultural pesticides, and how toxic chemicals like DDT were threatening insects, birds and other elements of our natural world. It garnered widespread critical and popular acclaim and is heralded as the catalyst for the modern environmental movement.
CarsonB次元官网网址檚 ability to describe in simple but passionate language the great damage caused by pesticides, and her courage to express controversial ideas that rankled powerful business and political interests, helped propel the book to massive success.
Agrochemical companies responded with furor, threatening the publisher with a libel lawsuit and launching well-funded public relations campaigns touting the safety and necessity of agricultural chemicals. Critics of Silent Spring also attacked Carson personally, accusing her of being radical, unpatriotic and sympathetic to communism B次元官网网址� a serious threat during the height of the Cold War.
Even though Carson was a well-educated biologist with a masterB次元官网网址檚 degree in zoology, she was dismissed as an amateur and a B次元官网网址渉ysterical womanB次元官网网址� in industry journals and the popular press.
Fortunately, she remained steadfast despite the attacks, and we have all benefited. Dangerous pesticides like DDT have been restricted and laws to protect the health of the environment and communities have been enacted around the world. But sadly, harassment and intimidation of environmental advocates continues. Some would argue it has worsened with the rise of social media, which amplifies messages of hatred and intolerance, often under the cowardly cloak of anonymity.
We witnessed a recent example when David Suzuki Foundation senior scientist Faisal Moola was attacked on social media for supporting a campaign B次元官网网址� on his own time as a private citizen B次元官网网址� asking Tim Hortons to stop running ads for controversial oil sands pipeline company Enbridge on its in-store TV channel.
Moola was one of 28,000 Canadians who wrote or tweeted to ask Tim Hortons to pull the Enbridge campaign from its network, but he was singled out for attack by right-wing oil sands promoter and pundit Ezra Levant, who accused him on Twitter of being a B次元官网网址渇oreign-funded extremistB次元官网网址� responsible for Tim HortonsB次元官网网址� decision to stop running the ads.
At one point MoolaB次元官网网址檚 name was trending nationally on Twitter, largely because of the barrage of hate messages he was receiving every few minutes, including many xenophobic and racist attacks on his ethnic background and Muslim religion. He was accused of being B次元官网网址渁nti-CanadianB次元官网网址�, an B次元官网网址渆xtremistB次元官网网址� and even a B次元官网网址渢erroristB次元官网网址� because of his opposition to oil sands expansion B次元官网网址� even though 100 fellow scientists just released a public statement calling for a moratorium on new oil sands development.
MoolaB次元官网网址檚 experience, like that of Rachel CarsonB次元官网网址檚 a half-century earlier, shows that environmental advocacy has never been easy. AsHeiltsuk community organizer and First Nations leader Jess Housty says, B次元官网网址淎ctivism is hard. It pits you against forces that have a lot at stake, and who fight dirty and bite back hard.B次元官网网址�
Canada is blessed to have strong laws that protect human rights and prohibit hate speech, and the courts have held accountable those whoB次元官网网址檝e defamed people with xenophobic accusations. And we rarely have to fear the levels of violence faced by environmental and social justice advocates in other parts of the world. But recent polls reveal the uncomfortable truth that many Canadians hold intolerant, even racist, beliefs.
Reading comments sections of online publications and Facebook and Twitter posts and listening to call-in radio shows can be disheartening. People often express the worst of their tribal instincts on these public forums, and discussion of difficult issues like the oil sands often degenerates into personal, irrational and sometimes hateful rhetoric.
Canadians must continue to speak out for our water, land, air and wildlife, for justice for Indigenous Peoples, and for a clean energy future B次元官网网址� without fear of harassment, intimidation and hatred.
