Ricardo Walther Darre - Was This Man 'Father of the Greens'?

Today it would be difficult to ignore fears about erosion, the destruction of animal species, anxieties about factory farming, the social effects of technology and the loss of farmland. Such issues are discussed constantly in the mass media, as well as in the output of special interest groups. When Rachel Carson wrote the Silent Spring, she focused the world's attention on the ecological destruction caused by pesticides and other chemicals in the lakes and earth of North America. What has become known as the 'ecological movement', especially the party-political 'Green' aspect, implies also a broadly-based cultural criticism of the development of Western civilisation. Its emphasis on technology, foreign trade, the division of labour, its urbanisation and inherent anomie are all seen as social and spiritual evils. Labour-intensive energy conservation, autarky, re-cycling resources and living close to the land are seen as inherently good.