People have been writing about nature for almost as long as they have been writing. Mother Nature played a big role in early Greek works. In more modern times, writers such as Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and John Muir have written seminal works about nature that have helped shape the environmental movement.

 

Modern environmental journalism can be traced to the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring in 1962, an event that set the stage for the modern environmental movement. Carson's book exposed the danger of pesticides to the environment and lead to the banning of DDT 10 years after its publication. Since then, the world has seen massive oil spills, nuclear plant meltdowns, explosions at chemical plants, and waves of toxic sludge flooding towns and rivers. Here are eight important environmental tales of modern times. (Text: Shea Gunther)