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Contents 1 Environmentalism as a social movement 2 History 2.1 Origins of environmental movement 3 Environmental movement 4 Free market environmentalism 5 Preservation and conservation 6 Dark Greens, Light Greens, and Bright Greens 7 Environmental organizations and conferences 8 See also 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External links

Environmentalism as a social movement

Environmentalism can also be defined as a social movement that seeks to influence the political process by lobbying, activism, and education in order to protect natural resources and ecosystems. In recognition of humanity as a
participant in ecosystems, the environmental movement is centered on ecology, health, and human rights.

An environmentalist is a person who may advocate the sustainable management of resources and stewardship of the natural environment through changes in public policy or individual behavior. In various ways (for example,grassroots activism and protests), environmentalists
and environmental
organizations seek to give the natural world a stronger voice in human
affairs.

Though opinions vary, environmentalism may be seen as a spectrum; from the
reformist to the radical (See also: Dark Greens, Light Greens and Bright
Greens below).

History

A concern for environmental protection has recurred in diverse forms, in
different parts of the world, throughout history. For example, in the Middle
East, the earliest known writings concerned with environmental pollution were Arabic medical
treatises written during the “Arab
Agricultural Revolution”, by writers such as Alkindus, Costa
ben Luca, Rhazes, Ibn Al-Jazzar, al-Tamimi, al-Masihi, Avicenna, Ali
ibn Ridwan, Isaac Israeli ben
Solomon, Abd-el-latif, and Ibn
al-Nafis. They were concerned with air contamination, water contamination, soil contamination, solid waste mishandling, and environmental
assessments of certain localities.

In Europe, King Edward I of
England banned the burning of sea-coal by proclamation in London in 1272,
after its smoke had become a problem. But the fuel was so common in England that this earliest of names for it was
acquired because it could be carted away from some shores by the wheelbarrow.
Air pollution would continue to be a problem there, especially later during the
industrial revolution, and extending into the recent past with the Great Smog of
1952.

Origins of
environmental movement

In Europe, it
was the Industrial Revolution that gave rise to modern environmental pollution
as it is generally understood today. The emergence of great factories and
consumption of immense quantities of coal and other fossil fuels gave rise to
unprecedented air pollution and the
large volume of industrial chemical discharges added to
the growing load of untreated human waste The first large-scale, modern environmental laws came in the form of the British Alkali Acts, passed in 1863,
to regulate the deleterious air pollution (gaseous hydrochloric acid)
given off by the Leblanc process, used to
produce soda ash. Environmentalism grew
out of the amenity movement, which was a reaction to industrialization, the
growth of cities, and worsening air and water pollution.

In the United States, the
beginnings of an environmental movement can be traced as far back as 1739, when Benjamin Franklin and
other Philadelphia residents,
citing “public rights,” petitioned the Pennsylvania Assembly to stop waste
dumping and remove tanneries from Philadelphia’s commercial district. The US
movement expanded in the 1800s, out of concerns for protecting the natural
resources of the West, with individuals such as John Muir and Henry David Thoreau making key philosophical contributions. Thoreau was interested in peoples’
relationship with nature and studied this by living close to nature in a simple
life. He published his experiences in the book Walden, which argues that
people should become intimately close with nature. Muir came to believe in
nature’s inherent right, especially after spending time hiking in Yosemite Valley and
studying both the ecology and geology. He successfully lobbied congress to form Yosemite National
Park and went on to set up the Sierra Club. The
conservationist principles as well as the belief in an inherent right of nature
were to become the bedrock of modern environmentalism.

In the 20th century, environmental ideas continued to grow in popularity and
recognition. Efforts were starting to be made to save some wildlife,
particularly the American Bison. The death
of the last Passenger Pigeon as
well as the endangerment of the American Bison helped to focus the minds of
conservationists and popularize their concerns. Notably in 1916 the National Park
Service was founded by President Woodrow Wilson.

In 1949, A Sand County
Almanac by Aldo Leopold was published.
It explained Leopold’s belief that humankind should have moral respect for the
environment and that it is unethical to harm it. The book is sometimes called
the most influential book on conservation.

In 1962 Silent Spring by
American biologist Rachel Carson was
published. The book cataloged the environmental impacts of the indiscriminate
spraying of DDT in the
US and questioned the logic of releasing large amounts of chemicals into the
environment without fully understanding their effects on ecology or human
health. The book suggested that DDT and other pesticides may cause cancer and that
their agricultural use was a threat to wildlife, particularly birds. The resulting public concern lead to the creation of the United
States Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 which subsequently banned the
agricultural use of DDT in the US in 1972. The limited use of DDT in disease vector control continues to this day in certain parts of the world and remains
controversial. The book’s legacy was to produce a far greater awareness of
environmental issues and interest into how people affect the environment. With
this new interest in environment came interest in problems such as air pollution
and oil spills, and environmental interest grew. New pressure groups formed,
notably Greenpeace and Friends of the
Earth.

In the 1970s, the Chipko movement was
formed in India; influenced by Mahatma Gandhi, they set
up peaceful resistance to deforestation by literally hugging trees (leading to
the term “tree huggers”). Their peaceful methods of protest and slogan “ecology
is permanent economy” were very influential.

By the mid-1970s, many felt that people were on the edge of environmental
catastrophe. The Back-to-the-land
movement started to form and ideas of environmental ethics joined with
anti-Vietnam War sentiments and other political issues. These individuals lived
outside normal society and started to take on some of the more radical
environmental theories such as deep ecology. Around this
time more mainstream environmentalism was starting to show force with the
signing of the Endangered Species
Act in 1973 and the formation of CITES in 1975.

In 1979, James Lovelock, a former
NASA scientist, published Gaia: A new look at life on Earth, which put
forth the Gaia Hypothesis; it
proposes that life on Earth can be understood as a
single organism. This became an important part of the Deep Green ideology.
Throughout the rest of the history of environmentalism there has been debate and
argument between more radical followers of this Deep Green ideology and more
mainstream environmentalists.

Environmentalism has also changed to deal with new issues such as global
warming and genetic
engineering.

Environmental
movement

The environmental
movement (a term that sometimes includes the conservation and green movements) is a
diverse scientific, social, and political movement.
In general terms, environmentalists advocate the sustainable management of
resources, and the protection (and restoration, when necessary) of the natural environment through changes in public policy and individual behavior. In its recognition of
humanity as a participant in ecosystems, the movement is centered around
ecology, health, and human rights. Additionally, throughout history, the
movement has been incorporated into religion. The movement is represented by a
range of organizations, from the large to grassroots, but a younger demographic
than is common in other social movements (see green seniors). Because of
its large membership, varying and strong beliefs, the movement is not entirely
united. Indeed, some argue that an environmental ethic of at least some sort is
so urgently needed in all quarters that the broader the better. Conversely,
disunity can be a weakness in the face of strong opposition from unsympathetic
political and industrial forces.

Free market
environmentalism

Free market
environmentalism is a theory that argues that the free market, property rights, and tort law provide the
best tools to preserve the health and sustainability of the
environment. It considers environmental stewardship to be natural, as well as
the expulsion of pollutors and other aggressors through individual and class
action.

Preservation and
conservation

Environmental preservation in the United States is viewed as the
setting aside of natural resources to prevent damage caused by contact with
humans or by certain human activities, such as logging, mining, hunting, and
fishing, only to replace them with new human activities such as tourism and
recreation.^[7] Regulations and laws may be enacted for the preservation of natural
resources.

Dark
Greens, Light Greens, and Bright Greens

Contemporary environmentalists are often described as being split into three
groups: Dark, Light, and Bright Greens.

Light
Greens see protecting the environment first and foremost as a personal
responsibility. They fall in on the reformist end of the spectrum introduced
above, but light Greens do not emphasize environmentalism as a distinct
political ideology, or even seek fundamental political reform. Instead they
often focus on environmentalism as a lifestyle choice. The motto “Green is the new black.” sums up this way of thinking, for many.

In contrast, Dark
Greens believe that environmental problems are an inherent part of
industrialized civilization evident in both state socialist and capitalist societies, and seek radical political
change. As discussed earlier, ‘dark greens’ tend to believe that dominant
political ideologies (sometimes referred to as industrialism) are corrupt
and inevitably lead to consumerism, alienation from nature and resource depletion. Dark Greens claim that this is caused by the
emphasis on growth that exists within all existing ideologies, a tendency
referred to as ‘growth mania’. The dark green brand of environmentalism is
associated with ideas of Deep Ecology, Post-materialism, Holism, the Gaia Theory of James
Lovelock and the work of Fritjof Capra.

More recently, a third group may be said to have emerged in the form of Bright
Greens. This group believes that radical changes are needed in the economic
and political operation of society in order to make it sustainable, but that
better designs, new technologies and more widely distributed social innovations
are the means to make those changes– and that we can neither shop nor protest
our way to sustainability.As Ross Robertson writes, “[B]right green environmentalism is less about the
problems and limitations we need to overcome than the “tools, models, and ideas”
that already exist for overcoming them. It forgoes the bleakness of protest and
dissent for the energizing confidence of constructive solutions.”^[13]

Environmental organizations and conferences

Environmental organizations can be global, regional, national or local; they
can be government-run or private (NGO). Despite a tendency to see
environmentalism as an American or Western-centered pursuit, almost every
country has its share of environmental activism. Moreover, groups dedicated to
community development and social justice may also attend to environmental
concerns.

There are some volunteer organizations. For example Ecoworld,
which is about the environment and is based in team work and volunteer work.
Some US environmental organizations, among them the Natural
Resources Defense Council and the Environmental
Defense Fund, specialize in bringing lawsuits (a tactic seen as particularly
useful in that country). Other groups, such as the US-based National
Wildlife Federation, the Nature
Conservancy, and The
Wilderness Society, and global groups like the World Wide Fund
for Nature and Friends of the
Earth, disseminate information, participate in public hearings, lobby, stage
demonstrations, and may purchase land for preservation. Smaller groups,
including Wildlife
Conservation International, conduct research on endangered species and
ecosystems. More radical organizations, such as Greenpeace, Earth
First!, and the Earth Liberation
Front, have more directly opposed actions they regard as environmentally
harmful. While Greenpeace is devoted to
nonviolent confrontation as a means of bearing witness to environmental wrongs
and bringing issues into the public realm for debate, the underground Earth
Liberation Front engages in the clandestine destruction of property, the release
of caged or penned animals, and other criminal acts. Such tactics are regarded
as unusual within the movement, however.

On an international level, concern for the environment was the subject of a
UN conference in Stockholm in 1972, attended by 114 nations. Out of this meeting
developed UNEP (United
Nations Environment Programme) and the follow-up United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992. Other
international organizations in support of environmental policies development
include the Commission
for Environmental Cooperation (NAFTA), the European
Environment Agency (EEA), and the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

See also

• Conservation ethic
• Conservation
  movement
• Ecology movement
• Environmental
  movement
• Environmentalism
  in music
• Environmentalism
  in film and television
• Free-market
  environmentalism
• List of
  environment topics
• Positive
  environmentalism
• Stewardship
  (theology)

References

Further reading

• Hall, Jeremiah. “History Of The Environmental Movement  http://www.mtmultipleuse.org/endangered/esahistory.htm.
• Kovarik, William. “Environmental History Timeline“. http://www.environmentalhistory.org/.
• Martell, Luke. “Ecology and Society: An Introduction“. Polity Press, 1994.  http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Users/ssfa2/ecology.html. 
• de Steiguer, J. Edward. 2006. The Origins of Modern Environmental Thought. The University of Arizona Press. Tucson.
• John McCormick. 1995. The Global Environmental Movement. John Wiley. London.
• Marco Verweij and Michael Thompson (eds), 2006, Clumsy solutions for a complex world: Governance, politics and plural perceptions, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• World Bank, 2003, “Sustainable Development in a Dynamic World: Transforming Institutions, Growth, and Quality of Life”, World Development Report 2003,
  The World Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Oxford University Press
• wikipedia.org/