The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists advocate the sustainable management of resources and stewardship of the environment
through changes in public policy and individual behavior. In its
recognition of humanity as a participant in (not enemy of) ecosystems,
the movement is centered on ecology, health, and human rights.
The environmental movement is an international movement, represented by a range of organizations, from the large to grassroots
and varies from country to country. Due to its large membership,
varying and strong beliefs, and occasionally speculative nature, the
environmental movement is not always united in its goals. The movement
also encompasses some other movements with a more specific focus, such
as the climate movement. At its broadest, the movement includes private citizens, professionals, religious devotees, politicians, scientists, nonprofit organizations and individual advocates.
History
Early awareness
Levels of air pollution rose during the Industrial Revolution, sparking the first modern environmental laws to be passed in the mid-19th century
Early interest in the environment was a feature of the Romantic movement in the early 19th century. The poet William Wordsworth had travelled extensively in the Lake District
and wrote that it is a "sort of national property in which every man
has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive and a heart to
enjoy".
The origins of the environmental movement lay in the response to increasing levels of smoke pollution in the atmosphere during the Industrial Revolution. The emergence of great factories and the concomitant immense growth in coal consumption gave rise to an unprecedented level of air pollution in industrial centers; after 1900 the large volume of industrial chemical discharges added to the growing load of untreated human waste.
Under increasing political pressure from the urban middle-class, the
first large-scale, modern environmental laws came in the form of
Britain's 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.
Conservation movement
Students from the forestry school at Oxford, on a visit to the forests of Saxony in the year 1892
The modern conservation movement
was first manifested in the forests of India, with the practical
application of scientific conservation principles. The conservation
ethic that began to evolve included three core principles: that the
human activity damaged the environment, that there was a civic duty
to maintain the environment for future generations, and that
scientific, empirically based methods should be applied to ensure this
duty was carried out. Sir James Ranald Martin was prominent in promoting this ideology, publishing many medico-topographical
reports that demonstrated the scale of damage wrought through
large-scale deforestation and desiccation, and lobbying extensively for
the institutionalization of forest conservation activities in British India through the establishment of Forest Departments. The Madras Board of Revenue started local conservation efforts in 1842, headed by Alexander Gibson, a professional botanist
who systematically adopted a forest conservation program based on
scientific principles. This was the first case of state management of
forests in the world. Eventually, the government under Governor-General Lord Dalhousie introduced the first permanent and large-scale forest conservation program in the world in 1855, a model that soon spread to other colonies, as well the United States. In 1860, the Department banned the use shifting cultivation. Dr. Hugh Cleghorn's 1861 manual, The forests and gardens of South India, became the definitive work on the subject and was widely used by forest assistants in the subcontinent.
Sir Dietrich Brandis joined the British service in 1856 as superintendent of the teak forests of Pegu division in eastern Burma. During that time Burma's teak forests were controlled by militant Karen tribals. He introduced the "taungya" system,
in which Karen villagers provided labour for clearing, planting and
weeding teak plantations. He formulated new forest legislation and
helped establish research and training institutions. The Imperial
Forestry School at Dehradun was founded by him.
Formation of environmental protection societies
The late 19th century saw the formation of the first wildlife conservation societies.
The zoologist Alfred Newton published a series of investigations into the Desirability of establishing a 'Close-time' for the preservation of indigenous animals
between 1872 and 1903. His advocacy for legislation to protect animals
from hunting during the mating season led to the formation of the Plumage League (later the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) in 1889. The society acted as a protest group campaigning against the use of great crested grebe and kittiwake skins and feathers in fur clothing. The Society attracted growing support from the suburban middle-classes, and influenced the passage of the Sea Birds Preservation Act in 1869 as the first nature protection law in the world.
For most of the century from 1850 to 1950, however, the primary environmental cause was the mitigation of air pollution. The Coal Smoke Abatement Society was formed in 1898 making it one of the oldest environmental NGOs. It was founded by artist Sir William Blake Richmond, frustrated with the pall cast by coal smoke. Although there were earlier pieces of legislation, the Public Health Act 1875 required all furnaces and fireplaces to consume their own smoke.
John Ruskin an influential thinker who articulated the Romantic ideal of environmental protection and conservation
Systematic and general efforts on behalf of the environment only
began in the late 19th century; it grew out of the amenity movement in
Britain in the 1870s, which was a reaction to industrialization, the growth of cities, and worsening air and water pollution. Starting with the formation of the Commons Preservation Society in 1865, the movement championed rural preservation against the encroachments of industrialisation. Robert Hunter, solicitor for the society, worked with Hardwicke Rawnsley, Octavia Hill, and John Ruskin
to lead a successful campaign to prevent the construction of railways
to carry slate from the quarries, which would have ruined the unspoilt
valleys of Newlands and Ennerdale. This success led to the formation of the Lake District Defence Society (later to become The Friends of the Lake District).
In 1893 Hill, Hunter and Rawnsley agreed to set up a national
body to coordinate environmental conservation efforts across the
country; the "National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty" was formally inaugurated in 1894.
The organisation obtained secure footing through the 1907 National
Trust Bill, which gave the trust the status of a statutory corporation. and the bill was passed in August 1907.
An early "Back-to-Nature" movement, which anticipated the
romantic ideal of modern environmentalism, was advocated by
intellectuals such as John Ruskin, William Morris, and Edward Carpenter, who were all against consumerism, pollution and other activities that were harmful to the natural world.
The movement was a reaction to the urban conditions of the industrial
towns, where sanitation was awful, pollution levels intolerable and
housing terribly cramped. Idealists championed the rural life as a
mythical Utopia and advocated a return to it. John Ruskin argued that people should return to a small
piece of English ground, beautiful, peaceful, and fruitful. We will
have no steam engines upon it . . . we will have plenty of flowers and
vegetables . . . we will have some music and poetry; the children will
learn to dance to it and sing it.
Practical ventures in the establishment of small cooperative
farms were even attempted and old rural traditions, without the "taint
of manufacture or the canker of artificiality", were enthusiastically
revived, including the Morris dance and the maypole.
Original title page of Walden by Henry David Thoreau
The movement in the United States began in the late 19th century, 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
in 1892. The conservationist principles as well as the belief in an
inherent right of nature were to become the bedrock of modern
environmentalism. However, the early movement in the U.S. developed with
a contradiction; preservationists like John Muir wanted land and nature set aside for its own sake, and conservationists, such as Gifford Pinchot (appointed as the first Chief of the US Forest Service from 1905-1910), wanted to manage natural resources for human use.
20th century
In
the 20th century, environmental ideas continued to grow in popularity
and recognition. Efforts were beginning to be made to save the 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. In 1916 the National Park Service was founded by US President Woodrow Wilson.
Pioneers of the movement called for more efficient and professional
management of natural resources. They fought for reform because they
believed the destruction of forests, fertile soil, minerals, wildlife
and water resources would lead to the downfall of society. The group that has been the most active in recent years is the climate movement.
The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem, it will avail us little to solve all others Theodore Roosevelt (4 October 1907)
The U.S movement began to take off after World War II
as people began to recognize the costs of environmental negligence,
disease, and the expansion of air and water pollution through the
occurrence of several environmental disasters that occurred post-World
War II. Aldo Leopold wrote "A Sand County Almanac"
in the 1940s. He believed in a land ethic that recognized that
maintaining the "beauty, integrity, and health of natural systems" as a
moral and ethical imperative.
Another major literary force in the promotion of the environmental movement was Rachel Carson's Silent Spring about declining bird populations due to DDT,
an insecticide, pollution and man's attempts to control nature through
use of synthetic substances. Her core message for her readers, was to
identify the complex and fragile ecosystem and the threats facing the
people. In 1958 Carson started to work on her last book, with an idea
that nature needs human protection. Her influence was radioactive
fallout, smog, food additives, and pesticide use. Carson’s main focus
was on pesticides, which led her to identify nature as fragile and the
use of technology dangerous to humans and other species.
Both of these books helped bring the issues into the public eye Rachel Carson's Silent Spring sold over two million copies.
Earth Day 2007 at City College, San Diego
The first Earth Day was celebrated on 22 April 1970. Its founder, former Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson,
was inspired to create this day of environmental education and
awareness after seeing the oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara in
1969. Greenpeace
was created in 1971 as an organization that believed that political
advocacy and legislation were ineffective or inefficient solutions and
supported non-violent action. 1980 saw the creation of Earth First!, a group with an ecocentric
view of the world – believing in equality between the rights of humans
to flourish, the rights of all other species to flourish and the rights
of life-sustaining systems to flourish.
In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, several events illustrated the magnitude of environmental damage caused by humans. In 1954, a hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll exposed the 23 man crew of the Japanese fishing vessel Lucky Dragon 5 to radioactive fallout. In 1967 the oil tanker Torrey Canyon ran aground off the coast of Cornwall, and in 1969 oil spilled from an offshore well in California's Santa Barbara Channel. In 1971, the conclusion of a lawsuit in Japan drew international attention to the effects of decades of mercury poisoning on the people of Minamata.
At the same time, emerging scientific research drew new attention
to existing and hypothetical threats to the environment and humanity.
Among them were Paul R. Ehrlich, whose book The Population Bomb (1968) revived Malthusian concerns about the impact of exponential population growth. Biologist Barry Commoner
generated a debate about growth, affluence and "flawed technology."
Additionally, an association of scientists and political leaders known
as the Club of Rome published their report The Limits to Growth in 1972, and drew attention to the growing pressure on natural resources from human activities.
Meanwhile, technological accomplishments such as nuclear proliferation and photos of the Earth from outer space provided both new insights and new reasons for concern over Earth's seemingly small and unique place in the universe.
In 1972, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm,
and for the first time united the representatives of multiple
governments in discussion relating to the state of the global
environment. This conference led directly to the creation of government
environmental agencies and the UN Environment Program.
By the mid-1970s anti-nuclear activism had moved beyond local
protests and politics to gain a wider appeal and influence. Although it
lacked a single co-ordinating organization the anti-nuclear movement's efforts gained a great deal of attention, especially in the United Kingdom and United States. In the aftermath of the Three Mile Island accident
in 1979, many mass demonstrations took place. The largest one was held
in New York City in September 1979 and involved 200,000 people.
Since the 1970s, public awareness, environmental sciences, ecology, and technology have advanced to include modern focus points like ozone depletion, global climate change, acid rain, mutation breeding, genetically modified crops and genetically modified livestock.
With mutation breeding, crop cultivars were created by exposing seeds
to chemicals or radiation. Many of these cultivars are still being used
today. Genetically modified plants and animals are said by some
environmentalists to be inherently bad because they are unnatural.
Others point out the possible benefits of GM crops such as water
conservation through corn modified to be less "thirsty" and decreased
pesticide use through insect - resistant crops. They also point out that
some genetically modified livestock have accelerated growth which means
there are shorter production cycles which again results in a more
efficient use of feed.
Besides genetically modified crops and livestock, synthetic biology
is also on the rise and environmentalists argue that these also contain
risks, if these organisms were ever to end up in nature. This, as
unlike with genetically modified organisms, synthetic biology even uses base pairs that do not exist in nature.
United States
Beginning in the conservation movement at the beginning of the 20th century, the contemporary environmental movement's roots can be traced back to Murray Bookchin's Our Synthetic Environment, Paul R. Ehrlich's The Population Bomb, and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. American environmentalists have campaigned against nuclear weapons and nuclear power in 1960s and 1970s, acid rain in the 1980s, ozone depletion and deforestation in the 1990s, and most recently climate change and global warming.
The United States passed many pieces of environmental legislation in the 1970s, such as the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act. These remain as the foundations for current environmental standards.
Timeline of US environmental history
- 1832- Hot Springs Reservation
- 1864- Yosemite Valley
- 1872- Yellowstone National Park
- 1892- Sierra Club
- 1916- National Park Service Organic Act
- 1916- National Audubon Society
- 1949- UN Scientific Conference on the Conservation and Utilization of Resources
- 1961- World Wildlife Foundation
- 1964- Land and Water Conservation Act
- 1964- National Wilderness Preservation System
- 1968- National Trails System Act
- 1968- National Wild and Scenic Rivers System/Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
- 1969- National Environmental Policy Act
- 1970- First Earth Day- 22 April
- 1970- Clean Air Act
- 1970- Environmental Protection Agency
- 1971- Greenpeace
- 1972- Clean Water Act
- 1973- Endangered Species Act
- 1980- Earth First!
- 1992- UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro
Latin America
After the International Environmental Conference in Stockholm
in 1972 Latin American officials returned with a high hope of growth
and protection of the fairly untouched natural resources. Governments
spent millions of dollars, and created departments and pollution
standards. However, the outcomes have not always been what officials had
initially hoped. Activists blame this on growing urban populations and
industrial growth. Many Latin American countries have had a large
inflow of immigrants that are living in substandard housing. Enforcement
of the pollution standards is lax and penalties are minimal; in
Venezuela, the largest penalty for violating an environmental law is
50,000 bolivar
fine ($3,400) and 3 days in jail. In the 1970s or 1980s many Latin
American countries were transitioning from military dictatorships to
democratic governments.
Brazil
In 1992, Brazil came under scrutiny with the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil has a history of little environmental awareness. It has the highest biodiversity
in the world and also the highest amount of habitat destruction.
One-third of the world's forests lie in Brazil, and they have the
largest river, The Amazon, and the largest rainforest, the Amazon Rainforest.
The people have raised funds to create state parks and increase the
consciousness of people who have destroyed forests and polluted
waterways. They have several organizations that have fronted the
environmental movement. The Blue Wave Foundation was created in 1989 and
has partnered with advertising companies to promote national education
campaigns to keep Brazil's beaches clean. Funatura was created in 1986
and is a wildlife sanctuary program. Pro-Natura International is a private environmental organization created in 1986.
Europe
In 1952 the Great London Smog
episode killed thousands of people and led the UK to create the first
Clean Air Act in 1956. In 1957 the first major nuclear accident occurred
in Windscale in northern England. The supertanker Torrey Canyon ran aground off the coast of Cornwall
in 1967 causing the first major oil leak that killed marine life along
the coast. In 1972, in Stockholm, the United Nations Conference on the
Human Environment created the UN Environment Programme. The EU's environmental policy was formally founded by a European Council
declaration and the first five-year environment programme was adopted.
The main idea of the declaration was that prevention is better than the
cure and the polluter should pay. 1979 saw the partial meltdown of Three Mile Island in the USA.
In the 1980s the green parties that were created a decade before
began to have some political success.. In 1986, there was a nuclear
accident in Chernobyl,
Ukraine. The end of the 1980s and start of the 1990s saw the fall of
communism across central and Eastern Europe, the fall of the [Berlin
Wall], and the Union of East and West Germany. In 1992 there was a UN
summit held in Rio de Janeiro where Agenda 21 was adopted. The Kyoto Protocol
was created in 1997 which set specific targets and deadlines to reduce
global greenhouse gas emissions. In the early 2000s activists believed
that environmental policy concerns were overshadowed by energy security,
globalism, and terrorism.
Asia
Middle East
The environmental movement is reaching the less developed world with different degrees of success. The Arab world, including the Middle East and North Africa, has different adaptations of the environmental movement. Countries on the Persian Gulf
have high incomes and rely heavily on the large amount of energy
resources in the area. Each country in the Arab world has varying
combinations of low or high amounts of natural resources and low or high
amounts of labor.
The League of Arab States
has one specialized sub-committee, of 12 standing specialized
subcommittee in the Foreign Affairs Ministerial Committees, which deals
with Environmental Issues. Countries in the League of Arab States have
demonstrated an interest in environmental issue, on paper some
environmental activists have doubts about the level of commitment to
environmental issues;; being a part of the world community may have
obliged these countries to portray concern for the environment. Initial
level of environmental awareness may be the creation of a ministry of
the environment. The year of establishment of a ministry is also
indicative of level of engagement. Saudi Arabia was the first to
establish environmental law in 1992 followed by Egypt in 1994. Somalia
is the only country without environmental law. In 2010 the Environmental
Performance Index listed Algeria as the top Arab country at 42 of 163;
Morocco was at 52 and Syria at 56. The Environmental Performance Index
measures the ability of a country to actively manage and protect their
environment and the health of their citizens. A weighted index is
created by giving 50% weight for environmental health objective (health)
and 50% for ecosystem vitality (ecosystem); values range from 0-100. No
Arab countries were in the top quartile, and 7 countries were in the
lowest quartile.
South Korea and Taiwan
South Korea and Taiwan experienced similar growth in industrialization from 1965-1990 with few environmental controls. South Korea's Han River and Nakdong River
were so polluted by unchecked dumping of industrial waste that they
were close to being classified as biologically dead. Taiwan's formula
for balanced growth was to prevent industrial concentration and
encourage manufacturers to set up in the countryside. This led to 20% of
the farmland being polluted by industrial waste and 30% of the rice
grown on the island was contaminated with heavy metals. Both countries
had spontaneous environmental movements drawing participants from
different classes. Their demands were linked with issues of employment,
occupational health, and agricultural crisis. They were also quite
militant; the people learned that protesting can bring results. The
polluting factories were forced to make immediate improvements of the
conditions or pay compensation to victims. Some were even forced to shut
down or move locations. The people were able to force the government to
come out with new restrictive rules on toxins, industrial waste, and
air pollution. All of these new regulations caused the migration of
those polluting industries from Taiwan and South Korea to China and
other countries in Southeast Asia with more relaxed environmental laws.
China
China's
environmental movement is characterized by both the rise of
environmental NGOs and policy advocacy and spontaneous alliances and
protests that often only occur at the local level.
Environmental protests in China are increasingly expanding their scope
of concerns, calling for broader participation "in the name of the
public."
The Chinese have realized the ability of riots and protests to
have success and had led to an increase in disputes in China by 30%
since 2005 to more than 50,000 events. Protests cover topics such as
environmental issues, land loss,
income, and political issues. They have also grown in size from about
10 people or fewer in the mid-1990s to 52 people per incident in 2004.
China has more relaxed environmental laws than other countries in Asia,
so many polluting factories have relocated to China causing pollution in China.
Water pollution, water scarcity, soil pollution, soil degradation, and desertification are issues currently in discussion in China. The groundwater table of the North China Plain
is dropping by 1.5 m (5 ft) per year. This groundwater table occurs in
the region of China that produces 40% of the country's grain. The Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims
works to confront legal issues associated with environmental justice by
hearing court cases that expose the narratives of victims of
environmental pollution.
As China continues domestic economic reforms and integration into
global markets, there emerge new linkages between China's domestic
environmental degradation and global econological crisis.
Comparing the experiend of China, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan
reveals that the impact of environmental activism is heavily modified by
domestic political context, particularly the level of integration of
mass-based protests and policy advocacy NGOs. Hinted by the history of
neighboring Japan and South Korea, the possible convergence of NGOs and
anti-pollution protests will have significant implications for Chinese
environmental politics in the coming years.
India
Environmental
and public health is an ongoing struggle within India. The first seed
of an environmental movement in India was the foundation in 1964 of Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh, a labour cooperative started by Chandi Prasad Bhatt. It was inaugurated by Sucheta Kriplani and founded on a land donated by Shyma Devi. This initiative was eventually followed up with the Chipko movement starting in 1974.
The most severe single event underpinning the movement was the Bhopal gas leakage on 3 December 1984. 40 tons of methyl isocyanate was released, immediately killing 2,259 people and ultimately affecting 700,000 citizens.
India has a national campaign against Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola
plants due to their practices of drawing ground water and contaminating
fields with sludge. The movement is characterized by local struggles
against intensive aquaculture farms. The most influential part of the
environmental movement in India is the anti-dam movement. Dam creation
has been thought of as a way for India to catch up with the West by
connecting to the power grid with giant dams, coal or oil-powered plants, or nuclear plants. Jhola Aandolan a mass movement is conducting as fighting against polyethylene carry bags uses and promoting cloth/jute/paper carry bags to protect environment & nature.
Activists in the Indian environmental movement consider global warming,
sea levels rising, and glaciers retreating decreasing the amount of
water flowing into streams to be the biggest challenges for them to face
in the early twenty-first century.
Eco Revolution movement has been started by Eco Needs Foundation in 2008 from Aurangabad Maharashtra state .The pioneer of Eco Revolution movement is Prof.Priyanand Agale more than 20,000 youths associated with this movement to strengthen
this movement Eco Needs Foundation organized mass environmental
awareness programmes. To sought participation of children, Youths,
researchers, spiritual and political leaders.Foundation had conducted
International conferences at India Eco Revolution 2011 which concluded with Aurangabad Declaration for River Conservation. Eco Revolution 2012 conference was conducted in Sri Lanka which concluded with Colombo Declaration on spirituality for environmental conservation in collaboration with Sri Lanka government. Eco Revolution 2013 was conducted at Nepal which concluded with the Phokhara Declaration for effect of climate change at high altitude .Foundation launched the worlds first environmental social networking site ecoface.in. Foundation developed model of sustainable development at Dhanora village of Dholpur, Rajasthan as a India's First smart village. Eco Needs Foundation started World Rights to Water Day 20 March 2017.
Bangladesh
Mithun Roy Chowdhury, President, Save Nature & Wildlife (SNW), Bangladesh, insisted that the people of Bangladesh raise their voice against Tipaimukh Dam, being constructed by the Government of India. He said Tipaimukh Dam project will be another "death trap for Bangladesh like the Farakka Barrage," that would lead to an environmental disaster for 50 million people in the Meghna River basin. He said that this project will start desertification in Bangladesh.
Scope of the movement
Before flue-gas desulfurization was installed, the air-polluting emissions from this power plant in New Mexico contained excessive amounts of sulfur dioxide
Environmental science is the study of the interactions among the physical, chemical and biological components of the environment.
Primary focus points
The
environmental movement is broad in scope and can include any topic
related to the environment, conservation, and biology, as well as
preservation of landscapes, flora, and fauna for a variety of purposes
and uses. See List of environmental issues.
When an act of violence is committed against someone or some
institution in the name of environmental defense it is referred to as eco terrorism.
- The conservation movement seeks to protect natural areas for sustainable consumption, as well as traditional (hunting, fishing, trapping) and spiritual use.
- Environmental conservation is the process in which one is involved in conserving the natural aspects of the environment. Whether through reforestation, recycling, or pollution control, environmental conservation sustains the natural quality of life.
- Environmental health movement dates at least to Progressive Era, and focuses on urban standards like clean water, efficient sewage handling, and stable population growth. Environmental health could also deal with nutrition, preventive medicine, aging, and other concerns specific to human well-being. Environmental health is also seen as an indicator for the state of the environment, or an early warning system for what may happen to humans
- Environmental justice is a movement that began in the U.S. in the 1980s and seeks an end to environmental racism and prevent low-income and minority communities from an unbalanced exposure to highways, garbage dumps, and factories. The Environmental Justice movement seeks to link "social" and "ecological" environmental concerns, while at the same time preventing de facto racism, and classism. This makes it particularly adequate for the construction of labor-environmental alliances.
- Ecology movement could involve the Gaia Theory, as well as Value of Earth and other interactions between humans, science, and responsibility.
- Bright green environmentalism is a currently popular sub-movement, which emphasizes the idea that through technology, good design and more thoughtful use of energy and resources, people can live responsible, sustainable lives while enjoying prosperity.
- Light green, and dark green environmentalism are yet other sub-movements, respectively distinguished by seeing environmentalism as a lifestyle choice (light greens), and promoting reduction in human numbers and/or a relinquishment of technology (dark greens)
- Deep Ecology is an ideological spinoff of the ecology movement that views the diversity and integrity of the planetary ecosystem, in and for itself, as its primary value.
- The anti-nuclear movement opposes the use of various nuclear technologies. The initial anti-nuclear objective was nuclear disarmament and later the focus began to shift to other issues, mainly opposition to the use of nuclear power. There have been many large anti-nuclear demonstrations and protests. Major anti-nuclear groups include Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service.
Environmental law and theory
Property rights
Many environmental lawsuits question the legal rights of property
owners, and whether the general public has a right to intervene with
detrimental practices occurring on someone else's land. Environmental
law organizations exist all across the world, such as the Environmental Law and Policy Center in the midwestern United States.
Citizens' rights
One of the earliest lawsuits to establish that citizens may sue for environmental and aesthetic harms was Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference v. Federal Power Commission, decided in 1965 by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The case helped halt the construction of a power plant on Storm King Mountain in New York State. See also United States environmental law and David Sive, an attorney who was involved in the case.
Nature's rights
Christopher
D. Stone's 1972 essay, "Should trees have standing?" addressed the
question of whether natural objects themselves should have legal rights.
In the essay, Stone suggests that his argument is valid because many
current rightsholders (women, children) were once seen as objects.
Environmental reactivism
Numerous
criticisms and ethical ambiguities have led to growing concerns about
technology, including the use of potentially harmful pesticides, water additives like fluoride, and the extremely dangerous ethanol-processing plants.
NIMBY syndrome
refers to public outcry caused by knee-jerk reaction to an
unwillingness to be exposed to even necessary developments. Some serious
biologists and ecologists created the scientific ecology movement which would not confuse empirical data with visions of a desirable future world.
Environmentalism today
Composite images of Earth generated by NASA in 2001 (left) and 2002 (right)
Today, the sciences of ecology and environmental science,
in addition to any aesthetic goals, provide the basis of unity to some
of the serious environmentalists. As more information is gathered in
scientific fields, more scientific issues like biodiversity, as opposed to mere aesthetics, are a concern to environmentalists. Conservation biology is a rapidly developing field.
In recent years, the environmental movement has increasingly focused on global warming as one of the top issues. As concerns about climate change moved more into the mainstream, from the connections drawn between global warming and Hurricane Katrina to Al Gore's 2006 documentary film An Inconvenient Truth,
more and more environmental groups refocused their efforts. In the
United States, 2007 witnessed the largest grassroots environmental
demonstration in years, Step It Up 2007, with rallies in over 1,400 communities and all 50 states for real global warming solutions.
Many religious organizations and individual churches now have programs and activities dedicated to environmental issues. The religious movement is often supported by interpretation of scriptures. Most major religious groups are represented including Jewish, Islamic, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, Zoroastrian, Christian and Catholic.
Radical environmentalism
Radical environmentalism emerged from an ecocentrism-based
frustration with the co-option of mainstream environmentalism. The
radical environmental movement aspires to what scolar Christopher Manes
calls "a new kind of environmental activism: iconoclastic,
uncompromising, discontented with traditional conservation policy, at
times illegal ..." Radical environmentalism presupposes a need to
reconsider Western ideas of religion and philosophy (including capitalism, patriarchy and globalization) sometimes through "resacralising" and reconnecting with nature.
Greenpeace represents an organisation with a radical approach, but has
contributed in serious ways towards understanding of critical issues,
and has a science-oriented core with radicalism as a means to media
exposure. Groups like Earth First! take a much more radical posture. Some radical environmentalist groups, like Earth First! and the Earth Liberation Front, illegally sabotage or destroy infrastructural capital.
Criticisms
Conservative critics of the movement characterize it as radical and misguided. Especially critics of the United States Endangered Species Act,
which has come under scrutiny lately, and the Clean Air Act, which they
said conflict with private property rights, corporate profits and the
nation's overall economic growth. Critics also challenge the scientific evidence for global warming. They argue that the environmental movement has diverted attention from more pressing issues.
