Editing Environmental movement

{{short description|Movement for addressing environmental issues}}
{{broader|Environmentalism}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}
[[File:StRolloxChemical 1831.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Levels of air pollution rose during the [[Industrial Revolution]], sparking the first modern [[environmental law]]s to be passed in the mid-19th century.]]
{{Green politics sidebar|Related}}

The '''environmental movement''' (sometimes referred to as the '''ecology movement''') is a [[social movement]] that aims to protect the natural world from harmful environmental practices in order to create [[sustainable living]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=McCormick |first=John |title=Reclaiming Paradise: The Global Environmental Movement |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xC16yGp9-HUC&pg=PA1 |date=1991 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-20660-2 |language=en |access-date=8 April 2023 |archive-date=8 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408120118/https://books.google.com/books?id=xC16yGp9-HUC&pg=PA1 |url-status=live }}</ref> In its recognition of humanity as a participant in (not an enemy of) [[ecosystem]]s, the movement is centered on [[ecology]], [[health]], as well as [[human rights]].

The environmental movement is an international movement, represented by a range of environmental organizations, from enterprises 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. At its broadest, the movement includes private citizens, professionals, [[Religion and environmentalism|religious devotees]], politicians, scientists, [[nonprofit organization]]s, and individual advocates like former Wisconsin Senator [[Gaylord Nelson]] and [[Rachel Carson]] in the 20th century.

Since the 1970s, public awareness, [[environmental science]]s, [[ecology]], and technology have advanced to include modern focus points like [[ozone]] depletion, [[global warming|climate change]], [[acid rain]], [[mutation breeding]], [[genetically modified crops]] and [[genetically modified livestock]].

The [[climate movement]] can be regarded as a sub-type of the environmental movement.

== Scope ==

[[File:Air pollution by industrial chimneys.jpg|thumb|Before [[flue-gas desulfurization]] was installed, the [[air pollution|air-polluting]] emissions from this power plant in [[New Mexico]] contained excessive amounts of [[sulfur dioxide]].]]The environmental movement contains a number of subcommunities, that have developed with different approaches and philosophies in different parts of the world. Notably, the early environmental movement experienced a deep tension between the philosophies of [[Conservation movement|conservation]] and broader [[environmental protection]].<ref name="l">{{Cite journal|last1=Tesch|first1=Danielle|last2=Kempton|first2=Willett|date=2004-01-01|title=Who is an Environmentalist? The Polysemy of Environmentalist Terms and Correlated Environmental Actions|url=https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/jea/vol8/iss1/4|journal=Journal of Ecological Anthropology|volume=8|issue=1|pages=67–83|doi=10.5038/2162-4593.8.1.4|issn=1528-6509|doi-access=free}}</ref> In recent decades the rise to prominence of [[environmental justice]], indigenous rights and key environmental crises like the [[Climate crisis|climate crises]], has led to the development of other environmentalist identities.

===Focus points===
{{Further|Environmentalism|List of environmental issues|Human impact on the environment}}

The environmental movement is broad in scope and can include any topic related to the environment, conservation, and biology, as well as the preservation of landscapes, flora, and fauna for a variety of purposes and uses. Examples include: 

* [[Nature conservation|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 (biophysical)|environment]], or an early warning system for what may happen to humans
* [[Environmental justice]] is a [[social movement]] that addresses injustice that occurs when poor or marginalized communities are harmed by [[hazardous waste]], [[resource extraction]], and other [[Land use|land uses]] from which they do not benefit.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last1=Size |first1=Julie |last2=London |first2=Jonathan K. |date=July 2008 |title=Environmental Justice at the Crossroads |journal=Sociology Compass |language=en |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=1331–1354 |doi=10.1111/j.1751-9020.2008.00131.x}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199286294.001.0001 |title=Defining Environmental Justice |date=2007 |last1=Schlosberg |first1=David |isbn=978-0-19-928629-4 }}</ref>{{pn|date=April 2025}}

==== Genetically modified plants and animals ====
[[Genetically modified plant|Genetically modified plants]] and [[Genetically modified animal|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.<ref>{{cite web |last=Rincon |first=Paul |date=25 February 2015 |title=Is the world ready for GM animals? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31604233 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806053845/https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31604233 |archive-date=6 August 2020 |access-date=16 August 2018 |publisher=BBC}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 2016 |title=FUTURE BRIEF : Synthetic biology and biodiversity |url=http://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/newsalert/pdf/synthetic_biology_biodiversity_FB15_en.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171015125328/http://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/newsalert/pdf/synthetic_biology_biodiversity_FB15_en.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2017 |access-date=16 August 2018 |publisher=European Commission}}</ref>

==== Anti-nuclear movement ====
The [[anti-nuclear movement]] opposes the use of various [[nuclear technology|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 [[Demonstration (people)|demonstrations]] and [[protest]]s. The [[pro-nuclear movement]] consists of people, including former opponents of nuclear energy, who calculate that the threat to humanity from climate change is far worse than any risk associated with nuclear energy.

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 coordinating organization the anti-nuclear movement's efforts gained a great deal of attention, especially in the [[United Kingdom]] and United States.<ref name="eleven">Walker, J. Samuel (2004). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=tf0AfoynG-EC&q=Three+Mile+Island:+A+Nuclear+Crisis+in+Historical+Perspective Three Mile Island: A Nuclear Crisis in Historical Perspective] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323071157/https://books.google.com/books?id=tf0AfoynG-EC&q=Three+Mile+Island:+A+Nuclear+Crisis+in+Historical+Perspective|date=23 March 2023}}'' (Berkeley: University of California Press), pp. 10–11.</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hrebenar |first1=Ronald J. |url=https://archive.org/details/interestgrouppol00hreb |title=Interest Group Politics in America |last2=Scott |first2=Ruth K. |date=16 August 1997 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=9781563247033 |page=[https://archive.org/details/interestgrouppol00hreb/page/149 149] |quote=nevada test site protest demonstration. |access-date=16 August 2018 |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name="diablo">{{cite book |last=Giugni |first=Marco |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kn6YhNtyVigC&q=%22three+mile+island%22+anti-nuclear+protests+demonstrations&pg=PA45 |title=Social Protest and Policy Change: Ecology, Antinuclear, and Peace Movements in Comparative Perspective |date=16 August 2018 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9780742518278 |page=45 |access-date=16 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211001042241/https://books.google.com/books?id=Kn6YhNtyVigC&q=%22three+mile+island%22+anti-nuclear+protests+demonstrations&pg=PA45 |archive-date=1 October 2021 |url-status=live |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Herman |first=Robin |date=24 September 1979 |title=Nearly 200,000 Rally to Protest Nuclear Energy |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |page=B1}}</ref>

=== Examples of environmental protests ===
[[File:March_Against_Monsanto_Vancouver.jpg|thumb|"[[March Against Monsanto]]", Vancouver, Canada, 25 May 2013]]
{{Main|List of environmental protests}}

[[Tree sitting]] is a form of activism in which the protester sits in a tree in an attempt to stop the removal of a tree or to impede the demolition of an area with the longest and most famous tree-sitter being [[Julia Butterfly Hill]], who spent 738 days in a California Redwood, saving a three-acre tract of forest.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fountain |first=Henry |date=18 June 2006 |title=Rising Above the Environmental Debate |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/weekinreview/18basic.html |work=The New York Times}}</ref> Also notable is the [[Yellow Finch tree sit]], which was a 932-day blockade of the [[Mountain Valley Pipeline]] from 2018 to 2021.<ref name=":02">{{Cite news |last=Hammack |first=Laurence |date=12 November 2020 |title=Judge orders tree-sitters down after more than 2 years |url=https://roanoke.com/business/local/judge-orders-tree-sitters-down-after-more-than-2-years/article_3a53db1a-250b-11eb-8b06-4bf4a91a32cc.html |work=The Roanoke Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Dhillon |first=Matt |date=16 April 2021 |title=Last Tree-sitters Removed from Path of Mountain Valley Pipeline |url=https://appvoices.org/2021/04/16/tree-sitters-removed-mvp/ |work=The Appalachian Voice}}</ref>

[[Sit-in|Sit-ins]] can be used to encourage social change, such as the Greensboro sit-ins, a series of protests in 1960 to stop racial segregation, but can also be used in ecoactivism, as in the [[Dakota Access Pipeline]] Protest.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mele |first=Christopher |date=2016 |title=Veterans To Serve as 'Human Shields' for Dakota Pipeline Protestors |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/us/veterans-to-serve-as-human-shields-for-pipeline-protesters.html?_r=0 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

Notable environmental protests and campaigns include:

{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* [[2010 Xinfa aluminum plant protest]]
* [[Anti-WAAhnsinns Festival]]
* [[Car-Free Days]]
* [[Camp for Climate Action]]
* [[Campaign against Climate Change]]
* [[Climate Rush]]
* [[Cofán people#Oil drilling|Cofán people oil drilling protest (Ecuador)]]
* [[Earth Day]]
* [[Earth First!]]
* [[Earthlife Africa]]
* [[Extinction Rebellion]] 
* [[Global Climate Strike (disambiguation)|Global Climate Strike]]s<!--Intentional link to DAB page--><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/27/climate-crisis-6-million-people-join-latest-wave-of-worldwide-protests|title = Climate crisis: 6 million people join latest wave of global protests|website = [[TheGuardian.com]]|date = 27 September 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/2019/9/17/20864740/greta-thunberg-youth-climate-strike-fridays-future|title = Greta Thunberg is leading kids and adults from 150 countries in a massive Friday climate strike|date = 17 September 2019}}</ref>
* [[Global Day of Action]]
* [[Gurindji Strike]]
* [[Hands off our Forest]]
* [[Homes before Roads]]
* [[(Indigenous) Water protectors|Water Protectors]]
* [[Just Stop Oil]] 
* [[Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta]]
* [[Love Canal protests]]
* [[March Against Monsanto]]
* [[Nevada Desert Experience]]
* [[Plane Mad]]
* [[Plane Stupid]]
* [[Qidong protest]]
* [[Save Manapouri Campaign]]
* [[Say Yes demonstrations]]
* [[Shifang protest]]
* [[Stop Climate Chaos]]
{{div col end}}

==History==
{{Main|Environmentalism#History|Conservation movement#History}}

The origins of the environmental movement in Europe and North America lay in 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 [[history of coal mining|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.<ref name="Donora">{{cite web |url=http://www.ametsoc.org/sloan/cleanair/ |title=History of the Clean Air Act |access-date=14 February 2006 |first=James R. |last=Fleming |author2=Bethany R. Knorr |publisher=American Meteorological Society |archive-date=10 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610133251/http://www.ametsoc.org/sloan/cleanair/ |url-status=live }}</ref> 

== Criticisms ==

{{see also|Environmentalism#Criticism|Anti-environmentalism|Criticism of the environmental movement in the United States}}

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,{{when|date=October 2022}} and the Clean Air Act, which they said conflict with private property rights, corporate profits and the nation's overall economic growth. Critics also [[Climate change denial|challenge the scientific evidence for global warming]]. They argue that the environmental movement has diverted attention from more pressing issues.<ref name="Culture Wars">{{cite book |last=Chapman |first=Roger |url=https://archive.org/details/culturewarsencyc00chap |title=Culture wars: an encyclopedia of issues, viewpoints, and voices |publisher=M.E. Sharpe, Inc |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-7656-1761-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/culturewarsencyc00chap/page/n197 162] |url-access=limited}}</ref> Western environmental activists have also been criticized for [[performative activism]], [[eco-colonialism]], and enacting [[white savior]] tropes, especially celebrities who promote conservation in developing countries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Abidin |first1=Crystal |last2=Brockington |first2=Dan |last3=Goodman |first3=Michael K. |last4=Mostafanezhad |first4=Mary |last5=Richey |first5=Lisa Ann |date=17 October 2020 |title=The Tropes of Celebrity Environmentalism |journal=Annual Review of Environment and Resources |language=en |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=387–410 |doi=10.1146/annurev-environ-012320-081703 |issn=1543-5938 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dillon |first1=Nina M. |date=1991 |title=The Feasibility of Debt-For-Nature Swaps |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/ncjint16&div=15&id=&page= |url-status=live |journal=North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation |volume=16 |pages=127 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828080408/https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/ncjint16&div=15&id=&page= |archive-date=28 August 2022 |access-date=28 August 2022}}</ref>

When residents living near proposed developments organize opposition they are sometimes called [[NIMBY|"NIMBYS"]], short for "not in my back yard".<ref>{{cite web |title=Definition of Nimby |url=http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/nimby |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721203623/http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/nimby |archive-date=21 July 2015 |access-date=17 July 2015 |publisher=Macmillan Dictionary}}</ref>

==By country==
{{World topic|Environmental movement in|title=Environmental movement by country|noredlinks=yes|state=expanded}}

=== Asia ===

==== 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 the Tipaimukh Dam project will be another "death trap for Bangladesh like the [[Farakka Barrage]]," which 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Protest against the Tipaimukh Dam by Save Nature & Wildlife (SNW), Bangladesh |url=http://www.newstoday.com.bd/index.php?option=details&news_id=50039&date=2012-01-14 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205055556/http://www.newstoday.com.bd/index.php?option=details&news_id=50039&date=2012-01-14 |archive-date=5 December 2020 |access-date=17 March 2013 |website=Newstoday.com.bd}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Long march against Tipai dam begins |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-97465 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919052342/https://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-97465 |archive-date=19 September 2020 |access-date=2 September 2016 |newspaper=The Daily Star}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Protest against Tipaimukh dam |url=http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=93865&date=2012-01-14#.TxCr7b1D420.facebook |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817014402/http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=93865&date=2012-01-14#.TxCr7b1D420.facebook |archive-date=17 August 2016 |access-date=17 March 2013 |publisher=Thefinancialexpress-bd.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Protest tipai Dam |url=http://www.kalerkantho.com/?view=details&archiev=yes&arch_date=14-01-2012&type=gold&data=Food&pub_no=761&cat_id=1&menu_id=43&news_type_id=1&index=41 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527120040/https://www.kalerkantho.com/?view=details&archiev=yes&arch_date=14-01-2012&type=gold&data=Food&pub_no=761&cat_id=1&menu_id=43&news_type_id=1&index=41 |archive-date=27 May 2021 |access-date=17 March 2013 |publisher=Kalerkantho.com}}</ref>

Bangladesh was ranked the most polluted country in the world due to defective automobiles, particularly diesel-powered vehicles, and hazardous gases from industry. The air is a hazard to Bangladesh's human health, ecology, and economic progress.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rabin |first1=Mominul Haque |last2=Wang |first2=Qingyue |last3=Kabir |first3=Md Humayun |last4=Wang |first4=Weiqian |date=January 2023 |title=Pollution characteristics and risk assessment of potentially toxic elements of fine street dust during COVID-19 lockdown in Bangladesh |journal=Environmental Science and Pollution Research |language=en |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=4323–4345 |bibcode=2023ESPR...30.4323R |doi=10.1007/s11356-022-22541-8 |issn=0944-1344 |pmc=9377810 |pmid=35971052 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

==== China ====
{{Further|Environmentalism in China}}

China's environmental movement is becoming stronger, with the establishment of environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are advocating policy changes and placing environmental causes on the national agenda. These activists have the tendency to spontaneously join with local citizens, specialists, as well as other actors to work on specific environmental concerns. Grassroots mobilization and protests have also become more common, frequently focusing on localized concerns such as pollution, forest depletion, or biodiversity conservation. Such campaigns may not necessarily attract extensive national media coverage, but collectively they promote environmental awareness and promote sustainability in China.<ref>{{cite web |author=Fengshi Wu |year=2009 |title=Environmental Activism and Civil Society Development in China: 15 Years in Review |url=http://www.harvard-yenching.org/sites/harvard-yenching.org/files/featurefiles/WU%20Fengshi_Environmental%20Civil%20Society%20in%20China2.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309234612/https://www.harvard-yenching.org/sites/harvard-yenching.org/files/featurefiles/WU%20Fengshi_Environmental%20Civil%20Society%20in%20China2.pdf |archive-date=9 March 2017 |access-date=15 August 2018 |publisher=Harvard-Yenching Institute Working Paper Series}}</ref> Environmental protests in China are increasingly expanding their scope of concerns, calling for broader participation "in the name of the public."<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Christoph Steinhardt |author2=Fengshi Wu |year=2016 |title=In the Name of the Public: Environmental Protest and the Changing Landscape of Popular Contention in China |journal=The China Journal |volume=75 |pages=61–82 |doi=10.1086/684010 |s2cid=102491027}}</ref>

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 consumption|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&nbsp;m (5&nbsp;ft) per year. This groundwater table occurs in the region of China that produces 40% of the country's grain.<ref name="Asia">{{cite web |last=Bello |first=Walden |date=12 October 2007 |title=The Environmental Movement in the Global South |url=http://www.tni.org/archives/act/17458 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605202704/http://www.tni.org/archives/act/17458 |archive-date=5 June 2013 |access-date=15 February 2013 |publisher=Transnational Institute}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Guha |first=Ramachandra |title=The Last Liberal |publisher=Permanent Black |pages=27–28}}</ref> [[Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims|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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yang |first=Guobin |year=2005 |title=Environmental NGOs and Institutional Dynamics in China |url=https://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/341/ |url-status=live |journal=The China Quarterly |volume=181 |pages=44–66 |doi=10.1017/S0305741005000032 |s2cid=15522940 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527121539/https://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/341/ |archive-date=27 May 2021 |access-date=2 July 2018}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=July 2018}}  As China continues domestic economic reforms and integration into global markets, there emerge new linkages between China's domestic [[environmental degradation]] and global ecological crisis.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Fengshi Wu |title=Critical Issues in Contemporary China: Unity, Stability and Development |author2=Richard Edmonds |publisher=Routledge |year=2017 |editor=Czes Tubilewicz |place=London and New York |pages=105–119 |chapter=Chapter 7: Environmental degradation in China}}</ref>

Comparing the experience 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.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Fengshi Wu |title=Routledge Handbook of Environment and Society in Asia |author2=Wen Bo |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |editor1=Graeme Lang |place=London and New York |pages=105–119 |chapter=Nongovernmental Organizations and Environmental Protest: Impacts in East Asia |editor2=Paul Harris}}</ref>

====India====
{{Further|Environmental movement in 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 land donated by Shyma Devi. This initiative was eventually followed up with the [[Chipko movement]] starting in 1974.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Badri |first=Adarsh |date=2024-03-04 |title=Feeling for the Anthropocene: affective relations and ecological activism in the global South |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiae010 |journal=International Affairs |volume=100 |issue=2 |pages=731–749 |doi=10.1093/ia/iiae010 |issn=0020-5850}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Badri |first=Adarsh |date=2024-06-03 |title=Chipko's Lessons for Today's Global Environmentalism – Adarsh Badri |url=https://adarshbadri.me/international-affairs/chipko-lesson-global-activism/ |access-date=2024-07-19 |language=en-US}}</ref>

The most severe single event underpinning the movement was the [[Bhopal disaster|Bhopal gas leakage]] on 3 December 1984.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Taylor |first=Alan |title=Bhopal: The World's Worst Industrial Disaster, 30 Years Later - The Atlantic |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/12/bhopal-the-worlds-worst-industrial-disaster-30-years-later/100864/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606200812/https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/12/bhopal-the-worlds-worst-industrial-disaster-30-years-later/100864/ |archive-date=6 June 2020 |access-date=10 June 2020 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}</ref> 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 groundwater 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 [[Social movement|movement]] is conducting as fighting against [[polyethylene]] carry bags uses and promoting cloth/jute/paper carry bags to protect the environment and [[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.<ref name="Asia" />
Eco Revolution movement has been started by [https://econeeds.org/ Eco Needs Foundation]<ref>{{cite web |title=Welcome to Eco Needs Foundation |url=http://www.econeeds.org |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527120113/http://www.econeeds.org/ |archive-date=27 May 2021 |access-date=2 July 2017 |website=Econeeds.org}}</ref> in 2008 from Aurangabad Maharashtra that seeks the participation of children, youth, researchers, spiritual and political leaders to organise awareness programmes and conferences. Child activists against [[air pollution in India]] and [[Greenhouse gas emissions by India|greenhouse gas emissions]] by India include [[Licypriya Kangujam]]. From the mid to late 2010s a coalition of urban and Indigenous communities came together to protect [[Aarey Forest|Aarey]], a forest located in the suburbs of [[Mumbai]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Harris |first1=Kenzie |last2=Jhaveri |first2=Radhika |date=2024-02-06 |title=Commons Conversations: Insights into Environmental Justice Movements in India with Radhika Jhaveri |url=https://commonslibrary.org/commons-conversations-insights-into-environmental-justice-movements-in-india-with-radhika-jhaveri/ |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU}}</ref>  Farming and indigenous communities have also opposed pollution and clearing caused by mining in states such as [[Goa]], [[Odisha]], and [[Chhattisgarh]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smit |first=Jan Paul |date=2022-11-21 |title=Mining Resistance in India |url=https://commonslibrary.org/mining-resistance-in-india/ |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU}}</ref>

==== Middle East ====
[[File:Share of agricultural land which is irrigated, OWID.svg|thumb|Share of agricultural land which is irrigated (2021)]]
Environmental activism in the [[Arab world]], including [[Middle East and North Africa]] (MENA), mobilizes around issues such as [[industrial pollution]], and insistence that the government provides [[irrigation]].<ref>{{Cite book |author1=Harry Verhoevenn |title=Environmental Politics in the Middle East |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780190050139 |page=28}}</ref>
The [[League of Arab States]] has one specialized sub-committee, of 12 standing specialized subcommittees in the Foreign Affairs Ministerial Committees, which deals with Environmental Issues. Countries in the League of Arab States have demonstrated an interest in environmental issues, 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. The 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 the 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 its environment and the health of its 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.<ref name="Arab world">{{cite journal |last=Djoundourian |first=Salpie |date=1 August 2011 |title=Environmental movement in the Arab world |journal=Environment, Development and Sustainability |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=743–758 |bibcode=2011EDSus..13..743D |doi=10.1007/s10668-011-9287-7 |s2cid=153447715}}</ref>

====South Korea and Taiwan====
South Korea and Taiwan experienced similar growth in industrialization from 1965 to 1990 with few environmental controls.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wu and Wen |title=Nongovernmental organizations and environmental protests: Impacts in East Asia (chapter 7 of Routledge Handbook of Environment and Society in Asia) |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-415-65985-7 |location=London |pages=105–119}}</ref> South Korea's [[Han River (Korea)|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 to 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.

==== Conservation movements in India and Burma during Colonial times ====
The modern conservation movement was 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: human activity damaged the [[Natural environment|environment]], there was a [[civic duty]] to maintain the environment for future generations, and scientific, empirically based methods should be applied to ensure this duty was carried out. [[James Ranald Martin]] was prominent in promoting this ideology, publishing many [[Epidemiology|medico-topographical]] reports that demonstrated the scale of damage wrought through large-scale deforestation and desiccation, and lobbying extensively for the [[Institutionalisation|institutionalization]] of forest conservation activities in [[British India]] through the establishment of [[Indian Forest Service|Forest Departments]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Stebbing |first=E.P |author-link=Edward Percy Stebbing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9cAHAQAAIAAJ |title=The Forests of India |year=1922 |volume=1 |pages=72–81 |access-date=6 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527120035/https://books.google.com/books?id=9cAHAQAAIAAJ |archive-date=27 May 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Madras]] Board of Revenue started local conservation efforts in 1842, headed by [[Alexander Gibson (botanist)|Alexander Gibson]], a professional [[botany|botanist]] who systematically adopted a forest conservation programme based on scientific principles. This was the first case of state management of forests in the world.<ref>{{cite book |last=Barton |first=Greg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WDYlNljAP5AC |title=Empire Forestry and the Origins of Environmentalism |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |isbn=9781139434607 |page=48 |access-date=6 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527120034/https://books.google.com/books?id=WDYlNljAP5AC |archive-date=27 May 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> Eventually, the government under [[Governor-General of India|Governor-General]] [[James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie|Lord Dalhousie]] introduced the first permanent and large-scale forest conservation programme in the world in 1855, a model that soon spread to [[British empire|other colonies]], as well as the [[United States]]. In 1860, the Department banned the use of [[shifting cultivation]].<ref>{{cite news |last=MUTHIAH |first=S. |date=5 November 2007 |title=A life for forestry |url=http://www.hindu.com/mp/2007/11/05/stories/2007110550080500.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071108213227/http://www.hindu.com/mp/2007/11/05/stories/2007110550080500.htm |archive-date=8 November 2007 |access-date=9 March 2009 |work=[[The Hindu]] |location=Chennai, India}}</ref> [[Hugh Francis Cleghorn|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.<ref name="Cleghorn">{{cite book |last=Cleghorn |first=Hugh Francis Clarke |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ZbC9FY1JqIC |title=The Forests and Gardens of South India |publisher=W. H. Allen |year=1861 |location=London |oclc=301345427 |access-date=16 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200315024455/https://books.google.com/books?id=_ZbC9FY1JqIC&hl=en |archive-date=15 March 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Oliver |first=J.W. |title=The Indian Forester |publisher=R. P. Sharma |year=1901 |volume=27 |location=Allahabad |pages=617–623 |chapter=Forestry in India |access-date=27 October 2020 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2U8YAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA623 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408122919/https://books.google.com/books?id=2U8YAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA623 |archive-date=8 April 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Dietrich Brandis]] joined the British service in 1856 as superintendent of the teak forests of Pegu division in eastern [[Myanmar|Burma]]. During that time Burma's [[teak]] forests were controlled by militant [[Karen people|Karen]] tribals. He introduced the "taungya" system,<ref>{{cite book |last1=King |first1=KFS |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=44smPw8a594C |title=Agro-silviculture (the taungya system) |publisher=University of Ibadan / Dept. of Forestry |year=1968 |series=Bulletin no. 1 |access-date=6 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527120037/https://books.google.com/books?id=44smPw8a594C |archive-date=27 May 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> in which Karen villagers provided labour for clearing, planting, and weeding teak plantations. Also, he formulated new forest legislation and helped establish research and training institutions. Brandis as well as founded the Imperial Forestry School at Dehradun.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Weil |first1=Benjamin |year=2006 |title=Conservation, Exploitation, and Cultural Change in the Indian Forest Service, 1875–1927 |journal=Environmental History |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=319–343 |doi=10.1093/envhis/11.2.319 |jstor=3986234}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gadgil |first1=Madhav |author-link1=Madhav Gadgil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jmr9n7aoRR4C |title=This Fissured Land: An Ecological History of India |last2=Guha |first2=Ramachandra |author-link2=Ramachandra Guha |publisher=University of California Press |year=1993 |isbn=9780520082960 |access-date=6 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527120036/https://books.google.com/books?id=Jmr9n7aoRR4C |archive-date=27 May 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Africa===

====South Africa====
{{Main|Environmental movement in South Africa}}

In 2022, a court in South Africa has confirmed the constitutional right of the country's citizens to an environment that isn't harmful to their health, which includes the right to clean air. The case is referred to "Deadly Air" case. The area includes one of South Africa's largest cities, Ekurhuleni, and a large portion of the Mpumalanga province.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Garland |first=Rebecca |date=23 March 2022 |title=South African court rules that clean air is a constitutional right: what needs to change |url=http://theconversation.com/south-african-court-rules-that-clean-air-is-a-constitutional-right-what-needs-to-change-179706 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306053556/http://theconversation.com/south-african-court-rules-that-clean-air-is-a-constitutional-right-what-needs-to-change-179706 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |access-date=2023-03-06 |website=The Conversation |language=en}}</ref>

=== Americas ===

==== 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 [[Venezuelan bolívar|bolivar]] fine ($3,400) and three days in jail. In the 1970s or 1980s, many Latin American countries were transitioning from military dictatorships to democratic governments.<ref name="Latin America">{{cite news |last=Figdor |first=Carrie |date=24 July 1988 |title=Latin America's Environmental Movement Seen as Well-Meaning but Inadequate |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-07-24-mn-10121-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029195102/http://articles.latimes.com/1988-07-24/news/mn-10121_1_latin-america |archive-date=29 October 2013 |access-date=20 February 2013 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>

===== Brazil =====
{{see also|Environmental issues in Brazil#Solutions and policies}}

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. It is home to the largest river, [[Amazon River|The Amazon]], and the largest rainforest, the [[Amazon Rainforest]]. People have raised funds to create state parks and increase the consciousness of people who have destroyed forests and polluted waterways. From 1973 to the 1990s, and then in the 2000s, indigenous communities and rubber tappers also carried out blockades that protected much rainforest.<ref name=":0" />  It is home to 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.<ref name="Brazil">{{cite news |last=Brooke |first=Elizabeth Heilman |date=2 June 1992 |title=As Forests Fall, Environmental Movement Rises in Brazil |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/02/news/as-forests-fall-environmental-movement-rises-in-brazil.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508214413/http://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/02/news/as-forests-fall-environmental-movement-rises-in-brazil.html |archive-date=8 May 2013 |access-date=20 February 2013 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

From the late 2000s onwards community resistance saw the formerly pro-mining southeastern state of Minas Gerais cancel a number of projects that threatened to destroy forests. In northern Brazil’s Pará state the  Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (Landless Workers Movement) and others campaigned and took part in occupations and blockades against the environmentally harmful Carajás iron ore mine.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smit |first=Jan Paul |date=2022-11-21 |title=Mining Resistance in Brazil |url=https://commonslibrary.org/mining-resistance-in-brazil/ |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU}}</ref>

==== United States ====
{{Main|Environmental movement in the United States}}
[[File:Walden Thoreau.jpg|thumb|upright|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 1854 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wulf |first=Andrea |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yPXYCwAAQBAJ&dq=He+published+his+experiences+in+the+book+Walden%2C+which+argues+that+people+should+become+intimately+close+with+nature.+Muir+came+to+believe+in+nature%27s+inherent+right%2C+especially+after+spending+time+hiking+in+Yosemite+Valley+and+studying+both+the+ecology+an&pg=PR11 |title=The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt's New World |date=2015 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |isbn=978-0-385-35066-2 |language=en |access-date=26 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408163014/https://books.google.com/books?id=yPXYCwAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PR11&dq=He+published+his+experiences+in+the+book+Walden%2C+which+argues+that+people+should+become+intimately+close+with+nature.+Muir+came+to+believe+in+nature%27s+inherent+right%2C+especially+after+spending+time+hiking+in+Yosemite+Valley+and+studying+both+the+ecology+an&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=8 April 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> The conservationist principles as well as the belief in an inherent right of nature became the bedrock of modern environmentalism.

Beginning in the conservation movement at the beginning of the 20th century, the contemporary environmental movement's roots can be traced back to [[Rachel Carson]]'s 1962 book ''[[Silent Spring]]'', [[Murray Bookchin]]'s 1962 book ''Our Synthetic Environment'', and [[Paul R. Ehrlich]]'s 1968 ''[[The Population Bomb]]''. American environmentalists have campaigned against [[nuclear weapon]]s and [[nuclear power]] in the 1960s and 1970s, [[acid rain]] in the 1980s, [[ozone depletion]] and [[deforestation]] in the 1990s, and most recently [[climate change]] and [[global warming]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=McIntyre |first=Iain |date=8 July 2024 |title=Environmental blockading timeline, 1974-1997 |url=https://commonslibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/ENVIRONMENTAL-BLOCKADING-TIMELINE-1974-1997-2.pdf |access-date=8 July 2024 |website=Commons Social Change Library}}</ref>

The United States passed many pieces of environmental legislation in the 1970s, such as the [[Clean Water Act]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=HALL |first=RIDGWAY M. |date=1978 |title=The Clean Water Act of 1977 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40912265 |journal=Natural Resources Lawyer |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=343–372 |jstor=40912265 |issn=0028-0747 |access-date=8 April 2023 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306020258/https://www.jstor.org/stable/40912265 |url-status=live }}</ref> the [[Clean Air Act (United States)|Clean Air Act]], the [[Endangered Species Act]], and the [[National Environmental Policy Act]]. These remain as the foundations for current environmental standards.

In the 1990s, the [[Anti-environmentalism|anti-environmental]] 'Wise Use' movement emerged in the United States.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Helvarg |first=David |date=2007-12-04 |title=The war on the greens |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10402659508425907 |journal=Peace Review |language=en |volume=7 |issue=3–4 |pages=393–397 |doi=10.1080/10402659508425907 |issn=1040-2659|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Europe===
The [[Environmental policy of the European Union|EU's environmental policy]] was formally founded by a [[European Council]] declaration and the first five-year environment programme was adopted.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lafferty |first1=William M. |title=Implementing Sustainable Development: Strategies and Initiatives in High Consumption Societies |last2=Meadowcroft |first2=James |date=2000 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=9780191522277}}</ref> The [[polluter pays principle]] was well established in [[environmental economics]] before it was included in the [[Single European Act]].<ref>{{Cite book |author1=Suzanne Kingston |author2=Veerle Heyvaert |author3=Aleksandra Čavoški |title=European Environmental Law |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=100 |isbn=9781107014701}}</ref> Following the [[1973 oil crisis]] the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] (SPD) passed groundbreaking laws on [[Energy efficiency (physics)|energy efficiency]].<ref>{{Cite book |author1= Stephen G. Gross |title=Energy and Power: Germany in the Age of Oil, Atoms, and Climate Change |date=2023 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=296 |isbn=9780197667712}}</ref>

==== Germany ====
{{See also|Animal welfare in Nazi Germany}}
During the 1930s the Nazis had elements that were supportive of animal rights, zoos and wildlife,<ref name="BHTFSN153">{{cite book |author=Thomas R. DeGregori |title=Bountiful Harvest: Technology, Food Safety, and the Environment |title-link=Bountiful Harvest |publisher=Cato Institute |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-930865-31-0 |page=153}}</ref> and took several measures to ensure their protection.<ref name="HMG278">{{cite book |author=Martin Kitchen |url=https://archive.org/details/historymodernger00kitc |title=A History of Modern Germany, 1800-2000 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-4051-0040-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historymodernger00kitc/page/n295 278] |url-access=registration}}</ref> In 1933 the government created a stringent animal-protection law and in 1934, {{Lang|de|Das Reichsjagdgesetz}} (The Reich Hunting Law) was enacted which limited hunting.<ref>Hartmut M. Hanauske-Abel, ''[http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/313/7070/1453#R101 Not a slippery slope or sudden subversion: German medicine and National Socialism in 1933]'', BMJ 1996; pp. 1453–1463 (7 December)</ref><ref name="www_kaltio_fi5">{{cite web |title=kaltio.fi |url=http://www.kaltio.fi/index.php?494 |access-date=15 August 2007}}</ref> [[Environmentalism in Nazi Germany|Several Nazis were environmentalists]] (notably [[Rudolf Hess]]), and species protection and [[animal welfare]] were significant issues in the regime.<ref name="HMG278" /> In 1935, the regime enacted the "Reich Nature Protection Act" (''{{Lang|de|Reichsnaturschutzgesetz}}''). The concept of the ''{{Lang|de|Dauerwald}}'' (best translated as the "perpetual forest") which included concepts such as [[forest management]] and protection was promoted and efforts were also made to curb [[air pollution]].<ref>[http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/technology_and_culture/v048/48.1olsen.html Jonathan Olsen "How Green Were the Nazis? Nature, Environment, and Nation in the Third Reich (review)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304120440/http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=%2Fjournals%2Ftechnology_and_culture%2Fv048%2F48.1olsen.html|date=4 March 2016}} Technology and Culture – Volume 48, Number 1, January 2007, pp. 207–08</ref>

==== Spain ====
During the [[Spanish Revolution of 1936|Spanish Revolution]] in 1936, anarchist-controlled territories undertook several environmental reforms, which were possibly the largest in the world at the time. [[Daniel Guérin|Daniel Guerin]] notes that [[List of anarchist communities|anarchist territories]] would diversify crops, extend [[irrigation]], initiate [[reforestation]], start tree nurseries and help to establish [[Naturist resort|naturist communities]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guerin |first=Daniel |title=Anarchism: From Theory to Practice |publisher=Monthly Review Press |year=1970 |location=New York |pages=134}}</ref> Once there was a link discovered between air pollution and tuberculosis, the [[Confederación Nacional del Trabajo|CNT]] shut down several metal factories.<ref>Iain McKay, "[http://anarchism.pageabode.com/anarcho/caplan.html Objectivity and Right-Libertarian Scholarship]," 20 January 2009, http://anarchism.pageabode.com/anarcho/caplan.html .</ref>

==== United Kingdom ====
{{See also|Environmental direct action in the United Kingdom|}}
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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hickling |first=James |date=2021-06-01 |title=The Vera Causa of Endangered Species Legislation: Alfred Newton and the Wild Bird Preservation Acts, 1869–1894 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-021-09633-w |journal=Journal of the History of Biology |language=en |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=275–309 |doi=10.1007/s10739-021-09633-w |issn=1573-0387 |pmid=33782819 |s2cid=254553730|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The society acted as a [[advocacy group|protest group]] campaigning against the use of [[great crested grebe]] and [[black-legged kittiwake|kittiwake]] skins and feathers in [[fur clothing]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Conservation biology |url=https://www.hmoob.in/wiki/Animal_Conservation |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230305221019/https://www.hmoob.in/wiki/Animal_Conservation |archive-date=5 March 2023 |access-date=2023-04-08 |website=hmoob.in |language=en}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=April 2023|reason=Source looks like a wikipedia article.}} The Society campaigned for greater protection for the indigenous birds of the [[British Isles|island]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Our History |url=https://www.rspb.org.uk/about-the-rspb/about-us/our-history/ |access-date=28 August 2020 |publisher=RSPB}}</ref> The Society attracted growing support from the suburban middle-classes,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mycoo |first=Michelle |date=January 2006 |title=The Retreat of the Upper and Middle Classes to Gated Communities in the Poststructural Adjustment Era: The Case of Trinidad |journal=Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space |language=en |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=131–148 |bibcode=2006EnPlA..38..131M |doi=10.1068/a37323 |issn=0308-518X |s2cid=143766333}}</ref> and influenced the passage of the [[Sea Birds Preservation Act 1869|Sea Birds Preservation Act]] in 1869 as the first nature protection law in the world.<ref>{{cite book |author=G. Baeyens |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=3540740023 |title=Coastal Dunes: Ecology and Conservation |author2=M. L. Martinez |publisher=Springer |year=2007 |page=282}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Makel |first=Jo |date=2 February 2011 |title=Protecting seabirds at Bempton Cliffs |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/humberside/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_9383000/9383787.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502175830/http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/humberside/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_9383000/9383787.stm |archive-date=2 May 2019 |access-date=16 December 2013 |work=BBC News}}</ref> It also attracted support from many other influential figures, such as the [[ornithologist]] Professor [[Alfred Newton]]. By 1900, public support for the organisation had grown, and it had over 25,000 members. The [[garden city movement]] incorporated many environmental concerns into its [[urban planning]] manifesto; the [[Socialist League (UK, 1885)|Socialist League]] and [[The Clarion (British newspaper)|The Clarion]] movement also began to advocate measures of [[nature conservation]].<ref>Gould, (1988) pp. 16, 23–24, 36–38, 84–86.</ref>

For most of the century from 1850 to 1950, however, the primary environmental cause was the mitigation of air pollution. The [[Environmental Protection UK|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.

[[File:John Ruskin - Portrait - Project Gutenberg eText 17774.jpg|left|thumb|upright|[[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 (National Trust)|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 Valley|Newlands]] and [[Ennerdale Water|Ennerdale]]. This success led to the formation of the Lake District Defence Society (later to become The Friends of the Lake District).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yoshikawa |first=Saeko |title=William Wordsworth and Modern Travel: Railways, Motorcars and the Lake District 1830-1940 |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9781789621181}}</ref><ref name="vc">[http://www.visitcumbria.com/rawnsley.htm "Canon Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140806070246/http://www.visitcumbria.com/rawnsley.htm|date=6 August 2014}}, Visitcumbria.com, accessed 17 May 2009</ref>

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.<ref name="t94">"A Proposed National Trust", ''The Times'', 17 July 1894, p. 12</ref> The organisation obtained secure footing through the 1907 National Trust Bill, which gave the trust the status of a statutory corporation.<ref>"Parliamentary Committees", ''The Times'', 26 July 1907. p. 4</ref> and the bill was passed in August 1907.<ref name="act">[http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/servlet/file/store5/item740098/version1/National%20Trust%20Acts%201907-1971%20post%20Order%202005.pdf "An Act to incorporate and confer powers upon the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120602185018/http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/servlet/file/store5/item740098/version1/National%20Trust%20Acts%201907-1971%20post%20Order%202005.pdf|date=2 June 2012}}, The National Trust. Retrieved 4 June 2012</ref>

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 England's [[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".<ref>{{cite book |last=Wordsworth |first=William |author-link=William Wordsworth |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_idlAAAAAYAAJ |title=A guide through the district of the lakes in the north of England with a description of the scenery, &c. for the use of tourists and residents |publisher=Hudson and Nicholson |year=1835 |edition=5th |location=Kendal, England |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_idlAAAAAYAAJ/page/n122 88] |quote=sort of national property in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive and a heart to enjoy.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Nature conservation in Britain, ca. 1870–1945 |url=http://www.eh-resources.org/timeline/timeline_conservation.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122133729/http://www.eh-resources.org/timeline/timeline_conservation.html |archive-date=22 January 2013 |access-date=17 December 2012}}</ref>

An early "Back-to-Nature" movement, which anticipated the romantic ideal of modern environmentalism, was advocated by intellectuals such as [[John Ruskin]], [[William Morris]], [[George Bernard Shaw]] and [[Edward Carpenter]], who were all against [[consumerism]], [[pollution]] and other activities that were harmful to the natural world.<ref name=":2">Gould, Peter C. (1988). ''Early Green Politics'', Brighton, Harvester Press, pgs. 15–19, and [[Derek Wall|Wall, Derek]], (1994) ''Green History: A Reader.'' London, Routledge, pgs. 9–14.</ref> The movement was a reaction to the urban conditions of the industrial towns, where sanitation was awful, pollution levels intolerable and housing terribly cramped.<ref name=":3">{{cite book |last=Marsh |first=Jan |title=Back to the Land: The Pastoral Impulse in England, 1880–1914 |publisher=Quartet Books |year=1982 |isbn=9780704322769}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite book |author=Jan Marsh |url=https://archive.org/details/backtolandpastor00mars |title=Back to the Land: The Pastoral Impulse in England, 1880–1914 |publisher=Quartet Books |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-7043-2276-9 |url-access=registration}}</ref> Ruskin moved out of London and together with his friends started to think about the [[post-industrial society]]. The predictions Ruskin made for the post-[[coal]] utopia coincided with [[forecasting]] published by the economist [[William Stanley Jevons]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Historicism and the Human Sciences in Victorian Britain |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2017 |isbn=9781316738948 |editor1=Mark Bevir |page=186}}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{Cite journal |date=15 December 1983 |title='Back to nature' movement nothing new – dates back to 1880 |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/1983/1215/121523.html |url-status=live |journal=The Christian Science Monitor |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216182555/http://www.csmonitor.com/1983/1215/121523.html |archive-date=16 December 2013 |access-date=17 December 2012}}</ref>

The Coal Smoke Abatement Society (now [[Environmental Protection UK]]) 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. It also provided for sanctions against factories that emitted large amounts of black smoke. This law's provisions were extended in 1926 with the Smoke Abatement Act to include other emissions, such as soot, ash, and gritty particles, and to empower local authorities to impose their own regulations.

It was only under the impetus of the [[Great Smog]] of 1952 in London, which almost brought the city to a standstill and may have caused upward of 6,000 deaths, that the [[Clean Air Act 1956]] was passed and airborne pollution in the city was first tackled. Financial incentives were offered to householders to replace open coal fires with alternatives (such as installing gas fires) or those who preferred, to burn coke instead (a byproduct of town gas production) which produces minimal smoke. 'Smoke control areas' were introduced in some towns and cities where only smokeless fuels could be burnt and power stations were relocated away from cities. The act formed an important impetus to modern environmentalism and caused a rethinking of the dangers of environmental degradation to people's quality of life.<ref>{{Cite web |date=10 December 2012 |title=London's Great Smog, 60 Years On |url=http://activehistory.ca/2012/12/londons-great-smog-60-years-on/ |access-date=17 December 2012}}</ref>

===Oceania===

====Australia====
{{Excerpt|Environmental movement in Australia}}

====New Zealand====
{{Excerpt|Environmental movement in New Zealand}}

==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}

* [[Anti-consumerism]]
* [[Earth Science]]
* [[Earth Strike]]
* [[Ecological economics]]
* [[Eco-socialism]]
* [[Environmental defender]]
* [[Environmental justice]]
* [[List of environmental organizations|Environmental organizations]]
* [[Green movement]]
* [[Holistic management]]
* [[Positive environmentalism]]
* [[Social ecology (theory)|Social ecology]]
* [[Sustainability]]
* [[Timeline of environmental events]]
*[[Water protector]]
* [[List of women climate scientists and activists]]
{{Div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}



{{Green politics}}
{{Simple living|state=collapsed}}
{{Environmental social science}}
{{Environmentalism}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Portal bar|Environment|Ecology|Society|Earth sciences|Energy|Politics}}

[[Category:Environmental movements]]
[[Category:Environmentalism]]
[[Category:Environmental social science concepts]]