What is Environmentalism?
There are many ways to describe the term environmentalism. Anne Davies defines it as “concern for the environment and particularly actions or advocacy to limit negative human impacts on the environment." It has also been defined as “[a] belief in and concern for the importance and influence of the environment within a society” (Alison, n.d.). Both definitions focus on three themes: land conservation, sustainability, and resilience. But, many associate environmentalism with waste reduction or advocating for less pollution.
Two schools of thought
When it comes to environmentalism, there are two ways of looking at it. These two views are anthropocentric and biocentric.
Anthropocentric environmentalism is a human-centered approach. Those who believe in this form of environmentalism are concerned with how environmental harms impact us. This includes how environmental harms impact our quality of life and health. Their need to act comes from a place of protecting human beings. Shallow ecology is another term for anthropocentric environmentalism.
The other view of environmentalism is biocentrism. This perspective takes a more holistic approach. It centres itself around life and nature. It asserts that nature has value, even if humans weren’t around. Environmentalists with a biocentric view believe humans should not exploit resources for their own benefit. People sometimes refer to this nature-focused approach as deep ecology. But, it is often seen as a more radical approach.
Three moments that defined the environmental movement (as we know it)
We realized a concern for nature before it became a global phenomenon. There are three key points in time that have led us to the point of environmentalism that we see today. These moments are:
The “early days”
The green movement
The international environmental movement
Early environmentalism took place in the 19th century. A population milestone sparked great concern in 1820 - Earth reached 1 billion people! However, environmentalism in our current understanding really picked up later that century. At this time, Ernst Haeckel coined the definition of ecology. People made an effort to protect National parks which led to this movement and the creation of the National Park Service (1916).
We must give conservationist Rachel Carson much of the credit for the foundation of the green movement. This took place in the 1960s following the publication of her book Silent Spring (1962). This book focused on the effects of DDT and how it influenced the food chain (among other important things). Those who read Carson's book demanded action and eventually brought about change due to their outrage.
You may have noticed that the United States is the center of much of this. But there have been actions taken all over the world. As these concerns grew on a global scale, the international environmental movement was officially born in the 1980s. This was largely sparked by rising concerns about global warming. As a result, several environmental organizations were created. One of these organizations is the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).
The rise in environmental concern has continued to increase. Today, we see countless organizations tackling a variety of issues. Though the IPCC remains the most trusted of those organizations. But we cannot forget that others have provided valuable voices to the environmental crisis we are experiencing today.
