environmentalism

Introduction
Intellectual underpinnings
- Anthropocentric schools of thought
  - Apocalyptic environmentalism
  - Emancipatory environmentalism
- Biocentric schools of thought
  - Social ecology and deep ecology
  - Animal rights
  - Ecofeminism
History of the environmental movement

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images & Videos

A large crowd sits on the grass facing a stage with banners reading Earth Day on the National Mall, with the U.S. Capitol building visible in the background.

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An image of a factory with smokestacks emitting green-patterned smoke. The text above reads, What is greenwashing?.

At a Glance

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environmentalism summary

Related Questions

How did Arne Naess develop the ideas of deep ecology?
How did Earth Day become an international event in 1990?
How did Gifford Pinchot’s approach to conservation differ from John Muir’s preservationist philosophy?
How did Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and the World Wildlife Fund build international influence?
How did Minamata disease lead Japan to strengthen pollution-control policies?
How did campaigns to protect Lake Pedder and the Franklin River shape environmental activism in Tasmania?
How did the Chipko movement connect forest protection with women’s rights in India?
How did the German Green Party gain influence in German national politics?
How did the first Earth Day help build support for the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act?
How do ecofeminists explain the connection between gender inequality and environmental damage?
How do public-education campaigns support environmental movements?
How do social ecologists connect environmental problems with racism, sexism, classism, and unequal power?
How does anthropocentrism shape arguments for protecting the environment?
How does sustainable development try to balance economic growth with environmental protection?
How have direct protests been used to oppose environmentally harmful projects?
What did Gifford Pinchot mean by the wise and efficient use of natural resources?
What disagreement divided the Realos and Fundis within the German Green Party?
What does deep ecology mean by the ecological self?
What four principles united many green political movements beginning in the 1960s?
What ideas were included in the Deep Ecology Platform developed by Arne Naess and George Sessions?
What was the purpose of the United Nations Environment Programme?
When was the first explicitly green member elected to a national legislature?
Why are nonpoint sources of pollution harder to regulate than pollution from factories?
Why did Gaylord Nelson and Denis Hayes organize the first Earth Day in 1970?
Why did environmental justice activism grow after the hazardous-waste landfill protests in Warren County, North Carolina?
Why did the German Green Party form a coalition with the Social Democratic Party in 1998?
Why do biocentric environmentalists argue that nature has value beyond its usefulness to people?
Why has scientific uncertainty made international environmental rules difficult to create?
Why have some environmentalists criticized participation in electoral politics?
Why was the Environmental Protection Agency created in the United States?
Why was the Paris Climate Agreement opened for signatures on Earth Day in 2016?
Why was the designation of Gila National Forest significant for wilderness protection in the United States?
Why were the Values Party and the United Tasmania Group important in the history of green parties?
What are the abiotic and biotic components of the biosphere?

A large crowd sits on the grass facing a stage with banners reading Earth Day on the National Mall, with the U.S. Capitol building visible in the background. — Earth Day A crowd gathering to celebrate Earth Day at the U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.

environmentalism

social science

Written by

Lorraine Elliott

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Oct. 27, 2026 •History

environmentalism, political and ethical movement that seeks to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities; through the adoption of forms of political, economic, and social organization that are thought to be necessary for, or at least conducive to, the benign treatment of the environment by humans; and through a reassessment of humanity’s relationship with nature. In various ways, environmentalism claims that living things other than humans,...

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