Environmentalism

From dKosopedia

Environmentalism is a political ideology which places the interests of the Earth at the centre of political thinking and policy making. The ideology emerged in response to the growing threats to the environment since the Industrial Revolution. This was seen as the first major departure from a fundamentally 'natural' world to a more extensively 'man-made' environment and this change was accompanied by a sense of loss in the destruction of the environment and lifestyles based on the rhythms of nature. The environmental movement really emerged as a political force from the 1960's, with the emergence of 'Green Parties' since the late 1970's. As threats to the environment worsened, environmentalism came to see human activity as actually threatening the planet. By more moderate environmentalists this threat was interpreted as a threat to human survival and the emphasis was placed on conservation and sustainability. More radical environmentalists reject the idea that the Earth only needs preservation for human use, but see the Earth's well-being as an end in itself.