Environmentalism has a long history, but only in the mid-1960s did environmental awareness and activity begin to develop at a faster pace. In the decades that followed, concern for the environment became a key issue on the public and political agendas.
Background: Emergence of Environmental Movements
The emergence of movements involving the conservation of nature and the environment is tied to political changes and shifts in values that took place in the late 1960s. The socioeconomic success of Western countries led to a significant rise in the standard of living in the post-World War II period, creating a new era in which man's physical, material existence was assured. Consequently, the following question arose: Now that we need no longer worry about staying alive, what is the quality of life that we are entitled to?
Thus, a change from a materialist to a post-materialist set of priorities took place at both the individual and collective levels. Based on Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs (represented as a pyramid), political scientist Ron Inglehart has found that those who have realized the values at the base of the pyramid (physical security and existence, and the basic requirements of life) will tend to espouse the post-materialist values at the top of the pyramid (which relate to the will of the individual and are directed at self-actualization and improving one's quality of life).
The shift from materialist to post-materialist values brought with it a cultural change that was reflected in a lessening of faith in, and support of, political institutions and a blossoming of awareness of the rights of the individual. Thus a transition took place from the "old politics," which revolved primarily around economic issues, to the "new politics" or "politics of identity," which set new priorities: equality before the law and minority rights, peace activism, and awareness of environmental problems and methods of solving them.
Characteristics of the New Social Movements
Beginning in the late 1960s, members of the "post-materialist generation" began to establish new social movements (NSMs) with varied agendas: demands for minority rights (particularly regarding women), activities for peace, demands for student rights, and awareness of the environment.
The new social movements have five salient features:
- Socioeconomic background - The majority of members of the new movements are educated young people from the middle-to-upper socioeconomic classes.
- Anti-modernist tendencies, as part of the negation of the traditional values of capitalist society.
- "Radical" activities - "Conventional" political activities (voting, letter writing, working in the public sector) have been replaced by the politics of protest, demonstrations, and strikes.
- Lack of party affiliation, and a social-political set of beliefs that challenges the traditional division into left- and right-wing ideologies. The preference is for small-scale, anti-hierarchical, decentralized movements that encourage direct democracy.
- Participation in a movement - As a result of the underlying ideology of the new social movements, membership in these movements is no longer seen as a means to an end but rather as an end in itself.
Environmental Activity
The change in society's values was accompanied by a broadening environmental awareness, and the combination of the two helped turn the environment into a focus of activity for civil society organizations (CSOs), states, and international bodies.
Activities of Civil Society
The environmentalist organizations cover a broad range of characteristics: there are more structured groups and grassroots ones; those that engage in conventional activities and those that take a more radical path. Some apply external pressure on the political system (through demonstrations, conferences, and publications), while others use internal channels (providing consultation services to government ministries and participating in the decision-making process).
From an ideological standpoint as well, there are fundamental differences between the organizations. One of the most common divisions in organizational philosophy is between deep ecology and shallow ecology, defined as follows:
- Deep ecology is an essentially ecocentric approach that considers nature and its needs to be of supreme importance. According to this philosophy, man does not rule nature but is only one of many creatures that exist within it. Consequently, people must direct their activities so that they are in harmony with nature.
- Shallow ecology also acknowledges the importance of nature and the need to bring about a solution to environmental problems, but its approach is anthropocentric. The guiding principle of this ideology is conservation of the environment and the safeguarding of its resources for the future needs of man, as opposed to conservation of nature in and of itself.
The following is a brief overview of the different types of organizations:
Grassroots social movements: These groups are set up by private individuals who are aware of environmental issues and who come together to engage in a certain activity, usually where they live; for instance, protecting endangered species, or preserving rivers in a certain area. Such organizations are spontaneous and non-professional, lack a defined structure, and exist for as long as they have members. At times, they may lend their support to specific interest groups or political parties, but they remain independent and are not bound to a particular organization. The importance of these movements stems from the fact that they serve as a bridge between the national agenda and problems related to the immediate and unique needs of the community, which are often unmet.
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs): In contrast to grassroots social movements, NGOs are characterized by an established organizational structure (to varying degrees), professional activity, a fixed leadership, stable membership, and a variety of agendas. One of the first NGOs was the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), founded in Britain in 1961 with the goal of preserving endangered species. Initially, the members of the organization used conventional tactics, but in the 1980s they began protesting more vigorously. During the 1990s, they added "sustained development" to their list of goals (see below). In the mid-1990s, the WWF comprised 28 centers and 5 million members around the world.
Friends of the Earth (FoE) was founded in San Francisco in 1969. From the outset, its members adopted more extreme tactics than the WWF, with the aim of attracting public attention to environmental issues. In 1971, FoE International was founded, representing a coalition of over 50 organizations without one central focus or source of authority.
The most well-known NGO, Greenpeace, started out in North America in 1971 as an anti-nuclear protest movement. In the mid-'70s, it expanded its policies and deepened its concern for the environment in general. Thanks to the worldwide publicity garnered by the group's protests, the umbrella organization Greenpeace International was founded in 1979. To this day, Greenpeace is known for its direct and "radical" activities.
In recent years, environmental awareness has flowered in a full range of groups in civil society. Thus for example, on July 7, 2007, the Live Earth concerts took place, with the goal of raising the priority of environmental concerns in public discourse and promoting related activities around the world.
National and Regional Activity
As damage to the environment increasingly left its mark, and public awareness intensified, calls began to be heard in favor of nature conservation legislation.
- The U.S. was one of the first countries in the world to undertake legislation relating to the environment. As early as the 1960s and '70s, the Clean Air and Clean Water Laws were passed, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a federal umbrella body, was established specifically for this purpose.
- In Europe, legislation on the subject of nature conservation started about ten years after it did in the U.S.; today, however, European environmental laws are among the most advanced in the world. Environmental quality is the issue that has won the highest measure of public support in the European Union (EU) for joint activity among member states. Common legislation, applying to all members of the EU, is enacted by the European Parliament.
Activity on a Global Level
With the realization of the urgency and importance of the world's environmental problems came the conclusion that the issue concerns the entire global community (as the environment is a shared asset); hence the solution requires cooperation. In 1972, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment took place in Stockholm. Its findings gave political legitimacy to dealing with environmental issues at both the national and global levels. At the close of the conference, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was established. Its primary goals were to survey the state of the global environment, develop policies for environmental protection, and promote international cooperation on environmental issues.
The Stockholm Conference also saw the first acknowledgement of the importance of sustainable development, defined as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."[1] The concept of sustained development embraces three areas—economic development, social development, and environmental protection—and refers to a way of life that can be maintained in the long run while leaving the broadest possible room for choice for future generations.
In late 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED, also known as the Brundtland Commission) published a report entitled Our Common Future. The report formally recognized mankind's responsibility for the deterioration of the environment along with the shared responsibility of all inhabitants of the planet to bring about change. In its principal recommendations, it called on the world's countries to make a policy of sustained development a part of their economic calculations; to limit the harm to natural resources; to reduce consumption of natural resources; and to change the nature of development so that it can be sustained in the long run.
A decade after the WCED, in 1992, the UN Conference on Environment and Development (known as the Earth Summit) was held in Rio de Janeiro. Its primary focus was the link between environmental problems and the global economy, and issues of social justice. The Rio Declaration, containing 27 principles relating to sustainable development, called for strengthening democracy at the local level, emphasizing freedom of information and transparency, and assessing projected environmental impact as part of future development plans. The Declaration also addressed the issue of responsibility for dealing with the environment, stating that "in view of the different contributions to global environmental degradation, states have common but differentiated responsibilities" and ultimately placing the bulk of the burden on the developed nations. Agenda 21, a blueprint for the 21st century adopted by the Conference, offered a comprehensive plan of action based on the principles of the Rio Declaration, with emphasis on practical methods of achieving sustainable development in the developing world.
In response to the problem of global warming, the Kyoto Protocol was produced in 1997. It set as a goal a 5% average reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases, but determined that only those states that had previously been declared responsible for pollution, that is, the developed nations, were obligated to take measures to reduce emissions. However, not all states agreed to sign the convention; the United States, for example, refused, claiming that such a limitation would cause serious harm to its industry; in the name of equal treatment, it argued that the developing states, first and foremost China, should also be obligated to sign.
In 2002, the World Summit on Sustainable Development was held in Johannesburg, South Africa. Its central focus was the setting of targets for implementing a policy of sustainable development. For the most part, it made little progress beyond the level of declarations, but one of its more significant achievements was the official recognition of the status of international environmental accords, which were equated with agreements of the World Trade Organization.
From the late 1960s to the present, major changes have taken place in politics as a whole, with the new politics—based on post-materialist values—gaining strength. Today, environmentalist activity, in its many and varied forms, heads the agenda of most of the world's states as they work together for a better future.
[1] This definition was formulated by the World Commission on Environment and Development, established by the UN in 1983.
Relevant Links:
Activities of the European Union – Environment:
http://europa.eu/pol/env/index_en.htm
Agenda 21:
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=52
Greenpeace International:
http://www.greenpeace.org/international
Friends of the Earth:
http://www.foe.org
Johannesburg Summit:
http://www.un.org/jsummit
United Nations Environment Programme:
http://www.unep.org
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:
http://www.epa.gov
World Wildlife Fund:
http://www.panda.org
Karin Tamar Schafferman is a Research Assistant for IDI's Website. She is currently an M.A. student at the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she also works as a Teacher's Assistant.