Environmental movement

Environmental movement is a term often used for any social or political movement directed towards the preservation, restoration, or enhancement of the natural environment. Here are some of the most prominent and well-defined examples:

Scope of the movement

• The Conservation movement which sought to protect biodiversity on traditional aesthetic and spiritual grounds.
• Environmental health movement dating at least to Rachel Carson, and more related to nutrition, preventive medicine, aging well and other concerns specific to the human body's well-being. In these, the natural environment is of interest mostly as an early warning system for what may happen to humans.
• Ecology movement which focused on Gaia theory, value of Earth and other interrelations between human sciences and human responsibilities. Its spinoff Deep Ecology was more spiritual but often claimed to be science.
• Environmental Justice is a movement that began in the U.S. in the 1980s and seeks an end to environmental racism. Often, low-income and minority communities are located close to highways, garbage dumps, and factories, where they are exposed to greater pollution and environmental health risk than the rest of the population. The Environmental Justice movement seeks to link "social" and "ecological" environmental concerns, while at the same time keeping environmentalists conscious of the dynamics in their own movement, i.e. racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, and other malaises of dominant culture.