Environmental Management: Principles and practice

Environmentalism, ecologism and the Green Movement
By the mid-1980s, many environmentalist groups had developed, the members of
which were willing to alter their lifestyles and encourage (or even force) others to do
so, in order to try and halt environmental damage (Buttel, 1978). It is difficult to give
a precise coverage: what follows is intended to serve as a brief introduction.
Environmentalism
‘Environmentalist’ was not used before the 1970s, but has been applied retrospectively
to those involved in environmental matters long before that (Grove, 1990; 1992;
Pepper, 1984). Environmentalism has been described as a moral code or a set of
mediating values to manage human conduct (O’Riordan, 1976:viii) or a concern for
environment elevated to a political pursuit (McCormick, 1989:ix; Fox, 1995; Sessions,
1994). Dobson (1990:13) argued that environmentalism is more managerial than
ecologism and makes less demand for fundamental changes in human values.
Environmentalism calls for ‘a managerial approach to environmental problems, secure
in the belief that they can be solved without fundamental changes in present values
or patterns of production and consumption’ (Dobson, 1995:1). It is not an ideology,
according to Dobson.
It is pointless seeking a precise definition, especially because the term ‘green’
has appeared and overlaps environmentalism. However, all share a concern for the
environment and seek sustainable development, even if their ideologies and exact
objectives differ (O’Riordan, 1991) (see Box 8.2).
From the 1960s to mid-1970s environmentalists operated with what Rees (1985:
2) called ‘messianic fervour’; they stimulated popular interest but did not venture
from advocacy to real solutions or political activism (Lewis, 1992). That changed by

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