The History of the Eco Movement

However, environmentalism can trace its origins to some of the very oldest civilisations with the ancient Greeks, Romans and Arabic philosophers all proclaiming the importance of protecting and looking after mother earth.

Even in Britain, eco friendly ideas have been around for centuries. Sea-coal was outlawed by Edward I because of the pollution it caused and notable figures throughout the industrial revolution such as John Ruskin and William Morris advocated back to nature and environmental ideas as the threat of pollution from the new factories and industrial heartlands began to cause smog and other problems.

Throughout the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s different environmental movements began but most were seen as fringe movements with singular ideas and principles. It wasn’t until the 1980’s that many of these fringe ideas became mainstream, helped by the threat posed by the decreasing o-zone layer, depleting resources and rising smog levels in major cities like Los Angeles.

Now, with the problems caused by climate change, even scarcer resources, and an ever increasing populations; eco friendly ideas are no longer seen as fringe. Most of us are now aware of the many problems we cause to the environment.

Recycling has become commonplace and many of our cars and appliances are manufactured to reduce energy consumption and other eco friendly products are now becoming increasingly popular and even big business and politicians are starting to act more responsibly toward the environment.

The eco movement started with small ideas and actions but it has grown into a mainstream ideology which proves that as individuals, if we recycle, but eco friendly products, save energy and think of the environment we can go along way to encourage others to do so.