From Envirowiki

Environmental activism - social agitation against environmental damage and waste, and for a sustainable way of life, has a long history. Depending on your criteria, it would be possible to name any number of starting dates for the movement. A good place to start for the modern movement is with Henry David Thoreau.

[edit] 1 Early thinkers

Thoreau is perhaps the most well known early environmental thinker and advocate. His most famous works, Walden, and Civil Disobedience, set the scene for an environmental movement committed to non-violent direct action, although this didn't appear in force until much later.

Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring, written in the early 60s, and discussing the dangers of pesticides and other toxic chemicals, was a catalyst for a major increase in environmental thought and activism, especially in the US.

[edit] 2 Action!

logging of old-growth forests was one of the major targets of early environmental blockading. Nightcap forest blockade was the first such blockade in Australia, and it was successful, resulting in a complete cessation of logging, and a national park.

The franklin dam blockade in south western Tasmania, also a successful campaign, was aimed as saving an area now classed as world heritage^{[reference needed]}. The campaign stretched on for months, with many new campaign tactics invented, and two major environment groups emerging: The Wilderness Society, still a strong force in the Australian environmental movement, and The Greens, the world's first environmentally focussed political party, who have since steadily been gaining ground in australian politics, and currently have 5 seats in the australian senate.