environmental movement

Concern for the environment has arisen mainly over the last 200 years or so. In Britain, environmental law was made from the mid-19thC onwards in response to pollution in cities, and the Commons Preservation Society (now the Open Spaces Society) sought to conserve rural and wild land and rural life. Nature conservation for its own sake was spurred by an exaltation of nature, for instance by John Muir (1838–1914) who was an early advocate of wilderness in the US, and from the mid-20thC increasing attention has been given to the conservation of biodiversity.

This definition is abridged from A – Z of tree terms: A companion to British arboriculture.
Read the preface. Order the book.