Environmentalism today III

In the 1970s the Chipko movement was formed in India, influenced by Mahatma Gandhi they set up peaceful resistance to deforestation by literally hugging trees (leading to the term ‘tree huggers’). Their peaceful methods of protest and slogan 'ecology is permanent economy' were very influential.

By the mid 1970s many felt that people were on the edge of environmental catastrophe. The back to the land movement started to form and ideas of environmental ethics joined with anti-Vietnam War sentiments and other political issues. These individuals lived outside normal society and started to take on some of the more radical environmental theories such as deep ecology. Around this time more mainstream environmentalism was starting to show force with the signing of the Endangered Species Act in 1973 and the formation of CITES in 1975.