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environmentalist — English
A person who is concerned about the negative impact of human activities on the quality of the natural environment and believes that certain human actions are degrading some or even all parts of the environment as a global life-supporting system. Environmentalists profess a worldview and ethical code that the natural environment should be protected, conserved or even preserved in pristine condition. Not all environmentalists are equally involved in the world-wide environmental movement; in fact, their environmental sentiments form a continuum stretching from those who passively subscribe to attempts at protecting the environment, to those who are active members of nature conservation and environmental protection organisations, to the extremist activists who would even go to provocative and violent means to protect the natural environment (see “ecocentrism”). There are many different words and terms to describe environmentalists. Firstly, there are the “shallow greens” who are moderate sympathisers who will not partake in active protests about an environmental issue. The less moderate ones who would occasionally even join a public protest to prevent the destruction of an environmentally important area or asset are called the “greens” or “greenies”. Many natural scientists belong to this group. A number of scientists from a variety of sciences were heavily involved in the protection of the area around the paleontologically important Sterkfontein and Swartkrans caves, and also in the subsequent declaration of the Cradle of Humankind as a world heritage site. The “deep greens” (or “bunny huggers” and “tree huggers”) are the extreme environmental activists who would actively and tirelessly campaign against developments that would negatively impact on the natural environment, or against projects that might destroy the habitat of a certain animal or insect. On the extreme left of the spectrum are the environmental saboteurs and terrorists who do not shy away from criminality in order to advance their cause (see “ecocentrism”). Three appropriate examples of deep green, law-abiding environmental activists who lost their lives as a result of their protests are: Chico Mendez who tried to prevent injudicious, environmentally unsound and illegal destruction of the large hardwood trees in the Amazonian forests in Brazil; Ken Saro-Wiwa who actively protested against the large oil companies’ despoilment of the Niger Delta by dangerous and environmentally abhorrent oil extraction methods; and Dian Fossey who tried to stop the ruthless, illegal extermination of the mountain gorillas in Central Africa. All three of them died – in fact, they were murdered (though Ken Saro-Wiwa’s death is officially described as “lawful execution”) – as a direct result of their environmental activism. They have become environmental heroes and martyrs whose contribution to the current global environmental movement should not be underestimated.
