It dates back to some four hundred years, in India a group of folks referred to as the Bishnois, who died in protest of tree felling. Later, in the 19th century several new concepts relating to science and philosophy as ecology, determinism etc. had been introduced that produced significant impact on the perception of the earth and its inhabitants. In the 20th century with growing levels of pollution and growing number of disappearing species of each plants and animals, the environmental concerns started gaining importance. The discoveries created by scientists related to the hazardous effects of particular well-liked chemicals employed in industries and typically utilised pesticides, gave birth to actively protesting groups searching for ban on such items. Several regional and global phenomenons influenced the environmentalists to raise their voice against the age-old practices and most recent technologies with harmful effects on the environment.

The recent trend of environmentalism is not only about activism or protests but also about scientific management and rational use of the environmental resources.

Environmentalists are the individuals, who by their activities protest any practice or activity that leads to degradation of environment, safeguard man and animals from hazards arising out of such degradation, and seek to conserve the natural resources. Globalization v/s Regionalism, Industrialization, Global warming, Genetic engineering, Occupational Hazards, Conservation of natural resources, Pollution control, Waste management and Sustainable development are few topics, which are obtaining intense attention of the environmentalists today.

The term environmentalism is also related with other contemporary terms such as environmental management, resource efficiency, waste minimization, environmental responsibility, eco friendliness, environmental economics, green ethics and environmental justice.
There are different organizations, lobbies and forums, by means of which environmentalists influence the government, legislation, and individuals to adopt such alternatives and policies, which are environment friendly.

Numerous people like academicians, writers, artists, geographers, photographers, journalists and so on. by way of their works, make efforts to motivate the society to join the environmental movements and adopt a green approach.

People’s participation in such movements has increased over time. Numerous organizations are actively promoting environmental causes, governments of several countries are responding to the require of the hour by way of considerable number of environment friendly treaties, policies and legislations.
It is obvious that a number of option lifestyles and eco-friendly practices, such as Organic food, Recycled items, Bio-fuels, Eco-tourism, Green marriage, to name a couple of, has emerged (although they are really pricey) but are becoming increasingly common, particularly in the elite, educated and wealthy classes.

Environmentalism has even given birth to the new generation of youth who tag themselves as ‘eco-sexual’. There are sufficient controversies about such new social trends and it is doubtful no matter whether such individuals espouse the true ideals of environmentalism, but it is true that someway they are helping the concept spread.