The Origins of the British Environmental Movement
(Part 3)

By Georgia Cavanagh
December 2020

In last month’s article, I followed the development of the British Environmental Movement in the late twentieth century. In this article, I will discuss how the Movement manifests today, in the twenty-first century, and what the future may look like.

Eco-anxiety

The British media has reported growing eco-anxiety in the twenty-first century, especially amongst young people, who have reportedly asked ‘doctors, therapists and teachers for help coping with their fears. Some are even being prescribed psychiatric drugs’. This has been attributed by some to an increase in environmental children’s books and online youth activism, motivated by the ‘Greta Thunberg effect’. Thunberg has reportedly ‘galvanised the appetite of young people for change’, which has motivated publishers to ‘empower...readers to make those changes’ and evidence showing that ‘British children in 2019 were more likely to have used social media for activism purposes than in the previous year’.

Although such anxieties feed into the wider problem of growing mental health problems in modern day society, Caroline Hickman asserts that eco-anxiety is a ‘perfectly rational response’ to our current environment. Indeed, the phenomenon is indicative of a widespread environmental ethic, which has been sought by the environmental movement since the early twentieth century. If it can be managed within reasonable parameters, it can be productive for the cause.

The New Environmental Movement

Despite the media attention towards radical factions in the late twentieth century, mainstream moderate organisations have consistently proven influential and popular since the initiation of activism. Nevertheless, direct action has proven a powerful form of engagement. In 2019, the  September demonstrations attracted ‘approximately 300,000 people’ in the UK, along with millions globally, and were part of ‘the largest environmental protests in history’. 

The popularity of new groups such as Extinction Rebellion reflects a growing frustration with inaction on the climate crisis, driving radical action such as these demonstrations. The Extinction Rebellion Bill, proposed in 2019, seeks the declaration of a ‘climate and ecological emergency’. Whilst still reliant on direct action and willingness to accept incarceration for the cause, Extinction Rebellion also uses negotiative techniques to foster political alliance, perhaps having learnt from previous radicalists.In the New Digital Age, Extinction Rebellion promotes activism through social media – an enabler for ‘new institutions for social change’ (Sullivan and Lei).

Universal Environmentalism

As a step towards universal acceptance, Tony Juniper highlights the importance of emphasising the benefits of nature to those who would otherwise ignore the movement. Mark Avery argues that the calculation of ‘ecosystem services’, or the capital that nature can provide, incentivises ‘a strong economic case for conservation’. However, the RSPB asserts that ecosystem services should ‘complement, not replace, ethical and scientific justifications for conservation’. This measured approach may shape the changes that will occur in the next few years, as economists incorporate nature as a financial resource into the current capitalist framework.

The Ethical Consumer

The rise of the green consumer market, in recent years, supports this evolved framework. According to the Ethical Consumer Research Association, between 1999 and 2018, ethical consumer markets grew from ‘£11.2bn’, to ‘almost four times that at £41.1bn’, whilst UK household expenditure only grew just over 2%. Chris Rose highlights a growing trend for taking ‘more environmentally conscious actions...without necessarily thinking of them that way’. Accordingly, changes in dietary patterns mean that twenty-first century Britain has ‘one of the highest proportions of vegetarians in Europe’, many of whom are not necessarily motivated by environmental or animal welfare concerns, and instead merely ‘an interest in holistic health’. An increasingly green economy is therefore evident in Britain, with buying behaviours and free-market responses mutually reinforcing one another.

The Future of Environmentalism

The widespread mobilisation of youth in the twenty-first century denotes a cultural shift which has subsequently dominated discussions of activism, and as a consequence, contemporary youth activism can be considered an independent and important strain of the environmental movement. Youth are crucial to the Movement facilitating intergenerational activism.

 The Greta Thunberg Effect

Youth activists such as Thunberg have become so successful through making environmental issues engaging and accessible, especially by reforming striking to make it ‘relevant to her own generation by applying it to schools’. Sophie Yeo concurs that school strikers have ‘instilled in people the idea that they...can force politicians to listen’. This has been exercised through Thunberg’s agency, as her meetings with British party leaders prompted ‘regular cross-party meetings on climate change...consultations with youth activists’ and an independent body to assess party manifestos’ adherence to the Paris agreement. It is inconceivable that an ordinary 16-year-old schoolgirl without access to a global communication system could have had such an impact at the start of the environmental movement.

Nevertheless, ‘for every million people striking there are another million who do not support [Thunberg]’. Jake Novak highlights people’s perception of ‘an indoctrinated child being coerced by adults’. However, this same argument prevented young people from being accepted as valuable participants in environmental decision-making until the formation of explicit institutions in the twenty-first century. It implies that young people should not be granted access or opportunities to contribute to politics or society. Furthermore, the use of spokespeople in the environmental movement is a longstanding tradition and lends the movement further legitimacy as individuals are chosen for their credibility and ability to tell a story, even if they are not necessarily the scientific experts. 

The David Attenborough Effect

David Attenborough is a popular spokesperson amongst young environmentalists, with more youth now tuning in to programmes like his Planet Earth II than X-Factor. Thunberg’s apocalypticism represents one side of contemporary environmentalism, as she wants people to ‘panic’ and uses emotive metaphors such as ‘Our house is on fire’. Attenborough presents a more romanticised and accessible view of nature, whilst affirming the need for immediate action. He argues that to advertise environmental degradation in his programmes would be ‘proselytising’ and ‘alarmist’. Indeed, these two strains of environmentalism have been prevalent since the start of the movement, and it is the combination of these forms that contributes to their efficacy. 

Reflections on the Movement

Whilst the environment does not yet dominate the British political and cultural agenda, it has nevertheless influenced its trajectory. There is hope for the environment’s future as a generation of individuals who have grown up with environmental values become the decision-makers in organisations, politics, and families. The only question is whether it is too late.

You May Also Be Interested In: The Origins of British Environmentalism (Part 1), The Origins of British Environmentalism (Part 2)

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