ABSTRACT
American environmentalism has evolved throughout the years, waxing and waning, advancing and retreating, alternately receiving approbation and opprobrium, depending on changing sensibilities and economic fortunes. As discussed in this book, the movement is comprised of a diverse, complex mixture of local, state, regional, national, and international governmental and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and policymakers. Its adherents have been, and are, men and women of differing preferences, mixed motives, and varying talents, all employing an array of strategies and tactics to achieve sometimes-eclectic goals. The multifaceted, diverse nature of the issues and participants in this incremental, pluralist landscape has been both a blessing and a curse. Environmentalism has room for everyone, thereby expanding its appeal and efficacy as a democratizing feature of twenty-first-century American life. With the relative convenience and ease of using the Internet to communicate and relying on modern jet aircraft to travel around the world, even average citizens can express an interest in, and concern for, the natural
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environment by disseminating messages and exploring the terrain without relying on the mediating influence of elites.
