ABSTRACT
Chimneys belching black smoke have never been popular. Scenic vistas and cuddly creatures have long been the stuff of picture postcards. Politically, there have always been people prepared to act on those sorts of preferences. The Sierra Club has been with us for virtually as long as the US National Park system itself. The Council for the Preservation of Rural England may date only from the interwar years, but its precursors – the National Trust and the Commons, Open Spaces and Footpaths Preservation Society – are of respectably Victorian vintage. Various national societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals have been around for even longer. In all those ways, green politics are old hat. In recent years, though, they have taken on an importantly different hue.
