ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the origins and development of environmentalism in African literature from traditional times through the period of colonization and post-independence to the contemporary global era. It shows that traditional African folks were environmentally conscious and took communally sanctioned steps to maintain a sustainable environment. The chapter uses environmentalism to mean all issues relating to the natural environment with its resources and its relationship with humans, culture, and society. There was self-restraint towards natural resources before modernism with its laissez-faire capitalism arrived in Africa. The spirituality affirms a cultural identity that the environment with its resources provides a people. Environmentalism has through globalization become ecological and environmental awareness and sensitivity. In traditional times, there were methods for environmental sustainability. Traditional ways give way to modern and new and today the representation of the environment has changed with the important role money or the economy has come to play in the lives of the people.
