This is a post to gather info on the history of environmentalism, the biographies of people involved, some of the theories and agendas put forth, history of environmental legislation, and for my curiosity environmentalism in communist countries during the cold war.
Talking about the actual science of certain theories and why they do or do not work should be reserved for a different thread.
I only know a bit of the history in the US... basically it started with the Transcendentalist writers (which is very ironic considering Thoreau had many Libertarian views) and the original State Parks created by (who else) Lincoln. It really started getting big with Teddy Roosevelt, though. He pushed through all sorts of stuff, which set the stage for those after him.
Of course, you can't forget "Silent Spring", the book that caused the ban on DDT (good for the eagles, bad for people who don't like dying of malaria) in the 60's.
Don't know much about communist countries, other then Chernobyl...
Sorry I don't know more, check here maybe?:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmentalism