become engaged incultural politicsinvolv-
ing the very framing of the key terms of the
debate (acceptablerisk, waste, race and envir-
onmental health) that conditions the political
possibilities of the struggle for environmental
justice (Fortun, 2001). The movement is
known for its creative, engagedactivism, its
deep commitment to grassroots approaches to
social change and its irreverence towards
bureaucracy in-action. jk
Suggested reading
Cole and Foster (2001); Peet and Watts (2003);
Pulido and Pen ̃a (1998); United Church of
Christ (1987).
environmental movement Atermthathas
been used to describe any social or political
movement directed towards the preservation of
naturalresources, the prevention ofpollution
or the control of land use with the goal ofcon-
servation, restoration or improvement of the
material environment. Though practices of
environmental protection have been conducted
in many places around the world for centuries,
the movement as a modern phenomenon has its
sources in different currents and critiques of
modernity. Some of the main currents have
their sources in critiques of industrialcapital-
ism’s treatment of land and labour ascommod-
ities, others in transcendental, religious and
aesthetic thought, still others in the practices of
modern rationalist scientific knowledge, and yet
others in a troubling search for nature’s ‘purity’.
These and other tributaries have led to a deeply
heterogeneous movement that has proven to be,
in the best of times, a broad coalition of caring
engaged critics and thoughtful visionaries of
alternative futures and, in the worst, a deeply
divided,exclusionary and even reactionary force
for the reproduction of elitist and racist fears.
Given this diverse history, it is no surprise that
the movement has many current expressions,
including political parties such as the Green
Party, community non-profit organizations,
international lending organizations, radical
affinity groups, mainstream environmental
organizations, legal advocacy firms, green
corporations, and consumers, who operate
through just as many diverse political tech-
niques, including lobbying, scientific research,
legislation, education, organizing and direct
action. Regardless of its exact origins, members
and strategies, the movement’s most powerful
contemporary expressions seem to be found in
international grassroots communities and
organizations that challenge the violent effects
of early twenty-first-centuryglobalization.jk
Suggested reading
Gelobter, Dorsey, Fields et al. (2005); Gottlieb
(2001); Kosek (2003); Guha and Martinez-Alier
(1998); Shellenberger and Nordhaus (2004);
Shutkin (2000).environmental perception A general term
referring to the myriad ways in which actors
(usually human) perceive, engage with and sym-
bolically represent environments.environment
in this sense encompasses both the ‘natural’
and the ‘built’, and includes other people and
animalsas key elements. Equally, perception
should be understood in the widest sense, refer-
ring to both the bio-psychological idiosyncrasies
of individual sensing, information-processing
and cognition, and the issue of collective cul-
tural beliefs, values and aesthetic judgements
concerning natural and built environments.
Although the study of environmental
perception has never been a sustained core
element of human geographical research, the
topic has been investigated by writers from
often quite different intellectual traditions.
Early work on perception ingeography,in
the 1940s and 1950s, was concerned to high-
light the importance of human perceptions,
attitudes and values in shaping beliefs, under-
standings and decisions concerning the envir-
onment. Here, an acknowledgement of the
nuance and complexity of human perception
(and consequent behaviour) was intended
as a corrective to human geographies that
either ignored the human, or sought to under-
stand human behaviour in solely rational or
objectivist terms. The notion that human
geographers should delve into the realms of
human perception, meaning and value was
further clarified in Kevin Lynch’s (1960)
The image of the city, which sought to program-
matically investigate the relationship between
an urban built environment and the mental
perceptions of its inhabitants. Lynch’s work
was seminal forbehavioural geographies
through the 1970s and 1980s, especially inso-
far as these elaborated the notion of the
mental map (Gould and White, 1993
[1974]) as a key element of environmental
perception. For the most part scientific, quan-
titative and empirical in approach, these
behavioural geographies connect with
broader, interdisciplinary enquiries regarding
the role of environmental perception and
‘value’vis-a`-visthe design and planning of
urban and rural landscapes.
In contrast to the instrumental and objective
approach to environmental perception charac-
teristic of much work in the planning andGregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_E Final Proof page 202 1.4.2009 3:17pmENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT