ABSTRACT
It would seem appropriate, in a study of environmentalism, to discuss globalization.1 Environmentalists make constant reference to things global. Environmental protection is considered to be a global responsibility and global warming one of the major environ mental problems. Environmental campaigners encourage us to ‘think globally* while acting to protect our local environments. In its organization, too, environmental discourse has acquired global proportions. The biggest ever gathering of national leaders took place at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 (Grubb et al 1993: 1). The largest environmental NGOs, such as Greenpeace and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), operate throughout the world. Rainforest communities of Amazonia and Malaysia, indigenous peoples of Australia and North America, mountain villagers of the Andes and northern India, as well as middle-class Americans and Europeans, all enter environmental discourse to claim what they see as their traditional rights or to express their altruistic concerns. If any cultural phenomenon can rightly be called ‘global*, then surely environmentalism must qualify.
