The conservation movement seeks to protect plant and animal species as well as the habitats they live in from harmful human influences.

The contemporary environmental movement and the conservation movement have grown closer together in recent times, as the Sierra Club and Audubon Society have come to reflect the broader ethics of a more diverse society. However, with the rise of land trusts, organizations with strictly a conservation focus continue. The environmental movement (sometimes inclusive of the conservation or green movements) is a diverse global social and political movement, which advocates for the protection, sustainable management and restoration of the natural environment in an effort to satisfy human needs, including spiritual and social needs, as well as for its own... The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization founded on May 28, 1892 in San Francisco, California by the well-known conservationist John Muir, who became its first president. ... The National Audubon Society is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to nature conservancy. ...

It continues to admire and use nature, and assign it varying ethical significance. Today it is more correct to say that there is no clear distinction between the conservation movement and environmental movement but rather a distinction between these and the ecology movement which gave rise to such strongly political groups as Greenpeace and the Green Parties. The global ecology movement is one of several new social movements that emerged at the end of the sixties; as a values-driven social movement, it should be distinguished from the pre-existing science of ecology. ... Greenpeace is an international environmental organization founded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1971. ... This article is about the green parties around the world. ...

History

The nascent conservation movement slowly developed in the 19th century, starting first in the scientific forestry methods pioneered by the Germans and the French in the 17th and 18th centuries. While continental Europe created the scientific methods later used in conservationist efforts, British India and the United States are credited with starting the conservation movement. // Earlier Events See Timeline of evolution See Geologic time scale Pleistocene Younger Dryas stadial Holocene 10th millennium BC Circa 10,000 BC — North America: Dire Wolf, Smilodon, Giant beaver, Ground sloth, Mammoth, and American lion all become extinct. ... Europe is conventionally considered one of the seven continents of Earth which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiographic one. ... British India (otherwise known as The British Raj) was a historical period during which most of the Indian subcontinent, or present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, were under the colonial authority of the British Empire (Undivided India). ...

Foresters in India, often German, managed forests using early climate change theories (in America, see also, George Perkins Marsh) that Alexander Von Humboldt developed in the mid 19th century, applied fire protection, and tried to keep the "house-hold" of nature, an early ecological idea, in order so as not to disturb the growth of delicate teak trees. The same German foresters who headed the Forest Service of India, such as Dietrich Brandis and Berthold Ribbentrop, traveled back to Europe and established themselves at forestry schools in England (Cooper's Hill, later moved to Oxford), and in Germany. These men brought with them the legislative and scientific knowledge of conservationism in British India back to Europe, where they distributed it to men such as Gifford Pinchot and Bernard Fernow. George Perkins Marsh (March 15, 1801 – July 23, 1882), an American diplomat and philologist, he is considered by some to be Americas first environmentalist. ... Friedrich Heinrich Alexander, Baron von Humboldt, (September 14, 1769, Berlin–May 6, 1859, Berlin), was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher, and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt. ... Species Tectona grandis Tectona hamiltoniana Tectona philippinensis Teak (Tectona), also called jati is a genus of tropical hardwood trees in the family Verbenaceae, native to the south and southeast of Asia, and is commonly found as a component of monsoon forest vegetation. ... Sir Dietrich Brandis (1824-1907) is considered the father of tropical forestry. ... Gifford Pinchot (August 11, 1865 – October 4, 1946) was the first Chief of the United States Forest Service (1905-1910) and the Republican Governor of Pennsylvania (1923-1927, 1931-1935). ... Bernard Fernow was the chief forester of the USDA in the late 1800s. ...

America had its own conservation movement in the 19th century, most often characterized by George Perkins Marsh, author of Man and Nature. The expedition into northwest Wyoming in 1871 led by F.V. Hayden and accompanied by photographer William Henry Jackson provided the imagery needed to dispel any rumors about the grandeur of the Yellowstone region, and resulted in the creation of Yellowstone National Park, the world's first, in 1872. Travels by later U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt through the region around Yellowstone provided the impetus for the creation of the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve in 1891. The largest section of the reserve was later renamed Shoshone National Forest, and it is the oldest National Forest in the U.S. But it was not until 1898 when Biltmore, on the Vanderbilt University estate, and Cornell University founded the first two forestry schools, both run by Germans. Bernard Fernow, founder of the forestry schools at Cornell University and the University of Toronto, was originally from Prussia (Germany), and he honed his knowledge from Germans who pioneered forestry in India. He introduced Gifford Pinchot, the "father of American forestry," to Brandis and Ribbentrop in Europe. From these men, Pinchot learned the skills and legislative patterns he would later apply to America. Pinchot, in his memoir history Breaking New Ground, credited Brandis especially with helping to form America's conservation laws. George Perkins Marsh (March 15, 1801 – July 23, 1882), an American diplomat and philologist, he is considered by some to be Americas first environmentalist. ... Official language(s) English Capital Cheyenne Largest city Cheyenne Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 10th 253,554 km² 450 km 580 km 0. ... Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden (September 7, 1829 - December 22, 1887) was an American geologist noted for his pioneering surveying expeditions of Rocky Mountains in the late 19th century. ... William Henry Jackson, 1862 William Henry Jackson (1843 - 1942) was an American painter, photographer and explorer famous for his images of the American West. ... Yellowstone National Park is a U.S. National Park located in the states of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. ... For the next-generation airliner series from Boeing, see Boeing Yellowstone. ... For the pop band, see Presidents of the United States of America. ... Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. ... Spanning over 2. ... Vanderbilt University (colloquially known as Vandy) is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational research university in Nashville, Tennessee. ... Cornell University is a private research university located on the East Hill of Ithaca, New York. ... Bernard Fernow was the chief forester of the USDA in the late 1800s. ... The University of Toronto (U of T), in Toronto, Ontario, is the largest university in Canada. ... Gifford Pinchot (August 11, 1865 – October 4, 1946) was the first Chief of the United States Forest Service (1905-1910) and the Republican Governor of Pennsylvania (1923-1927, 1931-1935). ...

The Conservation movement in America was supported by two main groups: conservationists, like Pinchot, who were utilitarian foresters and natural rights advocates who wanted to protect forests "for the greater good for the greatest length," and preservationists, such as John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club. Whereas conservationists wanted regulated use of forest lands for both public activities and commercial endeavors, preservationists believed this could lead to commercial overuse, and ruin unspoiled wilderness. The differences continue to the modern era, with conservation the major focus of the U.S. Forest Service and preservation emphasized by the National Park Service. Conservationists are those people who tend to more highly rank the wise use of the Earths resources and ecosystems. ... A preservationist generally refers to one who wishes to preserve a historic structure from demolition or degradation. ... John Muir (April 21, 1838 – December 24, 1914) was a Scottish-American polymath: environmentalist, naturalist, explorer, writer, inventor, engineer, machinist and geologist. ... The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization founded on May 28, 1892 in San Francisco, California by the well-known conservationist John Muir, who became its first president. ... The USDA Forest Service, a United States government agency within the United States Department of Agriculture, is under the leadership of the United States Secretary of Agriculture. ... The National Park Service (NPS) is the United States federal agency that manages all National Parks, many National Monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. ...

Religious influence

Conservation as such has historically been associated with religion - Zoroaster, Tao, and Islam (hima) in particular - but only in the 19th century became explicitly associated with Christian morality, which was formed in part in opposition to Pagan nature worship. Zoroaster, in a popular Parsi Zoroastrian depiction. ... Taijitu For the people, see Tao people. ... Islam (Arabic: ; ( (help· info)), submission (to the will of God) is a monotheistic faith and the worlds second-largest religion. ... Hima means (is Arabic for) inviolate zones solely for the conservation of natural capital, typically fields, wildlife and forests (contrast haram to protect areas for more immediate human purposes). ... Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on the life, teachings, and actions of Jesus of Nazareth, known by Christians as Jesus Christ, as recounted in the New Testament. ... Paganism (from Latin paganus) and Heathenry are catch-all terms which have come to connote a broad set of spiritual/religious beliefs and practices of a natural religion, as opposed to the Abrahamic religions. ...

For some, conservation during the 19th century invoked Christian reverence for the Creation to protect natural habitats from man. They lobbied consistently for parks and human exclusion from "the wild". They saw humans as apart from nature, in line with Judeo-Christian ethics of the time, and believed that an awe of biodiversity (as we call it today) would inspire religious piety. Creation is a doctrinal position in many religions which maintains that one or a group of gods or deities is responsible for creating the universe. ... Rainforests are the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth Biodiversity or biological diversity is the diversity of life. ...

See also

• Conservationist
• Ecology movement
• List of environment topics
• Simple living

Conservationists are those people who tend to more highly rank the wise use of the Earths resources and ecosystems. ... The global ecology movement is one of several new social movements that emerged at the end of the sixties; as a values-driven social movement, it should be distinguished from the pre-existing science of ecology. ... This page aims to list articles related to the natural environment. ... Simple living (similar but not identical to voluntary simplicity or voluntary poverty) is a lifestyle individuals may pursue for a variety of motivations, such as spirituality, health, or ecology. ...

Sources

• Gregory A. Barton, Empire Forestry and the Origins of Environmentalism, Cambridge University Press, 2001)
• Brett Bennett, "Early Conservation Histories in Bengal and Colonial India, 1875-1922," The Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Dec. 2004