THE RISE OF EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENTALISM: A COSMOPOLITAN WAVE, 1865-1914
THE RISE OF EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENTALISM: A COSMOPOLITAN WAVE, 1865-1914

Summary/Abstract: A new and stronger appreciation of nature in itself and - consequently - of its protection appears in the Western countries around the 1860s, first of all in the United States and in Great Britain. In the following decades this growing appreciation of nature contributes in many ways to the nation building process that is occurring in Europe but also on a global scale since the first half of the century. The most remarkable among the shared features of this convergence of new appreciation of nature and construction of national identities are three: • the way of choosing and conceptualizing the objects of nature to promote and protect (mainly landscapes and natural monuments), • the influence of arts and literature on the process and • the very active role of associations. Beside these »universal« features it is possible to recognize several national or regional specificities proceeding from the peculiar blends of cultural traditions, political strategies and socio-economic situations each country or region produced. The paper will address this process from a comparative point of view, highlighting both the national and the transnational manifestations of environmentalism development from the 1860s to the First World War.

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