environmentalism

Etymology

environmental + -ism

noun

1. (medicine, social sciences) A theory that views environment, rather than heredity or culture, as the important factor in the development of an individual or group.
   The first is that the present work in no sense represents a relapse toward the old environmentalism which believed it could find the causes of culture in environment. 1939, Alfred L. Kroeber, “Objectives”, in Cultural and Natural Areas of Native North America, published 1963, page 1
2. (politics) A political and social ideology that seeks to prevent the environment from degradation by human activity.