The Environmental Movement in Germany: Prophets and Pioneers, 1871-1971

"German environmentalism did not begin with the emergence of the Green Party in the 1970s. As this book shows, an active environmental movement has existed in Germany for more than a century. Raymond H. Dominick III documents the many so-called NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) protests, in which neighbors banded together to try to halt the environmental destruction. He also chronicles the origins and evolution of Germany's long-lived conservation societies. Using their forgotten newsletters and archives, Dominick reconstructs the agendas, tactics, and influence of these groups from their formation around the beginning of the twentieth century until the early 1970s. He finds that in Germany, nature has found defenders among persons whose politics range from conservative to socialist and whose social standing ranges from the Kaiser to factory workers. Dominick carefully explores the intellectual and organizational ties between the conservationists and the Nazis. He concludes with a look at today's Green movement and its connection with earlier ideologies of conservation and environmentalism." --book jacket.