I used to think of environmentalism as a sort of "save the trees" hippie movement that was more concerned with plants and animals than with people.  But recently I've started to realize that that's a little naive, to say the least.  From my limited understanding and experience with environmentalism, it's basically the idea that we, humans, should be concerned with the environment, not just because we feel bad for some endangered toads or whatever, but because "the environment" encompasses pretty much everything, and by affecting one part of the environment, we're really affecting ourselves.  It's essentially a selfish pursuit.  The sun provides energy to plants, which feed us (and animals) and also generate oxygen to breathe.  Mess up one part of that equation -- sun visibility, plants, animals, air -- and you have problems across the board.  It's not so much that we can accurately predict what will happen if we mess something up, but the lack of predictable accuracy is kind of the whole point. 

What doesn't make sense to me is when people are anti-environmentalism.  I get that jobs and the economy and politics are important, but do people realize that without a suitably healthy environment, we'll all be dead?  Where do you think your food comes from?  What do you think your food eats?  The shortsightedness of it is frightening. #science