To Emerson, mankind was divided into materialists and idealists, with the former class founded upon experience and the latter on consciousness. The materialists were to insist on facts, history, circumstances, and animal instincts, while the idealists gave precedence to the power of thought, will, and miracle. His major work, Nature (1833), had a significant impact on many other writers to follow, including Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, John Burroughs, Walt Whitman, and John Muir.

Nature in the North American society thus began to hold and inspire a small but articulate core of advocates, paving a clear path out of the downward-spiraling pattern of materialistic, consumptive society. Although the works of Emerson were largely idealistic, the transcendentalist movement also provided the rationale for practical changes within the American society.

Thoreau, for example, campaigned to force the US government to establish national preserves for the purpose of ensuring the well-being of animals in the future (Finch and Elder, 1990). Such a call was well ahead of its time, as the United States did not endeavor to establish protected areas until a couple of years later.

The emergence of a second tier of conservation (environmentalism or the green movement) occurred in the 1960s in response to the rapid and overwhelming increase in the impact of technology on society. Publications such as Rachel Carson’s ‘Silent Spring’ were effective in calling attention to the insidious effects of chemical use in the society. In addition, the ecology and the growing importance of science came to be more institutionalized and gained wide acceptance as a mechanism to evaluate many of the social and ecological ills of the time. Bowler (1993) writes that the most militant supporters of the environmental movement opposed the entire economic structure of society in favor of a reversal to a simpler, natural state.

In India also and particularly in states like Kerala, the environment friendly concept started gaining wide acceptance. The hotels in munnar have instituted proper waste management facilities to manage the voluminous waste that if left untreated may pollute the pristine atmosphere of the hills. Such a development came about mainly due to the emphasis placed by the government on eco friendly management practices.