environmentalist

/ɛnvaɪərnˈmɛntəlɪst/

/ɛnvaɪənˈmɛntəlɪst/

Other forms: environmentalists

If you're a true environmentalist, you care deeply enough about the natural world to make protecting it a real priority. You may even have made it your life's work.

These days, there's no shortage of work for the world's environmentalists. What with climate change, oil spills, gas drilling, deforestation, and species decline (just to name a few), there's almost no time to breathe. Show me an environmentalist with nothing to do, and I'll show you someone who isn't paying attention. Environmentalists — people who work to protect the environment — often work hand in hand with conservationists, whose job is to protect and maintain as much of the natural world as possible.

Definitions of environmentalist

1. noun

   someone who works to protect the environment from destruction or pollution
   synonyms: conservationist

   examples:

   Rachel Louise Carson

   United States biologist remembered for her opposition to the use of pesticides that were hazardous to wildlife (1907-1964)

   Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth

   English economist and conservationist (1914-1981)

   types:

   Green

   an environmentalist who belongs to the Green Party

   tree hugger

   derogatory term for environmentalists who support restrictions on the logging industry and the preservation of forests

   type of:

   crusader, meliorist, reformer, reformist, social reformer

   a person or group who pushes to improve an institution or system by changing it