From Confucius to Greta Thunberg, this timely guide spotlights the figures at the forefront of the most important challenge facing our world.

What does it mean to be an 'environmentalist'? Not necessarily what you think it does. At the heart of environmentalism lies a recognition of the essential relationship between humans and nature, as well as a determination to prevent harm – or even disaster – to the climate and environment. These concerns link figures otherwise as different as the Buddha and Marx, Aristotle and Greta Thunberg, Alexander von Humboldt and the Maori people.

For Marxists or anarchists like Edward Abbey, capitalism itself is the problem, but Conservative environmentalists like Roger Scruton saw market forces as the solution. For many others, hope lies not in revolution, but in sustainable development (and sustainable businesses), or even a steady state, zero-growth economy.

Elizabeth Cripps takes us on a whirlwind tour of more than 2,000 years of thought, from Confucius to the youth climate movement. Through concise, biographical portraits that include such diverse life stories as assassination attempts and a crocodile attack, political reform and scientific innovation, we meet those on the front line in the fight to protect our natural world.