Fads and belief systems

First, let's distinguish between a fad and a more established belief system, such as an organized religion.

Fads come and go, belief systems endure.

Has environmentalism been mostly a fad, or is it now a permanent part of the culture?

Man made global warming theory (AGW) appears to be the battle line between faddishness and permanence.  There has been a long term interest in conservation.  Environmentalism grew from that movement into its own movement.   But AGW hasn't been established as fact with respect to what is being conserved.  How does one conserve climate?  Climate has always been variable.

Global warming theory is part of a larger system of thought that goes beyond mere conservation.  It must be an attempt to establish a new set of beliefs that is intended to supercede the old system.  But it may be only a passing fad.

Western Civilization is scientific.  It is necessary to establish AGW as a legitimate science before the belief system can succeed.  Hence the battle ground.

But AGW may itself be a part of challenging Western Civilization itself and its science.  For if a unscientific notion can be imposed upon a scientific society, that society has been undermined.

Caution may be in order with respect to making major changes in the environment.  That idea can take hold.  But caution also should be applied to the thought environment of new ideas that haven't been proven yet, nor their effects been studied and understood.  The mind is also an environment.  One should be careful about what is introduced into that as well.