To understand LOHAS, one must understand the development of sustainability and environmentalism; the precursors to LOHAS.  I feel there are several prominent leaders who had notable impacts on the evolution of modern day sustainability concepts According to Andres Edward’s The Sustainability Revolution, the foundation of modern sustainability is in the human connection with nature, expressed first in United States through the New England Transcendentalist movement of the 1800s.  Many Transcendentalist thought that leaders, such as Henry Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson emphasized the importance of nature as a mystery full of symbols and spirituality.  I think Emerson articulated this best when he said,
 
“The Transcendentalist adopts the whole connection of spiritual doctrine.  They believe in miracle; in the perpetual openness of the human mind to new influx of light and power; they believe in inspiration and ecstasy”. - Emerson

Sounds familiar to the ideals that LOHAS embraces today doesn’t it?  Emerson’s buddy, Henry Thoreau, wrote Walden in 1854 and described his experience of living a simple life in a small hut next to Walden pond in Concord, Massachusetts.  Thoreau emphasized the virtues of libertarianism and individualism. 

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived”. - Walden

Sounds very Zen eh? The works of Emerson and Thoreau helped establish the transcendentalist movement and the view of nature as a teacher and was enhanced by other writers and naturalists in the 20th Century.  One of these was John Muir who was a U.S. inventor, writer, naturalist, and conservationist.  He played a large role in bringing attention to the importance of conservation of the U.S. wetlands in the early 1900’s.  But Muir had a different take on things. Unlike transcendentalists who saw nature as a way to reflect divine aspects of self, Muir emphasized the crucial need to protect vital resources such as water and forest supply.  Also, he emphasized the crucial role of wilderness for recreation and to uplift the human spirit. I think we can all relate to this as we tend to get that rocky mountain high when camping or interacting with nature is some way. I certainly do! No substance abuse needed!

 “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike”.  - Muir

Muir traced the environmental impact of sheep and cattle ranching and ultimately influenced President Theodore Roosevelt to establish a series of conservation programs that included the creation of some inconspicuous parks you may have heard of such as; 

(a) Yosemite National Park
(b) The Petrified Forest
(c) Sequoia National Forest
(d) Grand Canyon National Parks

Muir was instrumental in the development the Sierra Club that has had a long lasting influence on conservation issues. He once said, “Do something for wilderness and make mountains glad”. Translation  – happy mountains are good mountains.

Following in Muir’s footsteps during the 1940s and 50s, the American conservationist Aldo Leopold extended the notion that nature is not merely a mirror and teacher, but an ecosystem that is directly tied to human survival and the baseline of community.

 “The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land.” - Leopold

 Leopold’s vision and writings stand as a milestone in regard to concerns about the ethical treatment of the environment and how it relates to community. 

You can’t talk about LOHAS evolution without giving kudos to Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring. She was one of the first environmentalists of the modern era who wrote during a time when there was very limited awareness about the threat of industry on the environment.  She is particularly known for her 1962 writings on pesticides and more specifically the hazardous effects of Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane (DDT) that was commonly used as a pesticide against mosquitoes and commercial insecticide at that time.  If you look back at old photos during that time you can see pictures of tankers spaying DDT in neighborhoods while children follow closely behind frolicking in the spray. Carson believed that the leaders of industry and business were very narrow sighted and she suggested that DDT and other pesticides cause cancer.  She believed it was an era of specialists, each of whom sees his or her own problem and is unaware of or intolerant of the larger frame into which it fits.  Carson was one of the first to publicly state that the 1960s was an era dominated by industry, in which the means to make a dollar at whatever cost was seldom challenged. 

“When the public protests, confronted with some obvious evidence of damaging results of pesticide applications, it is fed little tranquilizing pills of half truth”. - Carson

  Her writings were some of the first to present how unregulated businesses practice can result in health risks, and she brought this information into the public view.  This raised awareness of industrial chemical usage and sparked a public outcry that eventually led to DDT becoming banned in the U.S. in 1972.   This was the beginning of a time when people began to question business practice and to develop additional consciousness of the connection between the environment and personal health.  The works of Leopold and Carson became iconic because of the powerful blend of environment and ethics.  The awareness raised by Carson and others environmentalist during the 1960s culminated in 1970 with the first Earth Day celebration that attracted 20 million people to enthusiastic and peaceful rallies throughout the U.S. Earth Day served to educate the general public about the impact of industrial society on the environment.  Also, it began the process of government to pass laws such as the Clean Air Act (1963) and the Clean Water Act (1972) to protect the environment and establish regulatory agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), whose purpose is to protect human health and the environment. I think there are many different factors that tie into the evolution of LOHAS. However I think these particular individuals influence has had a profound impact on the development of the current LOHAS concept.  In the next segment I will examine the more modern shifts that have occurred to establish the market segments within LOHAS.