The Beginnings of Environmental Protection Awareness in the European Union

Environmental issues are very relevant today, so this Paper analyses the very beginning of the formation of environmental awareness, questioning its basic determinants - both in time and space and in the causes and consequences of human action on the environment as one of the fundamental elements for any historical research. The paper also offers a brief comparative review of the situation in the Republic of Croatia and finally opens ground for future discussions primarily in the evaluation of progress and development of environmental events in relation to those that this study detected as initial.