Ecology: The Young Eco-Activists

In a recent interview, former Interior Secretary Stewart L. Udall suggested that "young people may start picketing polluters and campaigning against ugliness." His prophecy has already come true. A new type of student activist is taking aim at the environment as well as the establishment. Though war and racism are still targets, pragmatic protesters are now firing at smog, waste and mindless developers.

The new ecoactivists include groups as straight-arrow as the Girl Scouts, who last week campaigned for clean air in places ranging from Hartford, Conn., to smog-threatened Fairfax, Va. Among...