John Elkington is angered by the tactics of corporations and governments to undermine the Green movement. Green Backlash: Global Subversion of the Environmental Movement by Andrew Rowell, Routledge, 1996, £12.99. This book made me angry. Not, as you might assume with the author, but with the process and many of the people he describes.

Andrew Rowell places the spotlight on the growing tide of anti-environmentalism whose many ugly moments have included the murder in 1988 of Brazilian activist Chico Mendes and what John Major called the "judicial murder" of Nigeria's Ken Saro-Wiwa (to whom this book is dedicated).

The book's prologue summarizes the challenge, "The tide is turning against the environmental movement worldwide. Environmental activists are increasingly being scapegoated by the triple engines of the political Right, corporations and the state. The backlash has one simple aim: to nullify environmentalists and environmentalism." Paranoia, you might assume, but Rowell's thoughtful, well researched book provides enough evidence to convince most reasonable people.

Rowell was originally asked to research anti-environmentalism by Greenpeace. He accepts that some will dismiss the book as Green propaganda, or as "a cynical fund-raising effort", but stresses that Greenpeace had no editorial control.

Some of the nastiest examples of the backlash come not from the rainforests of Brazil but from the shire counties of Britain. Having had one of my daughters involved in what has become known as "the third Battle of Newbury", where protesters tried to stall plans to build a new bypass through three Sites of Special Scientific Interest, twelve sites of archaeological interest and part of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, I took a particular interest in the violence against demonstrators.

Listen to John Vidal of The Guardian, who worked under cover for a couple of days for Reliance Security. He was told by disaffected private security guards that violence was encouraged by some of those trying to dislodge the protesters. One instruction to the security men, "Don't forget to say good morning as you break their fingers", will long stick in my mind. The calculus: the greater the permissible violence, the fewer security people needed and the smaller the ultimate bill.

Throughout history, each social movement - and in particular successful social movements - has generated its own backlash. Indeed, the very existence of a backlash can be seen as a positive signal. "I think one has to know that if you are being effective, there will be a backlash," as Vandana Shiva puts it. "The fact that a backlash is occurring is a tribute to the environmental movement, because it shows that the environmental movement is making a difference. If someone does not make a difference, there is no backlash."