It was not until the late 1980s and early 1990s, however, that environmental issues took center stage in the United States. Many local and national environmental groups were founded, including the Student Environmental Action Coalition and the Rainforest Action Network. The new wave of environmental activism called upon everyday people to recognize and take responsibility for the impact of their daily activities on the world around them. Efforts to recycle, or reuse, products such as paper, aluminum, and plastic gained popularity on the individual, corporate, and government levels. Many states set up special departments to assist local communities in their recycling efforts.

During this period, the so-called “green movement” gained increasing global attention. Recognizing the need for collective action to solve environmental problems, the Group of Seven—the leaders of seven major industrialized nations—met for a summit in Moscow in 1996. Although some activists criticized the meeting for falling short of expectations, the summit did open discussion on the topic of nuclear-weapons testing and the problem of Russia's outdated nuclear plants. In the years following the meeting, environmental issues remained an important part of the diplomatic agenda.