Historically, "being green" developed as an political identity together with the blooming of the peace movement, the ecology movement and the feminist movement in the late 1970s, the time the first green parties on a local level were founded.

Different kinds of Greens

A small sample of the factions or tendencies that exist on the movement's fringe -- some only in very small numbers:

• Pacifist Green are those who reject violence entirely, even that done by laws and votes, and do not generally support even simple Electoral Reform. They may support an NGO such as Greenpeace, or more radical groups engaged in destruction of property that propagates violence.

• Deep Greens follow the ascetic ethics of Spinoza, Mohandas Gandhi and indigenous peoples. They are usually rural people who prefer wild to "tamed" living. Cf. also the ideology of deep ecology.

• Wild Greens are a youth movement of New Zealand Green Party, committed to direct action and taking bodily risks to protect nature.

• Soylent Greens are more nihilistic, and employ reverse psychology for purposes of culture jamming. They often alternate wild and urban modes - and are generally very secretive. They also accept the label Terrists. See also the term Soylent Green

• Viridian Greens are a more artistic movement in the U.S., originated by science fiction writer Bruce Sterling, and have fewer objections to media or technology.