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Technology
Technology & Production Systems-General
Standing between society and the environment are the artefacts of technology. The term is used here in its widest sense. Technology is not just specific machines and other gadgets. It also embraces processes and systems. A farm is as much a technology as a conveyor belt or a car. Technology forms the third part of the 'PAT' impact equation, alongside population and affluence (per capita consumption). It is the transformation since 1945 of the technologies we use that, in part, explains why many environmental problems-and many social ones-have got worse. In farming, there has been a dramatic shift from what were primarily organic and mixed crop systems to ones based on agrochemicals and monocultures, with many farm animals kept indoors for all or part of their lives. In transport, the private motor car took the place of the bus and train. In the manufacturing sector, all kinds of new synthetic substances replaced naturally occurring resources such as wood and wool.
Examples abound across all sectors of economic activity. One of the simplest examples is the switch from the technology of returnable glass bottles to that of non-returnable plastic containers. One choice is more appropriate to a sustainable society than the other. In the USA, for example, beer consumption has remained fairly steady in per capita terms but related environmental impacts have soared-not because there are more beer drinkers (population) but because of the change to canned drinks.
Many people think that technologies are essentially neutral tools, and that any failings merely a result of their misuse in the wrong hands. In reality, technologies not only embody different human values and priorities but also produce different social and environmental impacts-regardless of who owns them or how they are used. If it is assumed that different technologies possess different intrinsic characteristics, the question then follows whether it is possible to distinguish 'inappropriate' technologies from more appropriate ones.
Put simply, technological choice essentially boils down to two alternatives-the 'hard' technology path or the 'soft' technology path. We can, of course, put a windmill next to a nuclear power plant, but in a more meaningful sense the two paths are mutually exclusive. Hugh Nash claims that a society 'cannot aspire to be both conspicuously consumptive and elegantly frugal the hard and the soft paths are culturally and institutionally antagonistic and further more, compete for the same limited resources... a society cannot dedicate itself simultaneously to vegetarianism and cannibalism'.
. In many ways, science and technology are the modern opiates of both the masses and elites. In particularly, society at large, not just big business, believes in the 'technological fix', a phrase popularised by the nuclear scientist Alvin Weinberg referring to the promise that the combinaiton of scientific knowedge and technological prowess might provide solutions that would avoid the need for painful, slow, and difficult political, social and economic changes. Examples of this include the green revolution of hybrid high-yielding plants in agriculture to feed exploding populations; more sophisticated police hardware to combat crime; bypasses to ease traffic congestion; the diversion of rivers and even the towing of icebergs to provide water; more guns and bombs to combat global insecurity; even the colonising of the moon and outer space to solve problems here on Earth.
Typical of the technofix mentality is the unwarranted faith in the potential of pollution control technology. In reality, it only shifts pollutants from one form, place or time to another. Such changes might be a real improvement but they do not make pollution simply disappear. However there are more serious limits to technological 'clean-ups'. Many pollutants, for example, are too dissipated to catch and contain, for example, carbon dioxide, fertiliser run-off, and methane from cattle and paddy cultivation.
In the case of pollutants amenable to capture and treatment, there is still the cost of making and using the necessary gadgetry. The cost of installing full-scale tertiary treatment of the existing 'throughput' of sewage is likely to astronomical (such plants are twice as expensive to build and four times more costly to operate than secondary treatment works which, in any case, only cover a small minority of the current world population).
Already, great damage is being done producing the raw material for pollution abatement techniques, not least limestone mining and the production of lime for desulphurisation. Similarly, the manufacture of equipment like catalytic converters causes resource depletion and more pollution, while their use can create new pollutants. At the end of the pipe, there are still waste residues, often highly toxic, awaiting disposal. Sometimes, all that happens is a short-circuiting of the process by which they end up in the soil or water. Often there are penalties of reduced energy efficiency in power plant where pollution scrubbers have been fitted.
In the attempts to improve water quality, for example, an increasing number of end-of-pipe treatments have been used on industrial and municipal effluents. Usually, all that happens is that pollutants are transferred from one medium to another. Heavy metals, for instance, often end up in the treatment sludge. Subsequent incineration or land 'disposal' either degrades air quality or pollutes other water supplies by leaching out of the ground in which they are disposed.
It is also said that pollution control by-products, for example gypsum from desulphurisation, can be used elsewhere. One obvious problem is the cost of transporting those wastes to their future user. Furthermore, closer scrutiny reveals that the 'recycling' outlets are often activities like new road and building construction, the very things to be minimised in a sustainable society.
The only way to reduce the more serious pollutants is to generate less of them in the first place. Revealingly perhaps the biggest anti-pollution success story in recent years has been the fall in lead emissions. Between 1975 and 1987 total annual lead emissions in the US decreased by 94%, with quite dramatic falls in the lead levels in children's blood. The key to this victory was the removal of lead from products like petrol, not the deployment of on end-of-pipe techniques.
Such 'fixes' might work for some problems for a short time. However, they may compound the problem they were meant to solve, not least by providing positive feedback to damaging activities (e.g. new roads attracting new traffic and thereby creating more serious congestion rather than easing it). By postponing change, technofixes may make the transition to an ecologically sustainable society much harder and more unpalatable than if moves in that direction were begun now.
There is also the question whether knowledge and its application are themselves free from constraints and costs. Are they the one thing in life that is 'free' (in the sense of potentially unlimited, unlike energy and raw material) or are they too subject to limits? Some technical problems may have no solution and it might be better to accept our 'impotence' (this has not stopped recurrent attempts down the ages to develop perpetual motion machines). In other cases, there might be theoretical solutions but which simply are not logistically or financially viable in practical situations. There is an obvious danger that what works in the laboratory or under closely monitored (and usually heavily subsidised conditions as in the case of nuclear technologies) may not work safely, economically or even at all 'out in the field'.
All new technologies bring of course new risks of unforeseen side-effects which may outweigh their bebefits. Technologies are also interdependent. Breakthroughs in one area often produce mismatches elsewhere, for example between bigger tankers, on one hand, and, on the other, existing harbour and canal facilities. Problems of wasteful obsolescence are often multiplied by technological innovation, as, for instance, in the field of computers. New and more powerful technologies often bring bigger risks from breakdown, accident and error, while the greater use of capital hardware could be at the expense of human job satisfaction and employment. Lack of foresight, time and money can all prevent technology from galloping to the rescue. Apart from the risks, it might be that technofixes are simply irrelevant, since many of our problems are not technical at all, but are social and cultural.
The ultimate technofix is perhaps the belief in abundant cheap energy, currently centred on the prospect of nuclear fusion. Even if we could solve this technology's problems (the equivalent of recreating the conditions on the surface of the sun down here on Earth), and even if we could afford the enormous capital costs involved, it seems likely that the biophysical constraints would still limit its use on a scale sufficient to maintain physical expansion.
As John Holdren, Paul Ehrlich and Anne Ehrlich explain, energy is not the only problem: 'Food, shelter, clothing, education, and opportunity for the billions will certainly require energy, but they will also require other raw materials, social organisation and co-operation, and much help from the already beleaguered processes of the biosphere.' Social organisation and co-operation are themselves subject to constraints.
Adams, P., and L. Solomon, L. In the Name of Progress. Energy Probe, 1985.
Bauer, M., ed.. Resistance to New Technology: Nulcear Power, Information Technology, and Biotechnology. CUP, 1995. Not everyone has welcomed this trio of technologies at the core of the whole 'superindustrialism' project as these essays show.
Braun, E. Futile Progress: Technology's Empty Promise. Earthscan, 1995.
Cockburn, C. & R.F. Dilic. Bringing Technology Home: Gender and Technology in a Changing Europe. Open Univ., 1994. Case studies of some new household technologies.
Drengson, A. Four Philosophies of Technology. Phil. Today, 9(2), 1982: 103-117
Drengson, A. The Sacred and the Limits of the Technological Fix. Zygon, 19, 1984: 259-275
Drengson, A. Toward a Philosophy of Appropriate Technology. Humboldt Jnl. Soc. Rels., 9(2), 1983: 161-176
Drengson, A. The Practice of Exploring Technology, Ecophilosophy & Spiritual Disciplines for Vital Links. SUNY Pr., 1995.
Ellul, J. The Technological Society. Vintage Books, 1964
Ellul, J. The Technological Bluff. Erdmans Books, 1990
Farvar, M. T. & Milton, J. P., eds., The Careless Ecology and International Development. Nat. History Pr., 1972.
Ferkiss, V. Nature, Technology and Cultural Roots of the Current Environmental Issues Adamantine Press, 1993. An erudite and powerful study of the way our attitudes to the environment and to technology have created so much harm.
Ferkiss, V. Technological Man. Braziller, 1969.
Glenndinning, C. When Technology Wounds. Morrow, 1990. Study of the casualties of inappropriate technological development.
Goldsmith, E. High Technology Euphoria. The Ecologist 13 (5), 1983: 190-192
Hardin, G. Interstellar Migration and the Population Problem. J. of Heredity, 50, 1959: 68-70. An early critique of the ultimate technological myth namely that we can all leave the Earth and start afresh somewhere else.
Holdren, J. Technology, Environment and Well-Being. In C. Cooper, ed. Growth in America, Westview, 1976.
Juenger, G. The Failure of Technology. Regnery Gateway, 1949. Particularly interesting as an early example of themes that three decades later became more commonplace.
Leiss, W. Under Technology's Thumb. McGill Queen's Pr., 1990.
Luke, T. Reproducing Planet Earth? The Hubris of Biospegre 2. The Ecologist, 25(4), 1995: 157-162. The arrogance and irrelevance embodied in this giant techno. toy, an 'Earth' in minature.
Lyons, D. Are Luddites Confused? Inquiry, 22, 1979: 381-403
Manders, J. In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology. Sierra, 1991.
McDermott, J. Opiate of the Intellectuals. In A. Teich, ed., Technology and Man's Future. St. Martin's Pr., 1972
Mumford, L. The Myth of the Machine. H.B.J., 1970.
Noble, D. The Religion of Technology. Knopf, 1998.
Pedlar, K. The Quest for Gaia. Granada, 1979.
Perrow, C. Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies. Basic Books, 1984.
Postman, N. The Surrender of Culture to Technology. Knopf, 1992.
Rifkin, J. Declarations of a Heretic. RKP, 1985.
Schwartz, E. Overskill. Ballantine, 1971. The best refutation of the illusion we can simply invent our way out of social and environmental crises by means of 'technofixes'. Out-of-print but well worth ordering on inter-library loan.
Shiva, V. Letter. The Ecologist, 27(5), 1997: 211-212. A response to Norman Borlaug, 'father' of the so-called Green Revolution in farming, taking up the popular argument that we needed such innovation to avoid starvation.
Skolimowski, H. The Myth of Progress. The Ecologist, 4(7), 1974: 248-258.
Smith, M.R. & L. Marx, eds. Does Technology Drive History. MIT Pr., 1994. Provides evidence against technological determinism, a view which renders us helpless in the face of unwanted or undesirable technological change.
Suzuki, D. Can Science 'Manage' Nature. The Ecologist, 28(1), 1998: 7.
Waters, W.B. Landing a Man Downtown. Bull. Atom. Scientists, 29(9), 1973: 34-35. A useful essay which looks at the oft-made remark that 'if we can put people on the moon, surely we can solve problems likedown here on Earth'.
Winner, L. The Whale and the Reactor. Univ. Chicago Pr., 1986.
Wynne, B. & S. Mayer. How Science Fails the Environment. New Scientist, 1876, 1993: 33-35.
Zerzan, J. and A.Carnes, eds. Questioning Technology. Freedom Pr., 1988. The best collection on the limits to technology and the dangers of the technofix mentality.
Many of the references above discuss issues concerning the control and funding of scientific & technological innovation. See also:
Clement, K. Investing in Europe: Government Support for Environmental Technology. Greener Business International, 9, 1995: 41-51. Comparisons across the EU.
Livingston, D. Little Science Policy. Policy Stud. Jnl., 5 (2), 1976: 185-192
Various. Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGAIR): Agricultural Research for Whom. The Ecologist, 26(6), 1967: 259-270. An informative case study of the biased direction of research and development
Wynne, B. & D. Crouch. Responsiveness of Science & Technology Institutions to Environmental Change; A UK Case Study. Centre for the Study of Environmental Change, Lancaster University, Working Paper 92.7, 1992.
Technological Regulation, Risk Assessment and Safety Studies
It will always be the case that decision-making on all these issues will take place against a background of considerable uncertainty. Fortunately, it is the case that measures, say, to halt global warming will be solution multipliers since they will help to resolve many other social and environmental problems. To that extent, the balance of 'opportunity costs' favours action now, even if subsequent research were to demonstrate that the greenhouse effect was nothing more than the mirage produced by a few overheated imaginations.
In general, the accumulation of more information by itself will not make choices any the easier or wiser. There never will be a point at which, for example, a piece of additional proof about the number and nature of cancerous fish in the North Sea conclusively demonstrates that drastic measures must be taken to stop pollution of its waters.
Similarly, there are so many potential sources of cancer that it will be impossible to say with absolute certainty that nuclear plants like Sellafield are blighting human health. Yet there are sufficient grounds for fearing that the risks of radioactive contamination are now too great to permit the continued operation of such facilities. It is a dereliction of public duty to use the absence of absolute certainty to delay action.
Even if all necessary evidence could be collected, facts do not speak by themselves. The fundamental issue is in fact not quantity of data but quality of thinking. It alone can give order and meaning to what, usually, will be a limited supply of hard fact. It was wisdom and understanding that enabled people like Vogt and Osborn in the 1940s to foresee that contemporary trends would lead to disaster. Only an ecologically based approach to analysis and policy can prevent their worst predictions coming true.
Decisions about many aspects of pollution are made, then, under conditions of inevitable ignorance, but guidance is available from nature herself. As biologist Barry Commoner notes, 'the consistent absence of a chemical constituent from natural biological systems is an extraordinarily meaningful fact'. We must always proceed with the utmost caution. In fact, 'the slightest probability of a pollutant's guilt must be sufficient reason to warrant its removal from the market' (Edward Goldsmith).
Designs and operating procedures must be judged not on claims of being fail safe, but on their tolerance of failure. In other words, we must accept that things may go wrong and ensure that the consequences are not socially and environmentally unacceptable. Only if we begin to initiate all these measures seriously will nature's own self-cleansing mechanisms eventually be able to restore pure air, clean oceans and sweet water.
Braun, E. & D. Wield. Regulation as a Means for the Social Control. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 6, 1994: 259-172.
Epstein, S. Corporate Crime: Can We Trust Industry-Derived Safety Studies? The Ecologist, 19 (1), 1989: 23-30.
Goldsmith, E. Are the Experts Lying? The Ecologist, 28(2), 1998: 51-53.
Howard, V. Synergistic Effects of Chemical Mixtures-Can We Rely on Traditional Toxicology?. The Ecologist, 27(5), 1997: 192-195.
Shaoul, J. Mad Cow Disease. The Ecologist, 27(5), 1997: 182-187. Includes expose of government-industry safety fudging.
North, R. Pesticide Use on Farm Animals: Can We Regulate It. The Ecologist, 28(2), 1998: 82-92. Critique of Britain's veterinary medicines control system.
Steinbrecher, R. From Green to Gene Revolution: The Environmental Risks of Genetically Engineered Crops. The Ecologist, 26(6), 1996: 273-281. Includes panel on the risks of current risk assessment on genetically modified organisms.
Walker, M. Sir Richard doll: A Questionable Pillar of the Cancer Establishment. The Ecologist, 28(2), 1998: 82-92. Critique of the objectivity of celebrated British scientist.
Western, R. Scientific Uncertainties and Technical Deficiencies: Underground Burial of Nuclear Waste. The Ecologist, 27(2), 1997: 44-45.
EcoDesign-General
Ecological design has been a fast growing force in recent years. Yet it has long and deep roots. There are many examples in artefacts created by people down the ages that were sustainably made from renewable materials sourced from the locality, functional, durableand beautiful. Such creations, ranging from buildings to pots and pans, satisfied human needs without inflicting unsustainable damage on the environment in their manufacture, use or disposal. There were, of course, plenty of exceptions but the real change in demands placed upon environmental systems by design choices came with the industrial revolution.
Under industrialism, design entered the world of mass production, standardisation, large-scale and long distance transportation, and a resource base dominated by non-renewable and heavily polluting fossil fuels and synthetic materials. Although there had been large cities before, nothing rivalled the new conurbations and the outward march of suburbia. After the First World War came the first stirrings of consumerism and 1945, per capita consumption levels began to rise dramatically during the long years of the post-war boom.
Novelty, product differentiation and, of course, increased (and often conspicuous) consumption became to be perceived as inherently good things. The private increasingly replaced the public, with, for example, the domestic television replacing the more public medium of the cinema or the private motor displacing the bus and the train. In the industrialised countries, the average household was filling up with what past generations would have regarded as an Aladdin's cave of appliances, furnishings and all kinds of other objects.
Few questions were asked about the ecological sustainability of this revolution in lifestyles. Other fashions and fads came and went as one design movement followed another, each with its own intended and unintended impacts on individual lifestyles ('from Bauhaus to our house', as Tom Wolfe once put), society as a whole, and environmental systems. Pauline Madge suggests that the glass-walled skyscraper symbolises these trends-profligate in energy and raw materials, physically unpleasant if not downright unhealthy for its users, and destructive of local character.
Yet there was a minority who were not swept away by the values of Industrialism. Some looked back to the craft skills of pre-industrial society while other sought to identify new ways of working with, not against, nature. Such thinkers (e.g. Lewis Mumford) and designers (e.g. William Morris and John Ruskin) perceived a twin degradation-of both people and planet. What others saw as the work of enterprising, modern individuals, such critics perceived the products to be homogenised, trivial, insensitive and frequently brutal to the mind, body and the natural world.
In more recent times, such criticism has been fuelled when the 'developing nations' attempted to follow the ways of the already industrialised lands. The latter's technologies proved to be to economically costly, culturally insensitive, and ecologically destructive. The transfer of labour-saving equipment and techniques often proved disastrous in countries where population growth had meant that the one thing in surplus was human labour.
Critics such as Fritz Schumacher campaigned for alternatives, for tools and production systems appropriate to local needs, one which would be an improvement on what was being used before, but not out of the technical and economic reach of their intended users. This approach stressed self-reliance, rather than dependence, conviviality and co-operation, instead of alienation and competition, localism not globalisation, and human in scale as opposed to 'giantism', putting society on an ecologically sustainably footing.
Not surprisingly, a body of theory and practice soon developed that drew similar lessons for the so-called 'advanced countries'. The fading of the post-war boom, the return of persistent unemployment, a variety of worsening social ills and, of course, the growing signs of environmental decline all encouraged this shift in focus. It connected with the concerns expressed by ecologists like Rachel Carson and Paul Ehrlich on the one hand, and, on the other, those critics such as Vance Packard who had been denouncing the artificial creation of unnecessary and often harmful wants amongst consumers.
Designers like Victor Papanek criticised the design profession's addiction to worthless fads and explored options that could satisfy sustainably fundamental human needs. Their efforts received a boost from the spread of 'green consumerism' with shoppers voting with their wallets in favour of environmentally friendlier goods and services (the shift in consumer allegiances should not, however be exaggerated).
At the same time, the changing regulatory framework has been putting further pressure on designers to green their ways, not least via directives from the European Union on matters such as recycling, packaging and hazardous chemicals. Tightening environmental constraints are likely to express themselves in terms of higher prices for many resources. Waste generation is also likely to attract increasingly severe financial penalties and in turn encourage consumers will seek longer life and less bulky products.
Frugality in original resource inputs and longevity of use are likely to become economically as well as environmentally desirable. It seems as if the future in design is likely to be one in which 6 'Rs' of reduction, reliability, repair, reuse, recycling, and regionalisation are the guiding forces. Hopefully, they will be seen not as a threat but as a stimulating and rewarding challenge. Clearly, however, there will have to be broader changes in society, not least its economic structures. They will be necessary not only to encourage the work ecological designers but also to cushion the transition to sustainable systems. Otherwise shifts towards product longevity and generally more frugal lifestyles will cause severe disruption, not least amongst those whose profits and jobs depend upon overconsumption, waste and built-in obsolescence.
Carr, M., ed. The AT Reader. Intermediate Technology Publications, 1985.
Dadd, D. Nontoxic and Natural. Tatcher, 1990
Dadd, D. Earthwise. Tatcher, 1990.
Drengson, A. The Practice of Exploring Technology, Ecophilosophy & Spiritual Disciplines for Vital Links. SUNY Pr., 1995.
Hemenway, D. Eight Principles for Designing Natural Systems. Whole Earth Rev., 48, 1985: 72-73.
McRobie, G. Small is Possible. Abacus, 1982.
Mollison, B. Permaculture: A Designer's Manual. Tagari, 1988. Arguable the bible of ecodesign, especially regarding land use, combining vision with practicality.
Naar, Jon. Design for a Living Planet. Harper & Row, 1990.
Papanek, V. Design for the Real World. Granada, 1974.
Papanek, V. The Green Imperative: Ecology & Ethics in Design & Architecture. Thames & Hudson, 1995.
Todd, J. & N. Todd. Tomorrow is Our Permanent Address. Harper and Row, 1980.
Todd, N. & J. Todd. Bioshelters, Ocean Arks, City Farming: Ecology as the Basis of Design. Sierra, 1984. Very valuable overview from leading lights from the new Alchemy Institute and Ocean Arks International.
Todd, J. & N. Todd. From Ecocities to Living Machines: Designing for Sustainability. N. Atlantic Pr., 1993.
Wann, D. Biologic. Johnson Books, 1990. Brilliant and accessible guide on how to design with Nature.
Applied EcoDesign
Burall, P. Green Design. Design Council, 1991.
International Council for Societies of Industrial Design. Design for Need: The Social Context of Design. ICSID, 1976.
Mackenzie, D. Green Design: Design for the Environment. Laurence King, 1991.
Madge, P. A History of Ecological Design. Ecological Design Association, 1992. Very informative briefing sheet.
Whiteley, N. Design for Society. Reaktion Pr., 1993.
For examples of such ideas applied to specific problems, see:
Goldbeck, D. The Smart Kitchen: How to Design a Comfortable, Safe, Energy Efficient and Environment Friendly Workspace. Ceres Press, 1991 (?)
Water Supply
Water supply, both its quality and quantity, has forced its way to the surface as one of the biggest problems facing society. Yet, incredibly, this critical issue made no splash as a substantive political issue. Debate has been confined to the minutiae of privatisation such as water company profits but not the big issue of what our population levels, lifestyles and land use patterns are doing to the most fundamental of all resources, water.
There are interesting parallels with the oil crisis of the early 1970s. The world suddenly woke up to an energy crisis in which those with their hands on the oil pumps were able to force massive price increases. Shock waves reverberated around the world economy, sowing the seeds, amongst others, of the massive movement of petrodollars and the ensuing timebomb of debt. It has provoked armed conflict over the control of oilfields. However, a combination of factors-greater energy efficiency, the opening of new oilfields, reduced demand due to recession, for example - took the heat out of the oil crisis and the world returned to its bad old ways as if oil was a renewable resource that would last forever.
We could live without oil. Indeed the whole timespan of our oil addiction is a mere blink in human history, lasting perhaps 150 years at the most. We cannot live without water. It is essential to every aspect of living. Indeed, that great energy guzzler and polluter , the modern motor car, could not be constructed without vast quantities of water, something like 500,000 gallons per vehicle. We share our need for water with other lifeforms and the effects upon them of the water crisis are even worse. In many regions, water tables are falling, underground aquifers drying out, rivers and lakes shrinking. Lake Chad, once one of the biggest lakes in Africa, is now a tenth of its previous size. In the CIS, ships lie stranded in the dried up Aral Sea.
Freshwater supply should be a renewable resource but overpopulation, greater per capita consumption and water-wasteful technologies not only directly tap it to excess but create other effects which indirectly magnify the problem. This is most clear in the case of pollution, deforestation and human-induced climatic change. Acid rain, for example, has been polluting waterways around the world. Deforestation destabilises water supply as the sponge of tree cover is lost and water runs off the land, often causing devastation downstream. However it is the emerging 'greenhouse effect' that will deepen the crisis dramatically.
Though the total water budget may remain the same, the 'greenhouse effect' will mean more water falling in some areas and less elsewhere. The world will witness more devastating floods and more crippling droughts. The drying out of many parts of Africa is already creating havoc but Britain too seems set to become warmer and drier. Many countries, it seems, will have to make do with a significantly reduced water supply. The danger is that we treat the present water crisis like the 1970s energy crisis, a temporary hiccup to be overcome by palliative measures before we get back to business-as-usual again. Nothing could be more foolish than to treat it as just another period of drought, of no more significance than those before.
The conventional response is to treat the problem as a shortage of supply rather than a longage of demand. There may be hosepipe bans and other conservation measures but the focus remains firmly on new reservoirs, massive water movement schemes and, in some instances, fantastic ideas about the towing of icebergs to water-short areas. Indeed we are faced with the prospects of a new round of what might be called hydraulic imperialism. Plans are afoot for more powerful and richer regions to tap the resources of other communities (both human and wildlife).
Such schemes fly in the face of ecological reality. They would require truly massive amounts of energy and raw materials to construct, all of which come with enormous environmental and economic price tags. Human and wildlife communities in the way of new dams and reservoirs will be destroyed. They would require highly centralised management systems too. The fears expressed about the authoritarianism inherent in nuclear power should be directed as well at the managers of large-scale water schemes. Indeed in history 'hydraulic' civilisations have tended to be some of the most brutal and repressive on record, including those of Mesopotamia. And they have all suddenly collapsed with remarkable speed.
Even the less megalomaniac schemes on the engineers' drawing board are still fundamentally flawed. The extra water they might deliver would only provide positive feedback to current patterns of overconsumption, just like more roads generate more traffic. In any case, in a changing climate coupled to increasing demand, there is no certainty that new dams will remain filled. In the long run, increased water supply by itself, would exacerbate, not relieve, our thirst.
It is particularly important to analyse supply and demand in the context of current lifestyles and technologies, not imaginary ones. We could live much more frugally but at present there is little sign that significant change is underway in present water consumption patterns in homes or factories. Therefore, greater emphasis must be put on the population part of the water demand equation.
It could be argued, for example, that the presumption must now be against all further large-scale expansion in areas such as the South East of England or the 'sunshine' states of the SW USA. If a development is to be permitted that will increase water demand, there must be evidence, it might be further argued, that it should be balanced by cuts elsewhere. In particular, it seems vital that land released by 'set-aside' schemes is not used for water profligate uses, for example golf courses. Instead, they must be reforested with native woodlands, amongst whose many benefits is the role they play in water conservation.
The water crisis also emphasises the importance of government action. We cannot rely upon the mechanisms of the market. It seems fairer and faster for the necessary standards to be set by government rather than leaving to the distorted 'signals' sent by buying and selling in the market place. Privatisation, it now appears, undermined the need for a thoroughly integrated approach. It is also biased decision-making towards the sale of water, rather than its conservation.
There is an increasing case for strict standards to be set for water efficiency in both production processes as well as particular products such as washing machines and the design of new buildings. The biggest argument, however, will come over the issue of water metering. This has long been opposed in traditional 'radical' circles, on the superficially plausible grounds that the poor would be hit the hardest. Yet non-metering is surely a recipe for waste. As long as the benefits of water consumption are separated from the true costs of its supply, there will never be an incentive to conserve. Just as in the case of energy taxation, it is perfectly possible to cushion the impact of water charges upon more vulnerable sections of society.
It is clear that we can no longer take for granted the Earth's water resources. We need a vigorous and radical programme of water conservation. Without it, not only will we experience more frequent and severe droughts but also the danger of water wars will increase. Then the future will be dammed!
Adams, W. Wasting the Rain: Rivers, People & Planning in Africa. Earthscan, 1992.
Cook, J. Dirty Water. Unwin, 1989. British focus.
Clarke, R. Water: The International Crisis. Earthscan, 1991.
Craig, F. & P. Craig. Britain's Poisoned Water. Penguin, 1989. Deteriorating quality of drinking and bathing water in the UK
Haigh, N., et al. Water & Waste in Four Countries. Graham & Trotman, 1986. EU-based case studies
Hunt, C.E. Down the River: The Impact of Federal Water Policies on Biodiversity. Island Pr., 1988.
Lewis, Scott Alan. The Sierra Club Guide to Safe Drinking Water. Sierra Books, n.d.
Pearce, F. Watershed. Junction Books, 1982. Mismanagement of UK water resources
Sear, J. A Reprieve for Ennerdale. The Ecologist, 15(4), 1985: 177-181. The ecological impacts of water withdrawals from lakes, in this case in the Lake District.
Wheeler, D. Britain's Polluted Drinking water. The Ecologist, 16(2/3), 1986: 130-131.
Wilkinson, C.F. Crossing the Next Meridian: Land, Water and the Future of the West. Island, 1993. Case study of land and water mismanagement in the arid American west.
Hydraulic Megalomania
The following are a few case studies of ecologically insane schemes such as megadams, large-scale groundwater extraction and massive interbasin water transfer schemes.
Barber, M. & G. Ryder, eds. Damning the Three Gorges: What Dam Builders Don't Want You to Know. Earthscan, 1993.
Bowden, C. Killing the Hidden Waters: The Slow Destruction of Water Resources in the American Southwest. Texas Univ. Pr., 1977. How to turn a renewable resource into a non-renewable one.
Horta, K. The Mountain Kingdom's White Oil: Lesotho Highlands Water Project. The Ecologist 25(6), 1995: 227-232.
Reisner, M. Cadillac Desert: The American West & Its Disappearing Water. Secker & Warburg, 1988.
Worster, D. Rivers of Empire. Pantheon, 1985. Demonstrates how water development becomes a kind of hydraulic imperialism.
Management of Water Supply
Bowers, J. Water Privatisation & the Environment. Economic Review, 8(3), 1991: 9-14.
Gordon, S. Down The Drain: Water, Pollution & Privatisation. Optima, 1989.
Schofield, R. & J. Shaoul. Regulating the Water Industry: Swimming Against the Tide or Going through the Motions. The Ecologist, 27(1), 1997: 6-13.
Irrigation
Goldsmith, E. Learning to Live with Nature: The Lessons of Traditional Irrigation. The Ecologist 28 (3), 1998: 162-170.
River Engineering, Levee Construction and Canalisation
McCully, P. Time to Retreat: Lessons from the Mississippi Floods. The Ecologist, 23(5), 1993: 163-164.
Ecological Water Management
Agarwal, A & S. Narain. Dying Wisdom: The Decline and Revival of Traditional Water Harvesting Systems in India. The Ecologist, 27(3), 1997: 112-116. The old ways can provide a more sustainable alterantive than mad megaprojects such as dams.
Costner, P. We All Live Downstream: A Guide to Waste Treatment That Stops Water Pollution. Waterworks Books, 1989.
Newsom, M. Land, Water and Development-River Basin Systems and their Sustainable Management. Routledge, 1992. Watersheds and river basin management strategies are a critical component of a sustainable water use strategy.
Postel, S. Conserving Water: The Untapped Potential. WorldWatch Institute, 1985.
Rees, J. Water For Life: Strategy for Sustainable Resource Management. CPRE, 1994. Review of what is called 'sustainability failures" and suggestions for better water management.
RMI. Water-Efficient Technologies. R.M.I., 1988.
See also:
Gray, N. Drinking Water Quality: Problems & Solutions. Wiley, 1994.
Agriculture
No human activity has transformed and damaged the Earth more than the shift from hunter-gatherer lifestyles to the tillage of soil and domestication of plants and animals. This impact has accelerated since World War 11 with what has amounted to an industrialisation of farming through an interconnected series of developments: the creation of large monocultures, cultivation of a fast decreasing variety of crops, increased mechanisation (including greater use of computer systems), dependence of large inputs of agrochemicals, the creation of intensive livestock units, production for distant markets, farm amalgamations, elaborate systems of farm price support, and increasing domination of all stages of the food supply system by a few multinational corporations. This process took root in Western Europe and North Europe but the model is being copied elsewhere, with Tanzania, for example, introducing Canadian-style wheat farming.
There is a considerable material on the inequities of the world food supply system, not least the way it drains foodstuffs from poorer countries for the supply of wasteful and unhealthy diets in the richer ones. See, for example, the writings of Francis Moore Lappé. This section concentrates not so much on maldistribution as on malproduction and the problems intrinsic to current methods of agricultural activity.
It should be remembered that all arable farming, including organic systems, and large-scale grazing of domesticated livestock simplify the ecological systems they replace, with consequent losses in biodiversity and long-term stability. The phenomenon of food mountains in the EU should not conceal that modern agriculture is a system fast undermining the very environmental systems on which it depends.
The industrialisation of food production, especially mechanisation and dependence upon large inputs of agrochemicals, is also linked to social and economic as well as environmental problems. It has cut rural employment and contributed to the break-up of rural communities. Its financial overheads have increased indebtedness amongst those farmers who have survived the tide of farm amalgamations, whilst agricultural support such as the Common Agriculture Policy of the EU, has also cost the public exchequer dearly.
Such problems emphasises the overriding importance of population levels. Clearly the impact of food production systems is linked to the number of mouths to be fed. Paddy cultivation of rice, for example, produces the greenhouse gas as a by-product so it follows that the more rice eaters there are the worse global warming will be. At the same time, however, a shift away from a meat-centred diet would reduce significantly the environmental costs of agriculture since large amounts of crops now grown are fed to farm animals, with a significant loss of available foodstuffs for people (the actual food conversion ratio varies from animal to animal). Even without that change, there is still considerable scope for putting today's farming on a less damaging basis, as a number of pioneering organic farmers and 'permaculturalists' are now demonstrating.
Baldock, D. Agriculture and Habitat Loss in Europe. WWF, 1990.
Berry, W. The Unsettling of America. Sierra, 1977. A broad-ranging critique of 'agribusiness' not just its environmental impacts but also its effects on rural communities and human culture as a whole.
Bunyard, P. Industrial Agriculture-Driving Climate Change. The Ecologist, 26(6), 1996: 290-298.
Buttel, F.H. & O.W. Larsen. Farm Size, Structure and Energy Intensity. Rural Sociology, 44, 1979: 471-488
Clemings, R. Mirage: The False Promise of Desert Agriculture. Sierra Books, n.d.
Clunies-Ross, T., & Hildyard, N. The Politics of Industrial Agriculture. Earthscan, 1992. Who gains and who loses from chemical-intensive farming.
Cornucopia Project. Empty Breadbaskets: The Coming Challenge to America's Food Supply and What We Can Do About It. Rodale Press, 1981.
Crossroad group. Agriculture & Spirituality. International Books, 1995.
Doyle, J. Altered Harvest: Agriculture, Genetics and the Fate of the World's Food Supply. Penguin, 1985.
Fox, M.. Agricide. Schocken, 1987.
Goering, P. et al. From the Ground Up: Rethinking Industrial Agriculture. Zed, 1993.
Goldschmidt, W. As You Sow: Three Studies in the Consequences of Agribusiness. Osmun, 1978. Careful study of how intensive agriculture in California destroyed small and socially successful farming communities as well as local environments. Suppressed at the time of its original publication in the 50s.
Jackson, W. Altars of Unhewn Stone. North Point Press, 1987.
Kneen, B. From Land to Mouth: Understanding the Food System. NC Pr., 1989.
Kiley-Worthington, M. Problems of Modern Agriculture. Food Policy, Aug., 1980:208-215
Lambert, T,A., 1980. Energy, Entropy and Agriculture. Cornell Jnl of Soc. Relations 15/1, 1980:84-97. How agriculture has become hungry for energy and resource inputs and degrades the environment in the process.
Leach, G. The Energy Costs of Agriculture. In F. Steel & H. Bourne, eds. The Man/Food Equation. Academic Pr., 1975.
Mansolt, S. The Common Agricultural Policy. The Soil Association, 1979. A devastating critique of EC Farm Policy by one of its original architects!
Pimentel, D. Ecological Aspects of Agricultural Policy. Nat. Resources Jnl. 20/3, 1980: 555-585.
Pimentel, D. & Hall, C.W., eds. Food and Natural Resources. Academic Press, 1990.
Reichert, W. Agriculture's Diminishing Diversity. Environment, 24 (9), 1982: 6-11 & 39-43.
Shiva, V. Letter. The Ecologist, 27(5), 1997: 211-212. A response to Norman Borlaug, 'father' of the so-called Green Revolution in farming, taking up the popular argument that we needed such innovation to avoid starvation.
Tansey, G. T. Worsley. The Food System: a Guide. Earthscan, 1996. Lookat the institutional framework of today's globalised food supply system.
Various. Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGAIR): Agricultural Research for Whom. The Ecologist, 26(6), 1967: 259-270. Shows how research and development in farming is biased in favour of agrobusiness.
Waller, R. The Agricultural Balance Sheet. Green Alliance, 1982. Brief but effective critique
The Livestock Industry
Barker, R. And the Waters Turned to Blood. Simon & Shuster, 1997. Pollution from Carolina pig farms and the devastating knock-on ecological disruption it is causing off the eastern seaboard of the USA coast.
Durning, A. & Brough, H. Taking Stock: Animal Farming & The Environment. WorldWatch Institute, 1991.
Ferguson, N. & D. Sacred Cows at the Public Trough. Maverick Pr., 1983. Expose of the publicly heavily subsidised destruction caused by ranching in America's west.
Hecht, S. The Sacred Cow in the Green Hell: Livestock & Forest Conversion in the Brazilian Amazon. The Ecologist, 19(6), 1989: 229-226.
Jacobs, Lynn. Waste of the West. Publisher not known, 1991. Critique of American livestock industry and overgrazing of public lands.
Morgan, D. Grazing and Forest Health: How Cows Worsen Forest Fires. Wild Earth, Summer, 1996: 20-23.
Nations, J. & D. Komer. Rainforests & the Hamburger Society. The Ecologist, 17(4/5), 1987: 161-167. The 'hamburger connection' is sometimes exaggerated but it certainly has bitten into Central American forests.
Rifkin, J. Beyond Beef. Thorsons, 1994. The real price of large-scale meat consumption
Shaoul, J. Mad Cow Disease. The Ecologist, 27(5), 1997: 182-187. Includes expose of government-industry cover-up.
Stauber, J. & S. Rampton. Mad Cow USA. Common Courage Pr., 1997. Health and other hazards bred by the American beef industry.
Wuerthner, G. How the West was Eaten. Wilderness, Spring, 1991: 28-37.
Wuerthner, G. Some Ecological Costs of Livestock. Wild Earth, Spring, 1992: 10-14.
Other Specific Food & Drink items
Ayres, E. & A. Durning. The History of a Cup of Coffee. Worldwatch, 7(5), 1994: 20-22.
Ayres, E. & A. Durning. An Order of French Fries. Worldwatch, 8(1), 1995: 34-36.
Glantz, S., et al. The Cigarette Papers. Univ. California Pr., 1996.
Madeley, J. Tobacco; a Ruinous Crop. The Ecologist, 16(2/3), 1986: 124-129.
Sexton, S. Going Bananas. The Ecologist, 2793), 1997: 117-118.
Tanner, J. Cocoa Addicts. New Internationalist, Feb., 1990:14-15. Portrait of cocoa production and its effects in Ghana.
Thomson, R. Green Gold: Bananas & Dependency in the East Caribbean. Latin American Bureau, 1987
Diet, Food Processing and Transportation
Ehrlichman, J. Gluttons for Punishment. Penguin, 1986.
Energy Efficiency Office. Energy Efficiency in Buildings: Catering Establishments. Dept of Environment, 1991.
Hall, R.H. Food for Nought. Doubleday, 1974.
Millstone, E. Food Additives. Penguin, 1986.
Norberg-Hodge, H. Think Global-Eat Local! Delicious Ways to Counter Globalisation. The Ecologist, 28(4), 1998: 208-214. Shows that we can do ourselves, society and the environment all a big flavoursome favour by eating what is available locally and seasonally.
Paxton, A. The Food Miles Report: The Dangers of Long Distance Food Transport. SAFE Alliance (London), 1994.
Polunin, M. The Right Way to Eat. Dent/Ecoropa, 1984.
Wardle, C. Changing Food Habits. Earth Resources Research, 1977.
Walker, C., and G. Cannon. The Food Scandal. Century, 1985.
Webb, T., and T. Lang. Food Irradiation: The Facts. Thorsons, 1987.
Towards Sustainable Food Production Systems
Altieri, M. Agroecology: The Scientific Basis of Alternative Agriculture. Westview, 1986.
Anon. The Human Face of Sustainable Agriculture. Paper 4, Centre for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, Univ. of California, 1995. How sustainable systems can protect people as well as the environment.
Boeringa, R., ed. Alternative Methods of Agriculture. Elsevier, 1980.
Burrill, G & J. Nolfi. Strategies for Bioregional Food Systems. In G. Coates, ed., Resettling America: Energy, Ecology & Community. Brick House, 1981. Looks at Vermont in the USA
Clunies-Ross, T. Mangolds, Manures and Mixtures: The Importance of Crop Diversity on British Farms. The Ecologist, 2595), 1995; 181-187.
Conford, P. Ed.. A Future for the Land: Organic Practice from a Global Perspective. Green books, 1992.
Conviser, R. Towards Agricultures of Context. Environmental Ethics, 6, 1984: 71-85. Good summary overview of new and greener approaches.
Douglass, G., ed. Agricultural Sustainability in a Changing Order. Westview, 1984.
Douglas, J. Sholto & R. Hart. Forest Farming. Intermediate Technology Publications, 1985.
Drengson, A. Toward a Redefinition of Progress in Agricultural Technology and Practices: From Industrial Paradigms to Natural Patterns. Quarterly J. of Ideology, 11(2), 1987: 59-66
Ebenreck, S. A Partnership Farmland Ethic. Environmental Ethics, 5. 1983: 33-45
Fukuoka, M. One-Straw Revolution. Rodale Pr., 1978. The work of a pioneering Japanese farmer.
Fukuoka, M. The Natural Way of Farming. Japan Publications, 1989.
Goering, P., et al. From the Ground Up: Rethinking Industrial Agriculture. Zed Books, 1993.
Hart, R. The Forest Garden. Green Books, 1991. A working model of working with nature to sustain both human needs and those of other species.
Hodges, R.D. The Case for Biological Agriculture. The Ecologist Quarterly, Summer, 1978: 122-143.
Jackson, W. New Roots for Agriculture. Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1985.
Jackson, W., et al. Meeting the Expectations of the Land. North Point Press, 1984.
Johnson, W., et al. Energy Conservation in Amish Agriculture. Science, 198, 1977: 373-378. The farming techniques of the Amish community centred on Pennsylvania are amongst the most sustainable in the world.
Kiley-Worthington, M. Ecological Agriculture: What it is and how it works. Agriculture and Environment, 6, 1981: 349-381
Kiley-Worthington, M. Eco-Agriculture: Food First Farming, Theory and Practice. Souvenir Pr., 1993.
Lockeretz, W., ed. Environmentally Sound Agriculture. Praegar, 1983.
Merrill, R., ed. Radical Agriculture. NY. Univ. Pr., 1976.
Pretty, J. Regenerating Agriculture: Policies and Practice for Sustainability and Self-Reliance. Earthscan, 1995.
Selincourt, K. De. Local Harvest. Lawrence & Wishart, 1997. Critique of argribusiness but with positive emphasis on how healthy and tasty food can be produced locally and sustainably for local needs.
Soule, J., & J. Piper. Farming in Nature's Image. Earthscan, 1993.
Terrason, F.& G. Tendron, G. The Case for Hedgerows. The Ecologist, 11: (5), 1981 210-221
Tilth. The Future is Abundant: A Guide to Sustainable Agriculture. Tilth Pr. 1982.
Whitefield, P. How to Make a Forest Garden. Permanent Publications, no date on my copy but suspect 1997. For further information try: permaculture@gn.apc.org
Widdowson, R.W. Toward Holistic Agriculture. Pergamon, 1987.
City Farming.
Many cities used to grow lots of food locally. Some still do, perhaps notably in China. This should be amjor focus of ecologically guided urban redevelopment. Conservation of areas like allotments are clearly part of this strategy. It would inclide as well development of 'soilless culture such as hydroponics and roof growing boxes, 'gardens in the sky'. Without drastically reduced pollution, o course, such foodstuffs might be more a menace than a boon.
Britz, R., et al. The Edible City Resource Manual. Kaufmann, 1981.
Creasy, R. The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping Sierra, 1982.
Garnett, T. Farming the City: The Potential of Urban Agriculture. The Ecologist, 26(6), 1996: 299-307.
Hynes, P. H. A Patch of Eden: America's Inner City Gardeners. Chelsea Green, 1996.
Kourik, R.. Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally. Metamorphic Pr., 1986.
Nelson, T. Urban Agriculture. WorldWatch, 9(6), 1996: 10-17.
Olkowski, H. & W. Olkowski. The City People's Book of Raising Food. Rodale, 1975.
Olkowskil, W. & H. Urban Agriculture: A Strategy for Transition to a Solar Society. In Coates, G., ed. Resetling America: Energy, Ecoogy and Community. Brick House, 1981.
Somers, L. The Community Gardening Book: New Directions for Creating & Managing Neighbourhood food Gardens in Your Town. National Gardening Assoc., USA, 1984.
Sustainable Agriculture and Farming Policy
CPRE. Less Intensive Agriculture: Proposals from the CPRE. CPRE, 1988.
Groh, T., & McFadden. Farms of Tomorrow; Community Supported Farms, Farm Supported Communities. Island Pr., 1990.
Jenkins, T. Future Harvests: The Economics of Farming and the Environment: Proposals for Action. CPRE/WWF, 1990.
Laurence Gould Consultants. Conserving the Countryside: Costing It Out. CPRE, 1989.
Maynard, R, ed. Off the Treadmill: A Way Forward for Farmers and the Countryside. FoE, London, 1991.
Potter, C. Investing in Rural Harmony: An Alternative Package of Agricultural Subsidies and Incentives for England and Wales. WWF, 1983.
Pye-Smith, C., and R. North. Working the Land. Temple Smith, 1984.
Sinclair, G. How to Help Farmers and Keep England Beautiful: Study of EEC Farm Funding. CPRE/CNP/WWF, 1985.
Forestry-general
The destruction of the world's tropical moist forests rightly has caused mounting alarm and protest. However, across the temperate parts of the world, woodlands are also being devastated. Even forests that have recovered in recent decades, as in New England, are now under renewed attack. In some regions, there have been big afforestation programmes. However, they have taken the form of monocultural plantations where the goal is the maximum crop of timber in the minimum time.
Banuri T. & F. Marglin, eds. Who Will Save The Forests. Zed, 1993.
Carrere CC. & L. Lohmann, Pulping the South: Industrial Tree Plantations & the World Paper Economy. Zed Books, 1996.
Hall, C. The Forestry Club. Ecos, 3(1), 1982: 10-13. Vested interests behind coniferous afforestation in the UK.
Moore, P. The Unacceptable Face of Private Forestry. Ecos, 6(4), 1985: 34-39. UK study.
Repetto R. & M. Gillis. Public Policies & the Misuse of Forest Resources. CUP, 1988.
Wilson, R. The Political Power of the Forestry Lobby. Ecos, 8 (4), 1987: 11-17
Wuerthner, G. Ecological Differences between Logging and Forest Fires. Wild Earth, Summer, 1995: 40-44. In passing, a rebuttal of the claim by loggers that their activities are no different to first fires or, for that matter, wind throws.
See also:
Westoby, J. The Purposes of Forests: Follies of Development. Blackwell, 1987.
The references on deforestation and on specific forested ecosystems elsewhere on the site concentrate more on the ecological role of forests and threats to them.
Forestry in Temperate Regions
Contrary to the labels on many products proclaiming their origins in 'sustainably managed forests', in reality these plantations are little more than tree mines. Sweden leads the world in the intensive exploitation of her forests: wildlife habitats are being destroyed, broad-leaved woodlands replaced by conifers, wetlands drained and old-growth coniferous woods cut down. In Norway too, very little old growth forest is left while Germany's forest cover, originally 75% deciduous, is now dominated by just one conifer, Norway Spruce, which covers 40% of today's forested area. Russia's forests are now being rapidly felled while in Australasia, Chile and North America, old-growth forests are down to the last few stands. In the UK, ranks of even-aged coniferous plantations account for some 70% of woodlands; most of the semi-natural woodland destroyed here since 1945 (some 50% of what was then standing ) was due to 'coniferisation'.
Such forestry does not even work in its own terms-in managed forests around the world, especially in the oldest in central Europe and eastern Canada, there is a decline in productivity with the quality of timber falling from one rotation to the next. Moreover, the very intensity of high throughput systems creates cumulative stresses, predisposing trees to the effects of the 'forest death' syndrome, linked to acid rain.
The public's voracious demand for both wood and paper products combines with the self-interest of the forestry industry to maintain the momentum of destruction. The Shotton mill in Wales, for example, needs an annual flow of some 650,000 tonnes, which, in planting terms is equivalent to 3,500 hectares per annum for around 12 years. This leads directly to a forestry based on big, dense blocks of even-aged trees of one or two species, harvested by big machines. At the same time, the main beneficiaries of the large amounts of public money injected into forestry have been a small number of rich landowners and forestry syndicates.
The financial framework of forestry, especially high interest rates and demands for an 'adequate' rate of return on capital, encourages shorter-term rotations of fast growing conifers as well as the rapid felling of hardwoods to make way for such plantations. The discounting procedures adopted in forestry effectively write-off the long-term and devalue the ecological functions of forests. Even in conventional accountancy terms, a fraud is being perpetrated: an asset, old-growth woodland, is being liquidated but it is not (and cannot) be restored by short-term plantations.
Afforestation also has failed to create large numbers of jobs on a sustainable basis. Mechanisation has cut the number of employees in forestry around the world, though the industry is quick to blame environmentalists. In Canada, 94,000 workers were employed in 1978 to cut 75 million cu. metres of timber; by 1986, 20,000 jobs had gone though production increased by 4 million more cu. metres. The UK's Forestry Commission has reduced its field force to a third of that of the mid-1950s though its acreage has doubled.
In any case, no job is secure in an ecologically unsustainable production system. In a 'tree farm', indigenous flora and fauna are eliminated or drastically thinned in favour of 'useful' species for the maximum production of specific goods. These environments depend upon external human controls and upon inputs of external resources: energy in the form of machinery, fertiliser and biocide production; deep ploughing; herbicide and pesticide sprayings; replacement of the processes of natural selection and regeneration by artificial selection, most frequently by use of exotic species which grow faster than indigenous ones. There is also increasing interest in the use of biotechnology to maximise desired traits in new 'super' trees.
However, short-term high output is purchased at the price of increased simplification and instability of the overall forest system. The lifespan of a tree farm, for example, is strikingly different from that of natural forest systems which run in long cycles, from perhaps some 400 to over a 1,000 years. A Sitka Spruce in the Pacific Northwest might live 500-750 years. Tree farms replace it with a cycle of only one tenth or less of that. In effect, they speed up early successional stages and abolish later mature ones.
As a result, tree farms cannot make the same contribution as old-growth woodlands to soil conservation, wildlife diversity, the rain-evaporation cycle and the maintenance of the normal composition of the atmosphere. One third of a tree's ecologically useful life, for example, may well be after it dies, as it decomposes and releases its nutrients back into the common pool. In general, plantation forestry takes out at harvest far more than it gives back to the environment, no matter how generous the rate of replanting may be.
Other symptoms of unsustainability include soil erosion, large losses of trees blown over by the wind, water pollution (increased acidity, eutrophication, sedimentation), pest and disease infestation, the loss of checks and balances between species. These create a need for 'repair kits' (mechanisation, artificial fertilisation, biocides, genetically engineered trees) which not only fail to solve the original problem but also create new ones, not least from toxic sprayings. The extraction of timber by clear-felling exacerbates just about every problem. In effect, it destroys a whole living matrix.
The cost to biodiversity is particularly high. Homogeneous plantations only support homogeneous wildlife and when exotic species are used, with which domestic species have not co-evolved, the problems multiply. In Britain, fir trees, for example, provide food for only 16 different insect species compared to the native oak which sustains 284. The elimination of dead standing and fallen trees may remove nearly a third of species diversity in a forest. For such reasons, even broad-leaved tree farms will never match the wildlife found in old-growth woodlands.
In short, then, industrialised forestry is heading for disaster. Cosmetic measures like the creation of picnic areas and beauty strips along roadsides do not alter this reality.
Anon. Cutting Down Canada. Greenpeace Canada, 1990.
Carle, D. Whole-Tree Logging: Vacuuming the Northern Forests. Wild Earth, Spring, 1994: 35-37.
Devall, B, ed. Clearcut: The Tragedy of Industrial Forestry. Sierra, 1993
Francis, I.. Afforestation: What Really Does Go Down The Drain? Ecos, 9(1), 1988: 23-27
Fritz, E. Sterile Forest: The Case Against Clearcutting. Eakin Pr., 1983.
Grove, R. The Future of Forestry. Packard, 1983. British critique of conventional afforestation.
Hambler, C. & M. Speight. Seeing the Wood for Trees. Tree News, Autumn, 1995:8-12. Argues that traditional practices such as coppicing, often viewed as a greener alternative, can be harmful for wildlife, especially if practised on a large scale.
Isomaki, R. Paper, Pollution & Global Warming: Unsustainable Forestry. The Ecologist, 21(1), 1991: 14-16. Finnish case study.
Kardell, L. et al. Eucalyptus in Portugal. Ambio, 15(1), 1986: 6-13.
Lansky, M. Beyond the Beauty Strip: Saving What's Left of Our Forests. Tilbury House, 1992. Critique of industrial 'forestry' with suggestions for reform.
Pelisek, J. Conifer Plantations and Soil Deterioration. The Ecologist, 5(9), 1975: 332-336
Rice, R. Old-Growth Logging Myths. The Ecologist, 20/4, 1990: 141-146. Important critique of the surprisingly widespread idea that cutting down old trees and planting new ones is good for the environment (as, for example, used in adverts which proclaim 'two trees planted for every tree felled)
Stewart, P.J. Growing Against the Grain. C.P.R.E., 1987.
Tompkins S. Forestry in Crisis. Helm, 1989. A critique of industrial forestry in Britain.
Wood, N. Clearcut: The Deforestation of America. Sierra, 1971.
Vail, D. The Internal Conflict: Contract Logging, Chainsaws & Clear-Cuts in Maine Forestry. In T. Banuri & F. Marglin, eds. Who Will Save The Forests. Zed, 1993. American case study.
Forestry in the Tropics
Tropical moist forests are being destroyed at a rate of 50 acres a minute. Each year, an area the size of the UK is destroyed. The likely effects include heightened risk of adverse climatic change, especially changes in rainfall patterns and more extreme temperatures (albedo effect). The balance of greenhouse gases were alter as more CO2 produced by burning while less absorbed due to decreased tree cover.
Particular destructive is the impact upon biodiversity. 40-50% of world's plants & animals live in the tropical moist forests which contain between 5 to 20 times the number of species per acre than do temperate forests. One million could become extinct within next 10 years as a result of deforestation. Further consequence of tropical deforestation range from increased flooding and silting of rivers and dams to greater levels of soil erosion and laterisation as well as lost fuel wood supplies. Tropical moist forests are also the habitats of many tribal peoples whose cultures are being eliminated as their environments are destroyed.
International action to protect these forest, however, has been quite ineffective. In particular, the International Tropical Timber Organisation is more like a fox put in charge of the chicken house than a body capable of enacting true conservation measures.
Environmental Defence Fund. The Failure of Social Forestry in Karnataka. The Ecologist, 17(4/5), 1987: 151-154. A critical look at programmes sometimes touted as solution for forest crisis.
Lohmann, L. Commercial Tree Plantations in Thailand: Deforestation by Any Other Name. The Ecologist, 20(1), 1990: 9-16.
Marshall, G. FAO & Tropical Forestry. The Ecologist, 21(2), 1991: 66-72. Critique of the FAO's role in promoting industrialised forestry in tropical forest regions..
Rietbergen, S., ed. The Earthscan Reader in Tropical Forestry. Earthscan, 1993. Different perspectives on the causes of and cures for tropical deforestation
Shiva, V. & J. Bandyopadhyay. Ecological Audit of Eucalyptus Cultivation. Research Foundation for Science and Ecology, 1987
Shiva, V. Forest Myths and the World Bank. The Ecologist, 17 (4/5), 1987: 142-149.
The timber trade and timber products industry,
including the International Tropical Timber Organisation
Anderson, P., 1986. The Myth of Sustainable Logging: The Case for a Ban on Tropical Timber Imports. The Ecologist, 19(5): 166-168
Carrere CC. & L. Lohmann, Pulping the South: Industrial Tree Plantations & the World Paper Economy. Zed Books, 1996.
Colchester, M. The International Tropical Timber Organisation: Kill or Cure. The Ecologist, 20(5), 1990: 166-173.
Dudley, N., et al. Bad Harvest: The Timber Trade & the Degradation of Global Forests. Earthscan, 1994
FoE. Life After Logging? FoE, 1990. Report on the effects of tropical timber extraction on biodiversity.
FoE. 'Sustainability' and the Trade in Tropical Timbers. FoE (London), 1991. Series of briefing sheets giving profiles of individual countries-Brazil, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Indonesia & Philippines.
Johnson, B. The Value of Tropical Timber and who Benefits from It. WWF, 1991.
Kerski, A. Pulp, Paper and Power: How an Industry Reshapes Its Social Environment. The Ecologist, 25(4), 1995: 142-149.
Mattoon, A. Paper Profits. WorldWatch, 11(2), 1998: 20-28. The price of paper.
Monbiot, G. Mahogany is Murder. FoE (London), 1992.
Nectoux, F., & N. Dudley. A Hard Wood Story. FoE (London), 1987.
Pratt, L. & I. Urquhart. The Last Great Forest: Japanese Multinationals and Alberta's Northern Forests. NeWest Pr., 1994.
Read, M. Mahogany-Forests or Furniture. Fauna & Flora Preservation Society, 1990.
Rice, T. & S. Counsell. Forests Foregone: The European Community's Trade in Tropical Timbers and the Destruction of the Rainforests. FoE (London), 1993.
Sherman, J. Some Consequences of Cheap Trees and Cheap Talk: Pulp Mills and Logging in Northern Alberta. The Ecologist, 27(2), 1997: 64-68.
Sustainable Silviculture
We do need large-scale reforestation but it must be based on ecological design. Instead of designing backwards from the goal of high output, the design and management of what might be called a 'forest farm' would be based on an assessment of the whole system, the sustainability of the inputs (physical space, energy and raw materials) and of their side-effects upon other human needs and upon those of other species.
Compared to today's coniferous afforestation in which product extraction is maximised, with a system of ecological management it is the sustainability of the forest which is maximised: product extraction is kept at a level and done in a way that does not impinge on the sustainability of the forest. 'Ecoforestry' would try to replicate the self-sustaining, self-repairing and self-regulating capacities of unmodified ecosystems. A forest is a living organism and human production from it would have to mesh with its patterns of succession and diversity. Techniques such as selective felling, for example, create disturbances akin to natural treefalls, stimulating regeneration.
Existing plantations would have to be redesigned so that there would be a decreasing need for external inputs. A significant percentage of very old trees, for example, would be left standing and more dead wood retained as part of the nutrient cycle and as habitat, not least for the decomposers vital for effective nutrient recycling. Management would be based upon long rotations, maintaining a mixture of trees of different ages as well as of living and dead trees. The system would be based upon locally distributed trees acclimatised to the vagaries of local environments.
Multiple uses would be integrated around the maintenance of such a system. Those uses would include non-human (i.e. the habitats of other species) as well as human needs in all their diversity-material, psychological and spiritual. Truly sustained yield exists only when a forest can produce perpetually. Cuts would be limited to no more of the standing crop than new growth can replace quickly.
Working examples of ecological forestry are beginning to increase as well as theoretical studies. In Shropshire, for example, there is a pioneering attempt to create a 'forest garden' by Robert Hart. Another source of inspiration is the design philosophy called Permaculture developed by Bill Mollison. Other possibilities are being explored in the North California-British Columbia region where the rate of tree felling exceeds that of Brazil. It is also here that the most important work is being done on ways to ensure that an 'environmentally-friendly' alternative land use actually is friendly to non-humans as well as humans. However perhaps the most comprehensive proposal for an ecological alternative to conventional forestry comes from the Scottish Highlands. Here a group has produced a manifesto for 'Creating The Second Great Wood of Caledon'.
Clearly, ecologically guided reforestation cannot take place without radical changes in society, not least land reform and an overhaul of our financial system. But the really critical point is that ecologically sustainable systems must be part of a transition to a 'slimmed-down', steady-state society. Though 'ecoforestry' would supply a greatly increased diversity of produce, necessarily its output would be smaller and slower than today's superficially efficient tree mines. They could only work if demand is cut-and that means we cannot avoid what McGonigle calls the 'forbidden' questions of overpopulation and overconsumption.
Aplet, G., et al, eds. Defining Sustainable Forestry. Island Pr., 1993.
Camp, O. The Forest Farmer's Handbook. Sky River Pr., 1984.
Drengson A. And D. Taylor, eds. Ecoforestry: The Art and Science of Forest Use. New Society, 1997.
Hammond, H. Seeing the Forest for the Trees: The Case for Wholistic Forest Use. Polestar Pr., 1991.
Harris, L.D. The Fragmented Forest. Univ. Chicago Pr., 1984.
Maser, C. The Redesigned Forest. Island Pr., 1988.
Pilarski, M. Ed.. Restoration Forestry: An International Guide to Sustainable Forestry Practices. Kivaki Pr., 1994.
Postel, S. & L. Heise. Reforesting the Earth. WorldWatch Institute, 1988.
Pryor, S. et al. Future Forestry: A New Direction for Forest Policy. Wildlife Link, 1992. British study.
Raphael, R. Tree Talk. Island Pr., 1981. A look at conventional forestry and those pioneering alternatives.
Robinson, G. The Forest and the Trees: A Guide to Excellent Forestry. Island Pr., 1987
Sapunor, M. Eco-Logging. Earth Island Jnl, Summer, 1990: 32. Report on small-scale sustainable forestry enterprise.
Wilkinson M. With R. Loomis. Wildwood: A Forest for the Future. Reflections, 1990.
Fishing and Fish Farming
Berrill, M. The Plundered Seas: Can the World's Fish Be Saved? Sierra Books, 1998
Beveridge, M.C.M., et al. Aquaculture and Biodiversity. Ambio, 1994, 23(8): 497-502
The Ecologist. Overfishing: Causes and Consequences. Special Double Issue, vol 25 (2/3), 1995
Gray, T. The Politics of Fishing. Global Environmental Change Programme, Briefing no. 12, 1997.
Kane, H. Growing Fish in Fields. Worldwatch, 6(5), 1993: 20-27. Investigation into another unsustainable 'free lunch'.
Keller, B.C. & R.M. Leslie. Sea Silver: Inside British Columbia's Salmon Farming Industry. Horsdal and Schubart, 1996.
Lymbery, P. The Welfare of Farmed Fish. Compassion in World Farming, 1992.
McGinn, A.P. Rocking the Boat: Conserving Fisheries and Protecting Jobs. WorldWatch, 1998.
McGoodwin, J.R. Crisis in the World's Fisheries. Stanford Univ. Pr., 1990
McKibben, B. Cod is Dead. Observer, 14/6/98, Review section 2-3.
Meffo, G. Techno-Arrogance & Halfway Technologies: Salmon Hatcheries on the Pacific Coast of North America. Conservation Biology, 6, 1992: 350-354.
Morton, A. Salmon Weren't Meant To Be Farmed. Wild Earth, 1997/98, Winter: 52-55.
Ross, A. Marine Fish Farming-Scotland's Pride or Problem? Ecos, 1989, 10(3), 8-12.
Weber, P. Net Loss: Fish, Jobs and the Marine Environment. Worldwatch Institute, 1994.
Westra, L. Ecosystem Integrity, Sustainability and the "Fish Wars". Wild Earth, Summer, 1996: 66-69.
Extractive Industries
Adams, J. Determined To Dig: The Role of Aggregates Demand Forecasting in National Minerals Planning Guidance. CPRE, 1990.
CPRE. Fatal Extractions. CPRE, 1992. Short Statement, looking particularly at mineral extraction
FoE. The Peat Debate and Critique of Peat Producers' 'Code of Practice'. FoE, London, 1990.
Greer, J. The Price of Gold: Environmental Costs of the New Gold Rush. The Ecologist, 23(3), 1993: 91-96.
Lawson, T. Peat in Peril. Green Magazine, January, 1990: 62-65
Macmillan, G. At the End of the Rainbow: Gold, Land & People in the Brazilian Amazon. Earthscan, 1995.
Moody, R. The Gulliver File. Minewatch, 1992. Encyclopaedic study of the destruction caused by mineral extraction around the world and the companies that profit from it
Royal Society for Nature Conservation. Blast from the Past. RSNC, 1992. Environmental threat from expanding mineral extraction to British countryside, particularly in relation to the exploitation of past Interim Development Orders.
Stanton, W., 1989. Bleak Prospect for Limestone, New Scientist, 13 May, 1989: 56-60. Effects of quarrying in limestone hills.
Young, J. Mining the Earth. Worldwatch Institute, 1990.
Also see elsewhere on the site the sectiona on Energy for references specifically on coal, oil, gas and uranium extraction plus Waste Management section for discussion of recycling of waste minerals
Energy Supply
Energy policy is undoubtedly the most important of all technological choices. No technology more faithfully reflects social values and structures. No technology so forcefully moulds society around it. Compared to their predecessors, industrial societies use far more energy, and most of their supply comes from 'capital' rather than from 'income', from non-renewable rather than renewable sources. Historically, policy has focused upon the search for means to supply more energy to meet ever greater demands.
The fundamental question, however, is not the rival claims of nuclear power, fossil fuels and renewable energy. Rather it is the burning challenge from present, let alone projected, levels of energy consumption, which, it is claimed, are simply too high. That said, it is also true that there are significant differences between the impacts and costs of one energy source compared to another.
Bartlett, A. Forgotten Fundamentals of the Energy Crisis. Am. Jnl. Physics, 46(9), 1978: 876-888. Reminder of the need never to leave out of the equation the fundamental thermodynamic and ecological facts of life on a finite planet.
Budnitz, R. and Holdren, J. Social and Environmental Costs of Energy Systems. Ann. Rev. Energy, 1, 1976: 553-580
Bunyard, P. The Future of Energy in Our Society. The Ecologist, 6(3), 1976: 87100.
Clark, W. & J. Page. Energy, Vulnerability & War. Norton, 1983.
Commoner, B. The Politics of Energy. Knopf, 1979.
Cook, E. Man, Energy & Society. Freeman, 1976.
Daly, H. On Thinking about Energy in the Future. Natural Resources Forum, 3, 1978: 19-26.
David, D. Energy Politics. St, Martin's Pr., 1993.
Farinelli, U. & P. Valant. Energy as a Source of Potential Conflicts. Int. Jnl. Global Energy Issues, 2, 1990: 31-40
Foley, G. The Energy Question. Penguin, 1987.
Gates, D. Energy & Ecology. Sinauer, 1985.
Georgescu-Roegen. N. Energy and Economic Myths. Ballinger, 1976. Robust explanation why the basic laws of energy (and matter) must be at the base of sound policy.
Hall, C. et al. Energy & Resource Quality. Wiley, 1986.
Hammarlund, J. Y L. Lindberg. The Political Economy of Energy Policy. Institute for Environmental Studies, 1976.
Harte, J. & A. Jassby. Energy Technologies and Natural Environments: The Search for Compatibility. Ann.Rev.Energy, 3, 1978: 101-145.
Holdren, J. et al. Energy: Calculating the Risks. Science, May 11 (204), 1979: 564-68
Holdren, J. Global Environmental Problems Related to Energy Supply. Energy, 12, 1987: 975-992.
Holdren, J. Energy and the Human Predicament. In K.R. Smith et al, eds. Earth and the Human Future: Essays in Honour of Harrison Brown. Westview, 1986.
Hooker, C.A. Value Judgements and Energy Policy. Social Alternatives, 1(5), 1979: 35-38.
Hubbert, M. King. Energy Resources. In National Academy of Sciences. Resources and Man. Freeman, 1969. Hubbert's was long a lone-and often reviled-voice, warning that fossil fuels, like all geologic resources must become progressively less available on a finite planet, particularly where humans demands were rising exponentially.
Illich, I. Energy & Equity. Perennial, 1974.
Lovins, A. & L.H. Lovins Energy: What's the Problem? The Ecologist, 11(6), 1981:302-313.
Lovins, A. & L.H.. Brittle Power. Brick House, 1982.
Lovins, A. Re-examining the Nature of the EEC Energy Problem. Energy Policy, Sept., 1979: 178-198. Argues that the real challenge is to match more appropriately end uses with the right energy sources, always focusing upon efficiency.
Lovins, A.. Cost-Benefit Assessment in Energy Policy. Geo. Wash. Law Rev. ,45 5, 1977: 911-943
Lovins, A.. The Limits To Energy Conversion. In D. Meadows, ed., Alternatives To Growth 1, Ballinger, 1977.
Lovins, A.. World Energy Strategies. Ballinger, 1975.
Odum, H. Energy Basis for Man & Nature. McGraw-Hill, 1978.
Odum, H. Environment, Power & Society. Wiley, 1971.
Schumacher, D. Energy: Crisis or Opportunity? Macmillan, 1985.
Webb, A. & C. Gossop, 1993. Towards a Sustainable Energy Policy. In A. Blowers, ed., Planning for A Sustainable Environment. Earthscan, 1993. Work from a study group linked to the Town and Country Planning Association.
Woodwell, G.M. Short-Circuiting the Cheap Power Fantasy. In R.L. Smith, ed. The Ecology of Man. Harper & Row, 1976.
Fossil Fuels
The Industrial Revolution was fired first by a massive increase in coal burning, followed by increasing use of oil and gas. The thirst of the industrial countries is fast depleting finite supplies of all these energy sources. In the short-term, prices may fall but the long term problem of resource depletion remains. Conservation measures could make energy resources last longer, but this is only a temporary breathing space before there is a further growth in demand for energy, especially by the newly industrialising countries.
Resource availability and its economic price are not the only issues. Environmental degradation and pollution are associated with all stages of the energy production, distribution and consumption chain. Subsidence, spoil heaps, water and air pollution around coal (and uranium) mines illustrate not just the immobilisation, but also the wholesale degradation of environmental systems. The dead zones around offshore oil wells, tanker spillage, blowouts, and leaks from pipelines and storage tanks provide parallel examples from the oil and gas industries. Increased reliance on centralised electricity generation from the conversion of primary fuels only compounds the problems. There were protests about smoke pollution from coal fires as far back as the Middle Ages. Today lakes, soil and forests are being destroyed by the airborne acids produced by the burning of coal, oil and gas, in power stations, factories, commercial buildings, homes and vehicles.
Anon. Coal and Economic Growth. Wales Green Party, 1984. Outline of greener approach to problems of declining coal industry.
Boyle, S. Energy Without Oil: The Technical & Economic Feasibility of Phasing Out Oil. Greenpeace, 1993.
Cross, M. The Future for Coal: A Very Dirty Business. New Scientist, Jan. 1993: 28-31.
Davidson, A. In the Wake of the Exxon Valdez: The Devastating Impact of the Alaska Oil Spill. Sierra Books, n.d.
Dials, G. & E. Moore. The Cost of Coal. Environment, 16(7), 1974: 30-37.
Epstein, S. The Real Cost of Petrol. The Ecologist, 19(4), 1989: 137-138. Overview of health & environmental costs of addiction to oil.
Flavin, C. World Oil. WorldWatch Institute, 1985.
Gever, J. et al. Beyond Oil. Ballinger, 1987.
Harte, J. & A. Jassby. Energy Technologies and Natural Environments: The Search for Compatibility. Ann. Rev. Energy, 3, 1978: 101-146
Horejsi. B. The Hidden Costs of Developing Natural Gas Reserves. Wild Earth, Winter, 1991/2: 28-31. Canadian experience.
Holing, D. Coastal Alert: Ecosystems, Energy & Offshore Oil Drilling. Island Pr., 1990.
Kamp, H. van de & E. Schluper. Oil in Troubled Water. Green Magazine, June, 1990: 37-39. Overview of routine pollution of North Sea due to oil exploitation.
Rowell, A. Crude Operators: Future of the Oil Industry. The Ecologist, 27(3), 1997: 99-106. Includes fl page panel summarising ecological impact of the industry
Scmidt, E. The World Bank and Russian Oil. The Ecologist, 27(10, 1997; 21-27. Destructive effects of oil development in western Siberia
Taylor, V. The End of the Oil Age. The Ecologist, 10(8/9), 1980: 303-311.
Timoschenko, V. & Krolikova. Oil Pipeline Threatens Russia. Earth Island, Summer, 1997: 23. More bad news for the Caspian and Black Seas.
Welling, P. A Pipeline Killing Field: Exploitation of Burma's Natural Gas. The Ecologist, 24(5), 1994: 189-193.
Yergin, D. The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power. Simon & Shuster, 1990.
Open-Cast Mining
Aubrey. C. A Shallow Grave for the Dying King. The Guardian, 11/10/91: 33. Critical look at new growth of open-cast mining in UK.
Baker, S. Community Survival & Lignite Mining in Ireland. The Ecologist, 1992), 1989: 63-67.
Brown W. The Rape of Black Mesa and Davis, W. The Stripmining of America. Both In A. Gilliam, ed. Voices for the Earth. Sierra, 1981. Attack on large-scale open-cast coal mining, past and present, in the USA
CPRE. Campaigner's Guide to Opencast Coal Mining. CPRE, 1991.
McCaul, J. Wringing Out the West. Environment, 16(7), 1974: 10-17. Impact of coal mining in western USA, including its huge demand for and pollution of the region's scarce water resources.
Electricity Generation & Consumption
See fossil fuel and nuclear power references, plus:
Allen, P. & B. Todd. Off the Grid: Managing Independent Renewable Electricity Systems. CAT, 1995. Booklet.
Bennet, J. Heat Electric? The Ecologist, 18(1), 1988: 14-14. Critique of the use of electric heating programmes.
Flavin, C., & N. Lenssen. Powering the Future: Blueprint for a Sustainable Electricity Industry. WorldWatch Institute, 1994.
Flavin, C. Power Shock: The Next Energy Revolution. Worldwatch, 9(10, 1996: 10-21. Looks forward to new decentralised systems.
FoE. Efficiency of Electricity Use. FoE (UK), 1989.
FoE. Cutting Your Electricity Use. FoE (UK), 1990.
FoE. Pollute Electricity? FoE (UK) Briefing Sheet, 1990.
Ottinger, R. et al. Environmental Costs of Electricity. Oceania Publications, 1991.
Surrey, J., ed. The British Electricity Experiment: Privatisation, The Record, The Issues, the Lessons. Earthscan, 1996
Todd, B. & P. Allen. Off the Grid. CAT, 1995. And switch to independent electricity systems.
Nuclear Power: Fission Reactors & General Issues
Nuclear power has long been a controversial policy area. Certainly few if any people believe that it will now deliver electricity 'too cheap to meter', as argued back in the 50s. It might also be worth remembering that many statistics about the amount of energy derived from nuclear sources usually refer to delivered electricity at the point of consumption, not its share of total energy production, which is a much smaller figure.
Nuclear power production has been linked to many environmental and other problems, including:
the low level radiation routinely released as part of the nuclear fuel cycle;
worse thermal pollution than that from coal-fired power plants;
unsolved problems of radioactive waste disposal;
the potential risk of catastrophic accidents in fuel transportation, and in power and reprocessing plants;
the comparatively short lifespan and decommissioning problems of nuclear power stations;
financial costs and covert subsidies;
poor job creation per pound spent;
lack of versatility in terms of energy delivered;
the low net energy yield from the nuclear cycle, and its thermodynamic unsuitability for many end uses of energy;
its limited relevance to poorer countries, especially rural and shanty town dwellers without grid electricity;
the dependence of fission reactors' upon finite supplies of uranium whose future price and political security are uncertain;
the provision of an ideal and camouflaged route to nuclear weapons manufacture;
vulnerability to terrorism and sabotage;
and possible threats to civil liberties from its strict operating requirements.
The fast breeder reactor cycle and the associated 'plutonium economy' might intensify many of these hazards and costs, whilst bringing its own additional problems. Its very viability might be in doubt if reprocessing fails to recover sufficient fuel to keep the cycle going.
Bertell, R. No Immediate Danger. Womens Pr., 1985. Attack on complacency about danger from low-level radiation.
Boyle, S. What Price Windscale? FoE (London), 1986.
Bunyard, P. & F. Morgan-Grenville. Nuclear Power: What It Means To You. Ecoropa, 1981. Short but hard-hitting pamphlet.
Bunyard, P. Nuclear Power-The Grand Illusion. The Ecologist, 10(4), 1980: 116-130.
Bunyard, P. & G. Searly. The Effects of Low-Dose Radiation. The Ecologist, 16(4/5/), 1986: 171-181. Includes critique of the Black Report on radiation risks around Sellafield nuclear facilities.
Bunyard, P. The Myth of France's Cheap Nuclear Electricity. The Ecologist, 18(1), 1988: 4-8.
Bunyard, P. Uranium: Do Leave it in the Ground! The Ecologist, 20(5), 1990: 164-165. Refutation of the argument that nuclear industry is doing us all a favour by using up rock uranium which otherwise would be releasing radioactivity into the environment anyway.
Bunyard, P. Nuclear Shut-Down: Why Not Just Dounreay? The Ecologist, 28(4), 1998: 190-194.
Durie, S. & R. Edwards. Fuelling the Nuclear Arms Race. Pluto Pr., 1982. Civil-military nuclear links explored.
Flood, M. End of the Nuclear Dream. FoE, 1988.
Ford, D. The Cult of the Atom. Touchstone, 1986.
Gofman, J. Radiation and Health. Sierra, 1981.
Gould, J. & B. Goldman. Deadly Deceit: Low-Level Radiation, High-Level Cover-Up. Four Walls Eight Windows Pr., 1990. The authors, one a former member of American EPA Science Advisory Board, allege large number of illnesses and premature deaths in the USA due to radiation from nuclear industry.
Harding. J. The French Nuclear Debacle. The Ecologist, 14(3), 1984: 101-110. Critique of programme which has put France's energy eggs in the nuclear basket.
Hertsgaard, M. Nuclear Inc. Pantheon, 1983. Look at 'atomic brotherhood' in USA.
Jeffrey, J.W. The Unique Dangers of Nuclear Power. The Ecologist, 16 (4/5), 1986: 147-163
Jeffrey, J.W. The Sizewell Report: A Foregone Conclusion. The Ecologist, 17 (2), 1987: 102-107. Critique of Layfield Report on PWR reactor at Sizewell.
Mortimer, N. Nuclear Power & Carbon Dioxide: The Fallacy of the Nuclear Industry's New Propaganda. The Ecologist, 21(3), 1991; 129-132.
Patterson, W. The Fissile Society. Earth Resources Research, 1977.
Patterson, W. In Search of the Peaceful Atom. Energy Policy, June, 1986: 196-200. Historical overview and critique of the dream of harnessing nuclear energy for peace, instead of war..
Pringle, P. & J. Spigelman. The Nuclear Barons. Sphere, 1983.
Ryle, M. Is There A Case for Nuclear Power? Menard Pr., 1982. 'No' answers a Nobel prize winner.
Stevens, M. Three Mile Island. Junction Books, 1981. Story of nuclear near-miss at Harrisburg, USA.
Valentine, J. Atomic Crossroads. Merlin, 1985.
See also sections on pollution for specific references on radioactive contamination. A two volume 800 page dossier on the case against nuclear power and alternatives to it is available for the price of postage from The Ecologist magazine (Agriculture House, Bath Road, Sturminster Newton, Dorset, DT 1DU, UK). Within the UK the cost is £5.00., outside £10.00.
The Economics of Nuclear Power
Committee for the Study of the Economics of Nuclear Electricity. The True Cost of Nuclear Energy: A Special Report. The Ecologist, 11(6), 1981: 253-292.
Jeffrey, J.W. The Collapse of Nuclear Economics. The Ecologist, 18(1), 1988: 9-13.
Sweet, C. The Price of Nuclear Power. Heinemann, 1983. Critique of economic costs of nuclear power and attempts to camouflage them.
Nuclear waste transport and disposal
Bartlett, D. & J. Steel. Forever More: Nuclear Waste in America. Norton, 1985.
Brown, P. The Dustbin that Cost £100 Billion. Guardian, 16/11/94. Problem of nuclear waste disposal in UK.
Lowry, D. Trouble in Store. Green Magazine, August, 1991: 15-18. Radioactive waste disposal hazards reviewed.
Tolstoy, I. High Level Waste: No Technical Solution. The Ecologist, 16 (4/5), 1986: 205-209.
Welsh, I. Don't Take the A-Train: A Critical Examination of Nuclear Waste Transport. SCRAM, (Edinburgh), 1981.
Western, R. Scientific Uncertainties and Technical Deficiencies: Underground Burial of Nuclear Waste. The Ecologist, 27(2), 1997: 44-45.
Nuclear Reprocessing, Fast Breeder Reactors & Nuclear Fusion
Bunyard, P. The Fast reactor-Pipe Dream. The Ecologist, 11(6), 1981: 296-297.
Bunyard, P. Reprocessing: Counting the Cost. The Ecologist, 14(2), 1984: 50-52.
Bunyard, P. Global Possible or Wishful Thinking. The Ecologist, 14(3), 1984: 98-99. Critique of nuclear fusion fantasies.
Martin, S. & P. Roche. Dounreay Expansion; The Case Against. NFZ Scotland, 1987. Pamphlet attacking Dounreay reprocessing project in northern Scotland.
Rotblat, J. The Folly in Breeding Deceit. The Guardian, 29/5/80: 11. Attack by eminent physicist on notion that nuclear power is an answer to our energy problems.
Renewable Energy Supply, Efficiency, & Energy Conservation
For most of its history, humanity has depended upon what were either (potentially) renewable or inexhaustible energy sources. They have included in rough historical order:
human and animal 'muscle power'
biomass energy, especially wood-burning
passive solar heating and cooling;
wind power (sails and windmills);
water mills
(use of currents and tides for sea crossings, harbour entries and exits might be counted as well)
In very recent times, such energy sources have been tapped in new ways:
hydro-electricity power;
wind turbine machines
wave power;
tidal power;
geothermal power from hot rocks and springs;
power harnessed from ocean thermal gradients;
biomass energy from special 'energy crops' and biomass wastes;
solar power from direct harnessing of sunlight by photovoltaic arrays and solar 'furnaces', as well as more sophisticated variations of passive solar heating systems.
That we still depend on direct and indirect solar sources of energy to a considerable extent is partly disguised because much of our use of solar energies is 'free', and therefore is not reflected in statistics recording energy consumption. People who dry their clothes on the washing line rather than switch on a tumble-drier are ignored by such book-keeping. As a result, this makes the transition to a solar-powered society seem more daunting. Indeed, if the role of solar energy in keeping the Earth warm enough to be habitable is included, the contribution from other power sources is put into even sharper perspective.
There are obvious advantages to an energy resource base that taps what are the combined effects of solar radiation, the moon's gravitational pull and the Earth's physical shape. The wind will continue to blow, tides rise and fall, water flow downhill and the sun shine regardless of human actions. We can satisfy our needs today from these sources without robbing future generations of their energy supply.
What will be called solar technologies for simplicity have other advantages. They do not disrupt the planet's heat balance since they are a use of, not an addition to, the earth's natural heat balance and therefore create no significant disturbance. Sunshine falls virtually everywhere so that solar energies are appropriate for self-reliant, decentralised and democratic societies. Social vulnerability to disruption and external threats would be correspondingly reduced. The relative simplicity of what in many cases are already tried and tested technologies makes them amenable to individual and public control. Communities should directly benefit from as well as face the true costs of their mix of energy technologies, a positive incentive to wise decision-making.
Berger, J. Charging Ahead: The Business of Renewable Energy and What It Means for America. Henry Holt & Co., 1997.
Browning, W. & L. Hunter Lovins. Energy Casebook. RMI, 1989.
Examples of energy efficiency and renewable energy development schemes linked to sustainable local economic development.
Clark, W., 1977. Renewable Energy Sources and a Conservation Economy. The Ecologist, 7(7): 283-296
Deudney, D. & C. Flavin, 1983. Renewable Energy: The Power To Choose. Norton, 1983.
Flavin, C.. Energy & Architecture: The Solar & Conservation Potential. WorldWatch Institute, 1980.
Flavin, C., & N. Lenssen. Beyond the Petroleum Age: Designing A Solar Economy. WorldWatch Institute, 1990.
Flavin, C. & N. Lenssen. Power Surge: Guide to the Coming Energy Revolution. Norton, 1994.
Flood, M. Energy Without End. FoE, London, 1991.
Flood, M. The Power To Change: Case Studies in Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. Greenpeace, 1994.
Johansson, T. et al., eds. Renewable Energy. Island Pr., 1993.
Leach, G. et al. A Low Energy Strategy for the UK. I.I.E.D., 1979.
Lovins, A.. Soft Energy Paths. Harper and Row, 1977.
Lovins, A. & L.H. Lovins. Energy Unbound. Sierra, 1986.
McDaniel, B. Economic and Social Foundations of Solar Energy. Environmental Ethics, Summer, 1983: 155-168.
Nash, H., ed. Soft Energy Path: Questions and Answers. Brick House, 1979.
Patterson, W. The Energy Alternative. Optima, 1991.
Shea, C. Renewable Energy: Today's Contribution, Tomorrow's Promise. WorldWatch Institute, 1988.
Socolow, R. The Coming Age of Conservation. Ann.Rev.Energy, 2, 1977: 239-289.
Steinhart, J., et al. Pathway to Energy Sufficiency. F.O.E.( San Francisco), 1979.
See also:
Twidell, J. & T. Weir. Renewable Energy Resources. Chapman & Hall, 1990.
de Winter, ed. Solar Collectors, Energy Storage & Materials. MIT Pr., 1990.
Limits to Energy Supply from Renewable Resources
In practice, there is a very real gap between the lifestyles now powered by fossil fuels and the projected, let alone current, levels of delivered energy supplied by other means. Once we think not in abstract terms but of the actual purposes energy serves, the potential of many alternatives, even of comparatively low energy quality, becomes clear. Energy from renewable sources tends to be diffuse and variable in nature, with resulting costs in concentration, upgrading and storage.
If we take into account the fossil fuel used to manufacture the hardware for renewable technologies, it seems likely that little if any net energy has been yielded so far from such sources. It might further be argued that schemes for large-scale hydroelectric dams, tidal barrages and monocultures of fuel crops will only perpetuate the errors inherent in a high-energy society, and should therefore be avoided. Renewability does not necessarily make an energy technology more socially and ecologically appropriate than one based upon non-renewable sources.
Holdren, J. et al.. Environmental Aspects of Renewable Energy Sources, Ann. Rev. Energy, 5, 1980: 241-291
Mackillop, A. & P. Bunyard. The Wrong Alternatives. The Ecologist, 2, 1978: 42-46
Trainer, F. The Limitations of Alternative Energy Systems. Conservation & Recycling, 7(1), 1984: 27-42.
Passive Solar Systems
Horne, B. Tapping the Sun: A Solar Water Heating Guide. CAT, 1994. Booklet.
Trimby, P. Solar Water Heating. CAT, 1994. Booklet.
Photovoltaics
Allen, P. Wired Up to The Sun: A Guide to the Photovoltaic Revolution. CAT, 1994. Booklet.
Baumannn, A. and S. Sarkar. Rays of Hope. Real World, 11, 1995: 10-11. Two contrasting views of the potential of photovoltaics.
Flavin, C. Electricity from Sunlight. WorldWatch Institute, 1982.
Swan, C. Suncell: Energy, Economy, Photovoltaics. Random, 1986.
Solar-Hydrogen Economy
Bockris, J., & Veziroglu. Solar Hydrogen Energy: The Power To Save The Earth. Optima, 1991. Enthusiastic advocacy of this option.
Ohta, T., ed. Solar Hydrogen Energy Systems. Penguin, 1979.
Trainer, T. Gas Masque. Real World, 8,1994: 7. Limits of the 'hydrogen economy'.
Hydroelectricity, Tidal & Wave Energy
Perhaps the best example of the downside to so-called renewable energy programmes is provided by hydro-electricity. It can be a massive consumer of land, destroying forests, cropland and settlements, it disrupts drainage, silt movement, and fish migration patterns, the sheer weight of water can cause seismic instability, construction costs can be economically and environmentally high and, last but not least, water impoundments can worsen greenhouse gas emissions, especially in tropical regions. The impact on global warming stem from carbon dioxide and methane emissions from vegetation rotting in the water behind the dam. The effect is not confined, however, to the tropics. Similar results have been found by researchers examining reservoirs in Northern Canada.
Alvares, C. & R. Billorey. Damning the Narmada. The Ecologist, 17(2), 1987: 62-73. Attack on colossal HEP & irrigation project in India.
Bawe, L. Private Profit at Public Expense: The Bakun HEP Project. The Ecologist, 26(5), 1996: 29-233. Sarawak case study.
Bell, J. Hydrodollars in the Himalayas. The Ecologist, 24(3), 1994: 113-115. Attack on Nepal HEP scheme.
Chandler, W. The Myth of the Tennessee Valley Authority. Environmental Policy Institute, 1984. A critique of a flood control/HEP programme often cited-naively-as a model of 'managing' nature for human ends.
Echeverria, J. Rivers at Risk: The Concerned Citizen's Guide to Hydropower. Island Pr., 1989.
Goldsmith, E. & N. Hildyard. The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams. Wadebridge Ecological Centre (Cornwall), 3 vols., 1984. Comprehensive and damming dossiers.
Jhaveri, N. The Three Gorges Debacle. The Ecologist, 18(2), 1988: 56-63. Denunciation of what currently is world's largest dam project.
Lohmann, L. Remaking the Mekong. The Ecologist, 20(20, 1990; 61-66.
McCully, P. Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams. Zed Books, 1996.
Pearce, F. Building a Disaster: The Monumental Folly of India's Tehri Dam. The Ecologist, 21(3), 1991: 123-128. Himalayan case study.
Richardson, B. Strangers Devour the Land. Chelsea Green Publishers, 1991. Another megafolly documented-the James Bay projects in northern Quebec.
Sears, J. & K. Bragg. Bio-Bio: A River Under Threat. The Ecologist, 17(1), 1987: 15-20. Chilean case study
Taylor, G.R. Tidal Barrages: Boon or Blight. The Ecologist, 10(5), 1980. 167-169
See also:
Ross, D. Power from the Waves. OUP, 1995.
Biomass Energy
Brown, L. Food or Fuel: New Competition for the World's Cropland. Worldwatch Institute, 1980.
Brown, L. Fuel Farms. Futurist, June, 1980: 16-28.
Carle, D. Whole-Tree Logging: Vacuuming the Northern Forests. Wild Earth, Spring, 1994: 35-37. Critique of a very intensive form of biomass energy production which is spreading in the USA.
Coates, J. et al. Environmental Consequences of Wood and Other Biomass Sources of Energy. Office of Strategic Assessment, EPA (Washington), 1982.
Cook, J.H. Potential Impacts of Biomass Production in the US on Biological Diversity. Ann. Review of Energy & Environment, 16, 1991: 401-431.
Eckholm, E. The Other Energy Crisis: Firewood. Worldwatch Institute, 1975. An older but still informative study.
de Montalembert, M.R. Biomass Resources for Energy. Ceres, Jan-Feb., 1983: 40-44.
Pimentel, D. et al.. Solar Energy, Land and Biota. SunWorld 8, 1984: 70-73 & 93-95
Pimentel, D. et al. The Environmental and Social Costs of Biomass Energy. Bioscience 34 (2), 1984: 89-94.
Wind Energy Systems
Anon. When the Wind Blows. Wales Green Party, 1994. Pamphlet from Welsh Greens backing wind energy development.
Horne, B. Where the Wind Blows: An Introduction to Wind Energy. CAT, 1994. Booklet.
Elliot, D. Wind up! Real World, 7, 1994: 8. A look at wind programme in UK.
Harper, M. & M. Rand. Removing the Windbrakes: Wind Energy, Landscape and the Government. FoE, 1991.
Piggott, H. It's a Breeze: A Guide to Choosing Wind Power. CAT, 1995. Booklet.
Smith, M. Tilting at Wind Turbines. Independent on Sunday, 27/3/94: 38. Look at some of the drawbacks of wind energy programmes.
Geothermal Energy
Anon. Lava Louts. Green Magazine, Sept., 1990: 29-31. Report on opposition to Hawaiian geothermal scheme.
Kerr, R.H. Extracting Geothermal Energy Can Be Hard. Science, 12 Nov., 1982: 668-669.
Local & Regional Appropriate Energy Planning
Okagaki, A., and J. Benson. The County Energy Plan Guidebook. Institute Ecologica, 1979.
Pomerantz, D., 1981. A Renewable Energy Future for Franklin Country, Massachusetts. In G. Coates, ed., Resettling America: Energy, Ecology & Community. Brick House, 1981. An exploration of how to meet local energy needs sustainably for local energy resources.
Ridgeway, J. Energy-Efficient Community Planning. J.G. Pr., 1980.
Energy Efficiency and Conservation
Renewable energy sources, used in an ecologically appropriate way, can only power a 'slimmed down' society. Efficiency in energy use is obviously vital. However there is always a point beyond which there are no inefficiencies to be eliminated. Energy conservation in its fullest sense is therefore crucial. This means more than insulation, efficient equipment and processes, and the use of technologies such as heat pumps and co-generation power systems.
It also means the general elimination of waste and unnecessary production in the economy. Society must cut its coat according to its limited energy cloth. Professor Poleszynski of Oslo University has estimated potential savings of as much as 80-90 per cent, especially by what he calls 'trimming off the fat' of military expenditure, space exploration, the car industry, food processing and packaging, marketing, pharmaceuticals, cosmetic and fashion products and areas of international trade where virtually identical products are exchanged over great distances.
In the assessment of appropriate energy supply systems, it is critical that alternatives are compared in terms of whole fuel cycle and associated impacts from 'cradle to grave', not just one facility against another. It is absurd to compare the impacts and dangers of coal mining (i.e. pits) with those of nuclear power plants-the real comparison in this case should be between coal and uranium mines.
Furthermore, the basic laws of energy should never be forgotten. If you are reading this Guide warmed by an electric fire that runs off nuclear power, 85% of the original potential energy has been lost in the steps between you and the uranium mine due to conversion losses and the energy costs of fuel transportation and electricity distribution. The American physicist Amory Lovins argues that centrally generated electricity is primarily suited to about 8 per cent of energy needs. Beyond that it is, in his much-quoted phrase, 'like using a chainsaw to cut butter'.
Anon. The Energy Conservation Bill 1993: How It Could Work. Association for the Conservation of Energy, 1993. Useful local studies included of what councils could do.
Anderson, V. Energy Efficiency Policies. Routledge, 1993
Energy Efficiency Office. Energy, Environment & Profits: Making a Corporate Commitment. DoE, 1993. Some encouraging success stories in energy-saving, with examples ranging from paper mills to sugar refining
Flavin, C., & A. Durning. Building on Success: The Age of Energy Efficiency. WorldWatch Institute, 1988.
FoE. Efficiency of Electricity Use. FoE, 1989. Submission to House of Lords Committee.
FoE. Warm Homes-Cool Planet. FoE, 1990. Briefing paper outlining a programme for tackling damp, cold housing at the same time as defusing the global warming threat.
Geller, H. et al. Getting America Back on the Energy Efficient Track. American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, 1991. Study of energy efficiency initiatives and linked policies.
Hannon, B. Energy Conservation and the Consumer. Science, 189, 1975: 95-102. An earlier article arguing importance of taxes on energy use to encourage shift to conserver economy.
Jackson, F. Save Energy Save Money: A Guide to Energy Conservation in the Home. CAT, 1995. Booklet.
Jackson, T. Efficiency Without Tears. FoE, 1992.
Lovins, A. & L.H. Lovins. Least Cost Energy: Solving the Carbon Dioxide Problem. Brick House, 1982.
Roberts, S. Energy Efficiency. FoE, 1990. Submission to House of Commons Select Committee.
With specific references to particular establishments & activities:
Energy Efficiency Office. Energy Efficiency in Buildings: Further and Higher Education Buildings. Dept of Environment, 1991
Part of a series which also includes booklets on 'Libraries, Museums, Art Galleries & Churches', ''Sports Centres' and 'Catering Establishments'
Energy Efficiency Office. Energy Champions: A Selection of Case Histories. Good Practice Guide 67, Dept of Environment, 1992. Part of the EEO's Best Practice Programme documenting what can be done to conserve energy and increase efficiency.
Somervill, D. & R. Talbot, eds. Educated Energy Management of Energy Resources in Educational Buildings. Spon, 1991. Study of the education sector, with case studies taken largely from higher education sector.
Manufacturing Industry
The birth of modern industry was a decisive change in the level and nature of environmental impacts, though it must be remembered that agriculture has transformed the face of the earth to a far greater extent. Similarly, mining creates far more wastes than does the industrial sector per se. Yet in all kinds of ways the way industrial production currently takes place contributes considerably to the overall unsustainability of modern society. The relentless advance of automation and the shift of entire industries to low cost, poorly regulated locations, particularly in the Third World, has undermined the economic foundations of many communities in the older industrial regions.
A number of themes arise from the challenge of putting industry on a more sustainable basis. For example:
Good housekeeping:
the elimination and prevention of leaks through improved management and documentation of stocks and flows etc.
On-site Closed Loop Recycling:
the closure of material cycles, particularly for hazardous materials.
Input Substitution:
substitution of hazardous materials in the plant for non hazardous ones: e.g., the substitution of water-based cleaning methods for chlorinated organic solvents.
Process modification:
modification of the process in such a way as to reduce emissions of hazardous wastes.
Cleaner Production Technologies:
new, specifically designed, low impact technologies and processes, with low hazardous waste usage, and high material efficiency.
Product Reformulating:
Reformulation or re-design of products can reduce hazardous waste generation both within the process and within the product as well as facilitate subsequent upgrading, repair reuse and recycling.
Use of renewable resources:
a shift from processes and products using scarce minerals and fossil fuels to ones based on widely occurring minerals as well as renewable biotic resources.
Product liability
acceptance of responsibility for the environmental impacts associated with a product once it leaves the factory, plus development of mechanisms such as return and recycling schemes to reduce any such problems.
Employee awareness
a commitment to develop appropriate awareness amongst staff in order to reduce adverse environmental impacts from factors such as faulty operation and risky shortcuts.
'Cleaner and leaner' production systems call for process-integrated solutions, rather than add-on or end-of pipe ones, with full life-cycle assessments. This means concentrating attention on both processes and products, and ensuring that the entire product life-cycle is designed so as to reduce the volume and toxicity of wastes generated. Greener industry would be firmly based on a preventative approach, seeking to minimise environmental hazards by introducing preventative solutions which are oriented towards the design and conceptual stages of product life-cycles. Every effort would be made to decrease the emission into the environment of all substances which are known to be hazardous to human health and the environment. Realistically, this will depend upon statutory action in many cases.
An integrative approach to industrial development, would seek to minimise potentially hazardous throughput at the earliest stages of design of both specific products and of technological processes. The entire life-cycle of products and services would be addressed. By the same token, clean production solutions must draw on the potential for infrastructural changes where these would be appropriate. It is crucial to be able to identify and to overcome the problems associated with the wide variety of boundaries, geographical, institutional, economic, and social which militate against integrative solutions.
A crucial component of more sustainable manufacturing is product durability. There have been significant gains in, for example, the energy efficiency of consumer durables like refrigerators but in many case their lifespan is not much longer than their predecessors 30 years ago. Vance Packard's The Waste Makers first blew the whistle on 'planned obsolescence' but the problem does not seem to have diminished.
We need to ask questions about the durability of manufactured goods and the ease with which they can be serviced and repaired, as well as raise the more familiar issues of input reduction, cleaner technology, design for ease of disassembly and recycling and, of course, the big question of whether we really need the items in the first place. At the same time, there may be an environmental case for short lifespan in some circumstances.
In sum, then, the greening of industry would seek to eliminate potentially harmful emissions into the environment, close material cycles, either through improvements in the material efficiency of the economy, or in terms of the utilisation of naturally occurring biogeochemical cycles, in ways compatible with sustaining those natural flows. Last but not least it would depend upon renewable material and energy resources
Anon.. The "GreenFreeze" Story Greenpeace, 1993. A short document telling the story of the development of an 'atmospherically safe', and energy-efficient fridge by two German scientists whose work was at first greeted with derision .It could be used as case study exploring the barriers to environmentally friendlier research and development.
Ayers, R.U.,. Industrial Metabolism. In J.S. Ausubel & H.E. Sladovich, eds., Technology and Environment. National Academy Press, 1989.
Blunden, J., & A. Reddish. Energy, Resources and Environment. Hodder & Stoughton, 1991. An Open University volume which gives a good overview of the issues. Source of many statistics in this section.
Carr, M. Sustainable Industrial Development. Intermediate Technology, 1988. Case studies from the Intermediate Technology Group.
Department of the Environment. A Business Guide to Environmental Good Practice. DoE, 1994. A general guide with a number of case studies including food manufacturing, electronics, engineering and chemicals firms.
ECOTEC. The Development of Cleaner Technologies: A Strategic Overview. Business Strategy & the Environment, 1(2), 1992: 51-58.
Fischer, K. & J. Schot, eds. Environmental Strategies for Industry. Island Pr., 1992.
Frosch, R. and N. Gallopoulos. Strategies for Manufacturing. Scientific American, Sept., 1989: 144-152. A vision of how one manufacturing industry could 'feed off' the wastes of another to make industry as a whole more sustainable.
Gee, D. Clean From Industrial Dinosaur to Eco-Efficiency. MSF (London), 1994.
Hemming, C. Business Success from Seizing the Environmental Initiative. Stanley Thornes, 1994. Case studies in fields such as waste management, byproduct utilisation and cleaner technologies
Hirschom, J. Cutting Production of Hazardous Waste. Technology Review, 91(3): 52-61.
Holmes, J. Manufacturing & the Environment. Department of Trade & Industry, 1992. DTI booklet, with some interesting case studies.
Hooper, P. & D. Gibbs. Cleaner A Means to an End or an End to a Means? Greener Management International, 9, 1995: 28-40.
Irwin, G. & P. Hooper. Clean Technology, Successful Innovation & the Greening of Industry. Business Strategy & the Environment, 1(2), 1992: 1-12.
Jackson, T., ed. Clean Production Strategies: Developing Preventive Environmental Management in the Industrial Economy. Lewis Publishers, 1993.
Johnson, N. Waste Minimisation: A Route to Profit & Cleaner Production. Centre for the exploitation of Science & Technology, 1994.
Larsen, E. et al. Beyond the Era of Materials. Scientific American, June, 1986: 24-31. The search for reduced material and energy intensity in industrial production, with lighter, higher performance components and 'smarter' systems.
McLenighan, V. Sustainable Manufacturing. Centre for Neighbourhood Technology, Chicago, 1990. American examples.
Mitsch, W.J. & S.E., eds. Ecological Engineering: an to Ecotechnology. Wiley, 1989.
Vaitilingham, R., ed. Industrial Initiatives for Environmental Conservation. Pitman, 1993.
Wood, C. Planning Pollution Prevention: Anticipatory Controls Over Air Pollution Sources. Heinemann Newnes, 1989.
Yakowitz, H. Policy Options to Encourage Cleaner Production & Products. Nature & Resources, 28(4), 1992: 26-37.
See also:
Advisory Council on Science & Technology. Cleaner Technology. HMSO, 1992.
Longevity of Manufactured Goods
Cooper, T. Durability & Consumer Durables. Business Strategy & the Environment, Spring, 1994.
Cooper, T. Beyond Recycling. New Economics Foundations, 1994.
OECD. Product Durability and Product Life Extension. OECD, 1982. Though the data is a bit dated now, this remains a good overview of the issues
Food Processing and Catering Industry
Food production has become a complicated system. No longer do people consume foodstuffs that are largely sourced locally and consumed in season. Now food is produced and processed in one part of the world, frozen and flown to the other side of the globe, where juggernauts take it to huge edge-of-town supermarkets where it is kept in arrays of refrigerated shelving before it arrives eventually in the final consumer's home, usually after yet another road journey.
The food itself has undergone many transformation since it left the farm gate, creating products that are more processed, refined and chemically flavoured, coloured and preserved as well as packaged than ever before in history. The variety of foodstuffs produced by this process is deceptive since close study of the ingredients usually reveals the same small set of cheap ingredients disguised by intensive technological manipulation. There is no need to romanticise past patterns of eating-food adulteration was, for example, a severe problem in the 19th century-to recognise that the present food processing system is bad for the health of both people and environment.
Ehrlichman, J. Gluttons for Punishment. Penguin, 1986.
Energy Efficiency Office. Energy Efficiency in Buildings: Catering Establishments. Dept of Environment, 1991.
Hall, R.H. Food for Nought. Doubleday, 1974.
Millstone, E. Food Additives. Penguin, 1986.
Polunin, M. The Right Way to Eat. Dent/Ecoropa, 1984.
Wardle, C. Changing Food Habits. Earth Resources Research, 1977.
Walker, C., and G. Cannon. The Food Scandal. Century, 1985.
Webb, T., and T. Lang. Food Irradiation: The Facts. Thorsons, 1987.
Paper, Structural Timber & Other Forest-Based Industries
Anon. Dioxins & the Paper Industry. ENDS Report, 168, 1989: 9-12.
Anon. Feature: Paper. Warmer Bulletin, 31, 1991: 10-12, with insert on paper recycling.
Anon. Tissue Paper Products. Ethical Consumer, April/May, 1990: 3-9.
Anon. The Paper Industry. Ethical Consumer, June/July, 1990: 14-23. Includes list of major companies involved.
Ayres, E. Whitewash: Pursuing The Truth About Paper. Worldwatch, Sept./Oct., 1992: 17-25.
Ayres, E. Making Paper without Trees. Worldwatch, 6(5), 1993: 5-8.
Budd, J. et al. A Tissue of Lies? Disposable Paper and the Environment. Womens Environmental Network, 1990.
Costello, A. & A. Link. Report in UK Paper Mills Environmental Impact. Womens Environmental Network, 1990.
FoE. Paper and the Environment. FoE (London), 1991.
Greenpeace. The Greenpeace Guide to Paper. Greenpeace (Vancouver), 1990.
Kroesa, R. Worldwide Roundup on Pulp Mills. Jnl of Pesticide Reform, 10(2), 1990: 2-4.
See also:
Anon. Environmental Report. James River Fine Papers Ltd, 1993. Example of manufacturer looking at and reporting its environmental impacts.
Clothing, Jewellery, and Household textiles
The impacts of the clothing, jewellery and textile industry stem from three factors-population size (the number of wearers), affluence (how many items we own) and technology (how clothes etc. are made). These pressures are shaped by a number of other forces, such clothing fads and changing expressions of status. The textile and fashion industries thrive on overconsumption and excess waste.
The manufacturing system and the actual use of clothes raise a variety of issues. For example:
the materials from which they are made:
e.g. vegetable fibres (eg wool, cotton, flax, hemp, sisal), animal fibres, bones, shells and skins (eg silk, fur, leather, ivory, turtleshell, & mother-of pearl oysters) wood cellulose (eg rayon) synthetic fibres (eg polyester, nylon, & acrylic)-and their environmental impacts and possible cruelty to animals during their production;
the distance travelled by raw material from source (farm, plantation or petrochemical plant) to factory as well as by finished products to shop and home;
the methods by which the products have been made-energy consumption, use of strengtheners, dyes and bleaches, other treatments (eg for crease and shrink resistance and 'easy-care'), fastenings, resultant emissions and effluents etc;
the adaptability, durability and reparability of the products; allergies & other health risks; environmental impacts during use-washing, ironing, dry cleaning etc.;
the disposal of unwanted or worn out clothing;
the use of recycled materials in clothing and jewellery.
In all these areas, there is scope for designers, manufacturers, and consumers to make greener choices.
Anon. Clean Clothes, Dirty Water. Womens Environment Network, 1994. Guide to detergents and effects on the environment
Anon. Environmental Assessment of the Canadian Textile Industry. Environment Canada Report EPS 5/TX/1, 1989.
Anon. Textile Industry Feels the Pollution Squeeze, ENDS Report, 186, 1990: 14-17 and Anon. Textile Industry Threads Its Way Through the Effluent Challenge. ENDS Report, 225, 1993: 15-18. 2 reports on the pressure from British legislation on local textile industry.
Cook, F. Textiles May Be Running Out of Acceptable Dyes. Textile World, Nov., 1980: 80-85. Problems of American textile industry with government clampdown on dyes because of suspected carcinogenic effects.
Grau, P. Textile Industry Wastewaters Treatment. Water Sci. Technol, 24 (1), 1991: 97-104.
North, R. Jeans: Cotton & Pesticides for the Image-Conscious. In Ch. 18 of his The Real Cost. Chatto & Windus, 1986.
Pal, P. B. & B. Mohan. Management of Occupational Environment in Textile Industry. Indian J. Env. Prot., 10(10), 1990: 767-773 Deals with health and safety hazards in Indian textile industry
Polk, T. The Market is Willing: Post-Consumer. Resource Recycling 11(2), 1992: 56-61. American perspective on reducing waste from clothing and textiles.
Polyzou, A. Energy Consumption for Textiles and Apparels. Family Eco. Rev., 1979, 3-11
Roberts, J. G. Low Energy Processing for Textiles. CEC, Report 10018, 1985. Ways in which the industry could save energy-and water.
Rowles, R. Jewellery, Women and the Environment. Women's Environmental Network, 1992. Short pamphlet.
Ryan, J. & A. During. The Secret Life of a Shoe. WorldWatch, 11(2), 1998: 29-32. The real price of footwear.
Watson, J. Textiles and the Environment. Economist Intelligence Unit, paper 2150, 1991
Motor Vehicle Industry
Anon. Rethinking Efficient Cars: How Best to Pick the Low-Hanging Fruit. Rocky Mountain Newsletter, Summer, 1991: 1, 3-4. The RMI of Colorado runs an on-going project on transportation, particularly concentrating on fuel-efficient designs.
Flavin, C. Jump Start: The New Automotive Revolution. Worldwatch, 6(4), 1993: 27-33.
Freund, P. & G. Martin. The Ecology of the Automobile. 1993.
Gouldson, A. Life-Cycle Environmental Management and Product Innovation: The Case of the Volkswagen Audi Group. In R. Welford, ed., Cases in Environmental Management and Business Strategy. Pitman, 1994.
Haout, G, et al. How New Requirements on Car Recycling will Jolt the Automotive Industry. Greener Management International, 9, 1995: 52-61.
Nieuwenhuis, P, et al. Making Cars More Efficient. In Ch. 4 of their The Green Car Guide. Green Print, 1992
Way, A. Environmental Issues & the European Motor Industry. Financial Times Management Reports, 1995.
Wittenberg, G. We Buy WrecksWe Sell Dreams. Purchasing & Supply Management, July 20, 199225-26. Focus upon design for recyclability.
See also the section on Transport Policy.
Electrical & Electronics Industry
Anon. Electrical & Electronic Wastes. Warmer Bulletin, 48, Feb., 1996. Pull-out supplement.
Bashford, D. Strategic Implications for Increasing the Recycling of Electrical & Electronic Products. Greener Management International, 9, 1995: 62-72. See section below on broadcasting & information technologies
Medical Technology
See references in the section on Health in the Society section of the Ecobibliography as well as under Biotechnology.
Biotechnology
The development of genetic engineering or biotechnology attracts support from many quarters. Some are dazzled by the prospects of increased power and profit from the colonisation and industrialisation of evolution's basic building block, the genetic code. Others have less selfish aspirations. Humanistic aspirations to combat crippling physical and mental disorders, for example, lead many sections of the general public to support genetic engineering. So too do hopes that new strains of super-productive plants could put an end to the scourge of world hunger.
Some environmentalists are also keen supporters of biotechnology. In 1983, environmental organisations such as the Countryside Commission, World Wildlife Fund and the then Nature Conservancy Council endorsed The Conservation and Development Programme for the UK, which celebrated biotechnology as a "sunrise industry" and one of "the environment's growth poles". In Save the Earth, edited by Jonathon Porritt, Peter Raven, a member of the US National Science Board, claims that "genetic engineering will widen the reach of our great-grandchildren, enabling them to put together altered kinds of organisms that will be productive indefinitely under the conditions in which they are grown".
The dirty smokestacks of 'old-fashioned' industrialism lead many more to foresee a bright new world in which genetically engineered organisms will not only increase yields and create safer chemical feed stocks but also reduce dependence upon biocides, gobble up pollutants such as oil spills and replace extinct species. Critics of the technology tend to focus upon the issue of ownership (e.g. 'intellectual' property rights and control of genetic resources). Only a few lone voices have warned that, whatever possible benefits conceivably there might be in certain areas, here is a Pandora's Box which should remain firmly closed.
It is, of course, true that techniques such as the use of yeast in brewing are age-old. But now there has been a qualitative change as human interference tears apart the boundaries between species and related evolutionary processes which have enabled life on Earth to be sustained for so long. Genetic engineering is not simply just another tool. First and foremost, it embodies a specific way of thinking about and valuing the living world. It is conceived by a worldview which sees humankind as above and apart from the rest of nature. Indeed, some argue that all life, humans included, is being treated to little more than mere raw material, to be altered in the crucible of biotechnology. Revealingly, the top American scientist Marvin Minsky has referred to people as "meat machines'. The goal is power through control of the DNA code which, in turn becomes the property of those with the necessary political, economic and technical strength.
Far from conserving cultural and biological diversity, genetic engineering has at its heart monoculture, contracting life's rich tapestry to a handful of homogenised and 'efficient' strands. The reductionist and materialistic essence of biotechnology can be seen at work in the debate over biodiversity. Though the Earth Summit and similar events have generated much hot air about the need to conserve the diversity of life, in practice the issue in the corridors of power has become one of access to the genetic pool of plants and animals for the sake of further industrial growth and more trade.
Biotechnology will bring inherent and quite unacceptable risks, ones which will not go away even when the technology is used by the most careful hands for the most benign purposes. Since so much faith, not just money, is being invested in the technology, there is a growing unwillingness to face the possible catastrophes it could create. Yet the environmental dangers are all too real. There is, already, overwhelming evidence of the destruction caused by the of 'exotic' plants and animals into ecosystems with which they have not co-evolved. Usually the new species spread like wildfire since no mechanisms are in place to keep them in balance. Genetically engineered organisms would be super-exotics. The resultant biological pollution would dwarf the problems caused by chemical contamination since the released organisms possess the capacity to spread and mutate, unlike traditional pollutants.
It should be remembered that the science behind biotechnology does not come cheap-molecular biology is an extremely expensive business. In energy terms, for example, the cost of powering the refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment needed for biotechnological research and development must be set against the image of resource frugality that surrounds the industry. The resource inputs needed to develop and deploy biotechnologies necessarily lead to an inherently centralised infrastructure, run by and for those with the money and power. The general public tends to link genetic engineering with new wonder crops and the elimination of those genes responsible for physical and mental handicaps. Yet, as is so often the case with technological innovation, genetic engineering is in many ways a child of militarism. The Reagan and Bush governments spent $120 a year on biological warfare technology. Snake venom, for example, have been used to make battlefield toxins.
There is no real need for the technology. For example, we do not need new bugs to 'liberate' oil trapped in deep wells (Gaia Atlas of Future Worlds, p60). What we desperately require is a thorough drive to conserve energy and a planned switch to a solar-powered society. Clearly, humanity is taking a decisive step in its evolution with the advent of genetic engineering. At the very least, a full-scale debate is in order about the morality and efficacy of this dramatic development in human capabilities to manipulate biological systems
Baumann, M., et al. The Life Industry, Biodiversity, People and Profits. IT Publications, 1996.
Corporate Europe Observatory. Smooth: Greenwash Guru Burson Marsteller & the Biotech. Industry. The Ecologist, 28(3), 1998: 134-137. The propaganda drive in favour of biotechnology.
Calvieri, L.F. The Double-Edged Helix. Columbia Univ. Pr., 1981.
Chargraff, E. On the Dangers of Genetic Meddling. Science, 192, 1976, 938-940
Crouch. M. The Very Structure of Scientific Research Mitigates against Developing Products to Help the Environment, the Poor, and the Hungry. Jnl of Agric. & Environ. Ethics, 1991: 151-158.
Hatchwell, P. Opening Pandora's Box: The Risks of Releasing Genetically Engineering Organisms. The Ecologist, 19(4), 1989: 130-136.
Ho, Mae-Wan. The Unholy. The Ecologist 27(4), 1997: 152-158. Big business plus biotechnology equals big bad news.
Ho, Mae-Wan et al. The Biotechnology Bubble. The Ecologist 28 (3), 1998: 146-153. Puncturing the hype of gene-mania.
Kimbrell, A. The Human Body Shop: The Engineering and Marketing of Life. Harper Collins, 1993.
Lewontin, R. Biology as Ideology. Harper, 1993.
McNally, R. Genetic Madness. The Ecologist, 24(6), 1994: 202-203. Critique of EU rabies eradication programme via release of genetically engineered vaccines.
Meister. I. & S. Mayer. Genetically Engineered Plants: Releases & Impacts on Less Developed Countries. Greenpeace International, 1994.
Nelkin, D. & S. Lindee. The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon. Freeman, 1995.
Odum, E. Biotechnology and the Biosphere. Science, 229, 1985: 1338
Perlas, N. Overcoming Illusion About Biotechnology. 1994.
Rifkin, J. Algeny. Penguin, 1984
Shiva, V. Monocultures of the Mind: Biodiversity & Biotechnology. Zed, 1993.
Shiva, V. & I. Moser, eds. Biopolitics: A Feminist & Ecological Reader on Biotechnology. 1995.
Shiva, V. Why the Engineering Paradigm in Life Forms is Flawed. Third World Resurgence, 53/54, Jan/Feb, 1995: 25-27.
Sibatani. A. Molecular Biology: A Scientific Critique. The Ecologist, 14(2), 1984: 82-86.
Suzuki, D. & P. Knudtson. Genethics: The Ethics of Engineering Life. Unwin, 1990.
Tokar, B. Engineering the Future of Life. Z Magazine, July/Aug., 1989: page ref. missing.
Tokar, B. Biotechnology versus Biodiversity. Wild Earth, Spring, 1996: 50-55.
Wheale, P. & R. McNally, eds. Animal Genetic Engineering: Of Pigs, Oncomice, & Men. Pluto Pr., 1995.
Biotechnology & Patenting
Plant and animal genetic make-up are being transmogrified into one more commodity to buy and sell. They argue that the technology can lead to sheer theft. Two Germans, for example, were stopped recently at New Delhi airport with 30,000 insect samples which they were stealing from India. Another instance is the patenting of Nene, a biopesticide found in India. The consequence has been the disappearance of Nene oil from local markets in the country. Patents have been taken out on the cell lines of individual tribal members in places such as Papua and Brazil.
Burrows, B. Intellectual Property Rights & Biopiracy. Global Pesticide Campaigner, June, 1994: 1-8.
McNally, R. & P. Wheale. Biopatenting and Biodiversity. The Ecologist, 26(5), 1996: 222-228.
Paul, H. Moral Bankruptcy: Adoption of the EU Life Patents Directive. The Ecologist, 28(4), 1998: 203-206.
Shiva, V. & R. Holla-Bhar. Intellectual Piracy & the Neem Tree. The Ecologist, 23(6), 1993: 223-227.
Vidal, J. & J. Carvel. Lambs to the Gene Market. The Guardian, 12/11/94: 27. Report on extent of and abuses in gene patenting.
Biotechnology, Health and Human Life
The biotechnology lobby points to the technology's potential to cure humanity of all kinds of ailments and disfigurements. It is possible that terrible scourges such as the T-Sachs Syndrome could be driven out of the human genetic make-up. Yet potential beneficiaries of such applications of genetic know-how are greatly outnumbered by those who would benefit from medical research and development being switched to more common complaints and to preventative health care strategies. The well-being of many more people (and other species) could be put at risk by a genetic experiment which releases hazardous organisms into the environment and by the mutation of viruses to create deadlier diseases. It is impossible to separate safe and well-meaning experimentation from dangerous types. It is not only health rights that might be put at risk. The release of genetic information to employers, insurance companies and the like would create whole new patterns of discrimination and oppression.
Hubbard, R. & E. Wald. The Eugenics of Normalcy: The Politics of Gene Research. The Ecologist, 23(5), 1993: 185-191.
Koechlin, F. The Animal Heart of the Matter: Xenotransplantation and the Threat of New Diseases. The Ecologist, 26(3), 1996: 93-97.
McNally, R. Genetic Madness: The European Rabies Eradication Programme. The Ecologist, 24(6), 1994: 207-212.
Price, F. Too Much of a Good Thing. New Scientist, 18.8/90:29-30. The dangers of fertility treatment technology.
Spallone, P. Beyond Conception: The New Technologies of Reproduction. Macmillan, 1989.
Biotechnology and Food Production
Biotechnology supporters argue that it will transform beneficially current patterns of food supply production. They predict super-productive farms effortlessly feeding the world's teeming millions. Perhaps a more sober insight into the future is suggested by the experience of hormone transplants into cows to inflate their yields. The result might be more milk but it damages the cows and may threaten human health. It is also ruining small-scale dairy farmers who are being washed away by the tide of genetically engineered overproduction. Out in the fields, the performance of genetically engineered plants again demonstrates that there is no free lunch and that entropy's toll cannot be avoided. In the case of rice, for example, the new strains may yield a bit more protein but the cost is great, with requirements of 8 times more water and greater pesticide protection than traditional varieties, which are being progressively eliminated. The unsustainability of modern agriculture can best be addressed by techniques such as crop rotation and companion planting-and by reducing the population pressures and wasteful diets which require such intensive production in the first place.
Doyle, J. Altered Harvest: Agriculture, Genetics and the Fate of the World's Food Supply. Penguin, 1985.
Ehrenfeld, D. Beyond the Farming Crisis. Technology Review, 90(5), 1987: 46-56.
Gaard, G. Milking Mother Nature. The Ecologist, 24(6), 1994: 202-203. Critique of genetic engineering in milk production.
Hindmarsh, R. The Flawed 'Sustainable' Promise of Genetic Engineering. The Ecologist, 21(5), 1991: 196-205.
Jackson, W. A New Threat To Agriculture. The Ecologist, 14(3), 1984: 119-124
Kloppenburg, J. & B. Burrows. Biotechnology to the Rescue: Twelves Reasons Why Biotechnology is Incompatible with Sustainable Agriculture. The Ecologist, 26(2), 1996: 61-67.
Levidow, L. & J. Tait. The Greening of Biotechnology: GMOs as environmentally-friendly products. Science and Public Policy, 18(5), 1998: 271-280. How biotechnology is being marketed as a sustainable mode of food production.
Orr, D. Food Alchemy & Sustainable Agriculture. Meadowcreek Notes, 19, Summer/Fall, 1988.
Pimentel, D. Down on the Farm: Genetic Engineering meets Ecology. Technol. Rev. Jan., 1987, 24-30.
Pimentel, D. et al. Benefits and Risks of Genetic Engineering in Agriculture, Bioscience 39 (9), 1989, 606-614
Rissler, J. & M. Mellon. Perils Amidst Promise: Ecological risks of Transgenic Crops in a Global Market. Union of Concened Scientists (USA), 1993.
Seabrook, J. Biotech Bondage. New Statesman, 10/5/90: 17-19.
Steinbrecher, R. From Green to Gene Revolution: The Environmental Risks of Genetically Engineered Crops. The Ecologist, 26(6), 1996: 273-281.
Information Technology & Computerisation
Computer technology has been hailed as the gateway to a new 'information society' which, it is claimed, will liberate us from the oppressive and polluting smokestacks of old-fashioned industrialism. John Sculley, former head of Apple Macintosh Computers, for example, envisages a National Information Structure, based on a nation-wide fibre optic network, that 'will forever change the way we educate our children, train and retrain our workers, earn a living, manufacture products, deliver services of all kinds and interact with families and friends' (quoted in MacUser, vol. 9, no. 13).
Mainstream politicians evidently share this view. President Clinton has authorised the spending of $2 billion on research and development for an 'information superhighway.' Figures cited in The Guardian suggest that eventually this road will cost anywhere between 100-400 billion dollars. Even farmers will no longer have to go out into the fields, sitting instead in front of rows of computers, controlling all operations on the farm (where the genetic engineer will have ironed out all nature's imperfections). Apparently, shoppers soon will stay by their firesides, strolling through virtual reality images of superstores. But this is only the beginning. Some American scientists apparently are trying to solve the irritating fact that our bodies tend to let us down-by decanting our minds into humanoid machines that will never wear out. Other scientists are working on 'artificial intelligence' systems which, it is suggested, will make our brains seem puny by comparison.
Many other groups celebrate the potential of computerisation. A recent article in The New Statesman extolled the virtues of 'teleworking' and the 'connected community', with all its savings in petrol consumption, pollution and road accidents. Posing the question of what is the 'downside' of this revolution, it answered that 'there isn't one.' Jonathon Porritt's book, Saving The Earth, also hails this fusion of communications and computing technologies as one of the 'tools for sustainability.' In sum, the Information Society will be decentralised, choice-empowering, and environmentally friendly. Yet there are many questions that need answering before such rosy conclusions can be drawn.
Limits of greater volumes of information or its speedier processing
Many of today's problems were accurately predicted and diagnosed, for example, by people like William Vogt and Fairfield Osborn back in the late 1940s without the aid of remote sensing equipment and computerised modelling. It is quality of thinking, not quantity of data, that is the key to understanding the ecological crisis. The speed at which information is transmitted could also be a bane rather than a boon. The deepening instabilities of the world market, for example, partly stem from the computerisation of currency and other financial transactions. Already, every 24 hours, some $500 billion speeds around the global economy, according to economist Hazel Henderson. The accumulation of data might also serve more repressive functions, keeping citizens under the baleful eye of security services and other agencies free from public scrutiny and accountability. The centralisation of power will proceed apace since computers are not the democratising agent that some claim. Indeed, as Jerry Mander argues, 'computers not only aid today's multinational corporate enterprises, they make them possible.'
The Limits of the binary logic
In such infinitely complex entities, the 'whole' is more than merely the sum of the parts and, within them, causes and effects interact in ways that are often unique, irreversible, and contrary to expectations (making the technological interventions recommended by computerised studies a bit like poking inside a watch with a screwdriver). Behaviour inside living systems can be modelled mathematically only at the expense of other parts of reality-that which cannot be measured is either ignored, simplified to make measurable, or simply aggregated into macro-statistics. As Roszak has put it, it chooses 'the lesser system as a model of the more complex.'
The need for more and more research might also be questioned. The Worldwatch Institute argues that only in the early 1980s did it become possible, thanks to powerful new computer simulations, to predict with confidence how global climatic patterns may change due to increasing carbon dioxide emissions. Yet there are plenty of people who remain unconvinced by such projections. Beneath these disagreements lie fundamental differences in beliefs and value judgements, not to forget short-term self-interest-differences that will be resolved through political struggle, not the accumulation of more data.
At the same time, it should be remembered that there are numerous examples where the ancient wisdom of indigenous tribal peoples about their environment exceeds what can be revealed by remote sensing and computer predictions. As Jerry Mander has shown, this does not stop 'resource scientists' from wanting to extend computerised management into regions where traditional practices have maintained for centuries a sustainable equilibrium with local ecosystems. It might be added that tribal groups are the very people most at risk from the economic and social changes fuelled by the new technology.
Virtual reality & artificial intelligence
These developments have been hailed as a new and progressive stage in evolution, even more significant than the first use of fire. Yet they might also intensify the dangerous separation of people from the real world of flesh and blood, air, water and soil, on which we still will be totally dependent, no matter how deeply we 'disappear' into artificial environments of holograms and the like. Our sensitivity to that dependence will be perilously eroded in the illusory world of computer simulations.
A Computer on Every Desk
Computers are flooding the education system yet it is doubtful whether there has been a commensurate leap in learning outcomes. The danger is that the new methods of education might trivialise rather enhance knowledge and skills, with things learned, as by rote, from the computer screen but with little deep understanding and even less diversity of thought.
Furthermore, the computer remodels information about reality to fit its own operating requirements. It might be this distorted framework of perception that will constitute the fundamental lesson learned from the computer. In Rifkin's words, 'once our children are comfortable with the idea of thinking of nature as "systems of information", they are all but ready for the task of programming nature by computer design.'
The social effects of computerisation
There are deeper problems regarding the adaptability of both individuals and organisations to the needs of computers. The futurist Alvin Toffler recognised the syndrome of 'Future Shock' in which sheer pace of change, speeded along by computers, overloads the human capacity to cope. The phenomenon partly explains the depth of alienation and bewilderment in a society which in terms of material facilities has attained unprecedented heights.
This problem can only get worse as those unwilling or unable to learn the new skills find themselves on the margins of the Information Society. Though certain techniques might be enhanced by the support of computers, computers could cause to a more general deskilling across society. In many garages, for example, time-served mechanics, with an irreplaceable fund of knowledge and experience, have been replaced by operatives dependent on what diagnostic computer programmes tell them.
Job Losses
It is often said that the new information technologies will create jobs to replace those that computerisation is destroying during the automation of production line, clerical and other jobs. Yet in these new areas of work, many jobs are deadly dull, intensely supervised (often by the computer with which operatives are working), insecure, and badly paid, a good number are devoid of any social value, moving worthless data from one file to another. There will be some need for more technical cadres. But the biggest growth area has been and will be in comparatively deskilled jobs such as service workers (e.g. in fast food outlets), janitors, security staff and data clerks, jobs not normally associated with the high-tech. image of computerisation.
Health hazards for computer users
Computers expose users to a whole series of risks from eye strain to the side-effects on exposure to low-frequency electromagnetic waves, whose seriousness may turn out to be far greater than yet suspected. Some of these problems can be overcome, for example by new screens, but often the solutions push up costs. There has been rising concern about others hazards such as repetitive strain injury, headaches as well as sheer boredom. Can work stations be more safely designed and job routines better organised?
The increasing evidence of the harm done to children by the flood of handheld consoles should not be overlooked. This is not simply due to the moronic and repetitive nature of the available software, which may be rectifiable (though unlikely since fewer games would be sold). Rather the problem is within the technology itself, a rather solitary vice, discouraging reading, writing and contact with family and friends. Aggressive behaviour also seems to be stimulated.
Clean and resource-frugal computers?
Like any technology, computers use energy and raw materials as well as emit pollution in their manufacture and operation, before their final disposal. Pollution around manufacturing plants is particularly serious. Already, according to the Worldwatch Institute, 'Silicon Valley', birthplace of the computer industry, is also home to the highest concentration of hazardous waste sites in the US.' The industry has occupational illness rate more than three times the average of manufacturing industry in the USA.
In countries like Malaysia where trade unionism is weaker, working conditions in the new electronic component plants are harsher still. This supertech. industry is dependent on a cocktail of toxic metals, chemical solvents and other hazardous substances, with new ones being introduced every year, often with minimal testing
The technology is also a voracious consumer of energy. In a typical new American office block, for example, computers account for some 25% of electricity consumption. Across the country computers annually use as much electricity as the whole of Brazil. American government estimates, cited in MacUser, suggests that by the end of the century computers could 'easily' consume 10% of the country's power supply
The new industries also consume land. Often they have taken some of the best farming country, as in Silicon Valley, arguing that such prestigious businesses need new and spacious business parks on which to develop (usually remote from the very places where jobs are most desperately needed). The high obsolescence rate of computers further undermines any notion about their frugal use of resources. Even the long promised paperless office has yet to make an appearance: most people probably will stick to paper, not least to insure themselves against computer crashes.
The Information Society will also require vast lines of cables to connect everyone to the new networks. However, already there is an environmental downside to the current programme to lay cables past every dwelling for the sake of cable TV reception (as if we could fill current broadcasting space with half-decent programmes). Excavation of the cable trenches is scything through the root systems of urban trees, many of which already are wilting under the assault of air pollution and this may finish them off. There are ways in which the problem could be mitigated but at considerable extra economic cost.
'Teleworking'
A lot of attention is being paid to the use of computer and new communication technologies combining to create a new electronic cottage industry in which more people work from home. If, as predicted, 1% of the working population switched to teleworking instead of driving to work, the energy saving would be 0.23% of total UK transport energy usage (Henley Centre research).
For the individual 'teleworker', of course there would be personal savings, perhaps 37% of his/her annual transport bill. Teleworking would also save light and heat bills at work, but there would be an increase in domestic consumption, possibly increasing the nation's energy bill. There would also be some increase in the electricity needed to power the British Telecom network. Overall, it is estimated that the net reduction might be in the order of 0.6% of total UK energy consumption. Much, much more could be achieved by better energy efficiency and conservation in buildings and transport systems.
There might be some small reduction in the release of ozone depleting chemicals since less office use might mean less need for air conditioning systems to be operated. However, work at home would require the purchase of various pieces of equipment (computers, modems, paper) which might be used more efficiently when shared at a centralised workplace. The latter also make recycling of paper and other waste products much easier and more likely to produce genuine resource savings.
A better way forward would be the encouragement of smaller organisations and the decentralisation of decision-making. The shift of political power and economic activity back to the local community, close to where people live, might ameliorate problems like environmentally damaging commuting, the break-up of community in 'dormitory suburbs', and the decline of inner cities. However most governments have subscribed to a 'bigger is beautiful' philosophy-not just business amalgamations but also the closure of small, 'inefficient' schools, hospitals and other community facilities. A reversal of such approaches would achieve much more than a shift to teleworking.
Computer crashes and errors
Finally, the danger of disastrous accidents could also increase. There are always trade-offs and it seems to be the case that the more complicated a computer system, the more vulnerable it is to failure. Even when it reliably gives warnings of error, there is no guarantee that human operators will respond appropriately. (see, for example, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident) Given that computers make possible technological systems of unprecedented intricacy in sectors such as transport and energy distribution, the threat from such malfunctions and mistakes could be disastrous.
Films like Dr Strangelove and War Games warned of the military dangers from handing control over to computers. The threat remains real. Another danger could lie within the economy. Every day on Wall Street, for example, there are apparently as many as five times more computers communicating with each other than people. It is not difficult to imagine another 'Black Wednesday' caused by computers rushing to sell off shares and other assets simply because that was what their programmes instructed them to do under certain circumstances, regardless of whether it was actually necessary or desirable. More generally, the spreading dependence upon computerised systems could mean that a breakdown in the electricity grid could bring a country to its knees in short order.
Berman, M. The Cybernetic Dream of the 21st Century. J. Hum. Psychol., 26 (2), 1986: 24-51.
Bowers, C.A. The Cultural Dimensions of Educational Computing: Understanding the Non-Neutrality of Technology. Teachers College Pr., 1988.
Bowers, C.A. How Computers Contribute to the Ecological Crisis. The CPSR Newsletter, 8,1990: 1-8.
Brod, C. Technostress. Addison Wesley, 1984.
Burnham, D. The Rise of the Computer State. Random, 1983.
Garson, B. The Electronic Sweatshop: How Computers are Transforming the Office of the Future into the Factory of the Past. Penguin, 1988.
Kleiner, A. Health Hazards of Computers. Whole Earth Review, Fall, 1985: 80-93.
Mander, J. Six Grave Doubts about Computers. Whole Earth Review, Dec.1984/Jan.85: 10-20.
Reinecke, I. Electronic Illusions. Penguin, 1984.
Rifkin, J. Laid Off! Computer Technologies and the Re-Engineered Workplace. The Ecologist, 24(5), 1994: 182-188.
Roszak, T. The Cult of Information. Paladin, 1988.
Shallis, M. The Silicon Idol. OUP, 1984.
Slouka, M. War of the Worlds: The Assault on Reality. Abacus, 1995. Spirited assault on 'cyberspace' & virtual reality.
Skolimowski, H. Information-Yes, But Where Has All Our Wisdom Gone? The Ecologist, 14 (5/6), 1984: 232-234
Turkle S. The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit. Simon and Shuster, 1984
Weizenbaum, J. Computer Power and Human Reason. Penguin, 1984.
Winner, L. MythInformation. Whole Earth Review, Jan., 1985:22-28.
See also:
Durham, T. Birth of the Eco-Computer, New Scientist, 30 October, 1993: 30-33. Survey of measures to reduce the environmental impact of computers.
Young, J. Global Network: Computers in a Sustainable Society. WorldWatch Paper 115, 1993. A more optimistic view of the green potential of computers.
Mass Media-General References
The mass media have been instrumental in shaping contemporary society, not least through the growing homogenisation of human culture and have driven the explosive and unsustainable rise in material expectations. At the same time, society also shapes its media, turning them into a commodity to be 'consumed' largely in the privacy of one's home. As such, the development of the media both reflects and encourages social fragmentation and, in turn, a desire to stock up homes with all kinds of 'entertainment systems', which could have been provided, at less environmental cost, in other ways.
Compare, for example, the screening of a film to large audiences at a dense network of local cinemas to its viewing on a myriad of television sets in front of which sit handfuls of viewers. It is, of course, often much more convenient and, in direct terms, cheaper to sit in one's own armchair. Yet there are also social pleasures as well as pleasures in pure spectacle to be found watching a cinema screen that no TV can rival.
In terms of reportage and general representation of ecological issues, there is an inherent tendency, especially in daily media such as newspapers, radio and TV news & current affairs, to focus on discrete events, rather than underlying processes. Spectacular incidents like oil spills match media production routines and news flows much more than the slow drip of environmental degradation. One result is that the ecological crisis is widely perceived in a narrow and one-sided way, as a problem of pollution, ignoring the many other ways in which the Earth's life-support systems are being eroded. Furthermore, to fill airtime and column inches, the media not only build up issues in exaggerated ways but also, to get a second bite of 'the apple', knock them back down again, perhaps by spotlighting some dissenting voice, again out of all proportion to the merits of the case.
Many ecological issues, especially at a value level, translate badly, especially to media dominated by images and simple sound bites. Pictures of, say, an undisturbed seashore make for less than gripping TV, comparted to dramatic shots of beach buggies and surf board. A huge dam looks better on screen than a peaceful river. Perhaps worst of all is the way television (plus devices such as computer games consoles), with the relentless barrage of fast-changing screen shots, shifting camera angles and special effects. may be eroding human attention spans, especially amongst those 'child-minded' in their formative years by these big-brothers-in-a-box. True, the media may spotlight issues such as the Ethiopean famine and stimulate flurries of concern. Yet even the best coverage seems to produce few long-lasting changes amongst its audiences. Couch potatoes are not the stuff of real social change.
Radical criticism of the media has tended to focus upon the technicalities of media production and/or the 'deconstruction' of media texts i.e. how they communicate with their reader/listener/viewer. The broader picture painted above, especially the direct impacts, has been comparatively neglected while media 'effects' have been usually linked to questions of control, eg use to promote sales or biased perspectives and agenda-setting, rather than the intrinsic characteristics of specific technologies.
Brunn, S.D., & T.R. Leinbach, eds. Collapsing Space and Time: Geographic Aspects of Communication and Information. Harper Collins, 1991. Not a specifically ecological approach but like Featherstone ed. below, much useful information on global homogenisation.
Chomsky N. and S. Herman. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. Pantheon Books, 1988.
Dancer, D. Over-Glossied and Imaged-Out: Toward a Deep Photography Ethic. Wild Earth, Spring, 1996: 81-87. Page 82 of this article contains an excelent survey of the environmental impact of photography, an activity which in toto probably constitutes one of single biggest sources of toxic waste.
Durning, A. & E. Ayres. The Life of a Newspaper. Worldwatch, 7(4), 1994: 30-32
Edwards, D. Free To Be Human. Green Books, 1995. Critique of 'age of illusions' and particularly the role of the media in encouraging passive and conformist consumerism.
Featherstone, M., ed.. Global Culture: Nationalism, Globalisation and Modernity. Sage, 1990.
llich, I & B. Sanders. ABC: The Alphabetisation of the Popular Mind. Pantheon, 1988. How formal literacy can separate people from other ways of knowing and feeling, -an argument which, however, pays inadequate attention to the ways in which lack of literacy now serves to disempower ordinary people in their struggles to defend themselves and their communities.
Meyrowitz, J. No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behaviour. OUP, 1985.
Ong., W. Orality & Literacy: The Technologising of the Word. Methuen, 1982. Amongst other things, a work which explores how the development of media technologies, starting with print, progressively separating human consciousness and communication from the rest of the living world.
Postman, N. Amusing Ourselves To Death. Methuen, 1986. Brilliant critique of television's effects on society, with perhaps an exaggerated view of the comparative merits of the previous era of the printed word.
Direct Environmental Impacts of the Mass Media
The direct environmental impact of the media should not be underestimated. Huge quantities of energy and material resources consumed as well as pollution generated in the making, distribution and consumption of media products, from newspapers to rented videos. A full life cycle analysis would take into account, for example, everything from the making of a movie to its screening in the cinema, followed by its beaming by satellite to a terrestrial receiver for viewing on a domestic television set which, after a comparatively short life, is likely to end up dumped in some landfill site.
'Image' production, for example, is the biggest single source of toxic wastes in the world. As the film director Alex Cox, in a moment of candour rare amongst both film makers and critics, discussed in a programme in the Moviedrome series, the making of movies sometimes causes significant environmental damage as well as much suffering to animals. Even the showing of a top film at Christmas on TV has a startling impact when, at the break, there is a surge in electricity consumption, when kettles are switched on, and in water consumption after millions visit the toilet.
Tilley, R. Damage in the Docklands-the Printworks Polluters. The Ecologist, 28(4), 1998: 228-232. The print industry's damage does not stop at the ravaging of the world's forests..
Mass Media Coverage Of The Environmental Issues
Caldicott, H. American Media & the Environment. Chapter 9 of her If You Love this Planet. Norton, 1992.
Edwards, D. Hot Air: Global Warming and the Polotical economy of Threats. The Ecologist, 27(1), 1998: 2-4. Contrasts the medi's failure to report adequately global warming with its obsession with the red menace down the years.
Edwards, D. Can We Learn the Truth about the Environment from the Media. The Ecologist, 28(1), 1998: 18-22.
Edwards, D. Learning to Think the Right Thoughts" 'Channel One' The Ecologist, 28(4), 1998: 201-203. In part, an attack on British Channel 4 series 'Against Nature' , an ignorant and dirty attack on environmentalism.
Hansen, A., ed. The Mass Media & Environmental Issues. Leicester UP, 1993.
LaForge, J. Chernobyl: A Global Tragedy. Earth Island, Summer, 1997: 28-29. Focuses on the whitewash of the 1986 disaster in subsequent years.
LaMay, C. & E. Dennis, eds. Media and the Environment. Island Pr., 1991.
Lee, M. & N. Solomon. Leaks, Lies and Cover-Ups in US Nuclear Reporting. Earth Island Jnl., Summer, 1990: 20-21.
Manning, R. Last Stand: Logging, Journalism and the Case for Humility. Penguin, n.d. Attack on the timber industry and the failure of the media to report adequately the destruction caused by industrial forestry.
Oakley, C. The Media Miseed the Mark in Peru. Earth Island, Summer, 1997: 41. How reportage of a hostage seige failed to report the context of oppression and environmental despoilation.
Stauber, J. & S. Rampton. Toxic Sludge is Good for You!: Lies, Damn Lies & the Public Relations Industry. Common Courage Pr.,1995.
Szerszynski, B. Environmentalism, the Mass Media and Public Opinion. Centre for Study of Environmental Change, Lancaster University, Report 91.3, 1991.
Television
Burke, D. & J. Lotus. Get a Life. Bloomsbury, 1998. The book of the White Dot Anti-TV campaign.
Large, M. Who's Bringing Them Up? Television Action Group, Stroud, 1980.
Mander, J. Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television. Morrow, 1978.
McKibben, B. The Age of Missing Information. Random House, 1992. Critique of the garbage spewed out by proliferating TV channels, based on American examples.
Mellencamp, P., ed. Logics Of Television: Essays In Cultural Criticism. Indiana UP, 1990.
Nelson, J. The Perfect Machine: TV & the Nuclear Age. Between the Lines, 1987. Canadian criticism of television and its hold on society.
Schneider, C. & B. Wallis, eds. Global Television. MIT Pr., 1988.
Williams, R. Television: Technology & Cultural Form. Fontana, 1974. Critique from leading left-wing academic who reflected increasing environmental concern.
Winn, M. The Plug-In Drug. Bantam, 1978
Media, Propaganda & Advertising
Fones-Wolf, E. Selling Free Enterprise. Univ. Illinois Pr., 1994. History of business propaganda.
Hilgartner, S., et al. Nukespeak: The Selling of Nuclear Technology in America. Penguin, 1982.
Myers, G. Words in Ads. Edward Arnold, 1994. Especially chapter 11, 'Concentrated Persil Supports Trees: Green Ads & Agency'.
Stauber, J. & S. Rampton. Toxic Sludge is Good for You!: Lies, Damn Lies & the Public Relations Industry. Common Courage Pr., n.d.
Transport
Transport is a sector where society seems to be fast reaching the limits to growth. At a time when the European Union, for example, is proclaiming strategies for what it calls 'sustainable' mobility, the reality may be that we have to start planning now for less movement. The price of the modern obsession with mobility has been enormous. It includes:
Resource Depletion
The transport sector is now the single largest energy user in the UK, consuming more than 30% of all delivered energy. These figures do not include, however, energy consumed during the manufacture, maintenance and disposal of vehicles and components, during the extraction of raw materials or in infrastructure provision. In 1988 these energy uses added some 33% of the total energy consumed directly by the transport system to its overall bill. For example, significant quantities of materials are required in the construction of the transport infrastructure. For example, 43% of rock aggregate quarried in England and Wales, with attendant energy consumption as well as large-scale environmental degradation and pollution, was consumed for this purpose. Due to the trend towards larger, more powerful cars, coupled with a reduction in car occupancy rates, it now takes more petrol for a car passenger to travel a given distance than it did in 1985. Congestion (especially stop-start movement) and high speed limits all substantially increase energy use as well.
Air Pollution
Transport in general, and road transport in particular, is a major contributor to global problems such as acid rain, global warming and depletion of the ozone layer, as well as more immediate local pollution effects. Emissions such as lead, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, oxides of nitrogen and particulates threaten human health (asthma etc.). Road transport alone accounted for 19% of CO2, 51% of NOX, 90% of CO, 41% of VOCs and 46% of black smoke emitted in the UK in 1990. (A government minister recently planted a tree to commemorate the opening of even more motorway yet as a correspondent to The Guardian pointed out, he should have planted some 3 million trees 20 years ago to balance the carbon dioxide that the road's traffic will generate in one year). CFCs, causing ozone depletion, are released from car air conditioning systems (uncommon in this country) and from plastic foams used in the construction of vehicles (e.g. instrument panels and seat padding).
Water Pollution
Transport contributes indirectly to water contamination by the release of gaseous emissions and directly by the spillage of oil. The risk of water, as well as soil and air pollution, is increased by the transportation of hazardous substances.
Light Pollution
Lighting of the transport network not only consumes considerable amounts of energy but also means that large parts of England no longer have dark skies at night.
Land Grab
Huge areas of land are lost within urban and rural areas through the construction of the transport infrastructure and as a result of the extraction of materials required in the infrastructure construction process and in vehicle manufacturing. An estimated 14,070 hectares of land in Great Britain were taken for the development of the road infrastructure between 1985 and 1990. Of this, 50% was agricultural land, 33% was in urban use (mainly previously developed vacant land and existing road use) and 16% was semi-natural or uncultivated land or forest. Across in the USA, road developments covered an area equivalent to that of the state of Nebraska between 1945-75.
Community Severance
The speed and volume of traffic on roads in particular can result in the division and isolation of communities. American research (Guardian, 5/11/93) found that in urban areas with roads with heavier traffic there was less 'neighbourliness' and more crime.
Wildlife Destruction
Wildlife habitats are destroyed by the construction of the transport infrastructure. Roads in particular can present a considerable hazard to the safe movement of wildlife. The Tory government's original £23 billion road programme would have destroyed some 150 sites of special wildlife significance. Other sites are being destroyed by quarrying for road aggregate.
Waste Disposal
The transport sector gives rise to considerable quantities of waste materials including oil, tyres and brake fluid during the life of the vehicle, non-recyclable materials from scrapped vehicles, and earth and rubble during infrastructure construction.
Noise and Vibration
Noise and vibration cause discomfort and various bad psychological and pathological effects as well as damage buildings.
Accidents and Ill Health
Although disastrous accidents do occur with air, rail and marine transport, taken together they generally account for far fewer deaths and injuries than are attributable to road transport. Around 61,000 people were killed or seriously injured on the country's roads in 1991, a cost to the nation of an estimated £6,000 million a year, insofar as it is meaningful to put a price on such things. Illness, not least respiratory problems caused by vehicle emissions and mental stress from driving, takes a heavy toll.
In sum, then, mass mobility has meant a drastic loss of many other freedoms and rights. Furthermore, it has been heavily subsidised directly and indirectly by government policy while alternatives have been strangled. The bias towards cars is grossly inequitable, discriminating against the needs of those who, for reasons of income, age or disability, cannot drive or who simply prefer to walk, cycle and travel by bus and train. Compared to Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and France, for example, the UK railway system has the most expensive fares, the joint-lowest investment and the lowest level of subsidy. At the same time, however, money is found to give tax relief on the ownership, use and parking of company cars totalling some £2.2 billion a year.
Transport Technofixes
Rather than face the reality that we need to reduce the volume of transport, all kinds of technological pseudo-solutions are being pursued. These take many forms. One is the substitution of diesel for petrol engines. The more efficient combustion of fuel achieved in a diesel engine does result in fewer HC and CO emissions. The lower ignition temperatures involved also generate fewer nitrogen oxides. Diesel fuel, however, contains more carbon than petrol, typically around 12% more, thus a diesel engine must be at least this much more efficient to equal the CO2 emission rates for a petrol car. The fuel economy advantages of diesel engines are largely lost during motorway driving, their major advantage coming in urban stop-start-idling conditions. Furthermore, diesel engines emit higher levels of SO2 and particulates, the latter, on average, 10 times higher from a diesel engine than a petrol engine and 30 to 70 times higher when compared with a petrol engine fitted with a catalytic converter. Others look to fuel-efficient Vehicles. Techniques include the introduction of better transmission systems, aerodynamic improvements and engine changes. Current car fuel efficiencies range between 10 and 63 mpg but prototypes have been developed which are capable of in excess of 100 mpg. However, continued growth in the number of vehicles must eventually cancel out possible gains.
Enthusiasm has tended to wane for another 'fix', the catalytic converter. They increase fuel consumption and hence, CO2 emissions as well, and emit fine particles of other pollutants. More generally, the manufacture of converters apparently creates more pollution in toto than is saved during their use. Considerable hopes are still invested in the potential of alternative fuels. Electricity, for example, can be used to power vehicles either directly or through the use of batteries. Emissions are minimal during operation but if carbon-based fuels are used to generate the electricity, the contribution to global pollution may, overall, be higher than that resulting from petrol and diesel use. Other disadvantages may include limited acceleration, speed and limited range between recharging stops for battery operated vehicles.
There has also been much speculation about hydrogen-driven vehicles. They might cause minimal pollution during operation but the generation of hydrogen, either from coal or the electrolysis of water, could result in more pollution than would the burning of traditional fuels. Other disadvantages include the need for increased on board fuel storage space and the lengthy time required for refuelling. Gas in various forms can be used to power vehicles, resulting in lower emissions of the major pollutants associated with the use of petrol and diesel. However, there are concerns over the leakage of methane during extraction and transportation of gas based fuels, methane being an important greenhouse gas. Gas fuels provide an option for the short term only, due to the finite nature of supplies. Fuels such as methanol and ethanol have been used for some time as vehicle fuels, most notably in Brazil where ethanol is distilled from sugar cane. Increased methane emissions may result, however, from the use of such fuels and significant areas of land would be required for biomass production. (It is estimated that an area three times the size of the UK would be required if ethanol produced from biomass were to replace the gasoline used by the country's taxis and private cars).
In all the above cases, the better designed or alternatively powered cars would still devour land for roads and parking space while their manufacture would consume further resources. If every car incorporated all possible fuel-saving measure, including lean-burn engines, the increase in the volume of transport predicted by the government would mean that overall exhaust emissions would remain unchanged. At the same time, more roads are not the answer to congestion: new roads simply fill up with new traffic as the now badly congested M25 demonstrates.
Transport Management Fixes
A number of policy tools can be used to reduce the environmental impact of transport. These include access permits, bus priority lanes, road pricing, park and ride, car-sharing schemes and better public transport in general. Effective enforcement of speed limits would also help to reduce pollution levels. It is estimated that enforcement of current speed limits would reduce CO2 and NOX emissions from cars and taxis by 2.4% and 2.6% respectively, and from heavy goods vehicles by 12.2% and 1.7% respectively.
Whatever their short-term advantages, however, a few seconds reflection shows that they too cannot cope with an increasing tide of vehicles. Of course, we do need cheaper and more reliable bus and train services. But a simple shift of current and especially projected transport levels to them from cars and lorries would transfer problems from one place or form to another. Many uses are comparatively inelastic-they couldn't be simply transferred to another mode of transport. Increases in the number of buses, trains and railway lines would create, in turn, greater resource consumption and pollution as the rail link to the Channel tunnel demonstrates.
Already some bus and train networks are badly congested; some cities in fact are suffering from a surfeit of cycles. Small-scale traffic calming measures like blocking off selective streets may merely transfer displaced cars and lorries to other thoroughfares. Some schemes like 'high occupancy only lanes' may need costly bureaucratic enforcement. It seems that only a cut in the sheer volume of travellers and goods on the move can help take society down the road to sustainability.
Barde, J-P., & K. Button, eds. Transport Policy & The Environment: Six Case Studies. Earthscan, 1992.
CPRE. Transport and the Environment. CPRE, 1993. Longer position paper on transport policy from the CPRE.
Gossop, C. & A. Webb. Getting Around: Public and Private Transport. In A. Blowers, ed., Planning for A Sustainable Environment. Earthscan, 1993. Work from a study group linked to the Town and Country Planning Association.
Gordon, D. Steering a New Course: Transportation, Energy and the Environment. Union of Concerned Scientists, 1991.
Hughes, P. Personal Travel & The Greenhouse Effect. Earthscan, 1993.
Rivers, P. The Restless Generation. Davis-Poynter, 1972 An older but much broader and insightful look at the 'cult' of mobility and its consequences.
Sachs, W. If Wishes Were Horses: Desire & Democracy in the History of Transport. The Ecologist, 24(3), 1994: 94-99.
TEST. Changed travel, Better World? London: Transport and Environment Studies, 1991
TRANSNET. Energy, Transport & the Environment. Calvert Pr., 1990.
Whitelegg, J. Time Pollution. The Ecologist, 23(4), 1993: 131-134. How increased speed of travel often costs us the time we try to save, contrary to promise of builders of new infrastructure.
Road Transport and Road Building
In terms of policy and investment, mobility today means the motor car. Over the past 40 years, the number of cars around the world has increased tenfold to over 500 million. If the rest of Asia were to achieve the same ratio of cars to people as Japan (not high compared to America), the number of cars in the world would double.
By 2025 in the UK there could be between 70% and 110% more vehicles on the roads than there are today, giving Britain more cars per head than present-day Los Angeles which is already suffocating from exhaust emissions. As the number of road vehicles has increased, new roads and car parks have been built to cope with the increasing demand. Between 1980 and 1990 the length of the motorway system was increased by 20% while the road network as a whole grew by 5%. New roads and road maintenance cost the country around £2.4 billion per year at present.
In the EU as a whole, freight transport has risen from 581 billion tonne-kilometres in 1980 to 826 billion in 1990. This increase is the result of the cheapness of transport, the strategies of industrialists and others to put more freight on the roads as part of their cost cutting operational reforms (just-in-time transport) and the reductions in journey times as more motorways, bridges and tunnels increase the opportunities for sending freight by road.
These trends are all manifestations of the deliberate creation or generation of freight traffic as part of a drive to increase economic activity and improve the international competitiveness of the European Community. Production is being centralised at fewer sites over time thus reducing the total employment in any economic sector. Transport systems are so cheap to use that it is profitable to reorganise distribution and manufacturing on continental scales.
Very powerful and well funded interest groups are pushing for new transportation links in Europe. The European Commission wants to build 12,500 km of new motorway standard roads while the International Road Federation has plans for a new motorway completely encircling the Mediterranean; the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development are funding new motorways throughout Eastern Europe and the ex-Soviet Union.
To date, Britain's Department of Transport has catered simply-and ruthlessly- for the needs of road builders and car manufacturers. Whereas the rail network is managed by other bodies, the DoT is directly responsible for road planning and construction. Not surprisingly, criteria used in public enquiries are rigged, discounting many environmental and human factors. Often it is quite devious, disguising plans for a whole new cross-country road in the form of a series of seemingly innocuous bypasses and little link roads. Whether its recent merger with the Environment ministry will make much difference remains to be seen.
Bendixson, T. Instead of Cars Pelican, 1977. An earlier but unheeded call to change direction
Bowers, C. Europe's Motorways: The Drive for Mobility. The Ecologist, 23(4), 1993: 125-131
Bray, J., The Push for Roads: A Programme for Economic Recovery London: Alarm UK & Transport 2000, 1992.
CPRE. Tranquil Area Map. CPRE, 1993. 2 maps SE & NE England showing the loss of rural tranquillity due to road developments & increasing traffic.
CPRE. Driven to Dig-Road Building and Aggregates Demand. CPRE, 1993. Exposes the link between destructive increases in aggregate extraction and the expansion of the road network.
CPRE. Rules of the Road. CPRE, 1992. CPRE critique of planning procedures.
CPRE. Wheeling Out of Control. CPRE, 1992. Short CPRE position statement.
CPRE. Concrete and Tyres-Local Development Effects of Major Roads: the M40. CPRE, 1992. Case study of how the immediate and direct environmental impacts of road building are made worse by follow-on building developments.
CPRE. Where the Motor car is Master-How the Department of Transport Became Bewitched by Roads. CPRE, 1992.
Davis, R. Death on the Streets. Leading Edge, 1993.
Freund, P. & G. Martin. The Ecology of the Automobile. 1993.
Garb, Y. The Trans-Israel Highway. Earth Island, Spring, 1997: 28. Motorway madness in the Middle East.
Grieco, M. The Impact of Transport Investment Programmes on the Inner City. Oxford Transport Studies Unit, 1988. How road schemes can damage the inner city economy by exposing it to competition from outside
Hamer, N. Wheels Within Wheels: A Study of the Road Lobby. RKP, 1987.
Johansson, J., et al. Blueprint 5: The True Costs of Road Transport. Earthscan, 1995.
Kay, J. Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take It Back. Crown Publishers, 1997.
Nadis, S. & J. Mackenzie. Car Trouble. Beacon Press, 1993.
Newman, P. & J. Kenworthy. Cities and Automobile Dependencies: an International Source book. Gower, 1989.
Noss, R. The Ecological Effects of Roads or the Road to Destruction. Wildlands Centre for Preventing Roads, 1995.
Renner, M. Rethinking the Role of the Automobile. Worldwatch Institute, 1988.
St. Clair, D. Motorization of American Cities. Praegar, 1986.
Sachs, W. For the Love of the Automobile: Looking Back into the History of Our Desires. Univ. California Pr., 1992.
Tunali, O. A Billion Cars: The Road Ahead. Worldwatch, 9(1), 1996: 24-23.
Whitelegg, J. Time Pollution. The Ecologist, 23(4), 1993: 132-134. A major consumer of time is the machine designed to save time, motor transport.
Williams, H. Autogeddon. Jonathon Cape, 1991. No punches pulled polemic with much startling information and striking pictures.
Wilshire, H. The Wheeled Locusts. Wild Earth, Spring, 1992: 27-31. The costs of off-road vehicles.
Air Transport
Barret, M. Aircraft Pollution: Environmental Impacts and Future Solutions. WWF (UK), 1991.
Scanlon, J. Behind the Contrail Curtain. Earth Island, Summer, 1997: 36. Atmospheric pollution from aeroplanes.
Smith, G. Oil Spills in the Sky. Earth Island, Summer, 1997: 34-35. Resource depletion, pollution, noise and climatic change due to jet flights. A panel spotlights the dirtiest planes.
Teffort, J. Runaway Madness. Real World, 13, 1995:16. Attack on Heathrow expansion plans.
Rail Transport
CPRE. How Green is Your Railway? High Speed Railway Construction and the Environment-Lessons from Europe. CPRE, 1992. Many people see railways as the way forward yet they can have some bad environmental impacts.
Lowe, M. Back on Track: The Global Rail Revival. Worldwatch Institute, 1994
Thornton, R. D. Why the US Needs A Magalev System, Technology Review, Apr., 1991: 31-42. The case for magnetic levitation trains.
Greener Transport Systems & Traffic Management
To move in a more sustainable direction, transport policy needs to be guided by a totally new set of priorities. Avenues for study include the nature of general principles for a sustainable transport strategy. The following are offered for debate:
People before machines (e.g. abandonment of the current road-building programme, slower speed limits, longer crossing times at pedestrian lights)
People-powered machines before other machines (e.g. massive switch in transport expenditure to cycle provision)
Public transport before private vehicles (e.g. discrimination in favour of buses and trains; phasing out of indirect tax perks for car drivers and increased charges on goods vehicles, using savings and new revenue to cut public transport fares, provide more staff on buses, stations, and trains etc.)
Local needs before those of external and through traffic (e.g. preferential treatment for local residents)
Another area for research is the kind of legislation needed to set appropriate standards for all new vehicles on energy efficiency, safety, and noise pollution, including, perhaps, maximum speeds and engine sizes. In the long run, however, a sustainable society probably may have to phase out private vehicle ownership in favour of rental schemes. A quick reconsideration of current trends, outlined above, shows that this 'utopian' option might be the only viable one available.
At the same time, broader social and economic changes could reduce the need for so much movement of goods and people. For example, planning controls could be used to stop out-of-town retail and office development, most of which is based on widespread car usage. More flexible working arrangements and a shorter working week might not only create jobs for the unemployed but also reduce congestion. A ban on car advertising could be one, albeit controversial, way to undermine the cult that currently surrounds the motor car. An energy tax would make massive inroads into excessive transportation. In the meantime, special purchase taxes on petrol guzzling vehicles could be used.
Furthermore, individual organisations could give a lead. More sustainable alternatives to present practices, such as subsidised business cars and free car parking, include:
New vehicles to be purchased on the basis of maximum fuel efficiency and possession of appropriate emission control technology.
Reduction of car mileage rates for business travel, with one rate regardless of engine capacity.
Provision of loans or subsidy for staff wishing to purchase a travel pass.
Provision of changing and shower facilities in large organisations (e.g. for cyclists), plus secure cycle parking facilities; cycle mileage allowances.
No increase in provision for car parking
Ballantine, R. Richard's New Bicycle Book. Oxford Illustrated Pr., 1988
American Public Transit System. Mass Transit: The Clean Air Alternative Washington, DC: American Public Transit Association, 1989.
Cyclists Touring Club. Costing the Benefits of Cycling. Godalming: CTC, 1993.
FoE. An Illustrated Guide to Traffic Calming. FoE, 1990.
FoE. Less Traffic, Better Towns FoE. 1992
Kelbaugh, D., ed. The Pedestrian Pocketbook: A New Suburban Design Strategy. Princeton Architectural Pr., 1989.
Lowe, M. The Bicycle: Vehicle for a Small Planet. WorldWatch Institute, 1989.
Lowe, M. Alternatives to the Automobile: Transport for Liveable Cities. WorldWatch Institute, 1990.
Nieuwenhuis, P, et al. The Green Car Guide Green Print, 1992. Though the explosive growth in the sheer number of vehicles will devour, if unchecked, whatever can be achieved by better design and traffic management, as advocated by the authors, nevertheless the volume offers many useful interim measures.
Perrin, N. Life with an Electric Car. Sierra Books, n.d.
Plowden, S. Taming Traffic Andre Deutsch, 1980.
Tolley, R., ed. The Greening of Urban Transport: Planning for Walking and Cycling in Western Cities. Belhaven, 1990.
Whitelegg J. Traffic Congestion: Is There A Way Out? Leading Edge, 1992
More material, especially on the production side of transport systems, is cited in the section on manufacturing. Most of the general books on environmental issues make extensive References to transportation issues
See also:
Ghazi, P, et al. National Transport Plan. Guardian Media Group, 1995. Pamphlet version of two page spread first published in The Observer, 18.6.95.
Hopkinson P., et al. Environmental Policy, Legislation and Business Strategy: The Case of the Transport Sector. In R. Welford, ed., Cases in Environmental Management and Business Strategy. Pitman, 1994.
MacKenzie, J. The Keys to the Car: Electric and Hydrogen Vehicles for the 21st Century. World Resources Institute/Earthscan, 1994.
Sperling, D. Future Drive: Electric Vehicles and Sustainable Transportation. Island Pr., 1994.
Rocket Flight and the Colonisation of Outer Space
Aftergood, S. Poisoned Plumes. New Scientist, 7/9/91: 33-37. Rockets emit clouds of toxic exhaust fumes.
Aldrige, a. & H. Skolimowski. Pie in the Sky: Do We Really Want Colonies in Space? The Ecologist, 7(10), 1977: 390-394.
Booth, N. Space Junk. Green Magazine, Nov., 1989: 44-47. Includes table of nuclear accidents in space.
Gorelick, S. The Cassini Gamble: Scientists Go for Broke. The Ecologist, 27(6), 1997: 214-216. Satanic madness from space scientists with the folly of the Cassini spacecraft.
Grossman, K. The Wrong Stuff. Common Courage Pr., 1997.
Hardin, G. Interstellar Migration and the Population Problem. Jnl of Heredity, 50, 1959: 68-70. Hardin fired a rocket through the fantasy that overpopulation could be mitigrated by migration into outer space but most people seem befuddled by watching too many episodes of Star Trek.
Hardin, G. The Semantics of "Space". ETC, 23, 1966: 167-171. Hardin cuts through the woolly rhetoric employed to support the space eprogramme.
Hardin, G. A Rapout of O'Neill's Dream. CoEvolution Quaterly, 9, Spring, 1976: page numbers missing. Gerard O'Neill is one of the high priests of the space programme, preaching that the next frontier is waiting for us up there above the clouds. Hardin brings him back down to Earth.
Radford, T. Star Trek to Profit. Guardian, The Week section, 18/10/97: 1-2. Big business has its greedy eyes on outer space.
Tracy, L. US Space Junk Falls on Siberia. Earth Island, Spring, 1998: 25. One hazard of the space programme.
Wood-Kaczmar. The Junkyard in the Sky. New Scientist, 13/10/90: 37-40. Already nearby reaches of outer space are being converted into a junkyard, a menace to passing space flights.
See also:
Finney, B. & E. Jones, ed.. Interstellar Migration & the Human Experiences. Univ. California Pr., 1985.
Architectural Design and Construction
We spend much of our life in buildings whose design, construction, furnishing, operation and demolition generate massive environmental impacts, from quarries and brick works to paint factories and power plants. Our own comfort, health and safety are similarly affected. Sadly, problems ranging from the 'sick building syndrome' to the energy and materials profligacy characterise much of today's built environment.
The design, construction, maintenance & use of the building can make a greater or lesser contribution to a host of problems. All buildings of course occupy space and therefore reduce the amount of land available to other uses, not least wildlife habitat. Then there is the contribution by buildings at all stages of their life cycle to global warming, acid rain and other air pollution problems. Often they add toxic and radioactive substances to air, land & water. The provision of construction timber takes its toll in terms of deforestation and unsustainable patterns of plantation forestry. Environmental degradation and pollution are intimately linked to quarrying and other forms of extraction for other building materials. Constructing and heating buildings depletes fossil fuels, raw materials and water resources. Construction site run-off is also a significant source of water pollution.
In their daily use, many buildings are profligate wasters of energy whilst their occupants experience poor comfort levels and may be exposed to specific and direct health hazards such as legionnaires' disease. Last but not least, buildings may cause aesthetic degradation as townscapes lose local and regional identities. Many people rightly or wrongly perceive the modern building to be carbuncles of great ugliness.
Alexander, C. A Timeless Way of Building. OUP, 1979.
Alexander, C. The Production of Houses. OUP, 1985.
Clifton-Taylor, A. The Pattern of English Building. Faber & Faber, 1987. A guide to traditional diversity in English buildings and townscapes
Downing, D. Day Light Robbery-The Importance of Sunlight to Health. Arrow, 1988. A polemic against life under artificial light.
Elkin, T., & McLaren D. Reviving the City: Towards Sustainable Urban Development. FoE, 1991. A more general study but with many implications for developers, architects and builders.
Roaf, S., ed. Energy Efficiency in Buildings. OUP, 1993.
Greener Buildings
Much exciting work is taking place on the 'greening' of architecture, both in terms of new build and the retrofitting of older buildings. A greener approach would pay due attention to the external environment ground cover - existing vegetation, tree cover, species planted, presence of ponds etc., the estate maintenance régime (mowing patterns, phasing out of pesticides etc.) the use of open space, the amount of space covered with hard surfaces (site roads, parking, sports courts etc.) and the overall harmony of building with the site. Maximum use would be made of already degraded sites, with ecologically valuable one protected. Indigenous tree and flower species would be favoured. In terms of the buildings themselves, a whole series of challenges would be faced, including:
Blending with local building styles, scales and materials.
Choice of site, orientation, and shelter to optimise use of renewable resources and work with local climate.
Minimised use of space, energy, water & raw materials in construction, use, and any subsequent refurbishment.
Long-life and low maintenance design and construction.
Adaptability.
Size and orientation of window areas to minimise energy losses and maximise natural lighting; energy-saving glazing.
Use of greener materials and products - non-toxic, minimally polluting, renewable, biodegradable or easily reused, repaired and recycled, e.g. use of demolition/waste materials (for foundations, walls and floorings), minimised use of energy-intensive materials (aluminium has 126 times energy cost of timber equivalent) and of petrochemicals.
Energy-efficient heating and lighting systems.
Water-efficiency e.g. efficient taps, low-flush toilets, recycling of greywater, collection and use of rainwater.
Avoidance of CFCs, HCFCs & Halons (e.g. in refrigeration, fire-fighting equipment, insulation materials).
High indoor air quality.
Avoidance of hazardous materials-formaldehyde emissions (cavity wall insulation, foam backing, adhesives, chipboard etc.), asbestos, leaded paint, wood treatments
Use of cleaners, polishes, bleaches, detergents, air fresheners and other materials made from renewable resources/biodegradable ingredients.
Minimised use of fabrics and furniture made from petrochemicals like vinyl, flammable foams etc.
Thermal comfort e.g. minimised overheating, cold areas, and draughts; switch to natural ventilation systems
Maximised use of natural daylight, visual comfort, soothing colours, creation of sunspaces and convivial areas, etc.
Comfortable micro-climates e.g. reduced exposure to wind and rain
'Intelligent' control systems for heating, cooling, water, airflow and lighting plus local control systems - metering, thermostats etc.
Comfortable levels of indoor noise.
Facilities for cyclists
Recycling of waste outputs
Facilities for storage and collection of different wastes for recycling
Quite a challenge!
Bainbridge, D., et al. Village Homes' Solar House Designs. Rodale, 1979.
Ball, R. Making Space: Design for Compact Living. Overlook Pr., 1989.
Borer, P., et al,. Environmental Building. CAT, 1992.
Borer, P. & C. Harris. Out of the Woods: Ecological Designs for Timber Frame Self Build. CAT, 1994.
Broome, J. & B. Richardson. The Self-Build Book. Green Books, 1991.
Dadd, D. The Non-Toxic Home. Tarcher, 1986
Day, C. Places of the Soul: Architecture and Environmental design as a Healing Art. Aquarian, 1993. Building with people and place in mind.
Easton, D. The Rammed Earth House: Rediscovering the Most Ancient Material. Green books, 1996.
Harland, Edward. Eco-Renovation: The Ecological Home Improvement Guide. Green Books, 1993. Specifically about domestic home improvement but of general relevance as well. Clearly, to save land, we need to minimise new built, especially on ecologically valuable sites, and concentrate on the reuse/recycling of existing buildings
Holdsworth, Bill. Healthy Buildings: a Design Primer for a Living Environment Architectural, Design and Technology Press, 1992.
Papanek, V. The Green Imperative: Ecology & Ethics in Design & Architecture. Thames & Hudson, 1995.
Pearson, D. The Natural House Book. Octopus, 1989.
Prowler, D. Modest Mansions: Designs for Luxurious Living in Less Space. Rodale Pr., 1985.
Roodman D. & N. Lenssen. A Building Revolution: How Ecological and Health Concerns are Transforming Construction. WorldWatch Institute, 1995.
Talbot, J. Simply Build Green. Findhorn Foundation, 1994. A technical guide to the ecological village project at the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland.
Vale, B., and R. Vale. Green Architecture. Thames and Hudson, 1991.
Vale, B. & R. Vale. Building The Sustainable Environment. In Blowers, A., ed., Planning for A Sustainable Environment. Earthscan, 1993. Work from a study group linked to the Town and Country Planning Association.
Wells, M. Gentle Architecture McGraw-Hill, 1982.
EcoArchitecture: Specific Buildings
Crisp, V., et al. The BRE Low-Energy Office. BRE, 1984.
Farallones Institute. The Integral Urban House. Sierra, 1979. Description of an attempt in the 1970s to transform an inner suburban home into a more self-sufficient building
Leicester Ecology Trust. Eco House-The Guide. L.E.T., 1992.
Poole, D. Green Piece. Architects Jnl, Nov., 194/22, 1991:51-54. Refurbishment of Greenpeace offices in London.
Potts, M. The Independent Home: Living Well with Power from the Sun, Wind & Water. Chelsea Green, 1993. A number of case studies, based on interviews with pioneering spirits.
The Ark Foundation (8-10 Bourdon St., London, W1X 9HX) have produced an interesting feasibility study for the building of a greener community launderette. Ecover, manufacturers of the well-known range of environmentally friendlier cleaning products, have opened recently a new factory in Belgium, with many green features, including a meadow roof! A booklet is available. It is also worth contacting the General Hospital, Ashington in northern England: it is one of the most energy-efficient buildings of its kind in Europe. Another recently opened building, the Engineering Faculty at De Montfort University, Leicester, is another example of pioneering design and is particularly noted for large-scale passive ventilation system. The Findhorn Foundation at Forres, in northern Scotland, has also been building what it calls 'an ecological village', with buildings that use local timber materials and generally resource-efficient and free from toxic materials. Across in Holland, there is Amsterdam's Internationale Nederlanden Bank headquarters which consumes only 10% of the energy of its predecessor.
Building techniques and materials
Baines, C. Landscapes for New Housing: The Builders Manual. New Homes Marketing Board, 1993.
Fox, A., & R. Murrell. Green Design: A Guide to the Environmental Impact of Building Materials Architecture, Design & Technology Press, 1989.
FoE. Good Wood Manual FoE, 1990.
Guthrie, P. & H. Mallett. Waste Minimisation & Recycling in Construction-A Review. CIRIA, 1995(?)
Hall, K., & P. Warm. Greener Building: Products and Services Directory. Assoc. for Environment Conscious Building, 1993.
Johnston J., & J. Newton, J. Building Green: A Guide to Using Plants on Roofs, Walls & Pavements. London Ecology Unit, 1993.
London Hazards Centre. Toxic Treatments. LHC, 1989. Focus on wood preservatives.
London Hazards Centre. Sick Building Syndrome: Causes, Effects & Control. LHC, 1990.
Martlew, G., & S. Silver. The Green Home Handbook: A Guide to Safe & Healthy Living in a Toxic World. Fontana, 1991.
RMI. Resource-Efficient Housing Guide. RMI, n.d. Bibliography & guide.
Weir, F. Safe as Houses? CFCs in Buildings. FoE, 1989.
Weir, F. Towards Ozone Friendly Buildings. FoE, 1989.
See also:
Building Services Research & Information Association. Environmental Code of Practice-for Buildings and their Services. BSRIA, 1994. Result of BSRIA research project on the alleviation of the adverse environmental impacts of buildings. Obviously an important volume, albeit not with the same environmentalist perspective as those cited above.
Energy Conscious Design: a Primer. Badsford for Commission of the European Communities. A more accessible presentation
European Passive Solar Handbook: Basic Principles & Concepts Commission of the European Communities. A more technical work
Goulding, J.R., et al. Energy Conscious Design Batsford, 1992.
Leicester Environment City. Building for the Environment: An Environmental Good Practice Checklist for the Construction and Development Industries Leicester County Council, 1992.
Olivier, D. Efficient Use of Water in Buildings. Building Services, July, 12./7, 1990: 44-45
Prior, J., ed. Environmental Assessment for New Office Design. BRE, 1993.
RIBA Environmental & Energy Policy Committee. Statement on Global Warming & Ozone Depletion. RIBA, 1990.
Roaf, S., & M. Hancock. Energy Efficient Building: A Design Guide. Blackwell, 1992.
Commission of the European Communities. Solar Architecture in Europe: Design, Performance and Evaluation Prim, 1991.
Wolf, S., Architecture & Energy: Teachers' Resource Pack University College, Dublin, Energy Research Group
The Building Research Establishment, Garston, Watford, WD2 7JR produces a very detailed bookshop catalogue with lots of interesting and useful material.
Resource Conservation
The creation of a sustainable society will involve four main tasks in the field of resource use and waste disposal. Production and consumption would be brought into equilibrium with what the environment can provide as well as absorb indefinitely. Different terms have been used to describe this balance such as 'steady-state economics' or 'the materials/ energy balance principle', but the essential purpose is the same.
1. Using Less
Reducing the throughput of energy and materials depends on a combination of factors. First, the only long-term way to reduce consumption is to stabilise and then reduce the number of consumers. The best resources policies are doomed to failure if not linked to population policy. Next, we must change our lifestyles to reflect values of 'enough' instead of 'more', and of quality instead of quantity.
Then we must dismantle the economic structures and means of production which cause excessive use of resources, and create waste. This would require an increase in production efficiency, and in the life of the product through better quality and design, thus permitting maximum re-use, repair and, ultimately, recycling. Finally we must find peaceful ways of resolving our differences. Wartime destruction and the resources devoured by insatiable military programmes will cancel out everything we may otherwise achieve.
2. Relying on Renewability
We cannot easily switch from non-renewable to renewable resources. We are currently as dependent on oil as heroin addicts on their drug. The by-products of oil are used at home, at work, at play, and especially in forms of transport. What we can do, however, is to discourage the use of finite and diminishing resources in all fields except where no alternatives are possible. As far as is practicable, resources which are more abundant should be used to buy time during the transition to technologies that harness renewable solar energy, biological resources and the changed living patterns to go with them.
3. Keeping Conversions Down
The third task is to minimise energy conversions and material processing, thereby cutting 'entropic' overheads. A wholefood diet and passive solar heating are good examples.
4. Keeping local.
Finally, a conserver society requires a greater emphasis on local and regional self-reliance. Until recently 'vernacular' architecture used mainly indigenous materials avoiding wasteful transport and creating buildings of a variety and beauty that can only be envied.
Some Strategies
Ecological policies for conservation and equilibrium vary from the general to those that concern specific resources. The following discussion looks at the broad direction of policy. Taxing, true cost pricing, subsidies, regulations and public information together form the overall programme.
The first steps of any ecologically responsible government would be to review existing grants, tax allowances and other ways in which investment patterns are influenced. Those that undermine resource conservation-unnecessary 'improvements', the premature writing-off of equipment, or refurbishment to save tax-would immediately be ended. In the short term conventional government tools would have to be used. This would mean higher rates of value-added tax on resource-intensive products and correspondingly lower ones on activities that are labour-intensive, thus encouraging re-use and repair. Discounts for large users, especially of energy, would be stopped, while subsidies for energy conservation and recycling would be increased.
Upper limits for national consumption of the critical raw materials-oil, gas, and certain minerals-would have to be established. There would be an immediate general freeze at current levels, followed by a progressive reduction of the rates of consumption. A stimulating suggestion of how this could be achieved is provided by economist Herman Daly, with his idea of an annual public auction of the right to supply limited quantities of resources. Foreign imports would be subject to a similar quota system.
Maximum limits would be set on sales to individual enterprises to avoid an over-concentration of economic power in too few hands. Unused raw materials would, after a fixed time, have to be sold back to the government at the original price. Through quotas, the use of renewable resources could be contained safely within rates of natural replenishment. Technologies shown to threaten the regenerative capacity of fisheries, fields or forests would be banned.
Government support would be given to labour-intensive institutions and technologies rather than those that demand high physical and financial capital. It would end measures which penalise the employment of people and encourage mechanisation. In general, the burden of taxation would be shifted onto resource use. Performance standards, and an end to commercial secrecy about the projected lifespans of goods and components, would encourage quality and durability in products. Processes and products which frustrate re-use and repair would be penalised. Producers would be obliged to make available necessary spare parts and instructions for the repair of their products.
We need new regulations and specifications, particularly with regard to product design and component materials, to facilitate repair, reuse and recycling. Most consumer 'durables', for example, are deeply undurable and that situation will not change if the government sets higher standards. According to a study cited in Durning's How Much Is Enough, new fridges were less energy-consuming in use but did not last any longer than old models.
Policies for resource conservation would include the promotion of sharing. Instead of cutting back on public libraries, for example, we would be making them showpieces of a conserver society. VAT would be taken off building repair work to encourage the reconversion of old buildings rather than the destruction of green field sites.
Recycling would also play its part. Local authority and commercial waste disposal enterprises would have to provide the means for collecting recyclable materials separated at source, with lower charges for the customers of such a service. A necessary aspect of the programme would be to contain pollutants that contaminate otherwise recyclable materials, such as water and sewage. Government policy would deliberately make virgin resources comparatively more expensive, as an incentive to reuse, repair, recycling and the careful management of the choice of resources used in products.
In a sustainable economy, every assembly line would be paralleled by a disassembly line as products come back in for recycling. There is also a need to control the use of complex chemical compounds which hinder resource recovery or create disposal problems. Minneapolis has passed a bye-law banning the use of non-recyclable plastic packaging while Portland, Oregon, has outlawed Styrofoam products.
Where necessary, all new equipment, for example photocopiers, must be able to use recycled materials. In the USA, newspapers have to be made from a minimum percentage of recycled fibre. More generally, all business could be required to hold what Canadian writer Guy Dauncey calls an 'Environmental Operating Licence, which is only given to firms which meet certain standards of waste reduction and recycling-after all the principle is well established in the field of health and safety.
Indeed, in some cases, we might have to sacrifice some convenient aspects of a particular item but the gains of greater sustainability will outweigh any losses. In the case of paper recycling, the costs of pollution from chemicals used to give the original paper unnecessary variations in colour or surface quality outweighs any aesthetic value. Standardisation and simplification will often be necessary. Contrary to the traditional goals of the consumer rights movement, moves to a conserver society will set limits to consumer choice since many of today's products will no longer be on the shelves.
Mandatory deposit schemes can be used on many items, from paint cans to cameras. Fees could vary with the rate of return achieved. 'Litter' charges levied on products such as plastic wrappings that generate extensive cleanups would stimulate a shift to greater recycling as well. Similarly, landfill charges could be made very expensive. All supermarkets could be required to offer non-wrapped bulk purchase facilities. There are many other possibilities. Shops could be required to accept back packaging and return them to the manufacturer for recycling (as is the case in Germany). The electronics giant Philips has been opening collection depots for used electronic goods. Often it might be necessary to specify that only recycled materials can be used in certain products.
Co-ordinated local and national government action is necessary to make it easy to recycle things. This is the only way to create a dense network of drop-off points. Guy Dauncey has suggested that Councils could also set up 'Community Resource Exchanges', with free listings of materials people have to sell or give away, linked to depots not only collecting waste and scrap building materials but also reselling it very cheaply.
All the evidence points to the depressing fact that most people do not bother unless recycling is made simple, easy and, perhaps, compulsory. However, if steady markets are not created, we will not escape the boom/slump cycle that disrupts many recycling activities at present. In the UK some £50 million worth of recyclable material is wasted for lack of a market. Certainly, public bodies should be required to use recycled products as much as possible.
Milk deliveries provide a simple illustration of what an integrated 'conserver' economy might be like. On present trends, even without possible EC bans on milk rounds, we may well end up buying most of our milk in cartons and plastic bottles from supermarkets. With considerable effort, some of those containers might get recycled. It would be far better, however, to conserve the traditional milk round. The glass bottles are much more likely to be collected and reused, instead of being smashed up and reconstituted via bottle banks. Furthermore, the system provides a free neighbourhood watch, particularly valuable for keeping an eye on senior citizens living by themselves. If the milk floats were powered by solar electric sources, it would not be a bad prototype for an ecological economy!
The use of taxation and regulation is only necessary because our culture is what ecologist Garrett Hardin called a 'squanderarchy'. The writer Karen Christensen once compared its habits to the phenomenon of binge eating. People first gorge themselves on shopping sprees which are followed by clear-outs to the dustbin to make way for the next round of novelties and new fashions. Of course, advertising plays its part in persuading people to be unhappy with what they've got. The wings of the persuasion industry must be clipped.
However, the problem goes deeper. After neither manufacturers nor advertising agencies can be blamed for the fact that the average household fails to recycle so much of its waste even when facilities are to hand. This suggests that the real task is an educational one. However, today's education system only scratches at the surface of what must be done to change our ways.
In a conserver society, people would have been educated so that modest consumption and maximum recycling were as 'natural' as personal hygiene. An aesthetic and ethic of old is beautiful' would shape perceptions. Such a society would be truly materialistic since it would avoid waste at every opportunity.
A Department of Resource Conservation would be a necessary agency to look after the measures that require government action. It would, for example, plan how much of a particular mineral was needed in a given year, while a Department of Land Use Planning would determine the best sites for extraction. A Department of Environment Protection and of Health could ensure this was done in ways which had the least impact on place and people.
Blumberg, L. & R. Gottlieb. War on Waste. Island Pr., 1994.
Carless, J. Taking Out the Trash. Island Pr., 1992.
FoE. The True Costs of Domestic Waste. FoE, 1989.
FoE. The Recycling Officer's Handbook. FoE, 1991.
Gandy, M. Recycling & The Politics of Urban Waste. Earthscan, 1993.
Irvine, S. Recycle: Not If You Can Help It? Real World, 2, Autumn, 1992: 4-6. Argues the case that demand reduction, followed by reuse and repair, must proceed the recycling option.
Kharbanda, O.P., & E.A. Stallworthy. Waste Management: Towards a Sustainable Society. Gower, 1990. A useful overview of the issues, not just waste treatment and disposal.
Young, J. Discarding the Throwaway Society. WorldWatch Institute, 1991.
Pollution Control & Safe Disposal
Pollution problems are intrinsic to the very process of energy and matter conversion. Technological pollution control simply cannot make pollutants 'go away'. All such devices can do is transform wastes, by changing them from one form, time, or place to another in the hope that they thereby generate less human or environmental damage.
Often there are resource costs necessary to accomplish these tasks, usually of more energy inputs into the process and sometimes of specific raw materials (e.g. limestone for desulphurisation). The manufacture of pollution control gadgetry also consumes resources and generates its own pollutants. It has been suggested, for example, that the making of catalytic converters for exhausts creates more pollution than their usage saves. Similarly, the incineration of hazardous substances has turned out to be a serious hazard in its own right.
The only way to stop these assaults on ourselves and our environment is to generate less pollution. Since so much pollution is inevitable, given the passage of energy and materials through the economy, we will only reduce it by lowering the quantities of resources we use. Schemes for depletion quotas, and raw material taxes on energy and other resources, are the best way to do this. In some circumstances, such as the use of nitrogen fertilisers, limits would have to be set by physical quotas. The reduction of resource 'inputs' into the economy obviously depends as well upon population control and the promotion of more frugal technologies.
Some forms of pollution are, however, so toxic in quality (some heavy metals, for example) or so devastating in impact (such as chlorofluorocarbons on the ozone layer) that they require direct regulations on their use and disposal, enforced by independent and well-staffed agencies. The list of substances and processes deserving an immediate ban, such as DDT, the open incineration of hazardous chemicals, non-biodegradable plastic packaging, phosphate-containing detergents, would fill many pages. A number of them have been or are about to be banned in some parts of the world.
Recent measures in California (the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act) to force manufacturers to make public the chemicals they use is an example to be followed and expanded. In the case of nuclear facilities, the only answer is to ban the entire industry. For all their limitations, many recycling programmes are worthy of encouragement, both to conserve resources and to limit pollution (see below for further discussion). So too are some 'technofixes' such as fluidised bed combustion as a measure against air pollution.
A particular focus on pollution issues should be the work place, where progress over occupational health and safety would pay dividends for workers, the general public and the environment. Three rights are important-the right to know relevant information, the right to participate in proper consultation and negotiation, and the right to refuse to work in hazardous conditions.
The breaking of health and safety regulations in the workplace and anti-pollution laws outside must be treated as crimes against society, which outrank many other offences now punished by harsh fines and imprisonment. Recent cases in the USA, in which criminal charges relating to pollution incidents have been brought against individuals within companies, point one way forward. Though government agencies could and should bring such actions, individuals and groups must be similarly empowered to challenge activities which threaten either themselves or society as a whole-as well as other species and environmental systems (which can hardly take legal action themselves!)
Connett, P. E. Municipal Waste Incineration: Wrong Question, Wrong Answer. The Ecologist, 24(1), 1994: 14-20.
Denison, R. & J. Ruston. Recycling & Incineration: Evaluating the Choices. Island Pr., 1990.
Department of Trade & Industry. Cutting Your Losses-A Further Guide to Waste Minimisation for Business. DTI, 1992.
Kenworthy, L., & E. Schaeffer. Citizen's Guide To Promoting Toxic Waste Reduction. Island Pr., 1990.
Mazmanian, D. & D. Morell. Beyond Superfailure: America's Toxic Policy for the 1990s. Westview Pr., 1992.
Postel, S. Defusing the Toxics Threat: Controlling Pesticides & Industrial Waste. Worldwatch Institute, 1989.
Ryder, R. 'Sustainable' Incineration and Death by Dioxin. The Ecologist, 27(4), 1997: 135-136.
Specific Issues in Recycling
In a society built on mountains of waste, it is quite understandable why many people have campaigned for more recycling. FoE, for example, really established itself with its campaign in the early 1970s against Schweppes and non-returnable bottles ('Don't Let Them Shhh...Over Britain). A lot has changed since then. Where once there was a rare visit from local environmentalists or the scouts to raise funds by collecting old newspapers for recycling, it is now quite common to find bottle banks and the like parked outside supermarkets. Local authorities have been required to complete plans to increase recycling rates; the European Commission is making moves in the same direction.
Certainly there is a great deal still to be done. Globally, some 66% of all aluminium and 75% of all steel and paper is simply dumped on the environment. In Britain, less than 5% of domestic waste is currently recycled. In the case of plastic wastes, only 10% is reclaimed while 20% is burned and the rest pollutes landfill sites. Britain dumps some 2.5 million disposable nappies each year. The packaging industry consumes some 5% of the country's energy supply. In the USA, there are even videocassettes designed to be thrown away after 5 to 10 playings. According to research done by FoE, however, only a third of local authorities seem set to reach the government's modest target of recycling 25% of household waste by the end of the decade and nearly 60% of councils failed to submit plans on time.
In any case, household waste represents only 4% of British solid waste and the government has set neither reduction nor recycling targets for other sources. Though it certainly seems desirable that the scope and scale of recycling is extended, there are good reasons why it should be seen as only the final resort in a package of measures. There is a real danger that recycling initiatives can be used to evade even more urgent action elsewhere, at earlier stages in the production-consumption pipeline.
The basic laws of energy and matter, in particular 'entropy', dictate that energy resources can never be recycled. Nobody has burned coal and relit a fire from yesterday's ashes. At best, we can use the waste heat from energy conversion in district heating schemes next to power stations instead of releasing it into surrounding air and waterways. By contrast, of course, matter can be recycled.
Yet material usage must lead to some material dissipation. At every stage in the usage of a raw material, some of it is effectively lost for further use. Furthermore, collecting, transporting, separating and processing used materials takes time and inputs of yet more resources. Some people get so enthusiastic about recycled paper, for example, that it might be forgotten that trees still have be cut down in the first place to keep up with society's boundless appetite for paper. It is also important to take into account the total impacts and costs of a product's life cycle. The biggest point of input is not waste disposal but mining and processing to create the fuels and raw materials in the first place, hence the need to cut down 'inputs' before we worry about recycling 'outputs'. 'Recyclable' products can still be highly undesirable.
Supermarkets, for example, defend the phasing out of returnable glass bottles by pointing to the potential recyclability of the plastic PET replacements. Even if this theoretical possibility were to become a large-scale actuality, it would not alter the fact that its original raw material is a finite resource of very limited future supply. Nor is this its only limitation. It is extracted increasingly from sources of great ecological vulnerability (e.g. the Alaskan shelf) and/or political instability (e.g. the Gulf); prone to drastic accidents in its extraction and transportation (e.g. Exxon Valdez); and manufactured in equally polluting and hazardous petrochemical plants.
Indeed there is serious pollution around some recycling plants. The American paper Fifth Estate has reported, for example, that the big Fort Howard Paper Company plant in Wisconsin is the source of serious discharges of PCBs, dioxins, chlorinated organics, heavy metals and phosphorus into local waters, through its products bear the attractive label 'recycled' once on sale in the shops.
More generally, in a growing economy, more recycling would mean more factories, more machinery, more energy generation, more road transport, more giant mechanised sorting centres etc. Furthermore, it is a waste of time and resources to recycle goods whose use is either unnecessary, divisive or harmful. German car manufacturers, for example, are boasting about the fact that their big, fast, luxury limousines are designed to be recycled. What we need, however, is fewer cars on the road.
There is also a danger in the development of technologically sophisticated recycling projects. They may boost recycling rates. However, they bypass the fundamental problem of getting citizens to take responsibility for the wastes they create. It is also important to stress that waste incineration, even for power generation, is not a form of recycling as some councils claim. Not only does it potentially generate dangerous air pollutants it also requires a steady stream of fuel and therefore discourages proper recycling (and, more importantly, reuse). Less obviously, they are also net losers of energy.
As Fifth Estate put it, in an expanding economy, recycling is a bit like a juggler trying to keep more and more balls in the air. According to Jeremy Rifkin, optimistically assuming only a doubling of the world's present population, it would take 200 times the present output of many minerals to give everyone the present American standard of living. As Richard Gilbert of the Canadian Federal Task Force on Packaging puts it, "recycling is just reinforcing the throwaway society" (quoted by David Suzuki and Anita Gordon, It's A Matter Of Survival)
The simple fact of the matter is that technological recycling cannot underwrite our present economic system. It only makes sense as part of a switch to an economy in equilibrium with the Earth's capacities, rhythms and tolerances.
Bashford, D. Strategic Implications for Increasing the Recycling of Electrical & Electronic Products. Greener Management International, 9, 1995: 62-72.
Bell, J. The Mixed Bag. Environment News, July/Aug., 1992: 14-17. Reuse of plastic milk bottles in USA.
Berkeley Ecology Centre. The Seven Myths of 'Recycled' Plastic. Earth Island, Fall, 1996: 26.
Chaplin, S.W. The Return of Refillable Bottles. Resource Recycling, March, 1991: 131-138.
Hay, A., and G. Wright. Once is not Enough. FoE, 1989.
Henstock, M. Design for Recyclability. Institute of Metals, 1988. Focuses on the recovery of materials from industrial waste streams
Hoering, V. The Rise & Fall of the Green Dot. Down to Earth, 15/4/94: 30-33. Recycling hiccups in Germany.
McHarry, J. Reuse, Repair Recycle. Gaia Books, 1994
Outerbridge, T. The Big Backyard: Composting Strategies in New York City. The Ecologist, 24(3), 1994: 106-109.
Pollock, C. Mining Urban Wastes: The Potential for Recycling. WorldWatch Institute, 1989.
Young, J. The Sudden New Strength of Recycling. World Watch, 8(4), 1995: 20-25. American developments.
Packaging & Reduction of Packaging Waste
Ryan, M. Packaging a Revolution. Worldwatch, 6(5), 1993: 28-34. Focus on Germany's attempts to cut packaging waste.
Sewage Disposal
Dindal, D. Life in a Compost Pile. Paper to Rodale Waste Recycling Coinference, 1976. Other details not known.
Harper, P. Fertile Waste: Managing Your Domestic Sewage. CAT, 1994.
Leich, H. The Sewerless Society. Bull. Atom. Scientists, Nov., 1975: pp not known.
Riley, P.J. & D.S. Warren. Money Down the Drain: A Rational approach to Sewage. The Ecologist, 10(100, 1980: 342-345
(Though the Guide's author freely admits the limits to his research, this topic would seem to be the one in which there is the greatest gap betwen the inherent importance of the issue and the paucity of treatment it seems to have received in general 'green' literature. One source he came across years ago, entitled appropriately The Toilet Papers by, I think, Syn Van Der Ryn of California, has gone missing.)
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