Ecology & Environ Mgmt

Roger Park

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780429728082
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The aim of the present volume is to review the effects of human activity on physical environment processes, and this is justified not only as a complement to the approach taken by G. P. Marsh his volume Man and Nature (1864), but also as a sequel to the work produced since 1864, with contributions since the mid-nineteenth century to the study of th

1
The Environment — Problems and Perspectives

Geographers will surely not be happy in their work unless they can see some relation in its purpose to the current goals of human endeavour, and can relate its practice in some ways to the needs of the times (Linton, 1957).

Linton's plea for relevance of geographical endeavour anticipated the broadening of geographical horizons consequent upon the rise of interest in the past decade in the environment, its problems and its prospects. Geographers are becoming increasingly involved in all aspects of environmental management. Most of their attention has to date been focused on institutional, economic, perceptional and landscape aspects of environmental management, and ecological aspects have received less than their fair share of attention. The following chapters seek to clarify the ecological principles of relevance to environmental management, in so far as they are of concern and interest to the geographer. Before considering these principles, it is perhaps appropriate to reflect on the nature of the 'environmental crisis', and to explore some perspectives on the man/ environment relationship. The nature of ecological and geographical interest in environmental problems also merits consideration in this chapter.

1.1 The Environmental Crisis

There has been a marked growth of interest within the last decade in the quality of the environment, the disruption of the earth's natural ecosystems and the depletion of resources. Pollution, ecology and environment have been projected from the cloistered world of science into the forefront of public debate, and all aspects of man's use of his environment have been widely discussed with passionate interest. The speed and nature of environmental change (particularly man-induced change) in recent years have brought about a series of environmental problems of global magnitude – including population expansion, energy resources and utilization, the provision of food supplies, exploitation of raw materials, and environmental pollution. So drastic and quick have been the changes that Dasmann has perceived that 'the human race is like an ape with a hand-grenade. Nobody can say when he will pull the pin' (Dasmann, 1976).

There is no doubt that an emotional peak in public concern about the environment has been reached during the 1970s; 1971 was designated European Conservation Year and 1972 saw the important Stockholm conference on the environment. However, Abelson (1971) has predicted that public interest in the environment will not be sustained for a long period of time because of reduced coverage of environmental issues by the press, a growing recognition that environmental improvement is very costly and a long-term investment (of time, money and resources), and an awakening to the fact that much information used as ammunition in the environmental debate might be erroneous. Downs (1972) has considered the changes in public interest through time in closer detail, and he has formulated a five-stage 'Issue Attention Cycle', diagnostic of most public issues including pollution and environmental quality. Stage one is a 'Pre-problem Stage', where the issue has not yet captured the public attention although certain experts and interest groups may be alarmed. Stage two is characterized by 'Alarmed Discovery and Euphoric Enthusiasm', when the issue is at the forefront of public attention, and the public respond by their enthusiasm to 'solve the problem' readily and with few long-term repercussions. In stage three comes a realization of the cost of significant progress, and an awareness that technological development is not always the best solution to problems. Stage four often witnesses a gradual decline of intense public interest, when more and more people realize how difficult and costly (to themselves as well as in general) the solution would be; and this is followed by stage five, a 'Post-problem Stage', when the issue moves into a 'prolonged limbo - a twilight realm of lesser attention or spasmodic recurrences of interest' (Downs, 1972). Within this framework Downs is of the opinion that public interest in environmental quality is now about mid-way through the cycle - suggesting that in the future attention will diminish as other issues of social, economic or ideological significance enter the limelight of public concern.

One symptom of this growing concern for environmental quality has been a recent explosion of interest in ecology and environment, although the history of interest in conservation can be traced at least as far back as the 1850s. Thoreau's widely acclaimed Wolden, or Life in the Woods (Thoreau, 1960) is an early expression of concern for all aspects of wild nature and wild environments; and Thoreau earnestly demanded that attention always be given first to the 'Laws of Nature' when there arises any conflict between nature and human society. Soon afterwards, in 1864, George Perkins Marsh published Man and Nature; or Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action, which was an examination of 'only the greater, more permanent, and more comprehensive mutations which man has produced, and is producing in earth, sea and sky; sometimes, indeed, with conscious purpose, but for the most part as unforseen though natural consequences of acts performed for narrower and more immediate ends' (Marsh, 1864, p. 19). Within the first half of the present century a number of important books have appeared, including Sherlock's (1922) Man as a Geological Agent, which evaluated how the soils and scenery of Britain have been transformed by human interference over a long period of time; and Tansley's (1949) The British Isles and their Vegetation which documented many changes in the natural countryside which can be attributed to man's influence. More recently Thomas's (1956) Man's Role in Changing the Face of the Earth provided a valuable compilation of man-induced landscape changes, and it stands as a landmark in the study of man/environment relationships. Within the last two decades there have appeared a number of geographical (e.g. Simmons, 1974) and ecological (e.g. Edington and Edington, 1977) books which focus on man's use and abuse of the environment.

What has recently been referred to as the 'Environmental Crisis' has commanded much attention, and it has been the subject of a number of recent books, some of which are listed in Table 1.1. Widely acclaimed 'state of the subject' reports have been offered in the Blueprint for Survival (Ecologist, 1972), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Study of Critical Environmental Problems (MIT, 1970), and Ward and Dubos' Only One Earth (1972), commissioned by the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972.

Table 1.1 SOME RECENT BOOKS ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS

Author	Title	Date
Arvill	Man and Environment - Crisis and the Strategy of choice	1967
Berrill	Inherit the Earth - the story of man and his changing planet	1967
Calder	The Environment Game	1967
Nicholson	The Environmental Revolution - a guide for the new masters of the world	1969
Barr	The Environmental Handbook - Action Guide for the U.K.	1971
Ehrlich and Harriman	How to be a Survivor - a plan to Save Spaceship Earth	1971
Klotz	Ecology Crisis - God's Creation and Man's Pollution	1972
Sears	Where there is life	1972
Dasmann	The Conservation Alternative	1975
Harvey and Hallett	Environment and Society - an introductory analysis	1977

1.1a The nature of environmental problems

A compilation of all of the environmental changes which have occurred in recent years, and which have inspired identification of the 'Environmental Crisis' would be lengthy and beyond the scope of this book, so it will suffice here to identify general environmental changes and specifically ecological ones. The former would include various forms of pollution, the depletion of natural resources and an increasing reliance on energy-consuming and ecologically-damaging technologies (Clayton, 1971; Simmons and Simmons, 1973); whereas the latter would include the reduction and loss of ecological populations from toxic pesticides (see Chapter 7), the loss of habitat related to industrial, urban and agricultural expansion (see Chapter 6), and the loss of genetic variety related to mono-culture practices and habitat removal (see Chapter 4). Poelmans-Kirschen (1974) has summarized the most important issues central to the present environmental crisis:

accelerated growth of production potential within the last 25 years,

accelerated pace of scientific and technological discovery,

an exponential increase in population,

a standard of living high enough in some countries for a campaign for a better environment to be included amongst planning priorities,

a progress in those sciences (like ecology) which offer a 'macro-view' of phenomena, and

a basic and recurrent questioning of the goals of the 'consumer society'.

The Blueprint for Survival (Ecologist, 1972) has offered the thesis that indefinite growth cannot be sustained by finite resources, and this suggests a basic formula for environmental problems which could be of the form:

(increased population)+(increased per capita consumption)=environmental impact.

This form of relationship provides a valuable frame of reference if some means could be found of measuring the impact. The MIT Study of Critical Environmental Problems (1970) focused on the notion of an 'Ecological Demand' variable, defined as 'a summation of all man's demands on the environment, such as the extraction of resources and the return of wastes' (MIT, 1970). The most convenient measure of the demand appears to be Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is the population size multiplied by a measure of the material standard of living of that population. The MIT study showed that global GDP levels are increasing on average at a rate of between 5 and 6 per cent per year (that is, they are doubling every 13-5 years on average), and so the environmental impact on the earth of finite size, with finite resources, is becoming increasingly acute.

Inevitably there are marked spatial variations in Ecological Demand, which relate to variations in population sizes and densities, and in per capita consumption. One study which has identified such spatial variations was reported by Ackerman (1959), who identified five types of population/resource regions on the basis of level of technology, population density and availability of resources:

TYPE 1 Technology-source areas of low population-potential/resource ratio (the 'United States Type').

TYPE 2 Technology-source areas of high population/resource ratio (the 'European Type').

TYPE 3 Technology-deficient areas of low population/resource ratio (the 'Brazil Type').

TYPE 4 Technology-deficient areas of high population/resource ratio (the 'China Type' of Ackerman, but up-dated by Zelinsky (1966) to be termed the 'Egyptian Type').

TYPE 5 Areas which are technology-deficient and possess few food-producing resources (the 'Arctic-Desert Type').

Equally inevitably there are marked temporal variations in Ecological Demand, and these stem from population changes (in size and distribution), from technological advances, and from changing social and economic values through time. The nature of environmental problems has changed radically in recent years, and Malone (1976) has rationalized the many changes into four basic themes. First, new hazards are to a far greater extent than before a side -effect of human activity. Second, the level of uncertainty in relating causes to effects is much greater than before, because of increasing awareness of the complexities of natural systems (see Chapters 2 and 3). Third, accumulating evidence is showing that the cumulative effects of small impacts over long periods of time may reach significant levels before these are detected or realized. Fourth, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the cumulative...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Dedication
• 1 The Environment – Problems and Prospects
• 2 The Biosphere – Global Ecological Systems Analysis
• 3 The Ecosystem as the Fundamental Ecological Unit
• 4 Ecological Changes Through Time
• 5 Ecological Changes in Space
• 6 Ecological Resources
• 7 Pollution
• 8 The Ecological Basis of Environmental Management
• Bibliography
• Index