ABSTRACT
The Earth Summit was the pinnacle of environmental politics; the culmination of centuries of debate about pollution and habitat destruction. Central to the implementation of effective policies to reduce and prevent pollution has been the development of the modern conservation movement, the non-governmental organizations, or as jargon has it, non-governmental organizations. Greenpeace initially highlighted marine pollution and toxic industrial waste while Friends of the Earth took on pesticides and freshwater pollution. The policy of building high stacks to disperse air pollution from coal-fired power stations had been adopted in the 1960s, but merely resulted in increased acid rain in neighbouring European countries. The problem of pollution cannot be treated in isolation from the generalized environmental crisis. Central to a world in which personal commitment to change can help achieve concrete improvements in quality of life and reduce pollution will be political, economic and technological change.
