ABSTRACT
The environmentalist case is still largely 'reactive', and confined largely to the negative consequences of current policies: areas in which human behaviour jeopardises our resource base. The emphasis in the Green case is placed on our responsibilities to the environment and, in a broader sense, the species. However, it has been suggested that the role of consumption in the way we construct environmental problems, and the margins within which we deal with them, is still inadequately recognised. This chapter examines the policies which lie behind present levels of consumption.
