ABSTRACT

The transformation from conservation to environmentalism unleashed at mid-century has caused a transformation in environmental politics. This fundamental change in the environmental agenda has, as one might expect, generated an explosion of new issues and new interests. Rachel Carson's Silent Spring gave birth to what we now regard as the environmental movement and, with it, modern environmental politics. This chapter provides an overview of this book. The goal of the book is to sharpen the reader's awareness of the components and forces operating in environmental politics not only to understand why and how we as a society address the problems we do, but also to empower that reader to actively take part in making those politics serve both personal and socially desirable ends. It examines how the role of the media in environmental politics has evolved and how it has affected public policy. The book takes up newly enlisted participant in the environmental wars - the scientific community.