ABSTRACT

We are part of a complicated biosphere: a thin layer of air, soil, ocean and life surrounding a small planet (Smil 2003). The food we eat, the water, and other things, we drink, the clothes we wear, the buildings we live in, the cars we drive, and yes, the sewage we flush away each day, are all essential to human life, and as such, matters that concern how we organise our lives and how we interact with each other. In other words they are very much a matter of politics even if they are frequently not thought about in quite this way.