ABSTRACT
This collection of essays was stimulated by a reawakening of public anxiety about environmental dangers. The global issues of climate change, ozone depletion, deforestation and world food crisis orchestrated this anxiety. But for many individual citizens environmental concern was consolidated through personal experiences of air pollution, congestion and powerlessness in the face of unwelcome ‘development’, climatic anomalies and dietary worries. All appear at times to be global symbols. The gap between ‘lay’ perceptions of environmental crisis and official scientific, technical and policy discourses is, of course, one area for sociological exploration. Another quite commonly recognized area concerns the social, cultural and economic impacts of ecological change: what will be the effects of climate change on agricultural activity and on the economic status or political stability of the areas affected? What balance of costs and risks are incurred by alternative responses to the likelihood of lowland flooding?
