ABSTRACT
The rise of ‘the environment’ as a social and cultural phenomenon was a striking feature of the 1970s and 1980s around the world. And if now, in 1993, it has begun to lose its sheen as the focus of an emergent social movement, that development too is a reflection of how widely its forms and perspectives have begun to penetrate into the common consciousness. Rhetorically at least, the problems of global climatic change, of waste and the motor car, of ozone holes and endangered species are now elements of the shared vocabulary in cultures like the UK’s. Communiqués on common environmental aspirations have become almost routine in the currency of summit gatherings of world leaders. We have entered an era in which not only marginal social groups but also political parties, industrialists, religious leaders, scientists of all descriptions, even the legal and accountancy professions, all seek to reflect a sensitivity to ‘environmental’ priorities, whatever the other commitments they may aver.
