ABSTRACT
The environmental problem, the issue of "ecology," which earlier had been the interest of a few scientists, became a broad-based issue of the quality of life, even of the continued existence of life. Surely the environmental issue is a preeminent example of Thomas Schelling's model of individual choices and collective results. Thus Commoner observes that the environmental crisis is blamed on everything from rising population to affluence to "man's innate aggressiveness" to religion to technology to capitalism. Environmental degradation largely results from the introduction of new industrial and agricultural production technologies. Confronted by decisions on nuclear power, radiation, nitrate levels, photochemical smog, bacterial warfare, and all the other technicalities of environmental problems, it is tempting to call in the scientific expert. There is also a close relationship between environmental issues and poverty. A classic illustration is provided by the events at Hilton Head, South Carolina.
