ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the emergence and development of a rural environmental paradigm and examines its consequences for rural Europe by focusing on three thrusts of change. Three thrusts are the environment posed by technological advances and the crisis of agricultural production; the growing commodification of the rural environment as a key element in social consumption and finally the evolving position of rural areas as a focal point in the institutional and social processes of environmentalization and greening. The environmental impact of contemporary agricultural activities forms the major part of the chapter due to the primordial place farming sector has in popular definitions and representations of the European rural environment. The chapter examines the consumption of rural environments and its implications for broader process of rural restructuring by three specific items: the protectionism afforded to national parks; the environmental consequences of residential expansion and the implications of rural tourism. It also examines a number of individual elements of the greening process.
