Description

Whether it is global warming or industrial pollution, the spread of deserts or the extinction of species, everyone knows we are facing massive environmental problems. The complex questions of what science, technology, and human imagination can do to reverse damaging trends need to be explored. The articles in this volume, originally presented as a lecture series by Oxford University's Linacre College, bring together diverse viewpoints and areas of expertise. Among the authors are Michael Heseltine, the U.K.'s former Secretary of State for the Environment, James Lovelock, author of the famed "Gaia" hypothesis, Ghillean Prance, Director of the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, and John Phillipson, Chairman of the Royal Society for Nature Conservation. Their observations emphasize the potential for positive corrective action and the key role demanded of the applied sciences, particularly in the identification and accurate quantification of problem areas. Anyone interested in a sober assessment of environmental issues--so often distorted and sensationalized in the popular media--will appreciate the views set forth in this authoritative book.