Environmental Dilemmas

This text is by people - most of them scientists - who have had to make environmental decisions. Despite popular rhetoric, our environment is not simply a jewel to be cossetted nor a resource to be plundered; it is something to be managed responsibly for everyone's sake. The authors of the case- studies in this collection set out the factors that they have had to consider in devising actions which will affect the environment. The book is not a description of decision-making theory (only one of the authors is a professional philosopher), nor is it an apology for cynical pragmatism; it is an account of the factors that had to be weighed in making decisions about the air we breath, about energy sources, land use, animal welfare, commercial profit and so on. The authors are all committed environmentalists who have had to translate their principles into practice. They tell of the practical problems of maintaining their principles whilst producing answers to real problems. This is a book for managers, historians, sociologists, but above all for environmental scientists forced to make decisions on imperfect or incomplete evidence. This book should be of interest to ecologists, environmental scientists/planners and managers, conservationists and philosophers interested in environmental ethics.