10 / Basics of Environmental Science
This is not to denigrate those who use the word ‘ecology’ in one sense or the other, simply to point
out that the meanings are distinct and our attitudes to the environment are shaped by historical,
social, and economic forces. They are not derived wholly from a scientific description of the
environment or understanding of how it works. The nuclear power industry, for example, is opposed
on ecological grounds, but there is no evidence that it has ever caused the slightest injury to non-
humans, apart from vegetation around the Chernobyl complex following the accident there, and its
adverse effects on human health are extremely small, especially when compared with those resulting
from other methods of power generation; indeed, it is extremely unlikely that the correct routine
operation of a nuclear power plant has any harmful effect at all, on humans or non-humans.^2 The
anti-nuclear wing of the environmental movement is highly influential and has done much to erode
public confidence in the industry, but whether this is environmentally beneficial is open to debate, to
say the least. In contrast, on those occasions when scientists and campaigners collaborate, say in
devising (scientifically) the best way to manage an area in order to maximize its value as natural
habitat then campaigning (politically) to have the area protected from inappropriate development,
they can achieve their useful and practicable goal. While it is certainly true that some ecological (i.e.
environmentalist) campaigns owe little to ecology (the science), others, though not necessarily the
most populist, are scientifically well informed. It is also true that if we confine our interest to the
acquisition of an abstract understanding of the way the world is, that understanding will be of limited
practical value. If damage to the environment is to be avoided or past damage remedied, scientific
understanding must be applied and this is possible only through political processes.
This book will introduce you to the environmental sciences, of which ecology is one and, therefore,
the word ‘ecology’ will henceforth be used only in its scientific sense. When issues of concern to
environmentalists are discussed, as obviously they must be, they will be evaluated scientifically
rather than politically. If your knowledge of environmental matters until now has been derived
principally from campaigning literature, you may find the scientific accounts describe a world that is
far more complex than you may have supposed and about which rather less is known than the
campaigners sometimes imply. You should not be disheartened, for that is the way it is, and much
remains to be discovered—perhaps one day, by you.
4. History of environmental science
By the time their civilization reached its peak in the Fifth Dynasty (after about 2480 BC) the ancient
Egyptians seem to have become happy people. According to accounts described by the late Joseph
Campbell (CAMPBELL, 1962), a leading authority on the ways people have seen themselves and
the world around them, they had a joyful, outward-looking view of the world around them. True,
they were somewhat preoccupied with the after-life, but that was seen pretty much as a continuation
of their present lives and was celebrated in some of the most beautiful art and magnificent architecture
the world has ever seen. Their pharaoh was described as ‘good’ rather than ‘great’ and the land he
ruled was paradise, mythologically and to some extent literally. Life was very predictable and secure.
Each year, the appearance of Sirius, the star of Isis, on the horizon at dawn heralded the flooding of
the Nile. The reliable flood brought water and silt to enrich the cultivated land and guarantee the
bountiful harvest that would follow. No doubt the work was hard, as it always is, but there was ample
time for festivals and celebrations.
The Egyptians did not develop what we would recognize as science. Their view of the world was
mythological and magical. Nevertheless, they did have a view of the world and a practical knowledge
of those aspects of it that mattered to them. They knew much about agriculture, plants and animals,