Towards Sustainability — The Environment

Abstract

The word ‘environment’ is usually used in a subjective as well as objective sense to refer to the quality of the air, the water, countryside, soil, sea and animal life around us. This quality is heavily influenced by the size of population and its density. This, together with income per head, determines the other major factor influencing the quality of the environment, that is energy use. These three forces, population size, population density and energy use tend to predetermine the nature and scale of environmental problems. These difficulties can, of course, be alleviated or aggravated by European Union policy. Some people allege that the Common Agricultural Policy has been responsible for considerable ecological damage with its stimulation of arable farming and the ‘excessive’ use of fertiliser and pesticides.