Green Ambivalence about Science

Abstract

For its twenty-first ‘birthday’ in 1992, Friends of the Earth (FoE) (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) published a celebratory booklet. With a large supporter base, regular coverage in influential media, strong campaign teams and widespread recognition of its name, the organisation had a lot to celebrate. Yet the item chosen to begin this celebratory publication, immediately after the contents page, was a quote from a leading environmental journalist praising the group as a ‘reliable and indispensable source of information’; this was followed by a comment from the head of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Pollution (the forerunner to the UK’s Environment Agency) praising the quality of its ‘technical dialogue’ (1992, 2). Of all the items which could have been chosen to feature on the second page, this selection was surprising and telling.