Towards a Better Environment: The Role of the Scientist

Abstract

In the pre- ";ecoflap"; period it was already clear to many people that accelerating population increases, accelerating resource depletion and accelerating pollution of earth, air and water must inevitably lead to a global crisis. Post ";ecoflap"; there can be few people in the developed world who are unaware of the environmental disasters which have already occurred and are likely to occur with increasing frequency but there are still surprisingly few critically constructive attitudes to environmental problem solving and in fact there is little appreciation of the range of areas of study which should be regarded as environmental. Thus the term ";environment"; is commonly understood to refer to the larger features of the natural and man-made world whereas we shouId recognise that every detail of the environment adds to or detracts from its quality and in order to emphasise this point with special reference to the role <?f the designer, Bernard Aylward (1) has noted that literally - although minimally - a pencil placed on a table in a room alters the environment for those within that room. Once due cognizance of the wide range and wide scale of environmental problems has been given it becomes possible to appreciate the need for co-operation of people with expertise in science, technology, sociology, law and design for resolution of existing environmental problems and prevention of anticipated environmental crises (2).