Dictionary of the environment

96 the example of the two volcanoes with well-documented historical records. Vesuvius buried Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 and, until 1139, seven more eruptions were recorded. In 1631 Vesuvius claimed 3000 victims; in 1794 the village Torre del Greco was obliterated. Lesser eruptions were recorded in 1871, 1900, 1903 and 1904, and a major one in 1906. During antiquity, 135 eruptions of Etna have been recorded. The eruptions of 1329, 1381 and 1669 were cataclysmic: the last one devastated Catania. In the forties and the fifties of the present century, several more outbreaks have been recorded. Energetically, any one of these major volcanic manifestations was in the megaton range. Therefore the hazards of living on the slopes of such mountains is n o t merely presumed. It is historically recorded and the actuarial risk can be c o m p u t e d with ease: every fifth or tenth generation living within a given radius of the mountain has been compelled to flee a lava flow, or avoid a suffocating cloud or rain of lapilli and cinders -- provided that they had time for the flight. Nevertheless, the historical record shows that they, or their successors, always returned and continued to face the risk. Why? Mainly because the volcanic soil is so fertile. It seems that to cultivate Lacrimae Christi was worth the risk. Even when man attempts to make the most devastating weapons, his efforts remain a mere pinprick when compared to eruptions such as Mauna Loa or Agung. But p o w e r plants are n o t meant to be explosive and, unlike v o l c a n o e s are protected by the best security devices y e t invented. Mathematically, their accident risk is several orders of magnitude less than that shown by the historical record of some densely populated volcanic regions. Volcanic soil pays off with tasty wine or sumptuous fruit, and thus enhances well-being. But our sophisticated civilization thrives on energy, and n o t wine and fruit only. Is energy production n o t worth the free acceptance of a shade of risk?

Brd tigny (France)

Michel Benarie

Dictionary of the Environment, by M. Allaby, PAPERMAC series of The Macmillan Press London, 1979, 525 pp. Price: £4.95. Check y o u r vocabulary: 1. allele, 2. antitripitc, 3. catarobic, 4. chaetnogath, 5. clisere, 6. cocktail party effect, 7. ekistics, 8. elaioplast, 9. enation, 10. landnam, 11. nyctinasty, 12. seif. If y o u are working (a) in any branch of ecology or a science connected with it, and (b) y o u cannot define at least ten of the above twelve words, go and b u y this little dictionary. The m o n e y will be well spent. The professional ecologist t o d a y must be partly botanist, zoologist, chemist, physicist, mathematician, geologist, meteorologist, statistician, geographer, economist and philosopher as well. And air, water pollution specalists, soil scientists, botanists, zoologists, urbanists, agronomists, impact

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assessors, and m a n y others are themselves part-time ecologists. Almost everybody will be c o n f r o n t e d with some interdisciplinary frontier and economize a lot of time by being able to look up the u n k n o w n expression in a h a n d y dictionary. In most scientific disciplines, developments are occurring so rapidly, new terms are being coined -- some unnecessarily -- at such a rate, that the collection and arrangement of them presents real problems. As in any dictionary, the allocation of priorities is somewhat arbitrary. Thus, by choice, economics is covered in a somewhat cursory fashion, but in general, no glaring omissions could be revealed. The choice of the acronyms defined and the names of persons, living or dead, entered, on the other hand, is quite arbitrary and incomplete. Why EPA, UKEA, UNEP and World Bank, and many, m a n y others not? Why M. Strong and F. L. Wright -- and a legion of others not? As the author states in the Foreward " t h a t the book . . . stubbornly refuses to accommodate more words to a page, or to grow pages . . .", eliminating all acronyms, institutions and proper names (or to collect them, as Larousse does from time immemorial, in another section) would have saved space to accommodate more words. The definitions are concise, clear and complete, which is certainly a merit of Mr. Allaby, but also of his brilliant and widely known advisers to whom credit has been given in due place. "(ggl' "d) u o I ~ ! p pu!~ oq~ o~ ioiiBxed ounp-puus l~u!pn~i~uoi V ( ~ o ~ ) "5[ ' ( ~ g pub ~g~ "dd) ~ n ~ n ~ d m ~ pue uoI~euImnll! q~oq u! s~uBq~ o~ po~ei~ '~q/]iu pu~ ~up $o uo!~nu~oqle o~ osuodso~ (~oq) " I I '(~9~ "d) s~om~j uoppI~s ~q p o ! d n ~ o ~ui~mo[~ ~q; pue p~xe~[~ s ~ ;s~ao$ ~ q~iq~ ~u!znp ~m!; $o poised ;~oqs V (do~q;uu) 0 I '.(0~I "d) uoI~OSu! sn:Lmu o~ osuods~:~ u! S[lO~ Jo u o I ~ I l d I ~ I n m pas!l~O I &q posnu~ ,leaI 'e uo q ~ o ~ n o u v (~oq) "6 ' ( ~ £ I "d) p~o~s s! i!o q~Iq~ u! pI~S~id V (IoIq) "~ '.(~Lt "d) ~ o ,[o!~os pu~/lu!uu~ld utno~ '/~uI:~ouI~uo 'o~n~oo~iq~u u! ~uaI~odxo pun q~xeoso~ ~U!~lO~U! pue 's~uom~l~as u~mnq q~itn ~U!le~p aouaios aq.I. ([odo~q~u~) "L ' ( 9 I I "d) spunos xep.mis ~o p u n o ~ i ~ q n piton punos ouo '~uIauaq os pue ' u o ~u!~u~uo~uo~ $o ,~in~u~ oq.l. (so!~ -snoo~) "9 ' ( ~ I [ "d) ~ t u I l ~ u! o~u~q~ ~o.[etu ~ &q uoi~om u! ~ s sox~tu!p ~o soil,s V (&~o[o -~tUil~OoiUd) "9 '(L6 "d) smao~ ~oaau (lOOZ) "~, '(~6 "d) " " • &I~o[s &[a!~I ~uISOdmooap s! ~tu ~ ! u ~ o q~iq~ u! ~ o ~ $o ~poq ~ • • • (loiq) "g '(gg "d) o ~ n s aq~ ~ ~ p ~un~ -!$!u~is ~ s u ! ~ ~u!~olq puIt~ V (~o[o~o~qetu) (pu!tn) aI~dIxlI~U~ "~ '.(~I "d) somosomo~qa sno~oiomoq uo sn~oI ouxes aq~ ~ e!i q~!qt~ '~uo~ ~ jo sm~o$ oAi~u~o~in oq.l. ([oIq) ' I

Brdtigny (France)

Michel Benarie

The Manager and the Environment, by Jack G. Beale, Pergamon, Oxford, U.K., 1980, 211 pp. Price: £7.50. "Within the United Nations Environment Programme there is practical and realistic belief in the ability of Man to solve his environmental problems and protect his environment, while at the same time achieving a sustainable level of development t h a t will n o t damage the finite resources of our earth", said Dr. Mustafa K. Tolba, in his speech to the U.N. Economic and Social Council in July 1976. Whether or n o t one believes in Doomsday is a matter of personal judgement.