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Spring fever — the changing World of Britain's Flora and Fauna
440
Book
self-evident conclusions, which arc mostly reformulation of remarks already quoted. We learn about preferences for cooking, laundry. routines of gardening, the virtues associated with it (self-sufficiency. independence, but not privacy) and - not sllrprisin~fy - of the changes that automobiles. electricit)i. farm mechanization. supcrmarkets. fertilizers and mail-ardor catalogues have made to fairfy isolated rurat comm~initi~s. Much of this material is also illustrated in the author’s photogr~ii~hs. somewhat grainy in reproduction because of the paper used. The shortcomings of this book arise directly from one of its main virtues: Westmacott’s attitude to his subjects is always generous and gentle. never patronizing. However, he seems reluctant to pursue his investigations beyond what the gardeners thcmsclves volunteer: thus, those interviewed denied any influcncc from Africa, so despite his own obser~~~~tions which suggest otherwise, Westmacott largely neglects that topic. This avoidance is disappointing. since one of the crucial issues of this study is precisely whether ethnic or socio-economic factors (or ;I mixture of both) arc to bc registered as determining factors in these gardens. For similar reasons. the absence of any comparison of gardens of ‘white families of similar economic circumstances’ is also disabling; true, no such systematic studies exist for Wcstmacott to draw upon. but it would surely have been feasible to extend his own ohscrvations beyond what his respondents occasionally offer as commentary on white gardens (‘all shaped up”). Since some of the activities and attitudes of the black gardcncrs seemed (to this rcadcr, at least) to parallel garden activities observed elscwhcrc. some sharper means of &fining the particular Afric~~n-f~lneric~tn contribution would have been useful. Letting the gardeners speak for themselves {inciudin~ accepting their unwillingness to criticize other gardeners) undoubtedly privileges these black people. but also effectively cuts Wcstmacott off from the generalizing that characterized Maria Aubock’s work on Viennese gardens (IY72 and lY75) or the probing and speculation that led Bernard L.assus to his ch~il~~nging conclusions in a similar enterprise. the exploration of working-class gardens in France that was puhlishcd in Lev h&m fmagirrrrires (1077). Significantly. though Westmacott prints the q~l~sti~~nna~rc that guided his research and his interviews (a useful agenda for further studies perhaps), WC get no schematic schcdulc of responses to it. Most of the yards/gardens mix utilitarian and recreational intcrcsts, extensions of the houses or cabins. Some. however, contain decoration - silvered sewing machines. wheelhubs and other ornaments that vernacular gardens often display. Some of these feature in the 21 coloured phot~~gr~lphs, but because Wcstmac~~tt wishes to avoid discussing any ‘idiosyncratic bchaviour’ (for fear of condescending, perhaps) he misses the opportunity to probe these more self-conscious examples of gardens as exceptional milieux. Readers of this journal will be interested especially both in the ways in which these yards and gardens are an extension, not now of interior spaces outwards, but of the larger ~~gricult~lr~~l landscape inwards towards dwellings and in changing attitudes towards this relationship of domestic to agrarian space. Gardens have always constructcd themselves \,is-ir-~i.7 the larger landscape into which they were inserted, though it is a theoretical perspective much neglected by those who write about
Reviews gardens. Westmacott’s study usefully reminds us of the dialogue between what sixteenth-century theorists had called the ‘third nature’ of gardens and the ‘second nature’ by which Cicero named the cultural landscapes (and by implication a first nature of wilderness or unmediated nature beyond).
Spring Fever - the Changing World of Britain’s Flora and Fauna. Phillip Gates. 248 pp., IYY2, Fontana/HarperCollins. London, f5.YY pbk
This is a good hook to read during a wet, cool British summer, dealing as it does with the possible consequences of probable greenhouse warming on the landscape of these islands. As such it is a speculative text, but speculation based on facts and trends which are already apparent is no bad thing, and this book tells the story of Britain as it could bc in the middle of the next century in a memorable and readable way. Textbook it certainly is not, but it has found its way onto my first-year reading list alongside heavier tomes. and many of its examples will linger in the student mind far longer than the details of scientific papers. It also eschews the glossy full colour format of coffee-table environmental books -- indeed it has no illustrations at all - and so it packs into a small format a great deal of example, insight and anecdote. Gates is well qualified to write such a book. As a Durham University botanist he has been able tn tap into the growing network of bi~~ge(~gra~hical research into the effects of global warming, and several of his key examples arc taken directly from the work of his Durham colleagues. He also writes for newspapers and wildlife and gardening magazines and so the I8 chapters are written in an easy informal style, with titles such as ‘The end of the hosepipe’ and ‘The teeming hordes’ - the latter holding out the prospect of a lot more wasps, but also more pleasant changes in, for example, the butterfly population. Quite a bit of this material may be familiar to readers of wildlife and popular science journals. but it is well woven and put together. Besides the species changes, there is good coverage of the likely effects on agriculture and gardening. forestry and hc~~thlands, and rivers and coastlines. The three chapters (‘Fading on genes, new crops and genetic engineering genes’: ‘The British baked bean’ arid ‘The technological fix’) are a painless introduction for the non-specialist. while the following chapter. ‘Wasted acres’, is on recent and prcdictcd changes in farming, including the frequency of fungal infestations, soil erosion and weeds. The final chapter. ‘The lie of the land‘, is the author’s personal view as a plant scientist on the future of Britain’s countryside, and is an excellent example of a scientist coming off the fence of so-called objectivity to give a well-argued essay on the dangers of complacency. These last four chapters (pp. 379%2X) contain a good deal of information on the broader and more visible changes in Britain’s countryside, ranging from the virtual extinction of our weed flora. as exemplified by the demise of cornflowers and other delights of the prewar countryside, to the obvious explosion in the acreage of oilseed rape. Gates also deals with other less well-known crops which may come into
Book Reviews their own in a warmer Britain. such as flax, both for linseed oil and its fihre. and hemp (drawing on pollen analytical evidence for their former cultivation), sunflowers and evening primroses for their oil. and the prospects for the production of fuel alcohol from fastgrowing plants such as willows grown as osiers, As Gates points out ‘diversification into crops of this nature will help to restore the variety of habitats in the landscape, and can only make a positive contribution to the future of wildlife.. One can of course suggest improvements - in places the text dots cry out for some simple maps and diagrams and the economic repercussions of these changes are really beyond the scope of this book. There should also be more attention paid to peatlands. perhaps the most vulnerable of all British ccosvstems. but these are minor criticisms of a book which is hard to beat for a lively, easily assimilated, yet authoritative guide to the likely changes in Britain’s rural scene over the next 50 years.
Ecological Economics, the Science and Management of Sustainability, Robert Costanza (ed.). lYc)l, Columbia University Press, New York
This volume brings together over 30 reworked contributions to the first conference of the International Society for Ecological Economics held in May IWO, combined into three parts: one on p~~radigmatic aspects (‘Developing an ecological economic world view’. 134 pp.), one on methods and instruments (‘Accounting. Modeling and Analysis’. I49 pp.) and one on policy instruments. educational aspects and case studies (‘Institutional changes and case studies’, I97 pp.). The book is intended to serve (i) as a research agenda and as policy recommendations for developing ecologically sustainable economies, (ii) as a textbook or sourcebook for (undcrfgraduate courses in ecological economics and (iii) as an academic text for researchers interested in the ‘transdisciplinary’ approach to economy-ecology interactions. The consensus reached on research and policy recommendations is presented in an introductory chapter: ‘Goals. agenda, and policy recommendations for ecological economics’. Very important academics and practitioners in the field(s) ot (human ecology and) ecological economics have contributed. including d’Argc. Boulding, Cohn Clark. Costanza, Daly. El Serafy. Hardin. Norgaard, Page. Zylicz. Ecological Ecorronzic.~ is presented as a rather pluralistic. yet fairly distinctive approach to the relationships between ecosystems and economic systems. and to environmental problems. Conventional economics and conventional ecology fail to address these properly, and a new. transdisciplinary approach is advocated: ecological economics. The main features of this new discipline arc indicated as: a systems-based evolution~~ry world view; addressing whole ecosystems including humans; an orientation toward ecologic economic system sustainability: pluralistic (rather than monodisciplinary) and problemoriented. Ecological economics is presented as different from environmental economics and resource economics: the latter are regarded as subdisciples of economics. Much
441
of Part 1 and some contributions elsewhere are devoted to showing the shortcomings of a purely economic approach (including environmental and resource economics) and to presenting what ecological economics is offering instead. In my own view it is correct to say that there is a difference between economists looking at environmental problems from their traditional vantage point, and economists taking on board ecological. chemical, etc., features so as to adequately describe the systems and interrelations looked at; there is also a clear distinction between economists wishing to remain within the ‘positive’. utilistic and individualistic frame, and economists working in the normative context of sustainability (or ecodevelopment. or whatever phrase is en vogur). One should not overstress the differences. though, and it is interesting to note that several ~n~fironmental economists’ have also contributecl to this volume. In Llnderlining the need to break away from the dominance of the positive, static. mechanistic approach to problems. it may be useful to mobilise a kind of new (intellectual) power base, and this is what the new paradigm seems to provide. Eventually, I would hope. ecological (and institutional) critiques of neoclassical economics would lead to an opening-up of economics as a whole. At this stage, ecological economics can fairly clearly point out differences in its perspective much more clearly than it can produce recommendations on strategies, policies and instruments. This is llnderstandablc. though, but I do sincerely hope that ecological economics will not be plagued by the same type of infertility (if not impotence) that has unfortunately characterised other sympathetic breakaway paradigms (e.g. the old institutional economics). The rather lengthy Part 1 does communicate much of the stats-off-the-debate in a very accessible, sometimes even slightly sloppy. or at least over-popular way. Part II is dominated by contributions on resource accounting --of course as it constitutes such an important subject. Apart from that, there are single chapters on simulation modeling and empirical resource scarcity assessment. 1 found the latter two chapters (Braat’s and Cleveland’s) quite interesting. Part II as a whole appears to present a rather incomplete and unbalanced approach to what I think ecological economics should be about: more appropriate methods and tottls for analysing ecology--economy interrelationships and solving problems in these relationships. The chapters on accounting are not all that ‘transdisciplinary’. there is much more going on than accounting, and in terms of providing empirical foundations as well as new tools. Part 11 seems to end where it bccomcs innovative. Part III is a collection of papers on a range of rather unconnected subjects: instruments, case education, studies. In themselves, the various case studies are often quite valuable. but they could have been capitalised on much more explicitly in terms of their value added for ecological economics (or this book). The chapters on institutional change and instruments are useful, but some of them could also have been written within environmental economics. This first display of what ecological economics does or wishes to accomplish is an interesting array of sometimes provocative papers, of value to sympathetic non-economists and worth putting on the desks of mainstream (ecologists and) economists. It is a sourcebook for part of the readings I would like to expose my students in
Book
self-evident conclusions, which arc mostly reformulation of remarks already quoted. We learn about preferences for cooking, laundry. routines of gardening, the virtues associated with it (self-sufficiency. independence, but not privacy) and - not sllrprisin~fy - of the changes that automobiles. electricit)i. farm mechanization. supcrmarkets. fertilizers and mail-ardor catalogues have made to fairfy isolated rurat comm~initi~s. Much of this material is also illustrated in the author’s photogr~ii~hs. somewhat grainy in reproduction because of the paper used. The shortcomings of this book arise directly from one of its main virtues: Westmacott’s attitude to his subjects is always generous and gentle. never patronizing. However, he seems reluctant to pursue his investigations beyond what the gardeners thcmsclves volunteer: thus, those interviewed denied any influcncc from Africa, so despite his own obser~~~~tions which suggest otherwise, Westmacott largely neglects that topic. This avoidance is disappointing. since one of the crucial issues of this study is precisely whether ethnic or socio-economic factors (or ;I mixture of both) arc to bc registered as determining factors in these gardens. For similar reasons. the absence of any comparison of gardens of ‘white families of similar economic circumstances’ is also disabling; true, no such systematic studies exist for Wcstmacott to draw upon. but it would surely have been feasible to extend his own ohscrvations beyond what his respondents occasionally offer as commentary on white gardens (‘all shaped up”). Since some of the activities and attitudes of the black gardcncrs seemed (to this rcadcr, at least) to parallel garden activities observed elscwhcrc. some sharper means of &fining the particular Afric~~n-f~lneric~tn contribution would have been useful. Letting the gardeners speak for themselves {inciudin~ accepting their unwillingness to criticize other gardeners) undoubtedly privileges these black people. but also effectively cuts Wcstmacott off from the generalizing that characterized Maria Aubock’s work on Viennese gardens (IY72 and lY75) or the probing and speculation that led Bernard L.assus to his ch~il~~nging conclusions in a similar enterprise. the exploration of working-class gardens in France that was puhlishcd in Lev h&m fmagirrrrires (1077). Significantly. though Westmacott prints the q~l~sti~~nna~rc that guided his research and his interviews (a useful agenda for further studies perhaps), WC get no schematic schcdulc of responses to it. Most of the yards/gardens mix utilitarian and recreational intcrcsts, extensions of the houses or cabins. Some. however, contain decoration - silvered sewing machines. wheelhubs and other ornaments that vernacular gardens often display. Some of these feature in the 21 coloured phot~~gr~lphs, but because Wcstmac~~tt wishes to avoid discussing any ‘idiosyncratic bchaviour’ (for fear of condescending, perhaps) he misses the opportunity to probe these more self-conscious examples of gardens as exceptional milieux. Readers of this journal will be interested especially both in the ways in which these yards and gardens are an extension, not now of interior spaces outwards, but of the larger ~~gricult~lr~~l landscape inwards towards dwellings and in changing attitudes towards this relationship of domestic to agrarian space. Gardens have always constructcd themselves \,is-ir-~i.7 the larger landscape into which they were inserted, though it is a theoretical perspective much neglected by those who write about
Reviews gardens. Westmacott’s study usefully reminds us of the dialogue between what sixteenth-century theorists had called the ‘third nature’ of gardens and the ‘second nature’ by which Cicero named the cultural landscapes (and by implication a first nature of wilderness or unmediated nature beyond).
Spring Fever - the Changing World of Britain’s Flora and Fauna. Phillip Gates. 248 pp., IYY2, Fontana/HarperCollins. London, f5.YY pbk
This is a good hook to read during a wet, cool British summer, dealing as it does with the possible consequences of probable greenhouse warming on the landscape of these islands. As such it is a speculative text, but speculation based on facts and trends which are already apparent is no bad thing, and this book tells the story of Britain as it could bc in the middle of the next century in a memorable and readable way. Textbook it certainly is not, but it has found its way onto my first-year reading list alongside heavier tomes. and many of its examples will linger in the student mind far longer than the details of scientific papers. It also eschews the glossy full colour format of coffee-table environmental books -- indeed it has no illustrations at all - and so it packs into a small format a great deal of example, insight and anecdote. Gates is well qualified to write such a book. As a Durham University botanist he has been able tn tap into the growing network of bi~~ge(~gra~hical research into the effects of global warming, and several of his key examples arc taken directly from the work of his Durham colleagues. He also writes for newspapers and wildlife and gardening magazines and so the I8 chapters are written in an easy informal style, with titles such as ‘The end of the hosepipe’ and ‘The teeming hordes’ - the latter holding out the prospect of a lot more wasps, but also more pleasant changes in, for example, the butterfly population. Quite a bit of this material may be familiar to readers of wildlife and popular science journals. but it is well woven and put together. Besides the species changes, there is good coverage of the likely effects on agriculture and gardening. forestry and hc~~thlands, and rivers and coastlines. The three chapters (‘Fading on genes, new crops and genetic engineering genes’: ‘The British baked bean’ arid ‘The technological fix’) are a painless introduction for the non-specialist. while the following chapter. ‘Wasted acres’, is on recent and prcdictcd changes in farming, including the frequency of fungal infestations, soil erosion and weeds. The final chapter. ‘The lie of the land‘, is the author’s personal view as a plant scientist on the future of Britain’s countryside, and is an excellent example of a scientist coming off the fence of so-called objectivity to give a well-argued essay on the dangers of complacency. These last four chapters (pp. 379%2X) contain a good deal of information on the broader and more visible changes in Britain’s countryside, ranging from the virtual extinction of our weed flora. as exemplified by the demise of cornflowers and other delights of the prewar countryside, to the obvious explosion in the acreage of oilseed rape. Gates also deals with other less well-known crops which may come into
Book Reviews their own in a warmer Britain. such as flax, both for linseed oil and its fihre. and hemp (drawing on pollen analytical evidence for their former cultivation), sunflowers and evening primroses for their oil. and the prospects for the production of fuel alcohol from fastgrowing plants such as willows grown as osiers, As Gates points out ‘diversification into crops of this nature will help to restore the variety of habitats in the landscape, and can only make a positive contribution to the future of wildlife.. One can of course suggest improvements - in places the text dots cry out for some simple maps and diagrams and the economic repercussions of these changes are really beyond the scope of this book. There should also be more attention paid to peatlands. perhaps the most vulnerable of all British ccosvstems. but these are minor criticisms of a book which is hard to beat for a lively, easily assimilated, yet authoritative guide to the likely changes in Britain’s rural scene over the next 50 years.
Ecological Economics, the Science and Management of Sustainability, Robert Costanza (ed.). lYc)l, Columbia University Press, New York
This volume brings together over 30 reworked contributions to the first conference of the International Society for Ecological Economics held in May IWO, combined into three parts: one on p~~radigmatic aspects (‘Developing an ecological economic world view’. 134 pp.), one on methods and instruments (‘Accounting. Modeling and Analysis’. I49 pp.) and one on policy instruments. educational aspects and case studies (‘Institutional changes and case studies’, I97 pp.). The book is intended to serve (i) as a research agenda and as policy recommendations for developing ecologically sustainable economies, (ii) as a textbook or sourcebook for (undcrfgraduate courses in ecological economics and (iii) as an academic text for researchers interested in the ‘transdisciplinary’ approach to economy-ecology interactions. The consensus reached on research and policy recommendations is presented in an introductory chapter: ‘Goals. agenda, and policy recommendations for ecological economics’. Very important academics and practitioners in the field(s) ot (human ecology and) ecological economics have contributed. including d’Argc. Boulding, Cohn Clark. Costanza, Daly. El Serafy. Hardin. Norgaard, Page. Zylicz. Ecological Ecorronzic.~ is presented as a rather pluralistic. yet fairly distinctive approach to the relationships between ecosystems and economic systems. and to environmental problems. Conventional economics and conventional ecology fail to address these properly, and a new. transdisciplinary approach is advocated: ecological economics. The main features of this new discipline arc indicated as: a systems-based evolution~~ry world view; addressing whole ecosystems including humans; an orientation toward ecologic economic system sustainability: pluralistic (rather than monodisciplinary) and problemoriented. Ecological economics is presented as different from environmental economics and resource economics: the latter are regarded as subdisciples of economics. Much
441
of Part 1 and some contributions elsewhere are devoted to showing the shortcomings of a purely economic approach (including environmental and resource economics) and to presenting what ecological economics is offering instead. In my own view it is correct to say that there is a difference between economists looking at environmental problems from their traditional vantage point, and economists taking on board ecological. chemical, etc., features so as to adequately describe the systems and interrelations looked at; there is also a clear distinction between economists wishing to remain within the ‘positive’. utilistic and individualistic frame, and economists working in the normative context of sustainability (or ecodevelopment. or whatever phrase is en vogur). One should not overstress the differences. though, and it is interesting to note that several ~n~fironmental economists’ have also contributecl to this volume. In Llnderlining the need to break away from the dominance of the positive, static. mechanistic approach to problems. it may be useful to mobilise a kind of new (intellectual) power base, and this is what the new paradigm seems to provide. Eventually, I would hope. ecological (and institutional) critiques of neoclassical economics would lead to an opening-up of economics as a whole. At this stage, ecological economics can fairly clearly point out differences in its perspective much more clearly than it can produce recommendations on strategies, policies and instruments. This is llnderstandablc. though, but I do sincerely hope that ecological economics will not be plagued by the same type of infertility (if not impotence) that has unfortunately characterised other sympathetic breakaway paradigms (e.g. the old institutional economics). The rather lengthy Part 1 does communicate much of the stats-off-the-debate in a very accessible, sometimes even slightly sloppy. or at least over-popular way. Part II is dominated by contributions on resource accounting --of course as it constitutes such an important subject. Apart from that, there are single chapters on simulation modeling and empirical resource scarcity assessment. 1 found the latter two chapters (Braat’s and Cleveland’s) quite interesting. Part II as a whole appears to present a rather incomplete and unbalanced approach to what I think ecological economics should be about: more appropriate methods and tottls for analysing ecology--economy interrelationships and solving problems in these relationships. The chapters on accounting are not all that ‘transdisciplinary’. there is much more going on than accounting, and in terms of providing empirical foundations as well as new tools. Part 11 seems to end where it bccomcs innovative. Part III is a collection of papers on a range of rather unconnected subjects: instruments, case education, studies. In themselves, the various case studies are often quite valuable. but they could have been capitalised on much more explicitly in terms of their value added for ecological economics (or this book). The chapters on institutional change and instruments are useful, but some of them could also have been written within environmental economics. This first display of what ecological economics does or wishes to accomplish is an interesting array of sometimes provocative papers, of value to sympathetic non-economists and worth putting on the desks of mainstream (ecologists and) economists. It is a sourcebook for part of the readings I would like to expose my students in