Pergamon Ciries, Vol. 13. No. 2, pp. 141-152, 1996

Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. Printed in Great Britain 02642751/96 $15.00 + 0.00

Book reviews

Short on Analysis An Environmental History of Britain pince the Industrial Revolution B W Clapp Longman London (1994) xiii + 268 pp 02.99 (paperback)

Described as ‘for general readers as well as students and specialists’, this survey of the impact of industrializa- tion on the environment may well satisfy the first group but almost cer- tainly not the other two. The index and the list of contents, with keywords such as global warming, ecology, con- servation, hazardous waste, the de- mand for energy, and a chapter enti- tled ‘Towards a green and pleasant land’ will warm the hearts of environ- mentalists since Clapp positions these topics within the mainstream of histor- ical development. In general, the approach is accessible, almost journa- listic, and not by any means without a strong sense of Clapp’s own personal convictions regarding policy options on greening issues. Readers may not always like being told what to think, or may regard such views as an intru- sion into the descriptions of particular types of pollution.

After an initial consideration of the views of Adam Smith, Malthus and other early thinkers as part of a rather contrived attempt to legitimate en- vironmental interests in the history of economic thought, attention is turned to the impact of smoke, smells and smog on the environment of indus- trializing Britain. There are some atmospheric descriptions of the pollu- tion caused by new forms of factory organization, power sources and waste products. For many readers, though the examples Clapp uses may be diffe- rent, the themes are well established in the literature of social, urban and medical history. There are some truly appalling instances of pollution cited, none more so than the letter from a Wakefield resident in water obtained

from then River Calder in 1868, and which concludes ‘Could the odour only accompany this sheet also it would add much to the interest of this memorandum’. Though such exam- ples contribute to a readable style, there is a real danger that by concen- trating on the worst environmental abuses Clapp sidesteps the typicality of such practices.

Water, sewage, and the contamina- tion of the land form two chapters, with another devoted to building con- servation and noise pollution. Each is informative. In general, Clapp approaches each topic by recounting how industrialization in the late 18th and early 19th centuries contaminated water, air, and soil, and by what mea- sures some redress was achieved. A selection of examples of restraint and technical developments are intro- duced by Clapp to demonstrate how abatement came about, though the consensual nature of decision making is never explicit, and ameliorative me- asures concerning water, air or land pollution are not compared.

In essence what is missing is a con- vincing analytical framework in which to cast the book. Several suggest themselves. Most conspicuously, a version of the economics of industrial location based on simple conceptual elements such as external economies and economies of scale would contri- bute much to synthesizing the descrip- tive chapters on air, water, land, coas- tal and other pollution. In a book dealing with the byproducts of capital- ism, some of the central precepts of Victorian capitalism-its reliance on low wages, its attempt to shift costs of production on to others, including the municipality, its disregard for disamenities- demand greater prom- inence to provide the context for the environmental consequences caused. The absence of a regulatory code and the development of environmental abuses depended to a considerable

extent on the political and administra- tive framework, or the absence of one, in 19th-century Britain. Thus the work of W Luckin, Pollution and Control: A History of the River Thames (1986) or of D Owen, The Government of Victo- rian London 1855-1889 (1982), con- cerned as it is about the Metropolitan Board of Works, are ultimately con- vincing because the regulatory struc- tures are embedded in the historical analysis. Readers are left with little sense of how strong or weak municipal powers were, the over-arching struc- tures of regulation regarding pollu- tion. Though ratepayers’ meanness was legendary, how does that square with gas and water socialism, and the more expansive vision of community responsibility? The epidemiology of disease, and its relationship to Victo- rian ideas, have received much atten- tion from Hardy, Szreter, Dupree and others in recent years, and this analy- tical rigour is lacking in Clapp’s treat- ment of the urban environment. The conclusion ‘Economic growth and the environment’ might have been used to achieve some integration, but is more used as a platform to lament the inex- haustible nature of resources.

For the general reader wanting a brief, partial background to the en- vironmental abuses associated with factory production and urbanization, the book will prove attractive. At times in journalistic vein, Clapp adds a historical dimension with a clear and strong narrative line. For the histo- rian, the juxtaposition of l&h-century industrial development with contem- porary policy prescription is ultimately unsatisfying. The line between empir- ically derived conclusions and value judgements is a fine one.

What Clapp has achieved, perhaps implicitly, is to highlight how science, technology and history need to be carefully integrated, and that without the other two, any one discipline may well be disabled analytically. For ex-

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Book reviews ample, Clapp’s ability to bring out the nature of chemical compounds and their damaging effects on the environ- ment is, for a historian, one of the strongest features of the book. In Bri- tain, where the history of science has never held sway as in America, this is an important message. In the midst of a 20th-century electronic revolution itself based on new products and forms of business organization, it would be inconceivable if technologic- al and scientific elements were not central elements of any serious study. Why this should be different in a historical setting is perhaps Clapp’s most enduring message.

Richard Rodger Department of Economic and

Social History University of Leicester

Leicester LEI 7RH, UK

Transport, the Environment and Eco- nomic Policy Kenneth Button Edward Elgar (1993)

This fascinating book provides an in- sight into the mind of an economist obviously concerned about the limita- tion of his profession in solving the problems posed for the environment by the growth of transport. Its author informs the reader that the motivation for writing it lay in an interest in the application of economic ideas to these problems.

The first chapters are devoted to setting the scene against which the monetary costs of environmental dam- age are evaluated. The history of early economists as they have progressed in their attempts to integrate environ- mental matters for practical applica- tion are recorded. This is followed by a tour d’horizon of the wide-ranging approaches adopted over the years in the quest for effective and comprehen- sive economic instruments that can be used.

It is fascinating to see how the au- thor, as one of the profession’s more progressive proponents of the social science of economics, attempts to wriggle out of the entangling coils of interpreting, in an applicable way,

what he acknowledges as the ‘exces- sive’ adverse impacts of transport on the health, quality of life and welfare of society and on the environment. In the process, he reveals the failure of transport economics not only to cost these impacts realistically but also to cost many other social effects which have been overlooked, such as the fear of traffic. (Employing the values used by the Department of Transport, John Adams, together with this re- viewer, recently calculated that the annual costs of escorting children in this country are flG20 billion.)

The author throws several crumbs of comfort to those who question the role allocated at present to economics in rational decision making in the field of transport policy and practice. He uses disarming disclaimers which could be interpreted as leaving escape routes for himself against criticism. The book is described as ‘short’ and ‘not intended to be comprehensive in its coverage’ (yet there is an impress- ive list of over 200 pertinent refer- ences).

The text refers to ‘an increased awareness that environmental protec- tion can lead to reduced economic growth in the narrow (sic) sense of GDP increases’, and admits that it is not ‘an easy process to put money values on the preservation of environ- mental amenities’, ‘reducing the mul- tifarious adverse environmental effects associated with transport to a common denominator is difficult’, and ‘the accuracy of costs attached to en- vironmental harm should be treated with some caution’. He acknowledges the difficulty of deciding ‘exactly what elements should be included in the umbrella of environmental effects’ and that they go ‘way beyond the natural environment’. Finally, the au- thor lets himself off the hook when it comes to the real crunch by stating that ‘the environmental effects of transport on global temperatures and on the wider eco-system’ fall outside the sphere of economics - a view not shared by many of his colleagues.

The claim is made that ‘Compre- hensive transport promotion’ affords ‘everyone the benefits of mobility and access’ and that ‘the vast majority of individuals have a choice of mode in

which to undertake their travel’. These are statements that can only be made if the mobility of such groups as the poor, especially in rural areas, and most children denied the right to get around on their own owing to parental fears for their safety, is ignored.

If transport policy is to take due account of the environment in a sus- tainable and universally applicable way, then, in the judgement of this reviewer, walking and cycling must be given pride of place in the transport hierarchy. Yet these two modes are hardly discussed in the book. While it is noted that transport data are gener- ally incomplete as they tend to exclude these modes of transport, their signifi- cance for environmental protection is not commented on. Indeed, where some small reference is made, the text subsequently itemizes a transport ‘mix’ which does not include them, overlooking the relevance of the ear- lier acknowledgement. Likewise, re- ference made to the increased use of ‘virtually all modes of transport within the OECD states’, clearly omits walk- ing and cycling, which have been in marked decline as forms of travel in spite of the fact that they are the only modes whose use wholly matches the environmental objectives of transport policy.

Again, it is difficult to understand how to come to terms with a statement that ‘the modes of land transport cause a variety of forms of environ- mental damage’ - with tables included ostensibly to illustrate this but without reference to the non-motorized modes and their near non-existent contribu- tion to this damage. Even when their existence is acknowledged, data are included which ludicrously suggest that energy efficiency per person mile on an Intercity train is only three times that of someone travelling on foot and almost identical to that of a passenger on a fully laden double-decker bus! In a book concerned with the environ- ment, it is necessary to differentiate according to the finite nature of the ‘fuel’ used: that used in walking and cycling is irrelevant.

In common with the UN Commis- sion for Transport, the author is con- cerned about the insufficiency of motorway-grade roads in Central and

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