Insights into Pollution

Tracing the conceptual origins of pollution illustrates how it springs from the violation of taboos. This basis has shaped both the public health and esthetic order approaches to environmental management. In its extreme forms, the present environmental stewardship approaches a religion. The apparently innocuous worship of Nature may have damaging consequences for the rest of society, through restricting freedom of choice and delaying the construction of needed public facilities. Planners and policymakers must be aware of the consequences of current conflicts over environmental values and seek strategies to postpone destructive confrontations.