Breathing space

de Mark Everard

"We too often take the air we breathe for granted. Air and the wider atmosphere are vital in protecting us from radiation, maintaining climate and weather patterns, dispersing water, seeds, and pollen, and in serving as a source of alternative energy. Despite this, air remains neglected in environmental policy, with its ownerless, borderless nature making it difficult to campaign and legislate around. Breathing Space overturns conventional thinking on the atmosphere, and is the first book to properly integrate air into the wider environmental discourse. Outlining the structure and development of the atmosphere Everard assesses its importance within the environment as a whole, arguing persuasively for the need for governments and activists to recognise the importance of air as a resource, and for the need for more effective and coherent policies on air regulation. The incorporation of air into our understanding of ecosystems and the environment has long been overdue, and Everard's work represents vital reading for scholars and students of environmental policy, as well as for environmental activists and those seeking to understand the challenges that lie ahead. Everard's work represents the long overdue incorporation of air into our wider understanding of ecosystems, and argues persuasively for the need for governments to recognise the importance of air as a resource. A must read for scholars and students of the environment, and for environmental activists."--