Published in 1995, the essays in this book are papers presented to the second conference of the Interdisciplinary Research Network on the Environment and Society (IRNES) held in Sheffield in September 1993. It follows "Perspectives on the Environment" (ed. Holder et al, 1993, Avebury) to continue the dissemination of the work of IRNES members to a wider audience. Part I explores the social dimensions of environmental technology in the form of an examination of the construction of global climate models, a critical analysis of the discourses associated with agricultural biotechnologies and the environmental implications of building technologies. Part II explores national and international politics of the environment in Britain, the Ukraine and Burma, Thailand and Indonesia. Part III deals with planning for sustainability in Japan and Britain. Part IV examines theories of democracy and the state both nationally and in the form of the European Union’s principle of subsidiary.