The British Alkali Acts are a first systematic attempt to control the increasing pollution from the Alkali industry.
The issues discussed provide an interface between ‘green history’ and frameworks for sustainable development. An overview of groundwater exploitation is presented with case studies of low flows, the nitrate issue and salinisation of chalk aquifers.
A case study of beach pollution illustrates economic and political influences that have shaped environmental policy in Britain.
English engineer Thomas Savery patents a steam engine for removing water from mine shafts; with subsequent improvements, the device would later drive the Industrial Revolution.
Due to the breadth of its content and illustrations, this book becomes a bestseller of the seventeenth century.
British economist Thomas Robert Malthus warns of the dangers of overpopulation.
John Evelyn advocates an extensive reforestation program and the systematic foundation of forests and parks in England, not least to support the British fleet dependent on wood resources.
