Dirty Words: Writings on the History and Culture of Pollution

Did dinosaurs contribute to global warming? What is rubbish theory and what indeed is rubbish? And how did the whale become a cuddly toy? And why did we decide to saturate our land and food with pesticides?

Dirty Words examines all of these questions and also includes a study of pollution in fiction, from the fogs of Dickens to the smog of Chandler, advice on how to be an environmental troublemaker, and a suggestion of our choice of futures: the world as an icebox or a greenhouse.

This entertaining and provocative collection of pieces by a group of environmental experts challenges the reader to take a closer look at the current pollution debate.

Originally published in 1991