Watch Yan Oda Episode 2 English Subtitles

Effective environmental policy requires a comprehen sive means of dealing with the definition, localization and assessment of damage to the natural environment from human activities. With the growing scale of the interactions between human development and the envi- ronment, the complexity of these interactions has also increased. Today's concern about the greenhouse effect and its environmental consequences is an example of an emerging consciousness that human activities, bio- chemical processes and climate are interrelated (see also Clark and Munn 1986). Environmental problems such as acid rain, soil erosion, ozone depletion, defor estation and surface water pollution are all associated with interrelated human activities. They occur all over the world but reflect multi-regional rather than global characteristics. Studies on these problems require a multi-disciplinary scientific collaboration and an inte grative or at least coherent way of describing and formalising the system of causes and effects, Investigating global change of the environment requires an understanding of the structure of causes and envi ronmental problems, as well as identification of their related temporal and spatial scales.

The temporal scale of environmental problems has to do with economic and social activities that are often undertaken for a benefit that is measurable within the time span of the current human generation. The use of pesticides, for example, may have increased the quan tity of agricultural output over the past years but the persistence of these pollutants can jeopardise the qual ity of natural products for a long time to come. The related spatial scale may extend far beyond the World  scale within which the economic and social develop ment occurred. Many studies with the exception of climate change research do not address interactions between human activities and environmental quality in a sufficiently general way. Before the recently emerg- ing awareness of the cascade of sources and impacts of climate change and linkages with air pollution, the tendency was to focus on (a) environmental problems in isolation from one another, (b) immediate impacts of ameliorative measures above a sufficiently long-term horizon, and (c) local or national scales in favour of sufficiently broad spatial scales.

The Club of Rome study, which used the World 2 and World 3 models to address the limitations of natural resources in satisfying human development, should be considered the cradle of the later adopted broad and integrative view on the complex relationships between the environment and human activities (Meadows et al. 1972). This study used a modelling approach based on the system dynamics approach of Forrester (1961, 1971, 1980) to provide an analysis of linked temporal trends involving the population, the economy, the use of natural resources and the environment. Many com plex models were developed in response to the Club of Rome report, these included the Mesarovic-Pestel World Model (focusing on the carrying capacity), the MOIRA model (focusing on international agricultural relationships), the Latin America World Model (opti mization of life expectancy) and the UN World Model (focusing on multi-regional economic-environmental relationships). See Barney (1981: 603-681) for a com- prehensive overview. The study of the Club of Rome attracted a wide audience of scientists, the general public and policy-makers. The business as usual" approach in the development of policies had until then not sufficiently emphasised the constraints imposed by our natural resources.