Accumulating Knowledge, Accumulating Pollution? Ecological Modernization in the United Kingdom

Focuses on the history of the political problem of acid rain in the United Kingdom. Reconstructs two distinct discourse coalitions: a traditional pragmatic one and a coalition constructed around eco‐modernist ideas and concepts. It is shown how acid rain became an ‘emblematic’ issue via which actors sought to show that the traditional pragmatic approach to environmental policy making had become out of date.

Focuses on the history of the political problem of acid rain in the United Kingdom. Reconstructs two distinct discourse coalitions: a traditional pragmatic one and a coalition constructed around eco‐modernist ideas and concepts. It is shown how acid rain became an ‘emblematic’ issue via which actors sought to show that the traditional pragmatic approach to environmental policy making had become out of date.