Thelast decade has witnessed a growing awareness and concern for man‐environment interactions, particularly western man's adopted role as master over natural processes. Belief in the need to protect the sanctity of the life‐support system has promoted a considerable body of legislation to that end. Not only has there been innovation in terms of thecontentof legislation, e.g., emission controls, but also innovation in the intent of legislation, as the traditional mode ‐ of regulation after the fact — evolves into a new role which attempts to anticipate and control before the potentially undesirable event. In the reformulation of our attitudes to the environment, geographical knowledge has both much to offer and much