The Sheep Look Up is a science fiction novel by British author John Brunner, first published in 1972. The novel is decidedly dystopian; the book deals with the deterioration of the environment in the United States. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1972. The novel is the third in Brunner's "Club of Rome Quartet" , each novel dealing with a separate social issue. The Sheep Look Up explores a future dystopia occurring as a result of rampant consumerism and pollution. It follows 1968's Stand on Zanzibar (overpopulation) and 1969's The Jagged Orbit (racial tension and violence), and precedes 1975's The Shockwave Rider (technology and future shock). Background The novel takes place in an unspecified year in the near future (at one point said to be in the 1980s, roughly a decade after the novel's publication). Human activities have resulted in wholesale destruction of the environment. Water pollution is so severe that "don't drink" notices are frequently issued. Household water filters are popular items. Air pollution has reached the point that people in urban areas cannot go outside without wearing air masks. Such fumes left behind by aircraft that they cause air sickness in planes trailing behind. California is blanketed by a thick layer of smog that prevents the sun from shining through. Acid rain forces people to cover themselves in plastic so that their clothes do not get ruined. The sea has become so polluted and the beaches so strewn with garbage that people now vacation in the mountains. Coastal waters are mostly covered by a stinky, oily film made up of sewage, detergents, industrial effluent, and cellulose microfibers. The Mediterranean Sea is poisoned beyond recovery, which leads to war, famine, and civil unrest in the surrounding countries. The Baltic, Great Lakes, and Caspian are also described as being poisoned. The use of defoliants and herbicides leads to the Mekong Delta becoming a desert. The heavy use of chemicals has made large swathes of farmland unsuitable for growing anything, resulting in higher food prices. Many animal species and surface sea fish are on the brink of extinction, and birds are not as common as before, the bald eagle having gone extinct. Overuse of antibiotics has made a host of bacteria resistant and infectious disease is rampant. Household pests have also grown resistant to pesticides, and a new type of agricultural pest, known as Jigras, causes