THE roaring flames and acrid smoke from pyres loaded with cattle carcasses is one of the most abiding memories of 2001. The UK was in the grip of foot and mouth disease and more than 3 million cattle were culled and burnt to halt the spreading virus. But what many don’t realise is that without swift action, that epidemic could have been a disaster not only for farmers but also for the environment.
“It was an emergency response for local authorities,” says Vicky Auld, air pollution expert with Westlakes Scientific Consulting based near Whitehaven in Cumbria, who modelled and monitored emissions from the fires. “The authorities had to ensure that concentrations of pollutants such as dioxins downwind of the pyres didn’t exceed safety limits. There were concerns about dioxins reaching the food chain too.”
This is just one example of the huge range of roles played by environmental professionals. They cover fields as diverse as civil engineering and forestry, policy and law. The stereotypical image of an environmentalist may be that of an ecologist studying trees, but environmental specialists are just as likely to be found in offices, factories and laboratories.
The environment is big business too. The UK’s environmental consultancy sector is worth nearly £1 billion and is growing by 10 per cent every year, according to Environmental Data Services (ENDS), a London-based company that supplies information to the industry. In the financial year 2001/02, the largest fee-earner for consultants was investigating and cleaning up contaminated land, which accounted for 14 per cent of revenue, followed by environmental impact assessments (12 per cent) and services dealing with water quality and resources (10.6 per cent). The