We all know what it is like to feel under pressure. And if those pressures go on for a long time, then it is almost inevitable that our wellbeing will suffer. For our condition to stabilize and improve we must respond by alleviating these pressures and remedying stress-related symptoms. This is a simple model of the human response to stressors in our lives ? a model that can be used for the greater environment of which we are just a part.

The Pressure ? Condition ? Response (PCR) model is commonly used in environmental reporting and was adopted by the Bulletin for last year?s issue. For each of our environmental themes, we report on the pressures on that aspect of the environment, the condition or current state of play and the responses that are currently being taken, together with those things that you can do to improve the quality of the environment.

The application of the model gets a little complicated when you consider that city is an inextricable combination of the ?natural? environment and the human environment. Thus both pressures and the condition of the natural and human environment need to be considered.

The simplicity of the PCR model can be a shortcoming when applied to our incredibly complex environment. Cause and effect are not always clear-cut as the model may suggest. Responses are not only human actions, which is what the Bulletin reports on. The perspective that an indicator takes on a particular environmental theme is an added complication ? an indicator that is a pressure in one perspective may be a state in another and a response in a third.

In our Bulletin we use the PCR model to focus the perspective of the reader on the dynamic and often delicate balance of Melbourne?s environment.