Environmental Problems

This book is an essay on environmental understanding which reviews the nature and range of scientific knowledge about environmental problems. It addresses the question: why, given the precision and sophistication of environmental research, do many environmental issues still remain unresolved? The authors draw on their knowledge of human geography and earth science to provide a coherent framework for tackling environmental problems by placing scientific knowledge in a social context. They propose that effective environmental management can only be achieved through combining a scientific knowledge of complex natural environmental systems with an awareness of how social economic and political factors can affect the lithosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere. By drawing on examples from a range of disciplines, the authors argue that environmental studies should be regarded as a unified social and natural science, central to the survival of the human species.