This academic textbook is meant to be complementary to the many existing textbooks
on environmental science. It distinguishes itself for two main reasons:
• Environmental problems, the object of the environmental sciences, are seen and
described as resulting from observed phenomena in our natural environment on
one hand, and the societal awareness and evaluation of these phenomena on the
other. A combination of the two causes a phenomenon to be considered ‘an environmental
problem’. Therefore, students must learn that right from the beginning
there is a cultural and historical dimension when it comes to defi ning and analysing
environmental problems. That is why we pay attention to environmental history
and to the variations in both perception and the implementation of solutions. In
more philosophical terms: this book tries to avoid the ‘Scylla of positivism’ (as
natural scientists, we know what the problems are) and the ‘Charybdis of constructivism’
(problems only exist if we see them as problems).