Environmental Problems as a Challenge for the Social Sciences: Issues, Approaches, Studies

Abstract

Since the early 1960s a number of problems stemming from modern society’s impact on our natural environment have been recognized. More recently, scientists have come to realize that human activities are even changing the natural environment on a global scale. For example, human action is changing the earth’s radiative balance, thus altering the climate; causing species extinctions at a rate 10’000 times faster as in the period before the emergence of humans; damaging the ozone layer that shields living things from harmful ultraviolet radiation; polluting oceans, lakes and rivers with oil, heavy metals, and trash; and making other alterations in the earth’s life support systems, some known, some suspected, and probably others yet unrecognized.