When people say "I am concerned about the environment," what do they mean? What does the use of the definite article mean in such a statement? Is there such a thing as "the" environment?

Environment is derived from the French words environ or environner, meaning "around," which in turn originated from the Old French virer and viron (together with the prefix en), which mean "a circle, around, the country around, or circuit." Etymologists frequently conclude that, in English usage at least, environment is the total of the things or circumstances around an organism—including humans—though environs is limited to the "surrounding neighborhood of a specific place, the neighborhood or vicinity."

Even a brief etymological encounter with the word environment provokes two persuasive suggestions for possible structuring of a contemporary definition. First, the word environment is identified with a totality, the everything that encompasses each and all of...