“Environmental problems are considered to be the social aspects of natural problems, and the natural aspects of social problems. The word environment, then, entails both natural and social dimensions.”

—Jean-Guy Vaillancourt

The word environment at its most basic level simply means “surroundings.” Sociologist Jean-Guy Vaillancourt of the University of Montreal notes that the word has in the past had at least two distinct meanings. Psychologists and other social scientists viewed the environment as the sum total of outside influences on the human individual, and studied how a person’s “environment” affected his/her growth, development, and character. Biologists and natural scientists, on the other hand, used the word to signify the interaction of plants, animals, sunlight, air, and water that collectively make up “nature”—with nature being generally defined as excluding human creations and influences.

Beginning roughly...