ABSTRACT
The preceding chapter spelt out the main problem addressed by this book: many widely held principles and understandings of environmental degradation are commonly accepted as “fact” within popular and political debates. Yet an increasing amount of research has indicated that many of these explanations are biophysically inaccurate or lead to policies that are socially unjust. There is consequently a need to understand how explanations of environmental degradation evolve in order to make environmental science more meaningful to people who experience environmental problems, and to avoid the inaccuracies and injustices of many “orthodox” environmental explanations.
