Examines environmental issues from a sociological viewpoint, analysing the social causes and consequences of resource scarcity and environmental degradation, and looks at societal responses to those problems. From this perspective, environmental problems are viewed as social problems, requiring an understanding of the social conditions that produce environmental problems and affect the extent and nature of solutions to them. Topics include who defines environmental problems; economic production practices; environmental movements; the global nature of environmental problems; environmental policy; a history of human modes of production and consumption; the role of culture in environmental problems; environmental justice; and environmental sustainability.