Introduction - Science For Environmental Protection: The Road Ahead - page 2

THE CHANGING NATURE OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
Earthquakes, floods, fires, droughts, blizzards, dust storms, natural re-
leases of toxic gases and liquids, diseases, and other environmental variations
affect hundreds of millions of people each year. Many such events are exacer-
bated or mitigated by human activities. In addition, humans affect the environ-
ment and natural biodiversity by adding contaminants to air and water, changing
land use, reducing and fragmenting the habitat of some species, introducing non-
native species, and changing natural fluxes and cycles of energy and materials. It
is increasingly clear that human activities are driving many changes in Earth's
global environment; indeed, some scientists refer to this human-dominated pe-
riod as the Anthropocene to indicate a new geologic epoch that succeeds the
Holocene. The term Anthropocene has also recently come into use in the popular
press (for example, New York Times 2011 and The Economist 2011) and a pro-
posal to define and formalize the term is being developed by the Anthropocene
Working Group for consideration by the International Committee on Stratigra-
phy (SQS 2012).
The challenges associated with environmental protection today are multi-
faceted and affected by many interacting factors. The challenges operate on
various, often large, spatial scales, unfold on long temporal scales, and usually
have global implications (for example, carbon dynamics, nutrient cycles, and
ocean acidification). Dealing with these problems will require systems thinking
and integrated multidisciplinary science.
Achieving solutions to these challenges requires increased sustainability,
the pursuit of which has been called a wicked problem. The term wicked prob-
lem has been used in the field of social planning to describe a problem that is
difficult to solve because it is difficult to define clearly, resistant to resolution,
and inadequately understood; it has multiple causes that interact in complex
ways; it attracts attempted solutions that often result in unforeseen conse-
quences; it is often not stable; it usually has no clear solution or endpoint but
rather solutions that are considered better, worse, or good enough; it is socially
complex and has multiple stakeholders who must consider the changing behav-
ior of others; and it rarely sits conveniently within the understanding of one dis-
cipline or the responsibility of any one organization. Moreover, because of com-
plex interdependencies, the effort to solve one aspect of a wicked problem may
reveal or create other problems (Rittel and Webber 1973; DeGrace and Stahl
1990). There is no doubt that the environmental pollution problems of today fit
the characteristics of wicked problems.
The environment is variable, complex, and difficult to predict. That diffi-
culty is in part due to imperfect scientific knowledge about environmental proc-
esses, but it is also a consequence of imperfect knowledge about economic,
demographic, and social processes that drive environmental change and the
feedback effects of environmental change on economic, demographic, and social
processes. Sustainable pathways to address environmental and human health
challenges will only emerge if societies choose to pursue sustainable solutions