The study of environments; traditionally the physical environment, or, more widely, social and cultural environments. Major themes include: environmental accounting; environmental performance evaluation; reporting; participative processes in environmental policy-making; sustainable management; and the effectiveness of Local Agenda 21. See the special 2007 issue of Environment and Urbanization 19, 1. O’Riordan (2004) TIBG 29, 2 notes that environmental science ‘has become highly political…the antagonistic pressures of established power and economic hegemony are never far away’.