The Department of Environmental Studies is part of the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.Until recently, natural scientists have responded to environmental problems by monitoring the damage and searching for environmentally-friendly technologies. However, experts have gradually come to understand that a favourable redirection of development depends on a fundamental change in lifestyle, which in turn can only result from a far-reaching reorientation of human values and from a fundamentally different understanding of man's place in the world. More and more frequently, the social sciences are being called upon to help with the resolution of environmental problems.The purpose of environmental studies is to understand (with a background of basic knowledge in the natural sciences) the historic and cultural causes of the current environmental crisis and to look for possible solutions in the areas of social, economic, legal, political, and religious studies (and their interactions).