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An ecological problem is not, in the first place, the same thing as a problem in ecology. A problem in ecology is a purely scientific problem, arising out of the fact that scientists do not understand some particular ecological phenomenon, how, for example, DDT finds its way into the fat of Antarctic birds. Its solution brings them understanding. An ecological problem, in contrast, is a special type of social problem. (We can easily be led to suppose otherwise because most books on ecological problems are written by scientists.) To speak of a phenomenon as a 'social problem' is not to suggest merely, or perhaps at all, that we do not understand how it comes about; it is labeled a problem not because, like a scientific problem, it presents an obstacle to our understanding of the world but rather because - consider alcoholism. crime. deaths on the road - we believe that our society would be better off without it