This chapter introduces the historic context of environmental problem solving before going on to discuss environmental problem solving in contemporary society; leading to a discussion of the unusual and complex nature of many environmental problems and introduces mechanisms for understanding this complexity. Emphasis is given to an appreciation of the role of culture, values and behaviour, the social dynamics which these create and the barriers to problem solution that arise from the dynamics of human systems. This approach presented is both in the context of the wider society, the organisation and the individual problem solver to which we add the complexity of geospheric, atmospheric and biospheric systems and their interactions.