The paper analyses descriptions of university courses in connection to environmental problems. The analysis yields a dimension where the description differ: environmental problems and the knowledge relevant for dealing with them are construed either in terms of social science or natural science. This is discussed against the background of the concept of durable development or durable society. This concept is embraced as a ground for policy, and there is an understanding that education can contribute, by instilling a certain knowledge, attitudes etc. An important aspect is that environmental problems are construed in an abstract way, which constitutes a gap between acquiring knowledge about them and actually coming to grips with them. The discussion is informed by the phenomenological description of human existence in an intersubjective world and by the political philosophy of Hannah Arendt.