This paper addresses the challenge of "locating the environmental in environmental education research" and does so with particular reference to previously published work by St Maurice (1996), Stables (2001) and Kaufman et al. (2001). At one level these three extracts are about the same thing: that is, they are about environmental education research. At any other level they are very different. St Maurice is centrally concerned with "nature," and explores a number of different ways in which people may think about it. Kaufman et al. are focused on "people," and investigate ways in which thinking about nature may help people develop themselves and their societies in desirable directions. At the heart of Stables' paper is an examination of the core human tool for these, and all other, forms of thinking and communicating about "anything": language. That he also places his analysis in the context of "environment," and "sustainable development," rather than nature is clearly important--but it is also secondary to the present discussion, since his main arguments would seem to apply in either case.