What are chiral environments?
My understanding is that it is an environment in which, when the
  isomers interact with the environment, the two enantiomers can be
  distinguished.


That's exactly right.  Some examples of chiral environments that could be created in a lab would include


Running a reaction in a chiral solvent
Running a reaction in a chiral cavity
Running a reaction with a chiral reagent
Running a photochemical reaction with a polarized light source
Carrying out a reaction on a surface to which chiral molecules have been attached (certain clays have this property)


All of these items are like a glove, and each enantiomer will fit differently.  This different "fit" leads to transition states of different energy as each enantiomer moves along the reaction coordinate towards the product(s).