  Cool objects glow in the infrared. The gas and solid-state species that
escape the stellar gravitational attraction of evolved late-type stars in the
form of a stellar wind are cool, with temperatures typically $\la$1500\,K, and
can be ideally studied in the infrared. These stellar winds create huge
extended circumstellar envelopes with extents approaching $10^{19}$\,cm. In
these envelopes, a complex kinematical, thermodynamical and chemical interplay
determines the global and local structural parameters. Unraveling the wind
acceleration mechanisms and deriving the complicated structure of the envelopes
is important to understand the late stages of evolution of ~97% of stars in
galaxies as our own Milky Way. That way, we can also assess the significant
chemical enrichment of the interstellar medium by the mass loss of these
evolved stars. The Herschel Space Observatory is uniquely placed to study
evolved stars thanks to the excellent capabilities of the three infrared and
sub-millimeter instruments on board: PACS, SPIRE and HIFI. In this review, I
give an overview of a few important results obtained during the first two years
of Herschel observations in the field of evolved low and intermediate mass
stars, and I will show how the Herschel observations can solve some historical
questions on these late stages of stellar evolution, but also add some new
ones.
