Essential Environment:The Science Behind the Stories

Description

Features

• UniqueIntegrated Central Case Studies begin and are woven throughout each chapter, highlighting compelling stories from both domestic and international places to bring current environmental issues to life. The Central Case Studies draw students into the chapter and provide a contextual framework to make science memorable and engaging.
• Science behind the Story boxes highlight how scientists develop hypotheses, test predictions, and analyze and interpret data. These engaging profiles of current and classic research show how science is a dynamic, vital discipline.
• Emphasis is placed on developing students' critical thinking skills. Weighing the Issues questions throughout each chapter encourage students to grapple with ethical questions and apply what they have learned. Seeking Solutions and Think it Through questions at the end of each chapter challenge students to consider ways to resolve environmental problems.
• Unique activities build basic data and graph reading skills for math phobic students. Calculating Ecological Footprints activities at the end of each chapter challenge students to quantify the environmental impacts of their own actions, and then scale these impacts up to the societal level. Our extensive Graphing Appendix and our GraphIt! web activities provide help with building basic data and graph-reading skills. 
• InvestigateIt! is an interactive map on the myenvironmentplace.com website that provides over 200 additional case studies. Students can read recent articles from the New York Times and view current clips from ABC News to explore environmental issues and solutions from around the world. 
• Emphasis is placed on current data and citing sources so you can rely upon and trace the source of information presented.

New to this Edition

• Coverage of global climate change is revised and reorganized to reflect today's fast-paced developments, and the topic is now given its own chapter. The updated coverage includes the 2007 IPCC reports, the most recent scientific research, novel economic and policy approaches, and new coverage of mitigation strategies.

  Coverage of geosciences, geologic hazards, minerals, and mining is expanded, enhanced, and merged into a new chapter.
• A new Activities Workbook supplement provides active learning exercises and in-class activities to help students interpret graphs and data, calculate ecological footprints, engage in the causes and consequences of key environmental issues, and devise their own solutions to environmental problems.
• Viewpoints is now expanded into a separate supplement bundled at no additional cost with the text. Viewpoints essays provide a taste of informed arguments directly from individuals who are actively involved in work-and debate-on environmental issues. Each pair of essays is now followed by questions and links to websites.

Table of Contents

I. FOUNDATIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

1. An introduction to environmental science

2. Environmental economics and environmental policy

3. Environmental systems: Chemistry, energy, and ecosystems

4. Evolution, biodiversity, and population ecology

5. Species interactions and community ecology

II. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND THE SEARCH FOR SOLUTIONS

6. Human population

7. Soils, agriculture, and the future of food

8. Biodiversity and conservation biology

9. Cities, forests, and parks: Land use and resource management

10. Environmental health and toxicology

11. Geology, minerals, and mining

12. Freshwater and marine systems and resources

13. The atmosphere and air pollution

14. Global climate change

15. Nonrenewable energy sources, their impacts, and energy conservation

16. Renewable energy alternatives

17. Waste management

Epilogue: Sustainable Solutions

Author

Jay H. Withgott is a science and environmental writer with a background in scientific research and teaching. He holds degrees from Yale University, the University of Arkansas, and the University of Arizona. As a researcher, he has published scientific papers on topics in ecology, evolution, animal behavior, and conservation biology in journals including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, Evolution, and Animal Behavior. He has taught university-level laboratory courses in ecology, ornithology, vertebrate diversity, anatomy, and general biology.

As a science writer, Jay has authored articles for a variety of journals and magazines including Science, New Scientist, BioScience, Smithsonian, Current Biology, Conservation in Practice, and Natural History. He combines his scientific expertise with his past experience as a reporter and editor for daily newspapers to make science accessible and engaging for general audiences.

Jay lives with his wife, biologist Susan Masta, in Portland, Oregon.

Scott Brennan has taught environmental science, ecology, resource policy, and journalism at Western Washington University and at Walla Walla Community College. He has also worked as a journalist, photographer, and consultant.

Scott has cultivated his expertise in environmental science and public policy by serving as Campaign Director of Alaskans for Responsible Mining, as Executive Conservation Fellow of the National Parks Conservation Association in Washington, D.C., and as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense Environmental Security Office at the Pentagon. When not at work, Scott is likely to be found exploring the Chugach Mountains and the Bristol Bay drainages in southwest Alaska. He lives with his wife, Angela, and their dogs Raven and Hatcher, in south central Alaska's Chester Creek Watershed.