Environmental Science : Toward A Sustainable Future

For introductory courses in Environmental Science, Environmental Studies, and Environmental Biology.

As the field of environmental science continues to evolve, this highly readable guide presents a full spectrum of views and information for students to evaluate issues and make informed decisions. An extensive resource package integrates text and digital media in an easy-to-use format designed to assist instructors in classroom preparation.

Features

• Impartial presentation - Strives for a balance between pure science and the political, social, and historical perspectives of environmental affairs. Also reflects differences in interpretation of environmental concerns where they exist, while maintaining the standard of reliable and current science for judging these concerns.
• Six unifying themes - Provide important threads linking the subjects and chapters of the text. Sustainability, science, and stewardship are used as strategic themes to help students conceptualize the task of forging a sustainable future. Three additional integrative themes - ecosystem capital, policy and politics, and globalization - deal with the current status of interactions between society and the natural world.
• Revisiting the Themes - Recap and discuss each theme and help students connect it to the chapter matter.
• Case studies and illustrative stories - Introduce each chapter to draw readers' interest and lead into the chapter material.
• Boxed material on Ethics, Earth Watch, and Global Perspectives - Bring to life additional action-related issues that give a new slant on text material.

New To This Edition

• Full range of perspectives - Reflects the changing environmental scene worldwide, with a wide range of viewpoints and information from the latest sources, including new books, journal articles, and Internet-based reports from governmental and nongovernmental organizations.
• New illustrations - Features 55 new photos and 61 new diagrams to further students' understanding of key concepts.
• Timely coverage of topical concerns - Places new emphasis on issues such as the Aral Sea as a major environmental disaster; emerging diseases like avian flu; stewardship of water resources in an Indian village; the 4th World Water Forum; the ''gene revolution;'' the Endangered Species Act controversy; restoration of the Everglades, and the 2005 Global Forest Resources Assessment.
• Updated Guest Essays - Provide challenging insights from the perspective of industry professionals.
• Two new Earth Watch essays - Offer discussion on limiting factors to the Woodland Caribou in Alberta, Canada, and the concept of environmental ''tipping points.''
• New Ethics essay on Ecosystem Stakeholders - Draws on the 2005 World Resources report, The Wealth of the Poor: Managing Ecosystems to Fight Poverty.
• New material on plate tectonics (Ch. 4) - Supplements the description of evolutionary change, and connects the concept of plate tectonicsto the devastating tsunami of 2004.
• Climate change and ozone depletion (Ch. 20) - Features the work of the 4th IPCC Assessment, and includes 13 new graphics and reorganization of the description of climate change.
• Population and development (Ch. 6) - Highlights Millennium Development Goals and the Millennium Project, and documents its progress.
• Energy from fossil fuels (Ch. 12) - Offersa perspective on the true costs of oil; compares the Energy Policy Act of 2005 with the Cheney Report on a national energy policy, and updates the controversy over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.