Environmental Science Systems and Solutions 6th Edition by Michl,Robert,Logan,Grant Mincy 1284091708 9781284091700

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ISBN 10:1284091708
ISBN 13:9781284091700
Author: Michl,Robert,Logan,Grant Mincy

What is the “big picture” in environmental science? Our authors know and effectively communicate it in Environmental Science: Systems and Solutions, Sixth Edition. Whether you view the subject through a scientific, social, political, or historical lens, you’ll find the concrete foundations here that work for courses in both environmental science and environmental studies. A systems approach is the connective fabric that makes sense of the wealth of topics and data, which demonstrates how aspects of the natural environment interconnect with each other and with human society. A section on Resource Use and Management introduces the concept of sustainability, and another on Dealing with Environmental Degradation discusses threats to the environment and mitigation strategies. A bonus section available online on Social Solutions to Environmental Concerns, discusses the complex issues impacting the environment and the scientific, technologic, and human behavioral ways to address them. Throughout the text you will find the hard data necessary for a scientific study of the environment and the measured analysis ideal for our time.Combining evidence-based, contemporary information and data with relevant case studies, practical applications, numerous calculations, and modern references, Environmental Science: Systems and Solutions teaches and engages.

Environmental Science Systems and Solutions 6th Table of contents:

Chapter 1 Environmental Science: An Overview

1.1 Environmental Science Defined

The Scientific Method

Avoiding “Information Overload”

Building a Sustainable World

1.2 The Environment as a System: An Overview

What Is a System?

Three Key Traits of the Environmental System

Major Obstacles: Delayed and Unpredictable Impacts

Society in the Environmental System

1.3 What Is Environmental Impact?

Exponential Growth

Exponential Growth of the Human Population

Exponential Growth of Consumption

Exponential Growth of Environmental Impact

1.4 A Brief History of Environmental Impact

1.5 The Environment as a Commons

1.6 Saving the Commons

Reducing Consumption: Defusing the Bomb of the North

1.7 Promoting Sustainability by Paying the True Costs of Nature’s Benefits

Reducing Population: Defusing the Bomb of the South

Reducing Population Growth by Paying True Costs

1.8 The Role of the Individual

Values on the Here and Now: Why We Avoid True Costs

A Solution: Values Beyond the Self and Recognizing the True Value of Ecosystem Services

1.9 Toward a Sustainable World

Visualizing a Sustainable World

Supporting Services

 

Chapter 2 Human Population Growth

2.1 World Population Changes Over Time

Population Dynamics

Growth of Populations

Starting Slow: The “Lag Phase”

The Agricultural (Neolithic) Revolution: Beginning Exponential Growth

Carrying Capacity

Growth Rate and Doubling Time of the World’s Human Population

2.2 Distribution of the Earth’s Human Population

2.3 Age Structures

Life Expectancies and Infant Mortality Rates

Total Fertility Rates

Aging of the World Population

2.4 The Consequences of Overpopulation

2.5 The Population of the United States and Canada

2.6 Solving the World’s Population Problem

Industrialization, Economic Development, and the Demographic Transition

Contraceptives, Abortion, and Reproductive Rights

Female Education and Status

Economic Incentives, Disincentives, and Government Regulation of Childbearing

Population Control Around the World

 

Chapter 3 The Ever-Changing Earth: The Biosphere and Biogeochemical Cycles

3.1 Water, Air, and Energy: Three Major Aspects of the Physical Environment

3.2 Rocks, Tectonics, and the Record of Life

Igneous Rocks

Sedimentary Rocks

Metamorphic Rocks

The Rock Cycle

The Tectonic Cycle

3.3 A Brief History of Earth

The Precambrian

The Paleozoic

The Mesozoic

The Cenozoic

The Anthropocene?

3.4 Biosphere Interactions: Populations Make Communities

Community Interactions

Population Decline

Human Impact on Population Growth and Decline

3.5 Biosphere Interactions: Communities and Ecosystems

Community Diversity

Community Change Through Time

Human Disturbance of Communities

Ecosystems and Community Function

Ecosystem Productivity

Matter Cycling Through Ecosystems

3.6 Biogeochemical Cycles: An Introduction

Biogeochemical Cycles: Major Features

Energy Flows

 

Chapter 4 The Distribution of Life on Earth

4.1 Evolution of the Biosphere

Evolution Through Natural Selection

Diversification of the Biosphere

4.2 What Is Biodiversity?

Measuring Biodiversity

Global Biodiversity: How Many Species?

Biodiversity Today: A Rare Wealth in Time

4.3 Biomes and Communities

Terrestrial Biomes

Aquatic Biomes

4.4 Anthropogenic Biome

 

Chapter 5 The Dynamic Earth and Natural Hazards

5.1 Workings of Planet Earth Today

Earth and Its Neighboring Planets

Present-Day Structure of the Earth

Plate Tectonics

The Composition of Matter on the Earth

Rocks on Earth

The Surface of the Earth: Climate and Weather

Rotation, Orbits, and Seasons

5.2 Natural Hazards

Earthquakes and Volcanoes

Land Instability

Weather Hazards

Fires

Coastal Hazards

 

Chapter 6 People and Natural Resources

6.1 Kinds of Resources

6.2 People Managing Resources

6.3 What Is Resource Management?

6.4 Sustaining Resource Use: Preservation, Conservation, and Restoration

A Brief History of Preservation, Conservation, and Restoration in the United States

6.5 Who Cares? The Many Values of Natural Resources

6.6 Patterns of Resource Depletion

How Matter Resources Are Depleted

How Energy Resources Are Depleted

Bubble Pattern of Depletion

6.7 Problems with Past Resource Management

Net Yield of Nonrenewable Resources

Maximum Sustainable Yield of Renewable Resources

6.8 Conservation: Reducing the Need for Resources

6.9 Resource Economics

Resource Overuse: Ignoring Environmental Costs

6.10 Jobs and Life in a Sustainable World

 

Chapter 7 Fundamentals of Energy, Fossil Fuels, and Nuclear Energy

7.1 An Overview of the Current Global Energy Situation

7.2 Power Plants: Supplying the People with Electricity

Hard versus Soft Energy Technologies

7.3 Fossil Fuels

Oil

Coal

Natural Gas

Can Fossil Fuel Supplies Increase on a Human Time Scale?

Why We Must Stop Burning Fossil Fuels

7.4 Nuclear Power

Principles of Nuclear Power

Uranium Resources

7.5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Nuclear Power

The Safety Record of Nuclear Power

Drawbacks of Nuclear Power

Chernobyl and Three Mile Island

Safer Nuclear Reactors

Disposal of Nuclear Wastes

Decommissioning Nuclear Reactors

 

Chapter 8 Renewable and Alternative Energy Sources

8.1 Hydropower

Environmental Disadvantages to Hydropower

8.2 Biomass

Raw Sources of Biomass Energy

Environmental Advantages and Disadvantages of Biomass Energy

8.3 Solar Energy

Direct Use of Solar Energy and Passive Solar Designs

Active Solar Techniques

The Economics of Active Solar Collectors

Electricity from the Sun

Photovoltaics

The Economics of Photovoltaics

Environmental Advantages and Disadvantages of Solar Energy

8.4 Wind Power

8.5 Geothermal Energy

The Disadvantages of Geothermal Energy

8.6 Ocean Energy

8.7 Energy Storage

Electrical Energy Storage

8.8 Energy Conservation

Reducing Consumption of Fossil Fuels

Energy Efficiency at a National Level

Improving Energy Efficiency

 

Chapter 9 Water Resources

9.1 Water and the Hydrologic Cycle

Water: A Most Unusual Substance

The Hydrologic Cycle

9.2 Water Demand

9.3 Water Supply

Regional Water Shortages: Inequalities in the Hydrologic Cycle

A Global Water Shortage?

Types of Water Resources

9.4 Increasing Our Water Resources

Increased Efficiency

Desalination

Wastewater Reclamation

Dams and Reservoirs

Canals

Conserving and Managing Land for Water Resources

9.5 Social Solutions to Water Scarcity

Economics of Sustainable Water Use

Legal Control of Water Use

 

Chapter 10 Mineral Resources

10.1 Types of Mineral Resources

10.2 Relative Demands and Values of Mineral Resources

10.3 Mineral Deposits, Ores, and Reserves

10.4 Environmental Degradation Due to Mineral Exploitation

10.5 Trends in Mineral Use

10.6 The Economics of Mineral Consumption: What Accounts for the Prices of Minerals?

10.7 Dealing with Mineral Scarcity

Expanding the Resource Base

Recycling

Reducing Consumption: Conservation and Durability

 

Chapter 11 Conserving Biological Resources

11.1 Measuring What’s at Risk

Estimating the Unknown

11.2 Biodiversity Loss

Current Biodiversity Loss: Another Mass Extinction?