Environmental Science

Environmental Science

THIRTEENTH EDITION

G. TYLER MILLER, JR.

SCOTT E. SPOOLMAN

Australia • Brazil • Japan • Korea • Mexico • Singapore • Spain • United Kingdom • United States

Environmental Science, 13e

G. Tyler Miller, Jr. and Scott E. Spoolman

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Dirscherl/Alamy. For more information about

this photo, see p. iv.

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 13 12 11 10 09

iii

Brief Contents

Detailed Contents v

Preface for Instructors xiii

Learning Skills 1

HUMANS AND SUSTAINABILITY:

AN OVERVIEW

1 Environmental Problems, Their Causes,

and Sustainability 5

ECOLOGY AND SUSTAINABILITY

2 Science, Matter, and Energy 23

3 Ecosystems: What Are They

and How Do They Work? 39

4 Biodiversity and Evolution 59

5 Biodiversity, Species Interactions,

and Population Control 79

6 The Human Population and Urbanization 94

7 Climate and Biodiversity 122

SUSTAINING BIODIVERSITY

8 Sustaining Biodiversity:

The Species Approach 152

9 Sustaining Biodiversity:

The Ecosystem Approach 178

SUSTAINING RESOURCES

AND ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

10 Food, Soil, and Pest Management 206

11 Water Resources and Water Pollution 238

12 Geology and Nonrenewable Minerals 273

13 Energy 296

14 Environmental Hazards and Human Health 344

15 Air Pollution, Climate Change,

and Ozone Depletion 368

16 Solid and Hazardous Waste 403

SUSTAINING HUMAN SOCIETIES

17 Environmental Economics, Politics,

and Worldviews 424

Supplements S1

Glossary G1

Index I1

About the Cover Photo

The green sea turtle is one of seven species of sea turtles, all of which are endangered or threatened. It is

the largest of the sea turtles. The adults typically weigh 135–160 kilograms (300–350 pounds) and grow to

0.9 meters (3 feet) in diameter. They get their names from their green body fat, which results from a diet of sea

grasses and algae. Green sea turtles live near coral reefs and rocky shorelines of continental coasts and islands in

tropical and subtropical waters around the world. And they take an average of 25 years (but as many as 50) to

reach sexual maturity.

While these turtles spend most of their lives in the ocean, adult females must lay their eggs on land, and

biologists believe they return to beaches where they were born to make their nests. The female lands at night

and drags herself ashore using her front flippers. She buries about 100–150 eggs and returns to the sea. The eggs

incubate in the sand for about 2 months. Then the cookie-sized baby turtles hatch and dig out from under the

sand. Having evolved an ability to sense the heat of sunlight, they wait until dark to emerge and scramble toward

the sea. However, artificial lights from a human settlement, can lead them off course, and many then starve or

are caught and eaten by predators. Thus small and shrinking numbers of these hatchlings make it to the sea after

hatching.

The green sea turtle evolved before dinosaurs arrived on the earth. Now, having survived the entire age of

dinosaurs, it is endangered globally because of several human activities. They were hunted nearly to extinction,

primarily as a food source. And although they are now protected by laws, poachers still take them for their meat,

eggs, and shells. Also, thousands of sea turtles die each year when they are trapped and drowned in commercial

fishing nets. Many turtles become entangled in plastic debris (Figure 8-18, p. 171) or ingest plastic litter, which

can interfere with their digestion, causing them to starve. Ocean water pollution is another major threat, as is

coastal development, which often destroys or degrades their nesting areas.

© Reinhard Dirscherl/Alamy

v

Detailed Contents

Learning Skills 1

HUMANS AND SUSTAINABILITY:

AN OVERVIEW

1 Environmental Problems,

Their Causes, and Sustainability 5

CORE CASE STUDY It’s All About Sustainability 5

KEY QUESTIONS AND CONCEPTS 6

1-1 What Is an Environmentally Sustainable

Society? 6

1-2 How Are Our Ecological Footprints

Affecting the Earth? 9

CASE STUDY China’s New Affluent Consumers 14

1-3 What Is Pollution and What Can

We Do about It? 14

1-4 Why Do We Have Environmental

Problems? 15

1-5 How Can We Live More Sustainably?

Three Big Ideas 19

REVISITING Sustainability 20

ECOLOGY AND SUSTAINABILITY

2 Science, Matter, and Energy 23

CORE CASE STUDY How Do Scientists Learn

About Nature? A Story about a Forest 23

KEY QUESTIONS AND CONCEPTS 24

2-1 What Do Scientists Do? 24

SCIENCE FOCUS Controversy over Climate

Change 27

2-2 What Is Matter and How Do Physical

and Chemical Changes Affect It? 28

2-3 What Is Energy and How Do Physical

and Chemical Changes Affect It? 34

REVISITING The Hubbard Brook Experimental

Forest and Sustainability 36

3 Ecosystems: What Are They

and How Do They Work? 39

CORE CASE STUDY Tropical Rain Forests

Are Disappearing 39

KEY QUESTIONS AND CONCEPTS 40

3-1 What Keeps Us and Other Organisms Alive? 40

3-2 What Are the Major Components

of an Ecosystem? 42

SCIENCE FOCUS Many of the World’s

Most Important Organisms Are Invisible to Us 44

Photo 1 Air pollution from an industrial plant in India.

Deb Kushal/Peter Arnold, Inc

vi

3-3 What Happens to Energy in an Ecosystem? 45

3-4 What Happens to Matter in an Ecosystem? 48

SCIENCE FOCUS Water’s Unique Properties 50

3-5 How Do Scientists Study Ecosystems? 55

REVISITING Tropical Rain Forests

and Sustainability 56

4 Biodiversity and Evolution 59

CORE CASE STUDY Why Are Amphibians Vanishing?

Unraveling a Mystery 59

KEY QUESTIONS AND CONCEPTS 60

4-1 What Is Biodiversity and Why Is It

Important? 60

SCIENCE FOCUS Have You Thanked

the Insects Today? 62

4-2 How Does the Earth’s Life Change

over Time? 63

SCIENCE FOCUS How Did Humans Become Such

a Powerful Species? 65

4-3 How Do Geological Processes and Climate

Change Affect Evolution? 66

SCIENCE FOCUS Earth Is Just Right for Life

to Thrive 67

4-4 How Do Speciation, Extinction, and Human

Activities Affect Biodiversity? 68

SCIENCE FOCUS We Have Developed Two Ways

to Change the Genetic Traits of Populations 69

4-5 What Is Species Diversity and Why Is It

Important? 70

4-6 What Roles Do Species Play in an

Ecosystem? 71

CASE STUDY Cockroaches: Nature’s Ultimate

Survivors 72

SCIENCE FOCUS Why Should We Care about

the American Alligator? 75

CASE STUDY Why Should We Protect Sharks? 75

REVISITING Amphibians and Sustainability 76

5 Biodiversity, Species Interactions,

and Population Control 79

CORE CASE STUDY The Southern Sea Otter:

A Species in Recovery 79

KEY QUESTIONS AND CONCEPTS 80

Photo 2 Point source of polluted water in Gargas, France.

age footstock/SuperStock

Photo 3 The endangered brown pelican was protected in the first

U.S. wildlife refuge in Florida.

SuperStock

vii

5-1 How Do Species Interact? 80

SCIENCE FOCUS Threats to Kelp Forests from

Predators and Climate Change 82

5-2 What Limits the Growth of Populations? 86

SCIENCE FOCUS Why Do California’s Sea Otters Face

an Uncertain Future? 87

5-3 How Do Communities and Ecosystems

Respond to Changing Environmental

Conditions? 89

REVISITING Southern Sea Otters and Sustainability 91

6 The Human Population

and Urbanization 94

CORE CASE STUDY Are There Too Many of Us? 94

KEY QUESTIONS AND CONCEPTS 95

6-1 How Many People Can the Earth Support? 95

6-2 What Factors Influence the Size

of the Human Population? 97

CASE STUDY The U.S. Population Is Growing

Rapidly 98

CASE STUDY The United States: A Nation

of Immigrants 100

6-3 How Does a Population’s Age Structure

Affect Its Growth or Decline? 101

6-4 How Can We Slow Human Population

Growth? 104

CASE STUDY Slowing Population Growth in China:

The One-Child Policy 106

CASE STUDY Slowing Population Growth

in India 106

6-5 What Are the Major Urban Resource

and Environmental Problems? 107

CASE STUDY Urbanization in the

United States 108

CASE STUDY Mexico City 113

Photo 4 Severe desertification threatens an oasis in the Sahel region of West Africa

from a combination of severe drought, farming, and overgrazing.

Voltchev-UNEP/Peter Arnold, Inc.

Image not available due to copyright restrictions

viii

6-6 How Does Transportation Affect Urban

Environmental Impacts? 114

6-7 How Can Cities Become More Sustainable

and Livable? 117

CASE STUDY The Ecocity Concept in Curitiba,

Brazil 118

REVISITING Population Growth, Urbanization,

and Sustainability 119

7 Climate and Biodiversity 122

CORE CASE STUDY Different Climates Support

Different Life Forms 122

KEY QUESTIONS AND CONCEPTS 123

7-1 What Factors Influence Climate? 123

7-2 How Does Climate Affect the Nature

and Location of Biomes? 127

SCIENCE FOCUS Staying Alive in the Desert 131

7-3 How Have We Affected the World’s

Terrestrial Ecosystems? 139

7-4 What Are the Major Types of Aquatic

Systems? 140

7-5 Why Are the World’s Oceans Important

and How Have We Affected Them? 141

CASE STUDY Coral Reefs 143

7-6 What Are the Major Types of

Freshwater Systems and How Have

We Affected Them? 146

REVISITING Climate, Biodiversity,

and Sustainability 149

SUSTAINING BIODIVERSITY

8 Sustaining Biodiversity:

The Species Approach 152

CORE CASE STUDY Polar Bears and Projected

Climate Change 152

KEY QUESTIONS AND CONCEPTS 153

8-1 What Role Do Humans Play

in the Premature Extinction of Species? 153

SCIENCE FOCUS Estimating Extinction Rates 154

CASE STUDY The Passenger Pigeon:

Gone Forever 155

8-2 Why Should We Care About

Preventing Species Extinction? 157

8-3 How Do Humans Accelerate

Species Extinction? 159

CASE STUDY A Disturbing Message

from the Birds 160

CASE STUDY The Kudzu Vine 162

CASE STUDY Where Have All the

Honeybees Gone? 167

INDIVIDUALS MATTER A Scientist Who Confronted

Poachers 168

8-4 How Can We Protect Wild Species from

Premature Extinction? 169

SCIENCE FOCUS Accomplishments of the Endangered

Species Act 171

CASE STUDY Protecting Whales: A Success

Story . . . So Far 172

CASE STUDY Trying to Save the

California Condor 174

Photo 6 Roof garden and solar cells in Wales, Machynlleth (UK). REVISITING Polar Bears and Sustainability 175 Martin Bond/Peter Arnold, Inc.

Photo 7 Treadle pump used to supply irrigation water in parts of

Bangladesh and India.

International Development Enterprises

ix

9 Sustaining Biodiversity:

The Ecosystem Approach 178

CORE CASE STUDY Wangari Maathai and the

Green Belt Movement 178

KEY QUESTIONS AND CONCEPTS 179

9-1 What Are the Major Threats

to Forest Ecosystems? 179

SCIENCE FOCUS Putting a Price Tag on Nature’s

Ecological Services 181

CASE STUDY Many Cleared Forests in the United

States Have Grown Back 185

9-2 How Should We Manage and Sustain

Forests? 188

SCIENCE FOCUS Certifying Sustainably Grown

Timber 188

9-3 How Should We Manage and Sustain

Grasslands? 190

9-4 How Should We Manage and Sustain Parks

and Nature Reserves? 192

CASE STUDY Stresses on U.S. Public Parks 192

SCIENCE FOCUS Reintroducing the Gray Wolf

to Yellowstone National Park 193

CASE STUDY Costa Rica—A Global Conservation

Leader 194

CASE STUDY Controversy over Wilderness Protection

in the United States 195

9-5 How Can We Help to Sustain Terrestrial

Biodiversity? 195

SCIENCE FOCUS Ecological Restoration of a Tropical

Dry Forest in Costa Rica 197

9-6 How Can We Help to Sustain Aquatic

Biodiversity? 198

CASE STUDY Industrial Fish Harvesting Methods 200

REVISITING Wangari Maathai and Sustainability 203

SUSTAINING RESOURCES AND

ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

10 Food, Soil, and Pest

Management 206

CORE CASE STUDY Is Organic Agriculture

the Answer? 206

KEY QUESTIONS AND CONCEPTS 207

10-1 What Is Food Security and Why Is It Difficult

to Attain? 207

10-2 How Is Food Produced? 209

SCIENCE FOCUS Soil Is the Base of Life on Land 211

CASE STUDY Industrialized Food Production

in the United States 212

CASE STUDY Brazil: The World’s Emerging

Food Superpower 213

10-3 What Environmental Problems Arise

from Food Production? 215

10-4 How Can We Protect Crops from Pests

More Sustainably? 221

INDIVIDUALS MATTER Rachel Carson 223

SCIENCE FOCUS Ecological Surprises: The Law

of Unintended Consequences 225

10-5 How Can We Improve Food Security? 227

10-6 How Can We Produce Food More

Sustainably? 228

CASE STUDY Soil Erosion in the United States 229

SCIENCE FOCUS The Land Institute and Perennial

Polyculture 233

REVISITING Organic Agriculture and

Photo 8 Flexible solar cells using nanotechnology. Sustainability 235

Nanosys

Photo 9 Bird covered with oil in Brazilian waters.

D. Rodriques-UNEP/Peter Arnold

x

11 Water Resources

and Water Pollution 238

CORE CASE STUDY The Colorado River Story 238

KEY QUESTIONS AND CONCEPTS 239

11-1 Will We Have Enough Useable Water? 239

CASE STUDY Freshwater Resources in

the United States 241

11-2 How Can We Increase Water Supplies? 243

SCIENCE FOCUS Are Deep Aquifers

the Answer? 245

CASE STUDY California Transfers Massive

Amounts of Water from Water-Rich Areas to

Water-Poor Areas 247

CASE STUDY The Aral Sea Disaster: A Striking

Example of Unintended Consequences 248

11-3 How Can We Use Water More Sustainably? 249

11-4 How Can We Reduce the Threat of Flooding? 254

CASE STUDY Living Dangerously on Floodplains

in Bangladesh 255

11-5 How Can We Deal with Water Pollution? 256

INDIVIDUALS MATTER The Man Who Planted Trees

to Restore a Stream 258

SCIENCE FOCUS Is Bottled Water the Answer? 262

SCIENCE FOCUS Oxygen Depletion in the Northern

Gulf of Mexico 265

CASE STUDY Ocean Pollution from Oil 265

CASE STUDY U.S. Experience with Reducing

Point-Source Water Pollution 267

SCIENCE FOCUS Treating Sewage by Working

with Nature 269

REVISITING The Colorado River and

Sustainability 270

12 Geology and Nonrenewable

Minerals 273

CORE CASE STUDY The Real Cost of Gold 273

KEY QUESTIONS AND CONCEPTS 274

12-1 What Are the Earth’s Major Geological

Processes and Hazards? 274

12-2 How Are the Earth’s Rocks Recycled? 281

12-3 What Are Mineral Resources and What Are

the Environmental Effects of Using Them? 282

12-4 How Long Will Supplies of Nonrenewable

Mineral Resources Last? 287

SCIENCE FOCUS The Nanotechnology

Revolution 288

CASE STUDY Revisiting the Real Cost of Gold:

The U.S. General Mining Law of 1872 288

12-5 How Can We Use Mineral Resources

More Sustainably? 290

CASE STUDY Industrial Ecosystems:

Copying Nature 291

REVISITING The Real Cost of Gold and

Sustainability 293

13 Energy 296

CORE CASE STUDY Amory Lovins and the

Rocky Mountain Institute 296

KEY QUESTIONS AND CONCEPTS 297

13-1 What Major Sources of Energy Do We Use? 297

13-2 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages

of Fossil Fuels? 298

SCIENCE FOCUS Net Energy Is the Only Energy

That Really Counts 299

CASE STUDY The Growing Problem of Coal Ash 307

13-3 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages

of Nuclear Energy? 309

CASE STUDY Chernobyl: the World’s Worst Nuclear

Power Plant Accident 312

CASE STUDY Dealing with Radioactive Wastes

in the United States 315

Photo 10 Energy efficient straw bale house in Crested Butte,

Colorado (USA) during construction.

Alison Gannett

Photo 11 Completed energy efficient straw bale house in Crested

Butte, Colorado (USA).

Alison Gannett

xi

13-4 Why Is Energy Efficiency an Important Energy

Resource? 317

13-5 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages

of Renewable Energy Resources? 324

CASE STUDY Is Biodiesel the Answer? 333

CASE STUDY Is Ethanol the Answer? 333

SCIENCE FOCUS The Quest to Make Hydrogen

Workable 337

13-6 How Can We Make a Transition to a More

Sustainable Energy Future? 338

REVISITING The Rocky Mountain Institute

and Sustainability 341

14 Environmental Hazards

and Human Health 344

CORE CASE STUDY What’s In a Baby Bottle?

The BPA Controversy 344

KEY QUESTIONS AND CONCEPTS 345

14-1 What Major Health Hazards Do We Face? 345

14-2 What Types of Biological Hazards

Do We Face? 346

CASE STUDY The Growing Global Threat

from Tuberculosis 346

SCIENCE FOCUS Genetic Resistance to Antibiotics

Is Increasing 348

CASE STUDY The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic 349

CASE STUDY Malaria—Death by Parasite-Carrying

Mosquitoes 350

14-3 What Types of Chemical Hazards

Do We Face? 352

SCIENCE FOCUS Mercury’s Toxic Effects 354

14-4 How Can We Evaluate Chemical Hazards? 356

INDIVIDUALS MATTER Ray Turner and His

Refrigerator 360

14-5 How Do We Perceive Risks and How Can

We Avoid the Worst of Them? 361

CASE STUDY Death from Smoking 363

REVISITING Bisphenol A and Sustainability 365

15 Air Pollution, Climate Change,

and Ozone Depletion 368

CORE CASE STUDY South Asia’s Massive

Brown Cloud 368

KEY QUESTIONS AND CONCEPTS 369

15-1 What Is the Nature of the Atmosphere? 369

15-2 What Are the Major Air Pollution Problems? 370

15-3 How Should We Deal with Air Pollution? 379

CASE STUDY U.S. Air Pollution Laws Can

Be Improved 379

15-4 How Might the Earth’s Climate Change

in the Future? 382

SCIENCE FOCUS Using Models to Project Future

Changes in Atmospheric Temperature and Climate 386

15-5 What Are Some Possible Effects of Projected

Climate Change? 388

15-6 What Can We Do to Slow Projected Climate

Change? 392

SCIENCE FOCUS Is Capturing and Storing CO2

the Answer? 394

15-7 How Have We Depleted Ozone in the Stratosphere

and What Can We Do about It? 397

INDIVIDUALS MATTER Sherwood Rowland and

Mario Molina—A Scientific Story of Expertise, Courage,

and Persistence 397

REVISITING The Asian Brown Cloud, Climate Change,

Ozone Depletion, and Sustainability 399

16 Solid and Hazardous Waste 403

CORE CASE STUDY Drowning in E-waste 403

KEY QUESTIONS AND CONCEPTS 404

16-1 What Are Solid Waste and Hazardous Waste,

and Why Are They Problems? 404

CASE STUDY Solid Waste in the United States 405

16-2 How Should We Deal with Solid Waste? 406

SCIENCE FOCUS Garbology 408

16-3 Why is Reusing and Recycling Materials

So Important? 409

INDIVIDUALS MATTER Mike Biddle’s Contribution

to Recycling Plastics 411

SCIENCE FOCUS Bioplastics 412

16-4 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages

of Burning or Burying Solid Waste? 413

16-5 How Should We Deal with Hazardous

Waste? 415

CASE STUDY Hazardous Waste Regulation

in the United States 418

CASE STUDY Lead Is a Highly Toxic Pollutant 419

16-6 How Can We Make the Transition to

a More Sustainable Low-Waste Society? 420

REVISITING E-waste and Sustainability 421

Photo 12 Solar tower power plant in southern Spain.

Courtesy of Abengoa

xii

SUSTAINING HUMAN SOCIETIES

17 Environmental Economics,

Politics, and Worldviews 424

CORE CASE STUDY The Chattanooga, Tennessee

Story 424

KEY QUESTIONS AND CONCEPTS 425

17-1 How Are Economic Systems Related

to the Biosphere? 425

17-2 How Can We Use Economic Tools to Deal

with Environmental Problems? 427

INDIVIDUALS MATTER Ray Anderson 432

INDIVIDUALS MATTER Muhammad Yunus—a Pioneer

in Microlending 434

17-3 How Can We Implement More Sustainable

and Just Environmental Policies? 436

CASE STUDY Managing Public Lands in the

United States—Politics in Action 437

INDIVIDUALS MATTER Butterfly in a

Redwood Tree 441

SCIENCE FOCUS Greening American Campuses 442

17-4 What Are Some Major Environmental

Worldviews? 443

SCIENCE FOCUS Biosphere 2—A Lesson

in Humility 444

17-5 How Can We Live More Sustainably? 445

REVISITING Chattanooga, Tennessee, and

Sustainability 450

SUPPLEMENTS

1 Measurement Units S2

Chapter 2

2 Reading Graphs and Maps S3

Chapters 2, 4–10, 13, 15, 17

3 Maps and Data: Economics, Population, Hunger,

Health, and Waste Production S6

Chapters 1, 6, 10, 11, 14, 16, 17

4 Maps: Biodiversity, Ecological Footprints,

and Environmental Performance S14

Chapters 1, 3–11, 15

5 An Overview of U.S. Environmental History S21

Chapters 1–3, 5, 6, 9–11, 17

6 Some Basic Chemistry S26

Chapters 2–5, 10–12, 14–16

7 Classifying and Naming Species S32

Chapters 3, 4, 8

8 Weather Basics, El Niño, Tornadoes,

and Tropical Cyclones S33

Chapters 7, 15

9 Maps and Data: Energy and Climate S38

Chapters 9, 13, 15

Glossary G1

Index I1

Photo 13 Dumping garbage into a river in Peru.

©Paul Dix/Visuals Unlimited

Photo 14 Children protesting air pollution in Turin, Italy.

Angelo Doto-UNEP/Peter Arnold, Inc.

xiii

PREFACE

For Instructors

The media are full of bad news about the environment.

However, environmental science does not have to be all

about bad news. We view it as a set of tools with which

students can learn to read the bad news objectively and

then think about and search for solutions to environ￾mental problems.

We also see environmental science as a field that

is rife with good news and promise for a better future.

We take this view through the lens of sustainability. We

truly believe that people can live comfortable and ful￾filling lives and that societies will be more prosperous

and peaceful when sustainability becomes the chief

measure by which personal choices and public policies

are made.

Like our other textbooks, this book aims to con￾vey that view of environmental science to students.

We seek to leave readers with tools for understanding

and thinking critically; to inspire them to take a posi￾tive approach toward finding and implementing good

environmental solutions in their own lives and in their

careers; and to help them to see how promising the

future can be if it is framed by goals for more sustain￾able human communities.

What’s New in This Edition?

In this edition, we build on proven strengths of past edi￾tions with the following major new features:

■ Good News logos GOOD

NEWS mark areas in this text that

present positive developments in our efforts to deal

with environmental problems.

■ A Quantitative Data Analysis or Ecological Footprint

Analysis exercise appears at the end of each chap￾ter and more than 100 additional Data and Map

Analysis exercises have been added to the Environ￾mental Database in the Supplements.

■ Each chapter contains new Connections boxes that

briefly point out connections between human

activities and environmental consequences; envi￾ronmental and social issues; and environmental

issues and solutions.

■ Three Big Ideas at the end of each chapter summa￾rize the three most important ideas of each chapter.

■ A number of the chapter-opening Core Case Studies

are new, providing students with up-to-date illus￾trative applications threaded throughout the

chapters.

■ There are almost 40% new, improved, or updated

figures, and 30% new photos.

■ The chapter review questions at the end of each

chapter are more comprehensive and now include

all chapter key terms in boldface, to help students

better synthesize the information and focus on the

key terms and ideas.

Concept-Centered Approach

To help students focus on the main ideas, each major

chapter section is built around one to three key concepts,

which state the most important take-away messages of

each chapter. They are listed at the front of each chapter

(see p. 40), and each chapter section begins with a key

question and concepts (see pp. 42, 45, 48), which are

highlighted and referenced throughout each chapter.

A logo in the margin links the material in each

chapter to appropriate key concepts in foregoing chap￾ters (see pp. 80, 111, and 155).

Sustainability Is the

Integrating Theme of This Book

Sustainability, a watchword of the 21st century for those

concerned about the environment, is the overarching

theme of this textbook. You can see the sustainability

emphasis by looking at the Brief Contents (p. iii).

Three principles of sustainability play a major role in

carrying out this book’s sustainability theme. In this edi￾tion, we emphasize three sustainability principles (out

of the four from the 12th edition) to make the principles

easier to understand, retain, and apply. These principles

are introduced in Chapter 1, depicted in Figure 1-1

(p. 5 and on the back cover of the student edition), and

used throughout the book, with each reference marked

in the margin by (see Chapter 10, pp. 219, 220,

and 227).

Core Case Studies and

the Sustainability Theme

Each chapter opens with a Core Case Study (p. 79), which

is applied throughout the chapter. These connections

to the Core Case Study are indicated in the page mar￾gins by (see pp. 81, 82, 87, and 88). Thinking About

xiv

Science-Based Global Coverage

Chapters 2–7 discuss how scientists work and introduce

scientific principles (see Brief Contents, p. iii) needed

for a basic understanding of how the earth works and

for evaluating proposed solutions to environmental

problems. Important environmental science topics are

explored in depth in Science Focus boxes distributed

among the chapters (see pp. 75, 87, and 154). Sci￾ence is also integrated throughout the book in various

Case Studies (see pp. 143, 160, and 174) and in figures

(see Figures 13-A, p. 299, and 15-17, p. 376). In addi￾tion, Research Frontier boxes list key areas of cutting￾edge research, with links to such research provided on

the website for this book (see pp. 145, 162, and 249).

GREEN CAREER notations in the text list various green

careers with further information found on the website

for this book.

This book also provides a global perspective on two

levels. First, ecological principles reveal how all the

world’s life is connected and sustained within the bio￾sphere (Chapter 3). Second, the book integrates infor￾mation and images from around the world into its pre￾sentation of environmental problems and their possible

solutions. This includes many global maps and U.S.

maps in the basic text and in Supplements 3, 4, and 9.

CengageNOW, an online visual learning supplement,

allows students to enhance their scientific understand￾ing by viewing animations, many of them interactive,

available for this book. Some CengageNOW notations

are related to figures (see Figures 5-11, p. 90, and 7-30,

p. 147) and others to text (see pp. 85 and 104).

Three Levels of Flexibility

There are hundreds of ways to organize the content of

this course to fit the needs of different instructors having

a wide variety of professional backgrounds and course

lengths and goals. To meet these diverse needs, we have

designed a highly flexible book that allows instructors to

vary the order of chapters and sections within chapters

without exposing students to terms and concepts that

would confuse them.

We recommend that instructors start with Chapter 1

because it defines basic terms and gives an overview of

sustainability, population, pollution, resources, and eco￾nomic development issues that are treated throughout

the book. This provides a springboard for instructors to

use other chapters in almost any order.

One often-used strategy is to follow Chapter 1 with

Chapters 2–7, which introduce basic science and eco￾logical concepts. Instructors can then use the remain￾ing chapters in any order desired. Some instructors

follow Chapter 1 with Chapter 17 on environmental

economics, politics, and worldviews before proceeding

to the chapters on basic science and ecological concepts.

We provide a second level of flexibility in 9 Sup￾plements (see pp. xii in the Detailed Contents and

exercises strategically placed throughout each chapter

(see pp. 187, 202, 219, and 250) challenge students to

make these and other connections for themselves. Each

chapter ends with a Revisiting box (p. 235), which con￾nects the Core Case Study and other material in the

chapter to the three principles of sustainability.

Five Subthemes Guide

the Way toward Sustainability

In the previous edition of this book, we used five major

subthemes, which are carried on in this new edition:

natural capital, natural capital degradation, solutions, trade￾offs, and individuals matter (see diagram on back cover of

the student edition).

■ Natural capital. Sustainability depends on the

natural resources and natural services that support

all life and economies. Examples of diagrams that

illustrate this subtheme are Figures 1-2 (p. 7),

7-21 (p. 141), and 9-4 (p. 181).

■ Natural capital degradation. We describe how

human activities can degrade natural capital.

Examples of diagrams that illustrate this subtheme

are Figures 1-4 (p. 10), 7-19 (p. 139), and 10-7

(p. 215).

■ Solutions. We pay a great deal of attention to the

search for solutions to natural capital degradation

and other environmental problems. We present

proposed solutions in a balanced manner and chal￾lenge students to use critical thinking to evaluate

them. Some figures and many chapter sections and

subsections present proven and possible solutions

to various environmental problems. Examples are

Figures 10-23 (p. 232), 11-17 (p. 253), and 15-13

(p. 381). We also present a number of technologies

and social trends that could soon break out and

change the world much more rapidly than most

people think. The good news is summarized in

Figure 17-20 (p. 450).

■ Trade-Offs. The search for solutions involves trade￾offs, because any solution requires weighing advan￾tages against disadvantages. Trade-Offs diagrams

present advantages and disadvantages of various

environmental technologies and solutions to envi￾ronmental problems. Examples are Figures 10-15

(p. 222), 13-12 (p. 307), and 16-12 (p. 415).

■ Individuals Matter. Throughout the book Individu￾als Matter boxes describe what various concerned

citizens and scientists have done to help us achieve

sustainability. (See pp. 168, 223, 397, and 433).

Also, What Can You Do? diagrams describe how

readers can deal with the problems we face.

Examples are Figures 10-25 (p. 234), 11-30

(p. 269), and 15-25 (p. 396). Twelve especially

important steps that individuals can take—the sus￾tainability dozen—are summarized in Figure 17-18

(p. 448).