Living in the Environment: Principles, Connections, and Solutions

Front Cover......Page 1
Title Page......Page 2
Copyright......Page 3
Brief Contents......Page 4
Contents......Page 6
Learning Skills......Page 26
CORE CASE STUDY: Living in an Exponential Age......Page 30
1-1 What Is an Environmentally Sustainable Society?......Page 31
1-2 How Can Environmentally Sustainable Societies Grow Economically?......Page 35
1-3 How Are Our Ecological Footprints Affecting the Earth?......Page 37
1-4 What Is Pollution, and What Can We Do about It?......Page 41
1-5 Why Do We Have Environmental Problems?......Page 42
1-6 What Are Four Scientific Principles of Sustainability?......Page 48
CORE CASE STUDY: Carrying Out a Controlled Scientific Experiment......Page 53
2-1 What is Science?......Page 54
2-2 What Is Matter?......Page 60
2-3 How Can Matter Change?......Page 64
2-4 What Is Energy and How Can It Be Changed?......Page 65
2-5 What Are Systems and How Do They Respond to Change?......Page 69
CORE CASE STUDY: Tropical Rain Forests Are Disappearing......Page 75
3-1 What Is Ecology?......Page 76
3-2 What Keeps Us and Other Organisms Alive?......Page 79
3-3 What Are the Major Components of an Ecosystem?......Page 82
3-4 What Happens to Energy in an Ecosystem?......Page 86
3-5 What Happens to Matter in an Ecosystem?......Page 90
3-6 How Do Scientists Study Ecosystems?......Page 97
CORE CASE STUDY: Why Should We Care about the American Alligator?......Page 102
4-1 What Is Biodiversity and Why Is It Important?......Page 103
4-2 Where Do Species Come From?......Page 105
4-3 How Do Geological Processes and Climate Change Affect Evolution?......Page 109
4-4 How Do Speciation, Extinction, and Human Activities Affect Biodiversity?......Page 111
4-5 What Is Species Diversity and Why Is It Important?......Page 114
4-6 What Roles Do Species Play in Ecosystems?......Page 116
CORE CASE STUDY: Southern Sea Otters: Are They Back from the Brink of Extinction?......Page 125
5-1 How Do Species Interact?......Page 126
5-2 How Can Natural Selection Reduce Competition between Species?......Page 132
5-3 What Limits the Growth of Populations?......Page 133
5-4 How Do Communities and Ecosystems Respond to Changing Environmental Conditions?......Page 140
CORE CASE STUDY: Are There Too Many of Us?......Page 147
6-1 How Many People Can the Earth Support?......Page 148
6-2 What Factors Influence the Size of the Human Population?......Page 150
6-3 How Does a Population\'s Age Structure Affect Its Growth or Decline?......Page 155
6-4 How Can We Slow Human Population Growth?......Page 158
CORE CASE STUDY: Blowing in the Wind: Connections Between Wind, Climate, and Biomes......Page 165
7-1 What Factors Influence Climate?......Page 166
7-2 How Does Climate Affect the Nature and Locations of Biomes?......Page 170
7-3 How Have We Affected the World\'s Terrestrial Ecosystems?......Page 183
CORE CASE STUDY: Why Should We Care about Coral Reefs?......Page 187
8-1 What Is the General Nature of Aquatic Systems?......Page 188
8-2 Why Are Marine Aquatic Systems Important?......Page 190
8-3 How Have Human Activities Affected Marine Ecosystems?......Page 196
8-4 Why Are Freshwater Ecosystems Important?......Page 199
8-5 How Have Human Activities Affected Freshwater Ecosystems?......Page 204
CORE CASE STUDY: The Passenger Pigeon: Gone Forever......Page 208
9-1 What Role Do Humans Play in the Premature Extinction of Species?......Page 209
9-2 Why Should We Care about Preventing Premature Species Extinction?......Page 214
9-3 How Do Humans Accelerate Species Extinction?......Page 218
9-4 How Can We Protect Wild Species from Extinction Resulting from our Activities?......Page 231
CORE CASE STUDY: Reintroducing Gray Wolves to Yellowstone......Page 239
10-1 What Are the Major Threats to Forest Ecosystems?......Page 240
10-2 How Should We Manage and Sustain Forests?......Page 252
10-3 How Should We Manage and Sustain Grasslands?......Page 256
10-4 How Should We Manage and Sustain Parks and Nature Reserves?......Page 259
10-5 What Is the Ecosystem Approach to Sustaining Biodiversity?......Page 264
CORE CASE STUDY: A Biological Roller Coaster Ride in Lake Victoria......Page 274
11-1 What Are the Major Threats to Aquatic Biodiversity?......Page 275
11-2 How Can We Protect and Sustain Marine Biodiversity?......Page 282
11-3 How Should We Manage and Sustain Marine Fisheries?......Page 288
11-4 How Should We Protect and Sustain Wetlands?......Page 290
11-5 How Can We Protect and Sustain Freshwater Lakes, Rivers, and Fisheries?......Page 294
11-6 What Should Be Our Priorities for Sustaining Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services?......Page 296
CORE CASE STUDY: Golden Rice: Grains of Hope or an Illusion?......Page 300
12-1 What Is Food Security and Why Is It Difficult to Attain?......Page 301
12-2 How Is Food Produced?......Page 304
12-3 What Environmental Problems Arise from Food Production?......Page 311
12-4 How Can We Protect Crops from Pests More Sustainably?......Page 318
12-5 How Can We Improve Food Security?......Page 326
12-6 How Can We Produce Food More Sustainably?......Page 327
CORE CASE STUDY: Water Conflicts in the Middle East: A Preview of the Future?......Page 338
13-1 Will We Have Enough Usable Water?......Page 339
13-2 Is Extracting Groundwater the Answer?......Page 346
13-3 Is Building More Dams the Answer?......Page 349
13-4 Is Transferring Water From One Place to Another the Answer?......Page 354
13-5 Is Converting Salty Seawater to Freshwater the Answer?......Page 357
13-6 How Can We Use Water More Sustainably?......Page 358
13-7 How Can We Reduce the Threat of Flooding?......Page 363
CORE CASE STUDY: Environmental Effects of Gold Mining......Page 369
14-1 What Are the Earth\'s Major Geological Processes and Hazards?......Page 370
14-2 How Are the Earth\'s Rocks Recycled?......Page 378
14-3 What Are Mineral Resources and What Are the Environmental Effects of Using Them?......Page 379
14-4 How Long Will Supplies of Nonrenewable Mineral Resources Last?......Page 385
14-5 How Can We Use Mineral Resources More Sustainably?......Page 390
CORE CASE STUDY: How Long Will Supplies of Conventional Oil Last?......Page 395
15-1 What Major Sources of Energy Do We Use?......Page 396
15-2 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Oil?......Page 400
15-3 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Natural Gas?......Page 406
15-4 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Coal?......Page 407
15-5 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy?......Page 411
CORE CASE STUDY: Iceland\'s Vision of a Renewable-Energy Economy......Page 424
16-1 Why Is Energy Efficiency an Important Energy Resource?......Page 425
16-2 How Can We Cut Energy Waste?......Page 428
16-3 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Solar Energy?......Page 436
16-4 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Producing Electricity from the Water Cycle?......Page 443
16-5 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Producing Electricity from Wind?......Page 444
16-6 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Biomass as an Energy Source?......Page 447
16-7 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Geothermal Energy?......Page 451
16-8 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Hydrogen as an Energy Source?......Page 453
16-9 How Can We Make a Transition to a More Sustainable Energy Future?......Page 455
CORE CASE STUDY: The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic......Page 463
17-1 What Major Health Hazards Do We Face?......Page 464
17-2 What Types of Biological Hazards Do We Face?......Page 465
17-3 What Types of Chemical Hazards Do We Face?......Page 473
17-4 How Can We Evaluate and Deal with Chemical Hazards?......Page 478
17-5 How Do We Perceive Risks and How Can We Avoid the Worst of Them?......Page 485
CORE CASE STUDY: South Asia\'s Massive Brown Cloud......Page 493
18-1 What Is the Nature of the Atmosphere?......Page 494
18-2 What Are the Major Outdoor Air Pollution Problems?......Page 495
18-3 What Is Acid Deposition and Why Is It a Problem?......Page 504
18-4 What Are the Major Indoor Air Pollution Problems?......Page 508
18-5 What Are the Health Effects of Air Pollution?......Page 511
18-6 How Should We Deal with Air Pollution?......Page 513
CORE CASE STUDY: Studying a Volcano to Understand Climate Change......Page 521
19-1 How Might the Earth\'s Temperature and Climate Change in the Future?......Page 522
19-2 What Are Some Possible Effects of a Warmer Atmosphere?......Page 530
19-3 What Can We Do to Slow Climate Change?......Page 538
19-4 How Have We Depleted Ozone in the Stratosphere and What Can We Do about It?......Page 548
CORE CASE STUDY: Lake Washington......Page 556
20-1 What Are the Causes and Effects of Water Pollution?......Page 557
20-2 What Are the Major Water Pollution Problems in Streams and Lakes?......Page 560
20-3 What Are the Major Pollution Problems Affecting Groundwater and Other Drinking Water Sources?......Page 567
20-4 What Are the Major Water Pollution Problems Affecting Oceans?......Page 572
20-5 How Can We Best Deal with Water Pollution?......Page 576
CORE CASE STUDY: E-waste—An Exploding Problem......Page 585
21-1 What Are Solid Waste and Hazardous Waste, and Why Are They Problems?......Page 586
21-2 How Should We Deal with Solid Waste?......Page 589
21-3 Why Is Reusing and Recycling Materials So Important?......Page 592
21-4 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Burning or Burying Solid Waste?......Page 599
21-5 How Should We Deal with Hazardous Waste?......Page 602
21-6 How Can We Make the Transition to a More Sustainable Low-Waste Society?......Page 608
CORE CASE STUDY: The Ecocity Concept in Curitiba, Brazil......Page 613
22-1 What Are the Major Population Trends in Urban Areas?......Page 614
22-2 What Are the Major Urban Resource and Environmental Problems?......Page 619
22-3 How Does Transportation Affect Urban Environmental Impacts?......Page 623
22-4 How Important is Urban Land Use Planning?......Page 627
22-5 How Can Cities Become More Sustainable and Livable?......Page 630
CORE CASE STUDY: A New Economic and Environmental Vision......Page 636
23-1 How Are Economic Systems Related to the Biosphere?......Page 637
23-2 How Can We Put Values on Natural Capital, Pollution Control, and Resource Use?......Page 641
23-3 How Can We Use Economic Tools to Deal with Environmental Problems?......Page 644
23-4 How Can Reducing Poverty Help Us to Deal with Environmental Problems?......Page 650
23-5 How Can We Make the Transition to More Environmentally Sustainable Economies?......Page 653
CORE CASE STUDY: Rescuing a River......Page 659
24-1 What Is the Role of Government in Making the Transition to More Sustainable Societies?......Page 660
24-2 How Is Environmental Policy Made?......Page 663
24-3 What Is the Role of Environmental Law in Dealing with Environmental Problems?......Page 669
24-4 What Are the Major Roles of Environmental Groups?......Page 673
24-5 How Can We Improve Global Environmental Security?......Page 677
24-6 How Can We Implement More Sustainable and Just Environmental Policies?......Page 680
CORE CASE STUDY: Biosphere 2—A Lesson in Humility......Page 685
25-1 What Are Some Major Environmental Worldviews?......Page 686
25-2 What Is the Role of Education in Living More Sustainably?......Page 690
25-3 How Can We Live More Sustainably?......Page 692
SUPPLEMENTS......Page 700
1 Measurement Units, Precision, and Accuracy......Page 701
2 Reading Graphs and Maps......Page 703
3 Economic, Population, Hunger, Health, and Waste Production Data and Maps......Page 709
4 Biodiversity, Ecological Footprints, and Environmental Performance Maps......Page 719
5 Environmental History......Page 730
6 Some Basic Chemistry......Page 738
7 Classifying and Naming Species......Page 745
8 Weather Basics: El Niño, Tornadoes, and Tropical Cyclones......Page 746
9 Components and Interactions in Major Biomes......Page 752
10 Energy and Climate Data and Maps......Page 758
11 Global Trade and the Environment......Page 773
12 Philosophy, Religion, Ethics, and Nature......Page 775
13 Chapter Projects......Page 777
14 Key Concepts......Page 782
Glossary......Page 788
Index......Page 808