Environmental Science: Toward A Sustainable Future

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

Equipping Learners to Understand the Roles of Science, Sustainability, and Stewardship

The 13th Edition of Environmental Science: Toward a Sustainable Future retains its current content and memorable themes of Science, Sustainability and Stewardship while expanding on the reader-friendly approach with built-in tools that make Wright/Boorse a bestseller. Presenting the most current and relevant Environmental Science issues and research along with new Concept Check questions and Understand the Data questions, the text and Mastering Environmental Science work together to help readers understand the science behind environmental issues.

Also available with Mastering Environmental Science

Mastering™ Environmental Science is an online homework, tutorial, and assessment system designed to improve results by helping students quickly master concepts. Students benefit from self-paced tutorials that feature personalized wrong-answer feedback and hints that emulate the office-hour experience and help keep students on track. With a wide range of interactive, engaging, and assignable activities, students are encouraged to actively learn and retain tough course concepts. For the 13th Edition, Mastering Environmental Science has been significantly updated to include new video assignments that expose students to real environmental issues and new coaching activities that help students build science literacy skills.

Note: You are purchasing a standalone product; Mastering Environmental Science does not come packaged with this content. Students, if interested in purchasing this title with Mastering Environmental Science, ask your instructor for the correct package ISBN and Course ID. Instructors, contact your Pearson representative for more information.

If you would like to purchase both the physical text and Mastering Environmental Science, search for:

013394591X / 9780133945911 Environmental Science: Toward a Sustainable Future Plus Mastering Environmental Science with eText -- Access Card Package

Package consists of:         

• 0134011279 / 978013401127 Environmental Science: Toward a Sustainable Future
• 0134245601 / 9780134245607 Mastering Environmental Science with Pearson eText -- ValuePack Access Card -- for Environmental Science: Toward a Sustainable Future

  Environmental Science: Toward a Sustainable Future , 13 th Edition is also available via Pearson eText, a simple-to-use, mobile, personalized reading experience that lets instructors connect with and motivate students — right in their eTextbook. Learn more. 

Richard T. Wright is Professor Emeritus of Biology at Gordon College in Massachusetts, where he taught environmental science for 28 years. He earned a B.A. from Rutgers University and a M.A. and Ph.D. in biology from Harvard University. For many years Wright received grant support from the National Science Foundation for his work in marine microbiology, and in 1981, he was a founding faculty member of Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies in Michigan, where he also served as Academic Chairman for 11 years. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Au Sable Institute, and the American Association for the Advancement Scientific Affiliation. In 1996, Wright was appointed a Fulbright Scholar to Daystar University in Kenya, where he taught for two months. He is a member of many environmental organizations, including The Nature Conservancy, Habitat for Humanity, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Audubon Society, and a supporting member of the Trustees of Reservations. Wright continues to be actively involved in writing and speaking about the environment. He and his wife Ann recently moved to Byfield, Massachusetts, and they drive a Toyota Camry hybrid vehicle as a means of reducing their environmental impact. Wright spends his spare time hiking, fishing, golfing, and enjoying his three children and seven grandchildren.

Dorothy F. Boorse is an associate professor of biology at Gordon College, in Wenham Massachusetts. Her research interest is in drying wetlands such as vernal pools and prairie potholes, and in salt marshes. Her research with undergraduates has included wetland and invasive species projects. She earned a BS in biology from Gordon College, a MS in entomology from Cornell University, and a PhD in oceanography and limnology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Boorse teaches, writes, and speaks about biology, the environment, and care of creation. An essay she wrote on climate change was recently published in a book by the Union of Concerned Scientists and Penguin Press. In 2005 Boorse provided expert testimony on wildlife corridors and environmental ethics for a congressional House subcommittee hearing.

Boorse is a member of a number of ecological and environmental societies including The Ecological Society of America, the Society of Wetland Scientists, the Nature Conservancy, The Audubon Society, The New England Wildflower Society, and the Trustees of Reservations (the oldest land conservancy group in the United States). She and her family live in Beverly Massachusetts. She and her family belong to Appleton farms, a CSA community supported agriculture farm. They are also members of a newly established community supported fishery, Cape Ann Fresh Catch. At home Boorse has a native plant garden and has recently planted two disease resistant elm trees.

1. Science and the Environment

2. Economics, Politics, and Public Policy

II. ECOLOGY: THE SCIENCE OF ORGANISMS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT

3. Basic Needs of Living Things

4. Populations and Communities

5. Ecosystems: Energy, Patterns, and Disturbance

6. Wild Species and Biodiversity

7. The Use and Restoration of Ecosystems

III. THE HUMAN POPULATION AND ESSENTIAL RESOURCES

8. The Human Population

9. Population and Development

10. Water: Hydrologic Cycle and Human Use

11. Soil: Foundation for Land Ecosystems

12. The Production and Distribution of Food

13. Pests and Pest Control

IV. HARNESSING ENERGY FOR HUMAN SOCIETY

14. Energy from Fossil Fuels

15. Nuclear Power

16. Renewable Energy

V. POLLUTION AND PREVENTION

17. Environmental Hazards and Human Health

18. Global Climate Change

19. Atmospheric Pollution

20. Water Pollution and Its Prevention

21. Municipal Solid Waste: Disposal and Recovery

22. Hazardous Chemicals: Pollution and Prevention

VI. STEWARDSHIP FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

23. Sustainable Communities and Lifestyles

Appendix A Environmental

Organizations

Appendix B Units of Measure

Appendix C Units of Measure

Credits

Glossary

Index