Environmental Issues: A Reader

Environmental Issues: A Reader provides students with a collection of articles that describe current environmental challenges and demonstrate the connections between daily actions and their environmental impacts. The text helps readers develop a greater awareness of environmental issues and inspires them to make more conscious personal decisions to support a sustainable future.

The anthology is divided into four units that cover biodiversity and ecosystem services; human population growth and food production; pollutants in the environment and other environmental hazards; and climate change and energy production. Each unit covers elements of basic science as they relate to the highlighted topics.

In Unit I, the concepts of evolution, speciation, and extinction are discussed to explain biodiversity; and nutrient cycling, water purification, pollination, and food production are used as examples of ecosystem services. Unit II reviews the basics of population ecology; the importance of soil, water, nutrients, and pest control in agriculture; and the pros and cons of genetic modification of foods. In Unit III, students learn about environmental hazards, toxicology, bioaccumulation, and more. The final unit reviews climate issues and examines the pros and cons of sources of energy such as fossil fuels, solar, wind, geothermal, and others.

Developed to support non-science majors, Environmental Issues is an ideal resource for general education science courses, especially those that focus on the environment and sustainability.

Mari Butler is a professor of environmental science at Endicott College, where she teaches courses in oceanography, ecology, environmental science, environmental issues, and biology. Dr. Butler holds a Ph.D. in environmental science from the University of Rhode Island, a master's degree in oceanography from the University of Connecticut, and a B.S. in biology from Dartmouth College.