Environmental Science: Toward A Sustainable Future, 13th edition

Published by Pearson (January 7, 2016) © 2017

  • Richard T. Wright
  • Dorothy F. Boorse Gordon College

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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 student-friendly approach with built-in study 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 students understand the science behind environmental issues.

Also available with Mastering Environmental ScienceMastering® 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.

Environmental Science: Toward a Sustainable Future, 13th 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.

  • NEW! Concept Check Questions follow each major topic discussion within each chapter and provide students with opportunities to check their understanding as they read and review. These questions are aligned with the Learning Objectives that are listed at the beginning of each chapter and students can quickly check their understanding by consulting the answer key at the back of the text.
  • NEW! Understanding the Data questions have been added to selected graphs, maps, and tables to give students practice in interpreting data and to focus their attention on important points that are presented in such figures.
  • Numbered Learning Objectives open each chapter and introduce key concepts that students should understand at the conclusion of the chapter.  
  • Current and contemporary Environmental Science issues are updated throughout the text as well as data related to the UN Millennium Development Goals.  Examples include the drought in the Western United States, the impact of an aging population in Japan, and the Keystone pipeline proposal.
  • UPDATED!  Engaging stories open each chapter and draw students into reading the chapter topic at handNew to the Thirteenth Edition are chapter-opening stories on the threatened habitat of emperor penguins in the Antarctic (Chapter 3), the declining population of African savanna elephants (Chapter 4), drought in the American Southwest (Chapter 10), and the recent Ebola outbreak (Chapter 17).
  • Three unifying themes of science, sustainability, and stewardship help students conceptualise the task of forging a sustainable future.
    • UPDATED!  Essays explore the three themes at appropriate points within chapters and provide a memorable perspective on the topic.  New essays explore recent developments including efforts to reduce worldwide tobacco consumption (Chapter 17), improve air quality in China and India (Chapter 19), and advancements in bio-degradable food packaging (Chapter 21). 
    • Themes are recapped and discussed at the end of each chapter to help students connect the chapter topics to the themes.
    • A final capstone chapter revisits these themes.
  • Making a Difference sections appear at the end of each chapter and give students practical suggestions for promoting sustainable practices and protecting the earth for future generations.
  • This book is printed on FSC certified paper to set the gold standard in use of environmentally responsible publishing, following guidelines from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for reducing energy usage, reducing impact on forests, and limiting the release of toxic chemicals into the environment.

About the Text

Help students focus on important concepts and develop science skills.

  • Concept Check Questions follow each major topic discussion within each chapter and provide students with opportunities to check their understanding as they read and review. These questions are aligned with the Learning Objectives that are listed at the beginning of each chapter and students can quickly check their understanding by consulting the answer key at the back of the text.
  • Understanding the Data questions have been added to selected graphs, maps, and tables to give students practice in interpreting data and to focus their attention on important points that are presented in such figures.

Stay up-to-date with recent scientific and policy developments in environmental science.

  • Current and contemporary Environmental Science issues are updated throughout the text as well as data related to the UN Millennium Development Goals.  Examples include the drought in the Western United States, the impact of an aging population in Japan, and the Keystone pipeline proposal.
  • UPDATED!  Engaging stories open each chapter and draw students into reading the chapter topic at handNew to the Thirteenth Edition are chapter-opening stories on the threatened habitat of emperor penguins in the Antarctic (Chapter 3), the declining population of African savanna elephants (Chapter 4), drought in the American Southwest (Chapter 10), and the recent Ebola outbreak (Chapter 17).                                                     
Also available with MasteringEnvironmentalScience™

MasteringEnvironmentalScience 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.

  • Everyday Environmental Science video activities connect environmental science course topics with current stories in the news. Produced by the BBC, these high-quality videos can be assigned for pre- and post-lecture homework, or can be shown in class to engage students in the topic at hand.
  • NEW and EXPANDED! Interpreting Graphs and Data activities and Process of Science activities help students practice quantitative literacy and scientific reasoning skills. Students learn to analyze data, develop a hypothesis or make a prediction. Each activity includes personalized feedback for wrong answers.
  • EXPANDED! Video Field Trip activities give students fascinating behind-the-scenes tours of real environmental concerns and the strategies and solutions employed to address them. These popular, short videos engage students as they explore a coal-fired power plant, a wastewater treatment facility, a wind farm, and more.  New video field trip activities discuss bee colony collapse and take students on a tour of a water desalination plant.
  • UPDATED! Current Events Articles from the New York Times are assignable and updated twice a year with new articles that help instructors integrate current environmental topics into their course.

Also new to MasteringEnvironmentalScience:

  • Dynamic Study Modules (DSMs) help students study effectively on their own by continuously assessing their activity and performance in real time. Here's how it works: students complete a set of questions with a unique answer format that also asks them to indicate their confidence level. Questions repeat until the student can answer them all correctly and confidently. Once completed, Dynamic Study Modules explain the concept using materials from the text. These are available as graded assignments prior to class, and accessible on smartphones, tablets, and computers.
  • Learning Catalytics helps you generate class discussion, guide your lecture, and promote peer-to-peer learning with real-time analytics. Mastering with eText now provides Learning Catalytics–an interactive student response tool that uses students’ smartphones, tablets, or laptops to engage them in more sophisticated tasks and thinking. Instructors, you can:
    • Pose a variety of open-ended questions that help your students develop critical thinking skills
    • Monitor responses to find out where students are struggling
    • Use real-time data to adjust your instructional strategy and try other ways of engaging your students during class
    • Manage student interactions by automatically grouping students for discussion, teamwork, and peer-to-peer learning
  • Pearson eText 2.0 features include:
    • Now available on smartphones and tablets.
    • Seamlessly integrated videos and other rich media.
    • Accessible (screen-reader ready).
    • Configurable reading settings, including resizable type and night reading mode.
    • Instructor and student note taking, highlighting, bookmarking, and search.

I. FRAMEWORK FOR A SUSTATAINABLE FUTURE
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

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.

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