Environmental Issues Looking Towards a Sustainable Future

For courses in Environmental Studies and Environmental Science as well as Education courses focusing on Math and Science.

This issues workbook takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining simple math and critical thinking to gain insight into relevant local, regional, and global environmental issues. It focuses on sustainability, integrating a broad overview of the essentials throughout the text and providing an in-depth exploration in Part 7, “Sustainability and the Individual.” The presentation of real-world issues and examples fosters the development of the math and analytical skills necessary to truly think critically and to understand these complex issues.

Preface

Basic Concepts and Tools 1

Part One: Principles of Sustainability 17

Part Two: Population and Migration 29

1 Global Population Growth: Is it Sustainable? 29

2 Carrying Capacity and Ecological Footprint 37

3 Coastal Population Growth: Bangladesh 42

4 Population Growth and Migration 48

Part Three:  Climate Change 53

5 Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change: Part One 53

6 Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change: Part Two 60

Part Four:  Energy 69

7 Oil and Natural Gas 69

8 Coal 81

9 Bringing the World to the U.S. Standard of Living 90

10 Sustainable Energy: Is the Answer Blowing in the Wind? 95

Part Five: Consumption and the Quality of Life 105

11 Global Water Supplies: Are They Sustainable? 105

12 Motor Vehicles and the Environment I 118

13 Motor Vehicles and the Environment II: Global Trends 125

14 Whacker Madness? The Proliferation of Turfgrass 132

15 Mountains of Trash: Are They Sustainable? 144

16 Gold Mining: Is It Sustainable? 156

17 Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) 166

Part Six: Threats to Ecosystems 175

18 Global Grain Production: Can We Beef It Up? 175

19 Soils and Sustainable Societies 184

20 The State of Global Forests 195

21 Restoring Estuaries: Chesapeake Bay 208

22 Illegal Immigration: Ballast Water and Exotic Species 217

23 Catch of the Day: The State of Global Fisheries 228

Part Seven: Sustainability and the Individual 239

24 Sustainable Communities: Sprawl versus Smart Growth 239

25 Sustainable Coastal Development 247

26 Sustainable Buildings and Housing 25

27 The Three R’s: Reduction, Reuse, and Recycling 265

28 A Sustainable Diet 277

29 The Sustainable Campus 287

30 Restoration Ecology 297

Index 305

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