Scientific American Environmental Science for a Changing World

Susan Karr, MS, is an Instructor in the Biology Department of Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee, and has been teaching for over 15 years. She has served on campus and community environmental sustainability groups and helps produce an annual “State of the Environment” report on the environmental health of her county. In addition to teaching non-majors courses in environmental science and human biology, she teaches an upper-level course in animal behavior where she and her students train dogs from the local animal shelter in a program that improves the animals’ chances of adoption. She received degrees in Animal Behavior and Forestry from the University of Georgia.

BRIEF CONTENTS
 
CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Environmental, Science, and Information Literacy
MODULE 1.1 ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY AND SUSTAINABILITY
LESSONS FROM A VANISHED SOCIETY
MODULE 1.2  THE PROCESS OF SCIENCE
FUNGAL ATTACKER THREATENS BATS
 
CHAPTER 2 Ecology
MODULE 2.1 ECOSYSTEMS AND NUTRIENT CYCLING
ENGINEERING EARTH
MODULE 2.2 POPULATION ECOLOGY
GRAY WOLVES RETURN TO YELLOWSTONE
MODULE 2.3 COMMUNITY ECOLOGY
THE FLORIDA EVERGLADES: A COMMUNITY IN CRISIS
 
CHAPTER 3 Evolution and Biodiversity
MODULE 3.1 EVOLUTION AND EXTINCTION
A TROPICAL MURDER MYSTERY
MODULE 3.2 BIODIVERSITY
PALM OIL PLANTATIONS THREATEN TROPICAL FORESTS
ONLINE MODULE 3.3 PRESERVING BIODIVERSITY
A FOREST WITHOUT ELEPHANTS
 
CHAPTER 4 Human Populations and Environmental Health
MODULE 4.1 HUMAN POPULATION
THE KERALA MODEL
MODULE 4.2 URBANIZATION AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
CREATING GREEN CITIES
MODULE 4.3 ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND TOXICOLOGY
ERADICATING A PARASITIC NIGHTMARE
 
CHAPTER 5 Managing Resources: Environmental Economics and Policy
MODULE 5.1 ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS AND CONSUMPTION
WALL TO WALL, CRADLE TO CRADLE
MODULE 5.2 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
THE WORLD TACKLES OZONE DEPLETION
MODULE 5.3 MANAGING SOLID WASTE
MICROPLASTICS
 
CHAPTER 6 Water Resources
MODULE 6.1 FRESHWATER RESOURCES
WATER WARS
MODULE 6.2 WATER POLLUTION
SUFFOCATING THE GULF
ONLINE MODULE 6.3 MARINE ECOSYSTEMS
OCEAN ACIDIFICATION: THE “OTHER” CO2 PROBLEM
 
CHAPTER 7 Geological and Land Resources
MODULE 7.1 MINERAL RESOURCES
BALANCING GREEN TECHNOLOGY WITH ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS
MODULE 7.2 FOREST RESOURCES
RETURNING TREES TO HAITI
ONLINE MODULE 7.3 GRASSLANDS
RESTORING THE RANGE
 
CHAPTER 8 Food Resources
MODULE 8.1 FEEDING THE WORLD
BANKING ON SEEDS
MODULE 8.2 SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE: RAISING CROPS
FARMING LIKE AN ECOSYSTEM
ONLINE MODULE 8.3 SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE: RAISING LIVESTOCK
CAN A SUSTAINABLE DIET INCLUDE MEAT?
ONLINE MODULE 8.4 FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE
FISH IN A WAREHOUSE?
 
CHAPTER 9 Conventional Energy: Fossil Fuels
MODULE 9.1 COAL
BRINGING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN
MODULE 9.2 OIL AND NATURAL GAS
THE BAKKEN OIL BOOM
 
CHAPTER 10 Air Quality and Climate Change
MODULE 10.1 AIR POLLUTION
THE YOUNGEST SCIENTISTS
MODULE 10.2 CLIMATE CHANGE
CLIMATE REFUGEES
 
CHAPTER 11 Alternatives to Fossil Fuels
MODULE 11.1 NUCLEAR POWER
THE FUTURE OF FUKUSHIMA
MODULE 11.2 SUSTAINABLE ENERGY: STATIONARY SOURCES
MOVING TOWARD A RENEWABLE ENERGY FUTURE
ONLINE MODULE 11.3 SUSTAINABLE ENERGY: MOBILE SOURCES