Basics of the Environmental Sciences

Since this book was first published in 1972, several generations of students have become environmentally aware and conscious of their responsibilities to planet earth. Many of these environmental pioneers are now teaching in colleges and universities, and have students with the same sense of dedication and resolve that they themselves brought to the discipline. In those days, it was sometimes difficult to explain what environmental science or engineering was, and why the development of these fields was so important to the future of the earth and to human civilization. Today there is no question that the human species has the capability of destroying its home and that we have taken major steps toward doing exactly that. And yet, while much has changed in a generation, much has not. We still have air pollution; we still contaminate our water supplies; we still dispose of hazardous materials improperly; we still destroy natural habitats as if no other species mattered. And, worst of all, we still populate the earth at an alarming rate.