Reviewed by Jill DeVito, Associate Professor of Instruction, Biology Department, University of Texas at Arlington on 5/23/21 I enjoyed reading this textbook and if the authors expanded the subject matter to include additional topics nd the introduction I would consider using it in my introductory environmental science course. For example the hypothesized beginning of Covid-19 in the wet markets of China, high concentration of POPs in the Inuits, and human demography comparisons between developed and developing countries. In fact I encourage the authors to bring in more cultural examples related to environmental science. The book is not culturally insensitive in anyway. I only found a few grammatical errors that could easily be corrected. In fact I liked the interface as too many of the environmental science textbooks on the market today are littered with figures, tables, graphs, and side bars that they become distractive. I found the text to be free of significant errors. Introduction, ecology (Which is included in the introduction and should be expanded as a chapter(s)), human population, energy, and pollution. I have examined a myriad of environmental science textbooks and this book is consistent with the structure of an introductory environmental science textbook. Much of this information lays the critical framework for subsequent chapters in environmental science. This was called an introduction but many of the topics covered in this chapter could be stand alone chapters. Overall this is true except for the first chapter. The book is consistent in terminology and framework. Overall the book is well written and clear and easy to follow. However, as mentioned above much of the statistics and data is outdated and the authors need to keep current with new technology such as the next generation of nuclear reactors and advances in renewable energy. I think updates will be relatively easy and straightforward. I think this information is critical for environmental science. There is a whole new generation of nuclear reactors and a recent surge in start up companies examining nuclear energy as a bridge energy source to help us meet our climate goals (i.e terra power). This leads the reader to feel that there is no place for nuclear power in the worlds energy portfolio. Furthermore, for nuclear energy the authors only discuss light water reactors and the environmental issues with nuclear. Also, in the non-renewable energy chapter I would like to see some information on tar sands. Some of the data is from 2015 and a lot has changed since then especially with renewable energy. I would like to see an updated version with more recent statistics. Much of the environmental issues we are currently experiencing are related to these topics (i.e global pandemic, soil degradation and food shortages, and plastic pollution) Finally, there should be chapters on soils, agriculture, environment and human health, and municipal and hazardous waste. Additionally, ecosystems and ecosystem services and biodiversity should be covered more in depth in a separate chapter. Economics and environmental science are deeply connected and the authors should go more in depth on this topic. For example Economics, environment, and public policy should be its own chapter. However, I would like to see the topics covered in the introductory chapter expanded upon and be individual chapters. Overall the book is well written and the topics covered are covered adequately for an introduction environmental science class. Reviewed by Matthew Eick, Professor of Environmental Soil Chemistry and Environmental Science, Virginia Tech on 5/17/22 Journalism, Media Studies & Communications +.
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