A User's Guide for Planet Earth : Fundamentals of Environmental Science

A User’s Guide for Planet Earth provides students with an exploration of the fundamental components of Earth's environmental systems, their interactions, and the way society affects and is affected by alterations in climate, ecosystems, hydrology, and various additional factors. Concise and targeted, the text distills essential environmental science concepts into an easy-to-understand and highly digestible textbook.

The book begins by exploring several key background issues that lay the foundation for understanding the processes and drivers that control the behavior of the environment. It then delves into the main environmental systems of ecosystems, biogeochemical cycles, water, agriculture, oceans, human health, energy, and climate, culminating in a discussion of the Earth system. Students develop a fundamental understanding of how environmental processes are influenced by and can influence humans and broader society. Journal articles are referenced at the end of each chapter to encourage further reading and research.

A User’s Guide for Planet Earth is written for introductory environmental science courses. The clear, concise style of the text helps students grasp critical concepts without any prerequisite requirements.

Dork Sahagian is an internationally recognized Earth and environmental scientist and shared Nobel Peace Prize winner. He earned his Ph.D. in geophysics from the University of Chicago and M.S. in geosciences at Rutgers, after earning his B.S. in physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Dr. Sahagian served as executive director of The Global Analysis, Integration, and Modeling Task Force for the International Geosphere Biosphere Program at the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space at the University of New Hampshire before moving to Lehigh University to direct the Environmental Initiative, as well as develop and teach the introductory course in environmental science. Professor Sahagian’s areas of research include paleoclimatology, volcanology, global change, stratigraphy, geodynamics and tectonics, hydrology, sea level changes, and the myriad ways in which society interacts with the natural environment. Part of his research led him to coauthor the pivotal reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was jointly awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former vice president Al Gore.