Environmental Change and Challenge A Canadian Perspective

About this book

This is a comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the increasing pressures and rapid transformations that threaten our fragile planet. Examining the impacts of and possible solutions to environmental change, this text gives readers the tools they need to think critically, take action, and make environmentally sound choices.

- Comprehensive coverage of key topics, including natural science, planning and management, Canadian environmental resources, and the interrelationship between human actions and environmental change.
- Provides a strong foundation in basic scientific concepts, preparing students to assess complex topics such as global warming, water security, ozone depletion, the use of pesticides and herbicides, and the workings of the ecosphere.
- A blend of Canadian and international examples and perspectives gives students a balanced and broad introduction to environmental studies.
- Encourages students to take action, by taking a positive approach to environmental studies – this text gives students the tools they need to think critically, take action, and make their own environmentally sound choices.
- A dynamic, full-colour design with a rich variety of photographs, maps, figures, and tables throughout.

Contents

Part A. Introduction
1. Environment, Resources, and Society
2. Responding to Global Environmental Change

Part B. The Ecosphere
3. Energy Flows and Ecosystems
4. Ecosystems Are Dynamic
5. Ecosystems and Matter Cycling

Part C. Planning and Management.  Perspectives, Processes, and Methods
6. Planning and Management Perspectives
7. Planning and Management.  Processes and Methods

Part D. Resource and Environmental Management in Canada
8. Climate Change
9. Oceans and Fisheries
10. Forests
11. Agriculture
12. Water
13. Minerals and Energy
14. Urban Environmental Management
15. Endangered Species and Protected Areas
16. Epilogue.  The Sustainability Revolution

Glossary
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Philip Dearden is a prolific and well-known geographer and former chair of the Department of Geography at the University of Victoria. His research specialization is in conservation, in particular protected areas systems, and his work in this field has taken him around the world, though his focus has been on Canada and Southeast Asia. In addition to co-authoring the first five editions of Environmental Change and Challenge, he has co-edited four editions of Parks and Protected Areas in Canada.

Bruce Mitchell has been an OUP Canada author for two and a half decades, publishing five editions of Resource and Environmental Management in Canada as the volume's editor in addition to co-authoring the previous five editions of Environmental Change and Challenge. Mitchell has studied water management for over 50 years and in 2005 was named a Fellow to the Royal Society of Canada and the International Water Resources Association. He received the Massey Medal from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in 2008.

Erin O'Connell is a lecturer in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo. Her academic interests and research publications are in areas of natural hazards and disaster recovery, faith-based perceptions of environmental phenomena, and student learning and engagement. Erin has taught the Introduction to Environmental Studies course at Waterloo 12 times to more than 2,700 students.