Living with Earth

From the publisher :
"For many students with no science background, environmental geology may be one of the only science courses they ever take. Living With Earth: An Introduction to Environmental Geology is ideal for those students, fostering a better understanding of how they interact with Earth and how their actions can affect Earth's environmental health. The informal, reader-friendly presentation is organized around a few unifying perspectives: how the various Earth systems interact with one another; how Earth affects people (creating hazards but also providing essential resources); and how people affect Earth. Greater emphasis is placed on environment and sustainability than on geology, unlike other texts on the subject. Essential scientific foundations are presented—but the ultimate goal is to connect students proactively to their role as stakeholders in Earth's future."

The book makes use of three types of inquiry-based discussions. 1) What You Can Do: These discussions suggest ways that students can become directly involved in applying concepts in their daily lives and explore more on their own. 2) In the News: These discussions highlight issues that are currently in the print and broadcast media that involve the hard-to-resolve questions and are likely to be debated for many years. 3) You Make the Call: These are open-ended inquiry questions that ask students to think for themselves about consider all the real-world aspects of complicated environmental issues tha tmay not have a "right" answer.