Understanding Environmental Pollution

This undergraduate textbook examines environmental pollution ranging from our homes to the global environment. Completely updated and with over 50% new and rewritten material, this new edition assesses the international scope of pollution, including water, climate change, acidification, energy, solid and hazardous waste, persistent chemicals, and pesticides. The pollutants of current major concern are examined, including plastics and electronic waste. Both the impacts and the sources of pollution are addressed, as well as governmental, corporate, and personal responsibility for pollution. Pollution prevention is emphasized throughout, but students will come to see that prevention is not enough. The text moves on to examine a circular economy with closed-loop systems, where by-products are reused, wastes become raw materials, water is recycled, and energy is recovered from waste energy. Understanding Environmental Pollution engages students with the idea that humanity holds the tools to confronting the daunting pollution issues by considering a circular economy.