Thoroughly revised throughout to reflect current trends and statistics.

New case studies have been added, covering topics that are relevant to the current environmental situation, including captive breeding, Hurricane Katrina, the Colorado River, sustainable agricultural practices, and measuring ecological footprints.

A Study Guide at the end of each chapter includes a bulleted summary, a list of the chapter's key terms, and several types of questions.  Answers to the odd-numbered questions are on the text's web site.

The Fourth Edition is supported by an extensive web site.  Students will find a variety of study aids and resources, all designed to explore in more depth the basic science and controversies of environmental science.  The eLearning portion of the site is an interactive study guide with activities that will help students make full use of today's learning technology.

The Instructor's ToolKit CD-ROM provides adopters with valuable teaching tools.  Resources include an Instructor's Manual,  Test Bank, PowerPoint Lecture Outline Slides, and a PowerPoint Image Bank. 

Together with a new contributor, the authors have rewritten the text to improve the readability.

Expanded coverage of global climate change, jobs in a sustainable world, biodiversity loss, sustainable agricultural practices, and more.

Much of the numerical information and statistics have been reorganized into graphs and tables, making the information more manageable and easier for students to absorb.