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Fundamental Issues in Environmental Science | |
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Big Question: Why is Science Necessary to Solve Environmental Problems? | |
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Case Study: Easter Island | |
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Fundamental Principles | |
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Human Population: The Basic Environmental Problem | |
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Sustainability | |
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Eartha's Carrying Capacity | |
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A Global Perspective | |
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Cities Affect the Environment | |
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People and Nature | |
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Science and Values | |
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Solving Many Environmental Problems Involves Systems and Rates of Change | |
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Environmental Unity | |
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Changes and Equilibriums in Systems | |
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Biota: Biosphere and Sustaining Life Characteristics of Environmental Systems That Make Solving Environmental Problems Harder | |
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The Precautionary Principle: When in Doubt, Play It Safe | |
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Return to the Big Question | |
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Summary | |
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Key Terms | |
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Getting It Straight | |
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What Do You Think? Pulling It All Together | |
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Human Population Growth | |
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Big Question: Why is it the Underlying Environmental Problem? | |
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Case Study: How the Great Tsunami of 2004 Affected the Human Population | |
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How Populations Change Over Time: Basic Concepts of Population Dynamics | |
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The Prophecy of Malthus | |
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Population Growth | |
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How Many People Have Lived on Earth? | |
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The Logistic Growth Curve | |
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Other Clues to How Our Population May Change | |
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Age Structure | |
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The Demographic Transition | |
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Human Death Rates and the Rise of Industrial Societies | |
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Longevity and Its Effect on Population Growth | |
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Life Expectancy | |
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Limiting Factors | |
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The Quality of Life and the Human Carrying Capacity of Earth | |
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How Can We Achieve Zero Population Growth? | |
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How Many People Can Earth Support? | |
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Return to the Big Question | |
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Summary | |
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Key Terms | |
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Getting It Straight | |
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What Do You Think? | |
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Pulling It All Together | |
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Further Reading | |
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Biogeochemical Cycles | |
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Big Question: Why Are Biogeochemical Cycles Essential to Long Term Life on Earth? | |
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Case Study: Lake Washington | |
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How Chemicals Cycle | |
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Biogeochemical Cycles | |
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Chemical Reactions | |
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Environmental Questions and Biogeochemical Cycles | |
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Biological Questions | |
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Geologic Questions | |
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Atmospheric Questions | |
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Hydrologic Questions | |
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Biogeochemical Cycles and Life: Limiting Factors | |
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General Concepts Central to Biogeochemical Cycles | |
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The Geologic Cycle | |
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The Tectonic Cycle | |
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The Hydrologic Cycle | |
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The Rock Cycle | |
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Biogeochemical Cycling in Ecosystems | |
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Ecosystem Cycles of a Metal and a Nonmetal | |
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Chemical Cycling and the "Balance of Nature" | |
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Some Major Global Chemical Cycles | |
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The Carbon Cycle | |
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The Missing Carbon Sink | |
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The Nitrogen Cycle | |
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The Phosphorus Cycle | |
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Return to the Big Question | |
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Summary | |
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Key Terms | |
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Getting It Straight | |
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What Do You Think? | |
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Pulling It All Together | |
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Further Reading | |
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Ecosystems | |
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Big Question: What is Necessary to Sustain Life on Earth? | |
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Case Study: The Acorn Connection | |
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How Populations Change Over Time and Interact with Each Other | |
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Professions and Places: The Ecological Niche and the Hab | |