A broad-ranging multidisciplinary introduction to current environmental issues and problem solving presented through a series of case studies. Case studies incorporate contemporary environmental themes including industrialization, resource use, and pollution; changing land use patterns; global warming and deforestation; biodiversity; political regulation; economic resources; cultural attitudes toward nature. Each case study will present environmental issues as scientific problems with social, political, philosophical and economic causes and consequences. Emphasis is placed on understanding and combining different approaches to environmental problems and on proposing public policy solutions.