ABSTRACT
In the past five decades, there had been an increased awareness of a wide range of environmental issues covering all sources: air, land, and water. This chapter provides an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book. The book provides a general background and addresses international concerns, environmental regulations, and generators of pollutants. It addresses treatment and disposal methods for municipal, medical, and radioactive wastes. Programs to reduce and dispose of municipal waste include reuse, reduction, recycling, and composting, in addition to incineration and landfilling. The book covers domestic and (primarily) industrial means of reducing pollution. It discusses nine topics that are relatively new in the area of environmental management. Included in this are electromagnetic fields, noise pollution, used oil, underground storage tanks, and the environmental implications of nanotechnology.
