ABSTRACT
Environmental quality is a broad topic that can span many disciplines. Engineers, geographers, architects, lawyers, business professionals, health professionals, biologists, historians, and geologists, to name a few, could all be concerned with environmental quality in one way or another. Regardless of the perspective we have on environmental quality, it is a fascinating subject. It is easy to relate environmental topics to our everyday lives and there is never a shortage of current events related to the environment. The subject is intellectually stimulating because there are endless opportunities to educate ourselves, both in depth and breadth. Politics, regulatory issues, and social issues interact with science in ways not seen in other subject areas. Numerous examples of environmental policies that are successful as well as those that are failures exist if we take an international or historical perspective. The hope is that readers of this book will improve their “environmental literacy” and be able to assess and appreciate many common environmental issues facing society today.
