ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the environmental and social challenges facing humanity today. It focuses on a key idea in what the authors hope one will think is an open-minded, clear and valid way, setting out the essence of the idea while also showing its connections to others. These ideas are presented in three parts: issues, concepts and strategies, although the distinction between these is not always as clear-cut as this division suggests. These include: warming the atmosphere and ocean, depleting the ozone in the stratosphere, making the seas more acidic, polluting the air and sources of fresh water, destroying habitats and ecosystems, reducing biodiversity and driving species to near extinction, and, of course, rapid climate change.
