Environmental Problem Solving

As environmental problems become increasingly complex, it is critical that students and activists learn the skills with which to address them. Although there already are many case studies of actual issues, only in the last few years have environmental scientists paid close attention to their resolution. Environmental Problem Solving teaches these skills. Jeffrey W. Hughes creates an organized method for approaching problems, understanding larger issues, and crafting solutions to a wide range of contemporary environmental issues. Many environmental activists often have preconceived ideas of environmental protection and problem solving. They react emotionally to news of deforestation, a new housing development, or a planned big-box store without thinking about the problem logically, and they may automatically regard foresters, development companies, and corporations as opponents. As their views harden, discourse turns acrimonious, and it becomes ever more difficult to find satisfactory solutions. This book teaches those on both sides of the table to address their own preconceptions and approach hard issues critically, methodically, and fairly. Hughes combines aspects of the decision-making process from the fields of business, management, and communication science based on extensive research and ample practical experience in the field and classroom. He creates a logical framework to help guide thinking from identifying a problem to finding its solution. Using examples drawn from real-life situations, Environmental Problem Solving will become an invaluable guide for environmentalists, agency professionals, consultants, students, naturalists, and concerned citizens.

Human influences create both environmental problems and barriers to effective policy aimed at addressing those problems. In effect, environmental managers manage people as much as they manage the environment. Therefore, they must gain an understanding of the psychological and sociopolitical dimensions of environmental problems that they are attempting to resolve. In Environmental Problem Solving, Alan Miller reappraises conventional analyses of environmental problems using lessons from the psychosocial disciplines. He combines the disciplines of ecology, political sociology and psychology to produce a more adaptive approach to problem-solving that is specifically geared toward the environmetal field. Numerous case studies demonstrate the practical application of theory in a way that is useful to technical and scientific professionals as well as to policy makers and planners. Alan Miller is Professor of Psychology at the University of New Brunswick.

'Environmental Problem-Solving' offers a self-paced curriculum for college and university students who want to learn the basic techniques government agencies, citizen action groups, corporations and research institutions use to solve pressing environmental problems.

This volume explores how the scientific tools of ecology can be used more effectively in dealing with a variety of complex environmental problems. Part I discusses the usefulness of such ecological knowledge as population dynamics and interactions, community ecology, life histories, and the impact of various materials and energy sources on the environment. Part II contains 13 original and instructive case studies pertaining to the biological side of environmental problems, which Nature described as "carefully chosen and extremely interesting."

This book offers a variety of exciting techniques for approaching contemporary environmental problems, such as 'What was the pH of rainfall before the Industrial Revolution?'

The aim of this book is to encourage integration of the natural and social sciences with the policy and design-making community, and thereby develop a deeper understanding of complex environmental problems. Its fundamental themes are: • integrated modeling and assessment • complex, adaptive, hierarchical systems • ecosystem services • science and decision-making • ecosystem health and human health • quality of life and the distribution of wealth and resources. This book will act as a state of the art assessment of integrated environmental science and its relation to real world problem solving. It is aimed not only at the academic community, but also as a sourcebook for managers, policy makers, and the informed public. It deals both with the state of the science and the level of consensus among scientists on key environmental issues. The concepts underlying this book were developed at the 2nd EcoSummit workshop held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, June, 2000, with active participation from all delegates, and attempts to present their collective view.

The main subject division of this book include the theory of Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy; measurement and standardization of diffuse reflectance; instrumentation; application to color measurement and physical, inorganic, and organic chemistry; and applications in chromatographic analysis.While the use of reflectance spectroscopy dates from the 1920s, it has only been in the last decade that its analytical potential has been developed. Interestingly, much of the early research involved industrial uses where measurement of color was required. The development and acceptance of thin-layer chromatography has opened up new areas of analysis for the application of this technique.It is not the purpose of this book to delve deeply into the theoretical aspects of reflectance spectroscopy, as this book has already been done in several previous books. Insofar as it is possible, this book is an up-to-date guide to instruments and techniques intended primarily for the chemical analyst, though it is hoped that it may contain information of interest to other scientists. The potential for the application of this technique is great and the authors feel confident that the coming decade will see many interesting developments in this type of spectroscopy study, particularly in the field of analysis.

This book provides a problem solving structure for real life environmental issues. The case studies allow the students to grapple with complex issues and analyze real solutions to environmental problems.