Table of Content

"1. Global Change
2. Daisyworld: An Introduction to Systems
3. Global Energy Balance: The Greenhouse Effect
4. The Atmospheric Circulation System
5. The Circulation of the Oceans
6. The Cryosphere
7. Circulation of the Solid Earth: Plate Tectonics
8. Recycling of the Elements
9. Focus on the Biota: Metabolism, Ecosystems and Biodiversity
10. Origin of the Earth and of Life
11. Effect of Life on the Atmosphere: The Rise of Oxygen and Ozone
12. Long-Term Climate Regulation.
13. Biodiversity Through Earth History.
14. Pleistocene Glaciations.
15. Global Warming, Part 1: The Scientific Evidence.
16. Global Warming, Part 2: Impacts, Adaptation, and Mitigation
17. Ozone Depletion.
18. Human Threats to Biodiversity.
19. Climate Stability on Earth and Earth-Like Planets.
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Salient Features

"A Closer Look, Useful Concepts, and Thinking Quantitatively boxes address topical issues related to the material presented. They give students appealing visual and highlighted aids and isolates advanced, quantitative treatments for higher-level courses.

• The systems theory approach looks holistically at all that happens on Earth and the interactions of all that is here—such as the effect of weather on land, the effect of erosion on the ocean, the chemical changes that occur—and emphasizes that these processes do not happen in a vacuum.

• An emphasis on global change addresses such modern issues as global warming, ozone depletion, and biodiversity loss.

• A thorough treatment of Earth history provides a framework for developing a deep understanding of global problems while it explores analogous situations in Earth history.

• Extensive pedagogy in each chapter includes thought questions, a summary of important points, a list of important terms, and recommended general and advanced readings.

• Instructor's Resource Guide and Instructor's Resource CD-ROM are now standard instructor supplements with the text.
"