Introduction to Environmental Sciences and Sustainability

Reviewed by Catherine Mossman, Distinguished Lecturer, University of Wisconsin-Parkside on 5/12/25

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

This book was adequate for my course. It lacked a chapter addressing preserving nature/establishment/history of national parks/types of areas to be protected (wetlands, forests, grasslands, marine systems). There could also be more information on human populations/problems with overpopulation on a global level. There is some information in Ch 4, but there could be more added.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Environmental Science is changing constantly. As of the date of publication, this book is accurate.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Again, there are changes to environmental science policies on a daily basis, especially now. Therefore, changes/updates will be needed on a frequent basis.

Clarity rating: 5

This textbook was written at an appropriate level for a general education environmental science course. I had my students take a survey. 45% of respondents indicated that this book was easy to understand and 35% indicated that it was sometimes easy to understand.

Consistency rating: 5

Yes, I liked the overall framework of this textbook. It was consistent from chapter to chapter.

Modularity rating: 5

Yes, I did not use this textbook in the order written. I used chapters (or parts of chapters) as needed for reference material for students.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Yes, it is well written. I had my students take a survey. 48% of respondents indicated that tables and graphs were helpful in the book.

Interface rating: 5

Yes, I was able to copy and use images without problems for my PPT slides.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

There were some grammar mistakes, but that is common for an early edition.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Topics were appropriate.

Comments

In the survey that I gave my students, I asked some basic questions (in addition to what I mentioned already above) that I thought would be helpful. This was an introductory gen ed course that had 45 students in it.
1) 35% said that their use of this textbook was 1-2 hours for the semester. The next highest response was 23% which was never used.
2) I asked if students would prefer a physical copy of a text book: 23% said yes; 26% said no and 52@ said that it didn't matter to them.
Overall, students seemed to have a positive to neutral reaction to using this textbook. I would use it again as it is accurate and had appropriate topics for my course and of course was free. Thank you!

Reviewed by Samuel Colvin, Instructor, Marshall University on 1/8/25

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book covers many facets of environmental sciences. If adopted for use by our department, supplemental information about geology, natural resources and recreation management will need to be added.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The content appears to be accurate, No bias was detected.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The content is current. Updates could easily be made.

Clarity rating: 4

The writing is clear. Technical terminology is adequately defined.

Consistency rating: 4

The text provides a framework which adequately addresses major environmental issues.

Modularity rating: 4

Reading sections could be easily arranged and assigned.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

An introduction to science is followed by ecosystems, ecology and biodiversity. Then environmental problems are addressed.

Interface rating: 4

Navigation through the text is easily done.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

No grammatical errors were detected.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The discussion of the Native American cultural emphasis on sustainability is particularly noteworthy.

Reviewed by Kristen Genet, Unlimited Full Time Faculty in Biology, Anoka-Ramsey Community College on 10/16/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

There are 14 chapters in this text that cover a wide range of environmental science concepts and environmental issues. I had no trouble finding information that addressed each of the core course concepts from our common course outline.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

Even though the copyright date is indicated to be 2023, there is some information that is very outdated (especially when it comes to renewable energy and electric vehicles in the transportation sector). I know this is a rapidly changing field of study. but I would really like to think that the information would be accurate and current as of the copyright date.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

I addressed this in the "accuracy" section, but this is an inherent issue in this field where technology and data changes so rapidly. It really needs updates in the sections about those issues that change most rapidly (e.g., renewable energy, climate change).

Clarity rating: 4

Writing style is clear, and supporting information is frequently included in the form of images, data, tables, diagrams, etc. I would actually like to see even more of that, and in a way that would be interactive and engaging for the students to work through.

Consistency rating: 4

I do find that the sections within chapters, as well as between chapters, are written consistently. That allows me to easily move between topics as I encourage students to build connections between concepts.

Modularity rating: 4

Each chapter is divided into multiple sections, which makes it very easy for me to pick and choose those sections to include as resources each week. The chapters are numbered, but I wonder if we could omit the numbers and just label them by topic and theme, as the numbers and sequence seem to be a bit arbitrary and it's certainly possible to move between sections and chapters.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The structure and organization are clear and logical for the most part, but there are a few things that I would reorder - however, given the modularity of the resource, it's very easy to do that as I pick and choose chapters (and sections within chapters) into the content page of my LMS.

Interface rating: 5

It is easy to navigate between chapters (or sections within chapters) using the dropdown menu/navigation on the left side of the screen. There are a couple examples of figures that do not display within chapter sections, but the vast majority of them are well positioned and not distorted.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text did not contain any grammatical errors that I found.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

There are specific connections that are culturally responsive in the section on environmental justice and indigenous struggles, but it would be even more impactful to weave culturally relevant examples and data throughout the text, which is still written from a very western, colonial perspective.