It is an expression
to call a book or writing “the textbook version”. It means in-depth analysis of
the subject based only on facts. That is why reading a textbook about some
serious subjects that may keep future life on earth in suspense, due to nuclear
or environmental dangers, is the best way to get a clear understanding of the
problem. A text book titled “Contemporary Environmental Issues” written by Professor
Michael C. Slattery is one of such books. This book explores every
environmental issue facing us in the twenty first century, and discusses it
from human aspect and scientific view point. Although it contains a few
formulas and parameters, it is easily readable by a lay person. From the first
page, it creates curiosity about the subject being discussed.
The book begins by a
brief history of conservation and environmentalism in the United States, in
addition to other environmental activism and scientific pursuits. Each chapter
ends with a sub-chapter titled “concluding thoughts” that summarizes the
chapter and draws a conclusion about the subject just discussed. Population
growth is the second chapter, exploring whether every person’s footprint has an
impact on the environment, and therefore if the population of earth is
constantly growing what the overall impact would be. On page 17, the author
explains what “rule of 70” means: “Anything that grows by the same percentage
every year is growing exponentially. If this still seems confusing, a
well-known story, said to have originated in Persia, may help. It tells of a
clever courtier who presented a beautiful chess set to his king and in return
asked only that the king give him one grain of rice for the first square, two
grains, or double the amount, for the second square, four grains (or double
again) for the third, and so forth. The king, not being mathematically
inclined, agreed and ordered the rice to be brought from storage. The eighth
square required 128 grains, the 12th took more than one pound. Long
before reaching the 64th square, every grain of rice in the kingdom
had been used. Even today, the total world rice production would not be enough
to meet the amount required for the final square of the chessboard!... In terms
of people, the number of babies born is proportional to the number of people
already here. More babies make more people make more babies make more people,
and so on.” This is the rate the population growth is measured, which is
exponentially upward. One note should be made about the exponential story mentioned
by the Author. In general, old stories are told many times in many books and in
many different ways, in which one can find several variations of the same
story. This story is supposed to be about the minister of a Persian king (Anooshirvan)
by the name of Bozorgmehr, in 5th century Persia, now called Iran. Considering
that rice was not introduced to Persians at that time, the more reliable story
is the one that describes the story with the minister asking for grains of
wheat. Bozorgmehr is famous to have been very wise and knowledgeable who wrote
a book on the subject called the “Book of Wisdom”. According to the most
reliable story, India was under Persian fiefdom at the time. The Indian king
sent a set of chess game to the Iranian king, challenging him to figure out the
game if there was anyone smart enough in his kingdom to understand how the game
was played, or he would stop paying tribute to the king, and even inquire fief
from the king Persia. Bozorgmehr figures out this game and invents a different
game, backgammon, and sends it back to the king of India to figure that game
out. Persian king is utterly impressed with his minister and asks him what he
would like from the king to give him as a reward. The minister responds that he
has everything he would need and there is nothing the king can give him that he
would desire. The king insists and tells him to ask the king something that
would be difficult for the king to accomplish. In response, the minister asks
for grains of wheat, in the fashion it is mentioned in the above story. Last
Carl Sagan’s book that was published after his death, titled “Billions and
Billions”, begins with the same story. We are totally off the subject!
First Page of Bozorgmehr's "Book of Wisdom"
Next chapter, the
environmental impact of our search for energy, discusses various types of
energy currently extracted and used, beginning with coal which is 23% of global
source of energy. The same percentage is the source of oil and natural gas. 6%
of our source of energy is from nuclear power plants. Michael Slattery
describes hazards of each one of these sources of energy. Lastly, he talks
about hydroelectric, wind and solar power. The professor never mentions which
one of these sources of energy is his preferred option, but the book is filled with
pictures of windmills! On page 80, he requests the readers to revisit their
energy consumptions: “Because transportation accounts for nearly 30% of U.S.
annual CO2 emissions, raising fuel
economy is one of the most important thigs we can do. For each gallon of gas
you burn, 20 pounds of heat-trapping CO2 is released into the atmosphere.”
The following
chapter is dedicated to air quality. Definition of air quality and pollutants
that humans produce and send to the atmosphere, and effect of them are
discussed in detail. For each pollutant, standard amount is mentioned and it is
compared with actual average. Six criteria pollutants are argued one by one:
Nitrogen Oxides, Sulfur Dioxide, Lead, Particulate Matter, Carbon Monoxide, and
Ozone. The author talks about air quality index and meteorology, and what they
mean and how it should be used. Amount of Mercury in the environment and its
dangerous presence is the last subject of this topic.
What stratospheric
Ozone depletion is, that we hear about very often, is the next subject. It is
explained in simple words that can be understood by everyone. Global climate
change is the next topic that is described, along with greenhouse effect, the
carbon cycle, change in global climate, global warming, prediction of future
trends, and how all of these can be prevented or reduced. One of the main
factors in global warming is deforestation. After presenting a gloomy picture
of what deforestation is and how rapidly forests and jungles are destroyed, is
explored next. How deforestation is done and by whom or what, takes the reader
to drivers of deforestation. On page 171, he states: “Research indicates that
deforestation most often involves non-demographic mechanisms resulting from
credit and capital market failures, securing property rights, uneven land
distribution, consumption patterns in developed countries, and profit driven
multinational companies.” The author titled the following chapter “Biodiversity:
The Sixth Mass Extinction”. The principles of biodiversity and the cause of extinction
of many species are studied, and which species are threatened for extinction is
formulated. A case study in Hawaii is presented last.
An interesting
subject that many have not thought of, is soil degradation. It is remarkable to
know that the base of all our food, what makes us exist, can lose its nurturing
elements due to erosion, human activity, and other causes. Its impact and soil
conservation are discussed next. We are familiar with water crisis these days, that
is not only caused by atmospheric changes such as global warming, but the way
underground water is used can also be a large factor. The chapter starts with
this statement that is strange that we call our planet earth, while about 70%
of globe is consisted of water. But we are still in water crisis as there is a
graphic demonstration in the book showing that 2.5% all the water is fresh
water. Some of the statistics in this chapter are eye opening. For instance on
page 237 the book presents figures relating to the water usage in the U.S.: “Total
freshwater and saline-water withdrawals in 2005 were estimated to be 410,000
million gallons per day… This is equivalent to emptying 620,000 olympic- sized
swimming pools each day!” It continues in the next page: “Nevertheless, it is
estimated that each person in the U.S. uses 155 gallons of water per day on
average in and around the home.” And, there is a graph on the next page that
shows the same usage per person in Japan is 99 gallons, 76 gallons in France,
34 gallons in Germany, 33 gallons in Brazil, 24 gallons in India, 15 gallons in
China, 6 gallons in Nigeria, and 3 gallons in Rwanda. Last chapter summarizes environmental
issues and compares human growth and its ecological footprint, and
interestingly, a calculation of how much that footprint would be.
