A User's Guide for Planet Earth focuses on the fundamental components of Earth's environmental systems, their interactions, and the way society affects and is affected by alterations in climate, ecosystems, hydrology, and the many other factors that determine our environment. Rather than attempting to include an overwhelming series of environmental anecdotes and peripheral information, this text distills the essential concepts involved in environmental science into a readily understandable and easily digestible form. This will keep students and their professors up to date with the latest understanding of the processes that maintain environmental goods and services, that drive alterations in the earth system, and that control the ways that the environment behaves as an integrated system at all scales. Students will explore the role of scientific insight in environmental science, and how emerging ideas make it possible to solve problems rooted in the past.

A User's Guide for Planet Earth is written for introductory Environmental Science courses, with college freshmen in mind. The material is closely aligned with course content, and the clear, concise style of the text is designed to give students an excellent understanding of important concepts.