Understanding Environmental Pollution 3e
Rating: 
Marquita K Hill. 2010. Understanding Environmental Pollution. 3e. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978 0 521 73669 5.
The need for a text looking at pollution (other than global climate change) is pressing and yet there are few texts taking this more comprehensive route. It is clear such a text is still needed and indeed, judging by the size difference between the first edition (reviewed here many years ago) and the current one, there is even more to say! Of course, size is not a decent criterion for a text – it depends on the coverage!
The 19 chapters are arranged into four ‘sections’ each dealing with a different aspect. The first one provides an overview of the nature of pollution and its impact upon the planet. Chapter one could be considered a primer in its own right. The reader is introduced to the nature of pollution and its impacts (using the increasingly familiar concept of ecosystem services). It starts with the idea that we are massively changing the Earth; continues with an overview of pollution (especially the variability of toxicity and the nature of transport), continues with a look at some examples of impact and concludes with the causes and consequences. Of course, such a rapid view does have the disadvantage of losing key concepts but it’s clear the aim is to get the reader into thinking about pollution as quickly as possible. Subsequent chapters take more specific perspectives. On the four that make up this first part, the study turns to look at risk(how far are we to allow pollution), toxicity (to what extend foes any concentration cause harm) and exposure. These last two chapters provide a very clear description of the impact of our activities mainly on ourselves. Although this is invaluable in making people think about pollution, a broader, ecological dimension (if only in passing) would have been welcomed. The next 8 chapters describe the key pollutant types. So, we start with the range of air pollutants and move to the more specific global air issues of acid deposition, climate change and ozone depletion. Chapters 9 and 10 move to water (and drinking water) pollution. Firstly, there’s a look at key terms and the range of water pollutants paying special attention to the issue of the ‘nitrogen glut’ and its impact on water bodies, one of the pollutants seen as increasingly significant. The discussion on drinking water looks first at standards and then the health impacts of poor water supply. The move is now to land pollution and the issue of waste and its treatment. Although this has a US focus, the issues are common to all urban areas, as are the solutions noted. Finally, we move on to hazardous waste with a globally-ranging set of cases from the infamous Love Canal to the widespread recycling of e-waste in developing nations. Our next four chapters study specific cases starting with energy and a look at fuel types, pollution and then cleaner technologies (although missing the impact of thermal energy). Chapters 14 and 15 examine those pollutants whose impact is far greater than their mass would suggest – the persistent and bioaccumulative materials such as PCBs and metals. Pesticides deserve their chapter; their costs as well as benefits have been well known for decades. Just in case you thought you were safe at home, the pollution of the indoors has a chapter with everything from cleaning agents to radon getting a look in. A penultimate chapter examines the most obvious pollution solution, not producing any (or just reducing or clearing up what you have)! This idea has a long, if slender, history which is finally making the breakthrough it deserves (if only in terms of recycling). A final chapter goes through some of the basic chemistry associated with pollution.
This is still a very good introduction to pollution. On the positive side there is the coverage of virtually all of the key pollution issues and each chapter comes complete with a range of internet resources for further study and an internet site from the publishers with copies of text figures and worked examples. Chapters have a series of sub-sections and sub-headings which serve to distinguish key parts of the issue under discussion but which can also be confusing at times. On the smaller, negative side, it would have been more useful had the new chapter on chemistry been at the front rather than the back – it forms a key part of understanding of the issue. Many of the examples are US-centric (it is a US publication!) and so some of the legislation and processes are not directly comparable. Pollution is a massive topic and any single text attempting to cover it all is bound to have gaps, but overall this is an accessible introduction.
