"Maintaining the structure and clarity of the previous edition, the second edition has been revised throughout to include new research, expanded discussions of climate change, and a chapter devoted to spiritual ecology. In the historical overview of the field, Patricia Townsend shows how ideas and approaches developed earlier are relevant to understanding how today's local populations adapt to their physical and biological environments. She next presents a closer look at global environmental issues - rapid expansion of the world economic system, disease and poverty, the loss of biodiversity and its implications for human health - to demonstrate the effects of interactions between local and global communities. As a capstone, she gives thoughtful consideration to how, as professionals and as individuals, we can move toward personal engagement with environmental problems."--BOOK JACKET.