The Facts On File Dictionary of Environmental Science covers the terms and concepts used in the high school Advanced Placement course in environmental science. Like the subject - which is interdisciplinary and involves ideas from a number of fields of study - this volume deals with the science behind interrelationships of the natural world as well as with natural and human environmental problems. In terms high school and undergraduate students will understand, it explains the underlying principle of environmental science which holds that the Earth is a single interconnected system that can be altered by human activity and that cultural, social, and economic factors are vital to the development of environmental solutions and it defines the various terms, issues, and ideas that constitute the fundamental elements of the science.