Environmental Issues, Global Perspectives: Oceans

Covering 71 percent of the planet, oceans provided the unique environmental conditions necessary for the building blocks of life to form billions of years ago and continue to support life in important ways today--they are home to nearly 50% of all species on earth; they influence climate and weather patterns; they provide food and water for humankind. Yet they are being threatened by human activity and natural disasters. The case studies inOceans include a discussion of the most remote locations along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where new ocean floor is being formed underwater; the Maldive Islands, where rising sea levels may force residents to abandon their communities; and the North Sea, where fishing stocks have been dangerously depleted as a result of multiple nations' unrelenting removal of certain species.

James Balliett graduated from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, studying environmental issues and writing. His senior thesis was about a winter he spent on the summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire. Two years later, he was awarded his masters of science degree in environmental studies from Antioch New England Graduate School.

His experiences include a project for the US Forest Service in southeast Alaska, work for the harbormaster in Chatham, Massachusetts, and as a natural resource officer in Barnstable, Massachusetts where he helped manage a piping plover colony. While living in Burlington, Vermont, Balliett was a reporter for the Burlington Free Press and worked at the Chamber of Commerce where he directed their government affairs office. While living in Colorado's front range, he served as an advocacy manager for Housing Colorado. He currently resides on Cape Cod and writes for the Cape Codder Newspaper, covering a range of community, environmental, and business news. His five environmental science books (mountains, forests, wetlands, freshwater, and oceans) make up a set on Environmental Issues, Global Perspectives.