Salem Press's three-volume Encyclopedia of Environmental Issues is a wide-ranging guide designed to meet the growing need for environmental literacy. The encyclopedia assembles information from fields of knowledge relevant to the study of environmental issues such as biology, geology, anthropology, demographics, genetics, and engineering, and it explains their interrelationships in terms that are easily understood by nonspecialists.

The Encyclopedia of Environmental Issues contains 475 alphabetically arranged articles that range in length from five hundred to three thousand ords. All articles are signed by the academics and other experts who wrote hem. They cover a wide variety of topics, including air pollution, national parks, environmental legislation, oil spills, and solar power. The articles are not limited to wilderness issues. In recognition of the fact that people spend an overwhelming proportion of their time in human-made environments, essays also cover such topics as sick-building syndrome, smog, and urban planning.

The bulk of the articles consist of overviews of issues, concepts, and terms relevant to the study of environmental matters. These articles range from broad concepts such as ecology to specific issues such as the conflict between loggers and defenders of the endangered northern spotted owl in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The encyclopedia also includes numerous specialised articles covering biographies, events, legislation, and organisations. Among the biographical entries are discussions of John Muir, the American preservationist who founded the Sierra Club, and James Watt, U.S. resident Ronald Reagan's secretary of the interior, who attempted to undo most of the environmental legislation of the previous decades. Articles detailing significant events range from disasters such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Minamata Bay, Japan, mercury poisoning to international meetings--such as the 1992 Earth Summit in Brazil--that offer hope for global solutions to environmental problems. Also included are essays exploring laws, acts of legislation, and court cases that have affected the manner in which humans interact with the environment. Important organisations and movements covered include the antienvironmental Sagebrush Rebellion of the late 1970's, the Chipko Andolan movement in India, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Each article in the set begins with a category subhead and a summary of its relevance to environmental issues and ends with a list of cross-references to related articles in the set. Essays covering events begin with a subhead that indicates the date of occurrence. Articles that are one thousand words in length or longer also include suggestions for further reading; these are especially useful for students seeking resources for more in-depth, current information on the topic at hand. The encyclopedia includes nearly 200 photographs and 100 charts, graphs, tables, and other illustrations that illuminate the events and concepts detailed in the essays.

The Encyclopedia of Environmental Issues ends with several useful appendices, including a time line of environmental legislation, a directory of environmental organisations, a glossary, and an extensive bibliography listing up-to-date publications that provide new insights into ongoing issues. Also included are a comprehensive subject index and a list of entries arranged according to the following categories: agriculture and food, animals and endangered species, atmosphere and air pollution, biotechnology and genetic engineering, ecology and ecosystems, energy, forests and plants, human health and the environment, land and land use, nuclear power and radiation, philosophy and ethics, pollutants and toxins, population issues, preservation and wilderness issues, resources and resource management, water and water pollution, and weather and climate.