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Environmental Science

The document discusses the principles of environmental science and sustainability, emphasizing the need for a balance between human needs and the health of the planet. It outlines the scientific method, the history of the environmental movement, and various ethical perspectives on environmental stewardship. Additionally, it highlights the importance of biodiversity, ecological systems, and the laws of thermodynamics in understanding environmental interactions.

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Janine Mae Heyasa Gabor
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6 views

Environmental Science

The document discusses the principles of environmental science and sustainability, emphasizing the need for a balance between human needs and the health of the planet. It outlines the scientific method, the history of the environmental movement, and various ethical perspectives on environmental stewardship. Additionally, it highlights the importance of biodiversity, ecological systems, and the laws of thermodynamics in understanding environmental interactions.

Uploaded by

Janine Mae Heyasa Gabor
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Environmental Science - Study of the impact of 3.

Repeatable: Several scientists must get same


humans on the natural world results
4. Falsifiable: New evidence will “falsify” or
Sustainability - meeting the needs of the present disprove scientific ideas
generation (of all species) without compromising STEPS IN THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs 1. Observation – Perceive something interesting,
identify a question
3 dimensions of Sustainability 2. Hypothesis – A possible explanation of the
observation or answer to the question.
1. Environment: Environment can produce the -Must have an independent variable (cause)
resources needed and a dependent variable (effect)
2. Economy: Economy can continue to support us 3. Test – Collect data on the independent and
on the resources we have dependent variables
3. Equity/Fairness: Fair distribution of resources – 4. Conclusion – Examine data, decide if
hypothesis is supported or rejected.
people of all cultures, and all species, must be
considered. Theory – hypothesis that has been tested many
times and never disproven
EVIDENCE OF SUSTAINABILITY
Natural Law – Theory that holds true everywhere
• Reducing rates of human population growth
• Bald eagle populations have recovered! Environmental Ethics
• In U.S. we don’t dump raw sewage into the
water • Anthropocentric ethic: Human-centered
• Many laws protecting the environment • Environment exists for human use; humans can
• Awareness of the problem use it any way we want
• Biocentric ethic: Life-centered
UNSUSTAINABILITY • Env. exists for all life forms, must treat the earth
so all life can continue
• Global climate change, increasing greenhouse • Ecocentric ethic: Earth (home) – centered:
gases • Env. is a complex set of interacting living and
• Human population still growing fast non-living systems, must value all of it.
• More wars, conflicts over resources The History of the Environmental Movement
• Running out of oil has Four Distinct Stages:
• Species going extinct faster than they would 1. Utilitarian Resource Conservation
without humans 2. Biocentric Nature Preservation
3. Modern Environmentalism
HOW TO ACHIEVE SUSTAINABILITY 4. Global Environmental Citizenship

• Study the problem – scientific method, critical Beginning of the Env. Movement
thinking
• Understand the natural world • 1864: George Perkins Marsh writes Man and
• Understand human impacts Nature, about soil erosion, excessive cutting
• Learn how to change human behavior! Via and destruction
laws, persuasion, communication, business,
• Argued for responsible stewardship of forests
arts, etc.!
and wilderness preservation
SCIENCE - A way of knowing the world; A method
of finding answers.
1. Utilitarian Resource Conservation
Science is: • Started by President Theodore Roosevelt,
and Forest Service head Gifford Pinchot.
1. Empirical: Studies only things that physically • Utilitarian = usefulness - USE natural
exist (made of matter or energy) resources for humans but do it carefully!
2. Testable: If no way to collect data, can’t be • Should be used for “the greatest good for the
science greatest number, for the longest time.”
Ecology- Study of the interactions between
Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946) organisms and the non-living environment
• First head of US Forest Service
• Taught how to “manage resources” so they These interactions create Ecosystems which have:
would last 1. Energy flows
• Understood that humans depended on the 2. Nutrient cycles
natural world for survival! 3. Evolutionary pathways
2. Biocentric Nature Preservation
Levels of Biological Organization
• John Muir, first president of the Sierra Club, • Individual organisms – single life form
opposed Pinchot’s utilitarian policies. • Populations - of many indivs. of the same
• Believed we should protect nature because all species living in the same area
organisms have a moral right to exist • Species - includes all organisms genetically
similar enough to reproduce and produce fertile
John Muir 1838-1914
offspring
• Naturalist, writer
• Communities - all interacting species in one
• Wrote passionately about the beauty of
place
wilderness
• Ecosystems - the biological community and its
• Fought against the Hetch-Hetchy dam – water
physical envt.
for San Francisco
Biotic Factors
Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) 1. living organisms and interactions btwn.
• Scientist, forester, wildlife manager organisms that can affect species in the
• First to promote the “Ecocentric” viewpoint community
Writings had huge influence on 20 century
scientists exs: predators, parasites, competition, etc.
• A Sand County Almanac Abiotic Factors
• “Round River” essay 2. non-living features of the environment
exs: water, nutrients, sunlight
3. Modern Environmentalism
• Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) started A key feature of any ecosystem is species diversity
the modern environmental movement. –the number of different kinds of species present.
- awakened the public to threats of
pollution and toxic chemicals to all
species
Terrestrial Biomes of the World
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) Biome - Dominant ecosystem in a region.
• Scientist, writer
• Book Silent Spring exposed the terrible effects Types of Biome
of pesticides
• She was denounced by the chemical industry 1. Tropical Rain Forest
• Highest Precipitation
• 1969 Env. Protection Agency created • Greatest Species Diversity
• 1970 First Earth Day
• 1973 Endangered Species Act passed 2. Temperate Deciduous Forest
• 1978 Toxic Sites (Love Canal) • Major biome in eastern US
• 1972 View of earth from space – Apollo 17 • Medium precipitation
• 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident • Very good soil
• Forest re-grows easily
4. Global Environmental Citizenship • In general, greater diversity than forests further north
• Global environmentalism is the recognition that
we share one environment 3. Boreal Forest
• Social justice issues included – sharing of • also called northern coniferous forest
resources is critical for sustainable future • Evergreen, conifer trees
• most common biome in much of Canada
Ecological Principles and Sustainability
• in general, diversity is lower than forests further
south

Franklin Pierce is located near the boundary btwn


temperate deciduous forest and northern
coniferous forest.

Nature Works like a System


• System: Set interactions among interdependent
parts
• Closed system: Isolated from outside
• Open system: Energy and materials flow in
and out (nature)

Systems are controlled by feedback loops


• Positive feedback: Increase in one process
leads to further increase
• Negative feedback: An increase in a process
eventually leads to a decrease in that process

Matter and Energy


• Matter - anything that has volume and mass
• Energy - ability to do work
• Kinetic energy - energy in anything that moves
(includes light waves, heat, etc.)
• Potential energy - stored energy
• Chemical Potential Energy - energy stored in
the bonds of molecules
• Gravitational p.e.- energy stored in something
that can fall

Thermodynamics = how energy is transferred.

The first law of thermodynamics states:


• Energy is conserved = can’t create or
destroy energy.

The second law of thermodynamics states:


• disorder in the universe is increasing

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