Science and the Environment 1. Understanding Our Environment 2. The Environment and Society

1. Science and the Environment1. Understanding Our Environment2. The Environment and Society p.5-23

2. Key Terms • Environmental Science • Ecology • Agriculture • Natural resources • Pollution • Biodiversity • Law of supply and demand • Ecological footprint • Sustainability

3. Understanding our Environment • Define environmental science, and compare environmental science with ecology • List five major fields of study that contribute to environmental science • Describe the major environmental effects of hunter-gathers, the agricultural revolution, and the Industrial Revolution • Distinguish between renewable and nonrenewable resources. • Classify environmental problems into three major categories

4. How do you define Environment? • Rain-forest • Backyard or neighborhood • Everything around us • Both natural and manmade • Complex web of relationships that connects us with the world we live in (interconnectedness)

5. What is Environmental Science? • The study of how humans interact with the environment. Goals: • To understand and solve environmental problems by studying humans and their environments • How we use natural resources (water and plants) • How our actions alter our environment

6. Many Fields of Study • Ecology- study how living things interact with each other and their nonliving environment • Biology- study of living things (Zoology, Botany, Microbiology, Ecology) • Earth Science- is the study of the Earth’s nonlving systems and the planet as a whole (Geology, Paleontology, Climatology, Hydrology) • Physics- study of matter and energy (Engineering) • Chemistry- study of chemicals and their interactions (Biochemistry, Geochemisty) • Social sciences- study of human populations (geography, anthropology, sociology) http://thefunworks.edc.org/SPTUI--FunWorks/funworks/page.php?class=4

7. Our Environment Through Time • Manhattan was a place where Native Americans hunted and fished (Hunters-Gathers) • The Native American set fires to burn prairies to prevent succession (growth of trees) keeping them as open grasslands so they could hunt • Gathers spread plants to areas they didn’t normally grow in • Over hunting- lost of species

8. Agricultural Revolution • 10,000 years ago • The practice of growing, breeding and caring for plants and animals that are used for food, clothing, housing, transpiration and other • Growth of human populations (500x times support than HG) • Changed food we ate • Caused soil loss, floods, water shortages, non fertile soils, loss of habitats

9. Industrial Revolution • 1700’s shift from animal muscle and running waters to fossil fuels (coal and oil) • Increased the efficiency of agriculture, industry and transportation • Large scale productions of goods became less expensive then manmade • Light bulbs, sanitations, nutrition and medical care pollution and habitat loss more common • Artificial products makes life easier but just starting to see environmental problems it caused

10. Spaceship Earth • Earth is like a spaceship traveling that cannot dispose of its waste • Earth is a Close System (large amounts of energy enter and large amounts of heat leave) • Resources are limited and produces more waste than we can dispose of • IR and AR allowed for human populations to grow to large too fast • Major problems- habitat loss, pesticide pollutions and feeding the world

11. Main Environmental Problems • Resource Depletion (non and renewable) Natural resources- any natural material that is used by humans • Pollution- undesired change in air, water, soil that adversely affects the health, survival, or activities of humans or other living things (bio and nondegradable) • Loss of Biodiversity- number and variety of species that live in an area (extinction)

12. The Environment and Society • Describe the “Tragedy of the Commons” • Explain the law of supply and demand • List 3 differences between developed and developing countries • Explain what sustainability is, and describe why it is a goal of environmental science

13. The Tragedy of the Commons- Hardin • Take human societies and how they act before we can solve problems • Short term interest of the individual and the long-term welfare of society • Overuse and depleting- someone hast to take responsibility for maintaining a resource • Community gardens

14. Economics and the Environment • Supply and Demand- greater the demand for a limited supply of something, the more that the things is worth (oil- pay higher prices, use less, find new resources) • Cost and Benefits- the cost of the action against the benefits one expect from it. Who does the analysis can change the outcome) • Risk Assessment- perception of the risk, used to protect our health and environment

15. Developed and Developing Countries • World choices affect us ALL !! • Unequal distribution of wealth and resources around the world influences the environmental problem • Developed- higher incomes, slower population growth, diverse industries and strong social support (US, Canada and Japan) • Developing- lower incomes, simple agriculture based economies, rapid pop growth ( Mexico, Brazil and Malaysia)

16. Population and Consumption • Local population pressures- populations grows rapidly and may not be enough natural resources for everyone to live healthy • Consumption Trends- 75% of worlds resources used by developed nations that make up 20% of world pop which also creates more waste and pollution per person than developing countries • Ecological footprints- shows the productive area of Earth needed to support one person in a particular country

17. Critical Science in Context • Critical Thinking and your Environment- no easy solution to the problem, people feel passionately about their cause • Be critical thinkers about what you see and hear on TV, Radio and internet. Often information maybe be miss interpreted or over simplified • Who is to gain? Is there bias? (new energy resources – fracking)

18. Sustainable World • Sustainability- is the condition in which human needs are met in such a way that a human population can survive indefinitely • Does not mean it cant be a changing world • All parts of society – individuals, industry, and government cooperate • Bald Eagles are no longer endangered species because we reduces the use of DDT WW