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ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE. Chapter 1 Science and the Environment 1.1 Understanding Our Environment. 1.1 Understanding Our Environment Objectives. Define environmental science and compare environmental science with ecology.

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ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

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  1. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE Chapter 1 Science and the Environment 1.1 Understanding Our Environment

  2. 1.1 Understanding Our Environment Objectives • Define environmental science and compare environmental science with ecology. • List the five major fields of study that contribute to environmental science. • Describe the major environmental effects of hunter-gatherers, the agricultural revolution, and the Industrial Revolution. • Distinguish between renewable and nonrenewable resources. • Classify environmental problems into three major categories.

  3. Introduction • Our environment is everything around us. • The environment includes biotic (living) and abiotic (nonliving) factors. • The environment is also a complex web of relationships that connect us with the world in which we live. • Energy flow and cycling of matter are constants in any environment on Earth.

  4. Biotic and Abiotic Factors

  5. What is Environmental Science? • Environmental science is the study of how humans interact with the environment. • Environmental science seeks to understand and solve environmental problems by focusing on two primary areas of study. • How we use natural resources such as water and plants • How our actions alter our environment • Environmental science is interdisciplinary, meaning that it integrates many different fields of study.

  6. What is Environmental Science? • Ecology, an important foundation of environmental science, is the study of how living things interact with each other and with their abiotic environment. • Chemistry helps us understand changes in matter which occur in the environment such as the effect of pollutants. • Geology helps us to understand the structure of the Earth and how certain pollutants may disperse if released into the environment. • Paleontology helps us to understand changes that have occurred in both climate and living forms in the past. • The study of population, economics, law, and politics also play an important role in environmental science.

  7. What is Environmental Science? • Five major fields of study contribute to Environmental Science. • Biology – the study of living organisms • Earth Science – the study of Earth’s nonliving systems and the planet as a whole • Physics – the study of matter and energy • Chemistry – the study of chemicals and their interactions • Social Sciences – study of human populations and their interactions

  8. Our Environment Through Time • Hunter-gatherer societies consist of people who obtain food by collecting plants or hunting (or scavenging) wild animals. • Hunter-gatherer societies tend to be small groups that migrate with animals or according to season • A few hunter-gatherer societies remain today in parts of the Amazon and New Guinea • Evidence suggests that Native Americans burned the prairies to keep trees from growing on them so that they would be better suited for hunting • Evidence also links the arrival of man in many places with the extinction of large mammals such as mammoth and giant ground sloth

  9. Our Environment Through Time • Agriculture is the practice of growing, breeding, and caring for the plants and animals that are used for food, clothing, housing, transportation, and other purposes. • The agricultural revolution began over 10,000 years ago in many parts of the world and had a major effect on population and the environment • A given area of land can support up to 500 times as many people with agriculture than it can through hunting and gathering • As populations grew, they began to concentrate in certain areas

  10. Our Environment Through Time • Agriculture is the practice of growing, breeding, and caring for the plants and animals that are used for food, clothing, housing, transportation, and other purposes. Cont’d • The plants and animals that we depend on agriculturally today began as wild populations and were selected through the ages for their desirable traits • Slash-and-burn agriculture was an early form of converting natural habitat to farmland • Civilizations have fallen due to the destructive consequences (erosion, flooding, degradation of soil quality, etc.) of poor agricultural technique

  11. Our Environment Through Time • The focus of the Industrial Revolution, which began about 300 years ago, was the change of fuel source from animal and water power to the combustion of fossil fuels. • Agriculture, industry, and transportation became much more efficient – enough so to revolutionize society • Large scale production meant more and cheaper goods and agriculture depended less on large numbers of laborers • Motorized vehicles allowed for the cheap transportation of people and goods over long distances

  12. Our Environment Through Time • The focus of the Industrial Revolution, which began about 300 years ago, was the change of fuel source from animal and water power to the combustion of fossil fuels. • Along with improvements in lifestyle, the Industrial Revolution has introduced many new environmental problems • Pollution and habitat loss are becoming greater concerns as human population continues to increase exponentially

  13. Spaceship Earth • Environmental problems can occur on any scale – global, regional, or local. • Earth is an open system with respect to energy, yet a closed system with respect to matter. • As light energy is continually bombarding Earth, some of it is radiated out into space as heat and light energy. • Some energy is captured and converted to chemical energy by living systems.

  14. Spaceship Earth • Human population is growing exponentially – which is evident as a “J – curve” on a population graph. • The synergistic effects of the agricultural and industrial revolutions along with modern medicine and a growing awareness of sanitation and hygeine have resulted in an exploding human population that most resemble insect populations – just before they crash. • Most large mammals exhibit an “S – curve” population growth. • As human population grows, so does its need for resources such as food, energy, and space – as well as the production of waste.

  15. Identifying Environmental Problems • Environmental problems can generally be grouped into three categories. • Resource depletion • Pollution • Loss of biodiversity

  16. Identifying Environmental Problems • Natural resources are any materials used by humans. • A renewable resource, such as water, sunlight, and wood can be replaced relatively quickly by natural processes • Nonrenewable resources, such as fossil fuels and minerals are used up at a much faster rate than they are consumed • Any resource can be considered to be depleted when a large fraction of that resource has been used up. • Pollution is an undesired change in air, water, or soil that adversely affects the health and activity of organisms.

  17. Identifying Environmental Problems • There are two main types of pollutants. • Biodegradable pollutants can be broken down by natural processes and may include sewage and newspaper • Nondegradable pollutants cannot be broken down by natural processes and may include mercury, lead, and some plastics • Biodiversity refers to the number and kind of different species living in an area.

  18. Identifying Environmental Problems • It is estimated that there are currently about 13 million species on Earth – just a fraction of a percent that have existed on Earth through time! • Several mass extinction events have occurred through time – including the larges of such events a the Permian-Triassic boundary about 250 million years ago when 95% of then existing species went extinct. • It is important that we are not the major cause of the next extinction event (in which we may currently be experiencing).

  19. References • Moss and Lichens - http://www1.br.cc.va.us/murray/serendipity/Biology/Activities/Sherando/examples_of_primary_succession.htm • Mountain Lion - http://www.rw.ttu.edu/sp_accounts/mountain_lion/literature.htm • Waterfall - http://www.rodsguide.com/cataract_falls.htm • Kalahari Bushman Catching Ants - http://www.kalahari-desert.com/destination_gallery_Bushmen.asp

  20. References • Egyptian Farmer - http://www.wsu.edu:8001/vwsu/gened/learn-modules/top_agrev/5-Technology/technology3.html • Factory - http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-9-2/31874.html • Customer Service/Information - http://www.vipowernet.net/CustomerService.asp • Growth Curves - http://www.chem.duke.edu/~bonk/Chem8304/enote1405.html

  21. References • Slash-and-Burn Agriculture - http://encarta.msn.com/media_461539708_761554342_-1_1/Slash-and-Burn_Agriculture.html

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