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What is the Environment?

What is the Environment?. Define: . What is environmental science?. The study of how humans interact with the environment Invasive species??? Species that are introduced from another location and then thrive in the absence of predators Zebra mussels 1989

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What is the Environment?

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  1. What is the Environment? Define:

  2. What is environmental science? • The study of how humans interact with the environment • Invasive species??? • Species that are introduced from another location and then thrive in the absence of predators • Zebra mussels 1989 • Give some examples of invasive species

  3. Invasive Species Kudzu Hydrilla

  4. Goals of Environmental Science • To understand and solve environmental problems • Environmental Scientist study two main types of interactions between humans and their environment • How we use our natural resources • How our actions alter our environment

  5. Ecology • The study of how living things interact with each other and with their nonliving environment • Ex: Ecologist may study the relationship between bees and the plants they pollinate • Ex: An environmental scientist may study how the nesting behavior of bees is influenced by human activities such as the planting of suburban landscaping

  6. Major Fields of Study that contribute to Environmental Science • Biology • Zoology • Botany • Microbiology • Ecology • Earth Science • Geology • Paleontology • Climatology • Hydrology • Physics • Engineering • Chemistry • Biochemistry • Geochemistry • Social Sciences • Geography • Anthropology • Sociology

  7. Create an Environmental Problems List • Significant Global environmental problems • Create a list of local environmental problems within the realm of global issues • Propose ways to solve local problems • Hold a press conference • Students will research a global environmental issue and hold a press conference

  8. Our environment through time • Hunter-Gatherers- people who obtain food by collecting plants and by hunting wild animals or scavenging their remains • Agriculture- the practice of growing, breeding, and caring for plants and animals that are used for food, clothing, housing, transportation and other purposes • Started over 10,000 years ago • Industrial Revolution-

  9. Agricultural Revolution • Allowed human populations to grow at an unprecedented rate • An area of land can support up to 500 times as many people by farming as by hunting-gathering • Put pressure on local environments • Changed the food we eat • Farmers collected seeds that exhibited the qualities they desired • Domesticated plants became very different from their wild ancestors • Changed the land • Habitat was destroyed • Slash-and-burned agriculture • Soil loss, floods, water shortages • Land farmed poorly-no longer fertile

  10. Industrial Revolution • 1700’s involved a shift from energy sources such as animal muscle and running water to fossil fuels and machines • Changed society and greatly increased the efficiency of agriculture, industry, and transportation • Large scale production became less expensive than locally handmade goods • Transportation of goods across great distances • Urban areas steadily grew

  11. Did this improve the quality of life? • Plastics • Fertilizers • Pesticides • Deforestation

  12. What are our main environmental problems? • Resource depletion • Natural resource- any natural material that is used by humans • Renewable- a resource that can be replaced relatively quickly by natural processes • Nonrenewable- a resource that forms at a much slower rate than the rate that it is consumed

  13. …main environmental problems • Pollution- an undesired change in air, water, or soil that adversely affects the health, survival, or activities of humans or other organisms. • Biodegradable pollutants- pollutants that can be broken down by natural processes • Human sewage, stack of newspapers • Nondegradable pollutants- pollutants that cannot be broken down by natural processes • Mercury, lead, plastics

  14. …main environmental problems • Loss of biodiversity • Biodiversity- the number and variety of species that live in an area • Organisms are considered nonrenewable resources

  15. What type of resource is this? • Trees • Copper • Oil • Energy from the sun • Soil • Salt • Sand • Air • Coal • Water

  16. Explain how hunter-gatherers affected the environment in which they lived. • Describe the major environmental effects of the agricultural revolution and the Industrial Revolution. • Explain how environmental problems can be local, regional, or global. Give one example of each • Identify an example of a natural source of pollution • How did the Industrial Revolution affect Human population growth? • Fossil fuels are said to be nonrenewable resources, yet they are produced by the Earth over millions of years. By what time frame are they considered nonrenewable? Write a paragraph that explains your answer.

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