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.