1. Chapter 1 Lecture Notes Science and the Environment
Name: Hour: Date:
Chapter 1 Lecture Notes
Science and the Environment

2. Chapter 1: Section 1 Targets
Define and compare environmental science with .
List and Define the that contribute to environmental science.
Describe the major environmental effects of , the revolution, and the Revolution.
Distinguish between newable and newable resources.
Classify environmental into three major categories.

3. What is Environmental Science?
Environmental Science: Study of how humans affect their and surroundings

4. Goals of Environmental Science
Major goal of environmental science is to and environmental problems.
Environmental scientists study 2 main types of between humans and the environment:
How our actions the environment.
Our of natural resources.

5. Environmental Science vs. Ecology
Environmental science involves many fields of study, including ecology.
Ecology: study of interactions of living organisms with one another and their environment.
Major Levels Studied by Ecologists?

6. 5 Fields of Study Used by Environmental Scientists

7. Scientists as Citizens, Citizens as Scientists
Who is usually the first person to recognize an environmental problem?
The of are the first steps toward addressing an environmental problem.

8. Our Environment Through Time
Wherever have hunted, grown food, or settled, they have the environment.

9. Hunter-Gatherers
Hunter-gatherers: people who get food by plants and wild animals or scavenging their remains.
Hunter-gatherers their environment in many ways:
They hunted animals, their populations
The tribes also to burn prairies and prevent the grow of trees. This left the prairie as an open grassland ideal for hunting bison.

10. Hunter-Gatherers
In North America, a combination of rapid and by hunter-gatherers may have led to disappearance of large mammal species, including:
giant sloths
giant bison
mastodons
cave bears
saber-toothed cats

11. The Agricultural Revolution
Agriculture: raising crops and livestock for food or other products useful to humans.
Practice of agriculture began over 10,000 years ago.
Often called the Revolution.
Allowed human populations to grow at rate. WHY?
Many were and replaced with farmland.
Replacing forest with farmland caused soil loss, floods, and water shortages.

12. The Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution: from energy sources such as animals/running water to fossil fuels such as coal/oil.
use of fossil fuels greatly increased efficiency of agriculture, industry, and transportation.
For example, motorized vehicles allowed food to be transported cheaply across greater distances.
On farms, machinery amount of land and human labor needed to produce food.
With fewer people producing their own food, populations in urban areas steadily .

13. Improving the Quality of Life
Industrial Revolution introduced many changes such as the light bulb.
Agricultural productivity , and sanitation, nutrition, and medical care .
The Industrial Revolution also introduced new environmental such as pollution and habitat loss.
We now have materials such as plastics, artificial pesticides, and fertilizers.
Much of environmental science is concerned with associated with the Industrial Revolution.

14. Spaceship Earth Earth is a system.
Some resources are and as populations grow, they are used more rapidly.
We may also wastes faster than they can be .
Environmental problems on different scales: local, regional, or global.
A example would be your community discussing where to build a new landfill.
A example would be a polluted river 1000 miles away affecting the region’s water.
A example would be the depletion of the ozone layer.

15. Comprehension Check Name a global environmental problem.
2. Name a local environmental problem.
3. Could the local problem be a part of the global problem? If so, how?

16. What are our Main Environmental Problems?
Environmental problems can generally be grouped into three categories:
Depletion
Loss of

17. Resource Depletion
Natural Resources: any natural materials used by humans, such as, water, petroleum, minerals, forests, and animals.
Classified as either a renewable or nonrenewable.
Renewable resources can be replaced relatively quickly by natural process.
Nonrenewable resources form at a much slower rate than they are consumed.
Recyclable vs. Renewable

18. Pollution
Pollution: change in natural environment caused by of substances harmful to living organisms or by excessive wastes, heat, noise, or radiation

19. Pollution Two main types of pollutants: degradable pollutants
be broken down by natural processes and include materials such as newspaper
Are a problem only when they accumulate than they can be broken down
be broken down by natural processes and include materials such as mercury
They can build up to levels in the environment

20. Loss of Biodiversity
Biodiversity: of organisms in a given area or the genetic variation within a population
These organisms can be considered resources.
Can you think of 3 reasons why biodiversity would be important to our survival?

21. Comprehension Check How do scientists define a nonrenewable resource?
A. a resource that is used by humans
B. a resource that can never be replaced
C. a resource that can be replaced relatively quickly
D. a resource that takes more time to replace than to deplete

22. Comprehension Check
2. Which of the following is an important field for environmental science?
A. ecology
B. economics
C. meteorology
D. political science

23. Comprehension Check
3. Which of the following phrases describes the term biodiversity?
A. species that have become extinct
B. the animals that live in an area
C. species that look different from one another
D. the number and variety of species that live in an area

24. Comprehension Check
Energy from the sun, water, air, wood, and soil are all examples of what kind of energy?
ecological energy
organic energy
renewable energy
solar energy

25. Chapter 1: Section 2 Targets
Describe “The Tragedy of the ”.
Explain the Law of and .
List three differences between develop and develop countries.
Explain what is, and describe why it is a goal of environmental science.

26. “The Tragedy of the Commons”
Ecologist Garrett Hardin argued there is a conflict between the of the individual and the of society.
The example he used was the , or the areas of land that belonged to the whole village.

27. “The Tragedy of the Commons”
want as many animals in the commons as possible.
If too many animals graze on commons, they destroy the grass.
Once grass was destroyed, everyone suffered because no one could raise animals on the commons.
Hardin’s realized someone must take for maintaining a resource or it will become depleted.
This can be applied to our resources.

28. Supply and Demand
Law of Supply and Demand: as for a good or service increases, of the food or service also increases.
Example: oil production.

29. Developed and Developing Countries
countries have:
higher incomes
slower population growth
diverse industrial economies
stronger social support.
countries have:
lower average incomes
simple agriculture-based communities
rapid population growth.

30. Population and Consumption
Almost all environmental problems are traced back to 2 main causes:
The human population in some areas is for the local environment to support.
People many natural resources than they can be renewed, replaced, or cleaned up.

31. Consumption Trends
To support higher , developed countries use much more of Earth’s resources.
Developed nations use of world’s resources, although they make up only of world’s population.
This rate of consumption creates more waste and pollution per person than in developing countries.

32. Ecological Footprints
Ecological footprints: calculations that show in a particular country.
estimates used for crops, grazing, forests products, and housing. It also includes area used to harvest seafood and needed to absorb air pollution caused by fossil fuels.
one way to express the differences in between nations.

33. A Sustainable World
Sustainability: condition in which human needs are met in a way that a human population can indefinitely.
Examples:
is a key goal of environmental science.

34. Comprehension Check
Population growth can result in what ethical environmental problem, addressed by ecologist Garrett Hardin in “The Tragedy of the Commons?
A. the conflict between water resources and industrial growth
B. the conflict between forest resources and the lumber companies
C. the conflict between political interests and international energy use
D. the conflict between individual interests and the welfare of society

35. Comprehension Check Use this graph to answer questions 6 and 7
6. What was the total population increase between the years 1600 and 1900?
A. 0.6 billion
B. 0.9 billion
C. 1.0 billion
D. 1.5 billion
If the rate of growth from had been the same as the rate of growth from , what would the world population have been at the end of the century?
A. more than 7 billion
B. more than 10 billion
C. more than 15 billion
D. more than 20 billion

36. Comprehension Check
8. Which of the following characterizes the environmental consequences of the current population trend?
A. More people mean more housing construction.
B. The need for food and resources is growing rapidly.
C. The standard of living has risen around the world.
D. There is no connection between population growth and environment.