Chapter 1: Foundations of Environmental Science Flashcards

Foundations of environmental science vocabulary based on Chapter 1, covering the nature of science, resource management, and sustainability.

Environment

All the living and nonliving things around us, including animals, plants, forests, farms, continents, oceans, clouds, ice caps, structures, urban centers, living spaces, and social relationships and institutions.

Environmental Science

The study of how the natural world works, how the environment affects humans, and how humans affect the environment.

Natural Resources

Substances and energy sources needed for survival, categorized into renewable and nonrenewable types.

Renewable Natural Resources

Resources that can be replenished, including those perpetually renewed like sunlight, wind, and wave energy, and those that renew themselves over short periods like timber, water, and soil.

Nonrenewable Natural Resources

Resources that are unavailable once they are depleted, such as crude oil, natural gas, coal, and various metals.

Ecosystem Services

Services that arise from the normal functioning of natural systems, such as purifying air and water, cycling nutrients, regulating climate, pollinating plants, and recycling waste.

Agricultural Revolution

Occurred approximately $10,000$ years ago, characterized by the cultivation of crops and livestock, which provided stable food supplies and contributed to population growth.

Industrial Revolution

An urbanized society shift powered by fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal), involving advances in sanitation, medicine, pesticides, and fertilizers.

Ecological Footprint

The environmental impact of a person or population, expressed as the area of biologically productive land and water required to supply resources and dispose of or recycle waste.

Overshoot

The state where humans have surpassed the Earth’s capacity to support us, currently using renewable resources $50\%$ faster than they are being replenished.

Natural Sciences

Disciplines that examine the natural world, which are integral to environmental science programs.

Social Sciences

Disciplines that examine values and human behavior, which are integral to environmental studies programs.

Environmentalism

A social movement that tries to protect the natural world from human-caused changes, distinct from the objective pursuit of knowledge in environmental science.

Science

A systematic process for learning about the world and testing our understanding of it through the accumulated body of knowledge arising from observation, testing, and discovery.

Observational (descriptive) science

Science in which information is gathered about organisms, systems, or processes that cannot be manipulated by experiments; phenomena are observed and measured.

Hypothesis-driven science

Targeted research where experiments test hypotheses using the scientific method.

Scientific Method

A traditional approach to research involving observations, questions, hypothesis formulation, predictions, testing, and results.

Hypothesis

A statement that tries to explain a question and generates specific predictions that can be directly tested.

Variable

A condition that can change within a scientific experiment.

Independent Variable

The variable in an experiment that is manipulated by the researcher.

Dependent Variable

The variable that depends on the independent variable.

Controlled Experiment

An experiment where all variables are controlled except for the independent variable being tested.

Control

An unmanipulated point of comparison in an experiment.

Quantitative Data

Information that uses numbers.

Qualitative Data

Information that does not use numbers.

Manipulative Experiments

Experiments where researchers control independent variables to reveal causal relationships, yielding the strongest evidence.

Natural Experiments

Experiments that use existing conditions to test predictions with little control over variables, reflecting real-world complexity.

Peer Review

A process where a scientific paper is reviewed by other scientists before publication to guard against faulty research.

Theory

A well-tested and widely accepted explanation that consolidates widely supported, related hypotheses.

Paradigm Shift

A dramatic upheaval in thought that changes the dominant viewpoint in science.

Wicked Problems

Problems that are complex with no simple solution, such as many environmental challenges.

Sustainability

The idea that we must live within our planet’s means so the Earth and its resources can sustain us and all life for the future.

Natural Capital

Earth’s total wealth of resources; currently being withdrawn faster than it is being replenished.

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

The most comprehensive scientific assessment (2005) of the world’s ecological systems, reporting that humans have drastically altered ecosystems.

Campus Sustainability

Efforts by students and institutions to reduce the campus ecological footprint through recycling, energy efficiency, and other initiatives.