Chapter 1: Science and Sustainability: An introduction to Environmental Science

Environment

Consists of all the living and nonliving things around us

Environmental Science

The study of how the natural world works, how our environment affects us, and how we affect our environment

Natural Resources

The various substances and energy sources we take from our environment and that we rely on to survive

*Renewable

Natural resources that are replenished over short periods of times

*fresh air, water, soil, plants & animals

Renewable natural resources

(such as minerals and crude oils) Finite supply and are formed much more slowly than we use them

*Non-renewable

a resource that cannot be reused or replaced easily (ex. gems, iron, copper, fossil fuels)

Ecosystem services

Purify air and water, cycles nutrients, regulates climate, pollinate plants, and receive and recycle our waste

Are not meant for our benefit but we cannot survive without them

Agricultural revolution

The first transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to an agricultural way of life. Began around 10,000 years ago

Industrial revolution

Began in the mid-1700s. It entailed a shift from rural life, animal-powered agriculture, and handcrafted goods to an urban society provisioned by the mass production of a factory-made goods and powered by fossil fuels

Fossil Fuels

Nonrenewable energy sources including oil, coal, and natural gas

*Tragedy of the commons

When Publicly accessible resources are open to unregulated exploitation

Ecological footprint

Expresses environmental impact in terms of the cumulative area biologically productive land and water required to provide the resources a person or population consumes and to dispose of or recycle the waste the person or population produces

Overshoot

Surpassed earth's capacity to sustainably support us

Interdisciplinary

One that borrows techniques from multiple disciplines and brings their research results together in a broad synthesis

Natural Science

Disciplines that examine the natural world

Social Science

Disciplines that address human interactions and institutions

Environmental studies

Interdisciplinary approach to studying environmental issues to produce effective solutions for society

Environmentalism

Social movement dedicated to protecting the natural world---and by extentsion, people---from undesirable changes brought about by human actions

Science

A systematic process for learning about the world and testing our understanding of it

observational science/ descriptive science

Research in which scientists gather basic information about organisms, materials, systems, or processes that are not well known or that cannot be manipulated in experiments

Scientific method

Technique for testing ideas with observations

Hypothesis

Statement that attempts to explain a phenomenon or answers a scientific question

Predictions

Specific statements that can be directly and unequivocally tested

Experiment

Actively designed to test the validity of a prediction or a hypothesis

Variables

Conditions that can change

Independent variable

A variable that the scientist manipulates (input)

Dependent variable

One that depends on the input(output)

Controlled experiment

An experiment in which the scientist controls the effects of all variables except the one whose effect he/she is testing

Peer review

Valuable guard against faulty science contaminating the literature on which all scientists rely

Theory

Widely accepted, well-tested explanation of one or more cause-and-effect relationships that has been extensively validated by a great amount of research

Paradigm

Dominant view

Ethics

Branch of philosophy that involves the study of good and bad, of right and wrong

Relativists

Believe that ethics do and should vary with social context

Universalists

Maintain that there exist objective notions of right and wrong that hold across cultures and contexts

For both relativists and universalists, ethics is not just descriptive, but prescriptive, it tells us how we ought to behave.

Ethical standards

The criteria that help differentiate right from wrong

*Environmental ethics

The application of ethical standards to relationships between people and nonhuman entities.

1. Is the present generation obligated to conserve resources for future generations? If so, how much should we sacrifice?

2. Can we justify exposing some communities to a disproportionate share of pollution? If not, what actions are warranted to prevent this?

3. Are humans justified in driving species to extinction?

*Anthropocentrism

Describes a human-centered view of our relationship with the environment. Denies or ignores the notion that nonhuman entities can have rights

*Biocentrism

ascribes value to certain living things or to the biotic realm in general

*Ecocentrism

Judges actions in terms of their effects on whole ecological systems, which consist of living and nonliving elements and the relationships among them. Values the well-being of entire species, communities, or ecosystems over the welfare of a given individual

Preservation ethic

We should protect our environment

Conservation ethic

People should put natural resources to use but that we have a responsibility to manage them wisely

Environmental justice

Involves the fair and equitable treatment of all people with respect to environmental policy and practice, regardless of their income, race, or ethnicity

*Sustainability

A guiding principle of modern environmental science; living within our planet's means, such that Earth and its resources can sustain us for the foreseeable future

Natural capital

Accumulated wealth of resources

Millenium Ecosystem Assessment

The most comprehensive assessment of the condition of the world's ecological systems and their capacity to continue supporting us (completed in 2005), when over 2,000 leading environmental scientists from nearly 100 nations completed the assessment. Our degradation of environmental systems is having a negative impact on all of us, but with care and diligence we can still turn many of the trends around

Sustainable development

The use of resources in a manner that satisfies our current needs but does not compromise the future availability of resources

*Linear growth

Expansion that increases by the same amount during each time interval.

*Exponential growth

Growth pattern in which the individuals in a population reproduce at a constant rate.

*Give an example of a study in environmental science that could NOT use the scientific method

Ex: Exposing communities to pollutants to see the effect of pollution

*Theory

A hypothesis that has been tested with a significant amount of data

*Triple Bottom Line

Demand that our current human population limit its environmental impact while also promoting economic well-being and social equity