Environmental Science

The Great Acceleration

• Occurred in the 1950s

• exponential increase in human environmental impact (greenhouse gas, nitrogen in water, etc.)

Planetary boundaries/planetary donut

• To go outside of these limits would be detrimental to human survival

• we are already past 6 of the 9…

Sustainable development goals

• (global; 17)

• no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry and innovation and infrastructure, reduced inequalities, sustainable communities, responsible construction and production, climate action, life below water, life on land, peace and justice in institutions, partnerships for the goals.

planetary triple thread

• climate change

• pollution

• biodiversity loss

Climate Adaption

• Species becomes “fitted” to their environment

Climate mitigation

• keeping environmental problems from getting worse

Geoengineering 

Massive scale effort to alter the carbon cycle or temperature on earth.

Rio Declaration/Rio +20

• 1992 (agenda 21)

• conference on sustainable development

Convention on Biodiversity

• an international treaty to combat desertification

UN framework convention on climate change

• major internation meeting in 1992

• address climate change by stabilizing greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.

Conference of the parties (UN)

• meeting AFTER international treaty

Season of creation

September 1st —> October 4th (Feast of saint Francis) - a time when Christians pray for the environment.

Brundtland report/our common future

• 1987 (book)

• first book to emphasize sustainable development and the need for global cooperation

Circular economy

• waste is not produced!

Laudato si

• A letter by Pope Francis

• means “praise be” in Latin

• “for the care of our common home”

World Bank income countries

• world bank classifies countries by income

List some native plants!

Milkweed, ironweed, cattails, red maple tree, water lilies, sweet pepper bush, staghorn sumac, marsh alder.

Name some invasive species!

Purple loosestrife, hemlock, wooly adelgid (sucks hemlock sap), beach leaf disease (invasive nematode), oriental bittersweet.

General knowledge about waterflow and lakes on campus.

• 90% of campus is low

• field behind row houses used to have a pump

• ask dr Boorse for more info on this *

scientific method

• peer review, Hypothesis testing, null and research hypothesis (no effect; no relationship), significant results (observed effect is unlikely to have occurred by chance), dependent and independent variables (independent variables are what you control - dependent variables are the outcomes).

• Natural experiment of the Olympics (Atlanta GA) - Aire pollution dropped, and asthma dropped because of less driving.

Fraud, pseudoscience, bias, misinformation, disinformation, confirmation bias

• fraud:

• pseudoscience - cannot be proven wrong, absence of peer review, confirmation bais

• misinformation: false info spread inadvertently

• disinformation: false info spread purposefully

Instrumental/Utilitarianism, Intrinsic/God-given

• which actions would bring as much good or as little harm as possible?

• valuable in and of itself/God made it, therefore it has value.

Ecosystem services

benefits humans can derive from an ecosystem

Deontological, virtue, self-interest

• rules determine what is right or wrong (usually divine)

• whatever makes me most virtuous is right

• self-interest is a moral requirement

Free market

Minimal government intervention, prices determined by supply and demand.

Problem of externalities

Unaccounted for costs or benefits of goods and services, ex. Coal mining…

enlightened self-interest

Helping others/a group you are a part of is helping yourself indirectly.

Adam Smith “The Wealth of Nations”- “the invisible hand of the market”

An important economics book that talks about the “invisible hand” which is the idea that by pursuing your own goals inadvertently benefits societal welfare.

Tragedy of the Commons

• an unregulated resource tends to degradation

Law of conservation of matter

Matter is neither created nor destroyed

Atoms

• made up of protons(+), neutrons, and electrons(-). (Electrons on outside; protons and neutrons in the center)

• Molecules are formed when multiple atoms are bonded together

various molecular bonds…

• ionic bonds form when one atom donates electrons to another atom during bonding, resulting in equal and opposite charges. (donor is + taker is -)

• hydrogen bonds line up head to tail and cause surface tension

• covalent bonds form when ta pair of atoms share one or more pairs of electrons.

Molecular Compound

Two or more elements bonded together

Chemical reactions are…

reactions that occur when chemicals bind together or break apart and use or release energy.

Who was Saint Augustine and what did he say about the natural world and how Christians should approach science?

• Christians should not, with so little knowledge, deny science because it may hinder the church’s evangelical mission.

• By studying the natural world, we can learn about our creator.

• God does not work under our same human constraints.

What is the age of the earth and how do we know? (Hazen)

• tree rings (dendrochronology)

• “rock clocks” (varves from sediment deposition)

• radiometric dating (using the “half life” of radioactive isotopes like uranium-238.)

• Earth is 4.56 billion years old

Interpretations of Genesis 1-2

• chronological 24 hour days

• Yowm (or age)

• Literary framework - John Walton ad temple inauguration

• instantaneous creation (God named and called them during the 6 days; these days signify priority or importance rather than order)

• Analogical days (God rested in between each day, then finally, on the 7th to enjoy his good work.)