APES Introduction Unit Test

environmental science

environmental science

systematic study of environment (interdisciplinary, integrative, mission-oriented)

environment = surroundings

humans inhabit natural and social world

indigenous people

dying out, highly biodiverse, highly neglected

pragmatic conservation

george perkins marsh, “greatest good for greatest number for longest time,” usfs = jobs

moral and aesthetic

john muir (“lorax,” biocentric), “nature deserves to exist for its own sake”

modern environmentalism

rachel carson (slient spring), ddt and biomagnification, atomic weapons, fossil fuel issues, air and water testing

global concerns

increased tech increased global environmentalism

current conditions

human population over 8 billion, food shortage and famines in densely populated areas, water quantity and quality issues, fossil fuel and air and water pollution, landscape destruction and decreased biodiversity population stabilized in industrial countries, decreased life-threatening diseases, life-expectancy doubled

rich vs poor

rich - northern hemisphere, 1/5 population (>$25,000 per capita poor - southern hemisphere, about 1.4 billion people make less than $1 per day and gap is increasing

20:20 compact

1995 un summit for social development, ich countries would budget 20% to humanitarian concerns and social development, poor countries would budget 20% to human primary concerns (didn’t work)

hdi

human development index (happy scale), rich = low hdi, moderate equal wealth = high hdi - switzerland

sustainable

meeting the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future

examples of sustainability

sustainable society, sustainable agriculture (no-till, strip farming), sustainable ecosystems, sustainable fishing

six r’s of sustainability

recycle, rot, reduce, repurpose, repair, reuse

sustainable development overlap

society, environment, and economics poor people cause and suffer the most from environmental degradation (forced to meet short-term needs, sacrificing the future)

tragedy of the commons

in a shared resource system where individuals will act in their own self interest, the moment you put laws and regulations, the moment it is not longer a commons. (ex. common land - each farmer wants to put more cows on commons for own benefit)

limiting factors

resources (overgrazing, overfishing, overpopulation, pollution, antibiotic resistance)

land is 29% of earth (133 million km squared)

29% forest and shrubland, 27% rangeland and pastures, 16% cropland, 33% other

william forster lloyd (1833

pamphlets overgrazing of cattle on common areas

garret hardin (1915)

argued that people were too selfish so commons would inevitably degrade

morals

distinction of right and wrong

values

ultimate worth of actions and things

environmental ethics

moral relationship between humans and surrounding environment

intrinsic

inherent innate worth or value because of existence, it deserves to exist for its own sake

instrumental

conferred worth or value because they are valued by someone who matters

moral agents

capable of acting morally vs immorally and who accepts responsibility for actions

moral subjects

not agents; moral interests and can be treated right and wrong

moral extensionist

who is considered ethically significant

universalists

plato, fundamental principles of ethics are universal, unchanging, and eternal

relativists

nietzsche, moral principles are relative to a particular person, society, or situation

nihilists

schopenhauer, morality is arbitrary, no reason to behave morally (we are all eventually going to die, so do whatever you want)

utilitarians

bentham and mill, an action is right that produces the greatest good for the greatest number of people

mineral king valley

1969, sierra club (trees, rocks, wildlife in sierra nevada mountains) vs disney (wanted to build ski resort), disney lost interest before supreme court ruled

biocentric

all living things have value/equal footing (buddhism, shintoism, taoism)

anthropocentric

human-centered (christianity, judaism, islam)

stewardship

custodian of resources, they feel life the guardians of nature (indigenous people)

ecofeminism

philosophers came from a patriarchial society based on domination and duality (exploitation of women and minorities and oppressed by men)

environmental justice

civil rights and environmental protection (black people have greater environmental health risks)

environmental racism

unequal distribution of environmental hazards based on race

toxic colonialism

targeting poor communities of color with waste disposal or experimentation with risky technologies

ecosystem service

environments provide life-supporting services: air, soil, land, water, well-being, food and water, strong economy, public health, land use, pollution, climate, policy

environmental indicators

describe the current state of the environment: biodiversity, food production, average global surface temperature and co2 concentration in the atmosphere, human population, resource depletion.

biodiversity

diversity of life formed in an environment, genetic, species, ecosystem

genetic diversity

measure of genetic variation among individuals in a population, increased genetic diversity = able to respond better to environmental change and damage

species diversity

number of species in region or habitat, group of organisms unique from others that can reproduce

food production and population

ability to group food to nourish human population, science and technology increased amount of food we can reproduce in land

greenhouse gases

in atmosphere and trap heat at earth’s surface, co2 is most important

anthropogenic

caused by humans

ecosystem diversity

measure of diversity of ecosystem or habitat in a particular region

increased human population

decreases amount of resources

finite not reusable resources

coal, uranium, oil

finite reusable resources

aluminum, copper

scientific method

observation and question, research, hypothesis (if, then, because), experiment/test, collect data and analyze (may lead back to observation), conclusion (yes = research, no = back to hypothesis), publish and peer edit

natural experiments

ideas that have been tested by historical evidence

models

physical mock-up

independent variable

scientist sets it (x-axis)

dependent variable

measured from the independent (y-axis)

constants

all the conditions are kept the same between trials

control groups

not manipulated, used for comparison

inductive reasoning

making general statements from specific facts or examples

deductive reasoning

applying a general statement to specific facts

scientific theories

hypotheses that have been test repeatedly

natural laws

theories that have stood test of time (undisputed, theory is tested and proven multiple times)

benchmarks =

collected data

quantitative

numbers

qualitative

characteristics/observations

replication

repetition of trials

sample size

number you’re using/measuring/testing (trials, people, hours, etc.)

accuracy

how close the measured value is to the actual value

precision

how close the measured values are to each other

environmental science’s unique challenges

no control planet, difficult to decide what’s better or worse, a lot of interacting parts, humans are the #1 concern/most important

poverty stat and implications

cause and suffer- world’s poorest people cause and suffer from environmental degradation, stuck in poverty and can’t get out of it

who is a pragmatic resource conservationist?

teddy roosevelt

how far back does it go?

well back in century (4th century B.C)

pinchot

first chief of the USFS