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Chapter 1 & 2 - Studying the State of Our Earth & Environmental Science

CHAPTER ONE

Fracking: hydraulic fracturing, method of oil/gas extraction that uses high pressure fluids to force open cracks in underground rocks -> cheaper & larger quantities of natural gas (decrease burning coal/air pollution)

  • large amt of water usage (millions of gallons). is taken away from local rivers & @ risk of contamination

MODULE 1 - ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

  • Environment: Conditions surrounding us that influence life. (living or nonliving) major impact on how we live our lives (heath, growth, necessary supplies)

  • Environmental Science: The field of study that looks at interactions among human systems & those found in nature (relationship between humans and the environment)

  • System: components that influence each other by exchanging energy / materials (any size)

Ei. Fracking: causes changes within a system by contaminating drinking water

  • Ecosystem: Specific location w constant interactions between living & nonliving components

  • Biotic: living

  • Abiotic: nonliving

  • Environmentalism: Environmentalists that helps protect the environment through activism, and education

  • Environmentalist: A person who participates in environmentalism

  • Environmental studies: Field of study (chemistry, biology and ecology, earth science, toxicology, atmospheric science, law, literature/writing, ethics, politics/policy, economics)

Humans alter natural systems

  • Growing human population leads to manipulating systems by building cities, agricultural farms, neighborhoods & killing species (fertilizers)

  • Humans often hunted large animals until extinction

  • Humans used fire to capture animals -> prevented growth of trees & influence the increase of other species

Converting Between Hectares and Acres

  • Hectare: land area (ha is 100m by 100m)

  • 2.5 (2.47) acres = 1 ha

Module 1 summary: Fracking bad. as humans progress, habitats and species begin to suffer along

MODULE 2 - ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS & SUSTAINABILITY

  • Ecosystem services: The processes by which life-supporting resources are produced (clean water, timber, fisheries, & agricultural crops)

  • How do humans affect the ecosystem’s services (positive & negative)

  • Humans take environment for granted

  • Environmental indicators: Describes/measures the current state of an environmental system

  • Biological diversity, food production, average global surface temperature and carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, human population, and resource depletion

Biological diversity

  • Biodiversity (Biological diversity): Diversity of life forms in an environment (Ecosystem, species, and genetic)

  • Genetic diversity: Measure of the genetic variation among individuals in a population

  • Higher genetic diversity = responds better to change (vise versa)

  • Species: A group of organisms that is distinct from other groups in its morphology (body form & structure), behavior, or biochemical properties

  • Different sizes, shapes, colors, & roles

  • Species Diversity: Number of species in a region or in a particular type of habitat

  • Ecosystems with more species = more productive

  • Scientists often focus on species diversity as a critical environmental indicator

  • Ei. increase or decrease in population is an indicator

  • Speciation: Evolution of new species (slow process)

  • Natural evolutionary process: species naturally arise and others go extinct

  • Background extinction rate: Average rate where species become extinct over a long period of time

  • Stress to a species causes a faster extinction rate (habitat destruction, climate change, overharvesting, and other species)

  • Ecosystem diversity: Measure of diversity of ecosystems/habitats that exist in a given region

  • Measured in hectares (ha)

Food Production

  • Food production: Ability to grow food to nourish the human population

  • Healthy ecosystems leads to healthy species/organisms

  • Growth of human population is restricting the growth of food species

  • Humans have found more ways to efficiently produce food -> World grain production has increased (expanding irrigation & new crop varieties)

  • Food shortages lead to higher food prices

  • (2008) Grain production has not increased w human population (bc of soil degradation, crop diseases, drought, flood) -> government discourages food production which will soon lead to uncultivated/preserved land

  • Per Capita: how much each person individually takes/consumes

Average Global Surface Temperature and Carbon Dioxide Concentrations

  • Greenhouse gasses: Gasses in Earth’s atmosphere that trap heat near the surface (carbon dioxide) helps maintain a steady climate

  • Anthropogenic: Derived from human activities (combustion of fossil fuels & lack of forests bc those two things store the most amt of CO2)

Human Population (7.79 billion)

  • Population shows the health of the environment by testing the Earth’s resources

Resource Depletion

  • Natural resources have been depleting since the human population began increasing

  • Many human activities harm the environment (Pollution, mining, waste from manufactured products)

  • Many natural resources are finite/can not be reused (coal, oil , and uranium)

  • Many infinite resources do not have enough time to replenish

  • Development: Improvement in human well-being through economic advancement (automobile use, meat consumption, living habits)

  • As economics increase, so does resource consumption

The Impact of Consumption on the Environment

  • Sustainability: Living on Earth that allows humans to use its resources without depriving future generations of those resources

  • Ei. Easter Island was overpopulated. led to the overuse of the island’s soil/water resources. No more trees led to erosion/decrease of food production

  • Environmental systems must not be damaged beyond their ability to recover

  • Renewable resources must not be depleted faster than they can regenerate

  • Nonrenewable resources must be used sparingly

  • Sustainable development: Development that balances current human well-being/economic advancement with resource management for the benefit of future generations

  • depends on the number of people using a resource along w how they are using it

  • conserving and finding alternatives to nonrefundable resources, securing the environment, and allowing it to supply renewable resources

  • Human’s needs has advanced & modified over many years (Biophilia: Love of life)

The Ecological Footprint

  • Ecological footprint: Amt an individual consumes in their lifestyle (measured in area of land)

  • Increase population = use of more resources

  • Wealthier countries = ability to enforce pollution controls/invest to protect species

  • Using or protecting one has chain effects on the others

MODULE 3 - SCIENTIFIC METHOD

  • Scientific method: A method to explore the natural world, draw inferences from it, & predict the outcome of certain events, processes, or changes (helps scientists communicate data)

  1. Observing and questioning: figure out where to begin the scientific research

  2. Forming hypothesis: A testable conjecture about how something works.

  3. Easier to prove smth wrong. null hypothesis: Prediction that there is no difference between groups/conditions, a statement that can be proved wrong

  4. Collecting data:

  5. Replication: The data collection procedure of taking repeated measurements

  6. Sample size: Number of times a measurement is replicated in data collection

  7. Accuracy: How close a measured value is to the actual or true value

  8. Precision: How close the repeated measurements are to one another

  9. Uncertainty: Estimate of how much a measured value differs from a true value

  10. Interpreting results:

  11. Inductive reasoning: process of making general statements from specific facts

  12. Deductive reasoning: process of applying a general statement to a specific fact

  13. Disseminating Findings

  • Theory: A repeated hypothesis that has reached wide acceptance (can't be contradicted)

  • Control group: A group that experiences exactly the same conditions as the experimental group, except for the single variable under study

  • Natural experiment: A natural event that acts as an experimental treatment in an ecosystem

  • Critical thinking: Question the source of the information, consider the methods/processes that were used to obtain the information, and draw your own conclusions

Environmental science presents unique challenges

  • Lack of Baseline Data: nature experiments are not true bc of the alterations of the earth’s living environment

  • Subjectivity: Choices may be difficult since it is unknown which one is more sustainable

  • Interactions: Environmental systems have so many interacting parts that intertwine

  • Human Well-Being: Ppl who are unable to meet their basic needs = less likely to be interested about the state of the natural environment -> The principle of environmental equity

  • Environmental justice: the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race with respect to the development of sustainability

City: biodiversity; energy, climate change, & ozone depletion; food/agriculture; hazardous materials; human health; parks, open spaces, & streetscapes; solid waste; transportation; & water

CHAPTER TWO

MODULE 4 - SYSTEMS AND MATTER

Radioactivity

  • Isotope’s nuclei can be stable or unstable depending on mass number and amt of neutrons

  • Unstable = radioactive

  • Radioactive decay: Spontaneous release of material from the nucleus of radioactive isotopes

  • Half-life: The time it takes for one-half of an original radioactive parent atom to decay

  • Helps protect humans from harmful radioactive decay

Chemical Bonds

  • Polar molecule: Molecule in which one side is more positive & the other side is more negative

Surface Tension and Capillary Action

  • Surface tension: A property of water that results from the cohesion of water molecules at the surface of a body of water and that creates a sort of skin on the water’s surface (allows it to resist an external force)

  • Stronger the surface tension = stronger cohesive forces (ie. water)

  • Capillary action: A property of water that occurs when adhesion of water molecules to a surface is stronger than cohesion between the molecules (ie. absorption of a paper towel) (the movement of water within the spaces w/out an outside force)

  • Many substances dissolve well in water bc their polar molecules bond easily with other polar molecules

  • Boils at 212* F and freezes at 32*F

Acids, Bases, and pH

  • Acid: A substance that contributes hydrogen ions to a solution

  • When dissolved in water, it dissociates into positive charged hydrogen ions

  • Base: A substance that contributes hydroxide ions to a solution

  • When dissolved in water, it dissociates into negative charged hydrogen ions & positive ions

  • pH: The number that indicates the relative strength of acids and bases in a substance

  • Pure water is 7 (# of hydrogen ions = # of hydroxide ions)

  • +7 is basic (alkaline) & -7 is acidic

Chemical Reactions and the Conservation of Matter

  • Chemical reaction: occurs when atoms separate or recombine with molecules

  • Atoms are not created or destroyed but bonds between atoms may change

  • Can occur in any direction

  • Law of conservation of matter: A law of nature stating that matter can not be created or destroyed; it can only change form

  • Not able to disprove of hazardous materials bc the atoms will enter the atmosphere

Module 4 summary: Atoms can completely change bc of radioactiveness, water has skin that can conflict w other materials, water can move all by itself, acid releases more hydrogen, bases release more hydroxide

MODULE 5 - ENERGY, FLOWS, AND FEEDBACK

  • Joule: Amount of energy used when a 1-watt light bulb is turned on for 1 second

Forms of energy

  • Potential energy: Stored energy that has not been released (water behind a dam)

  • Kinetic energy: The energy in motion (water out of dam)

  • Temperature: The measure of the average kinetic energy of a substance

  • Changes in temp can convert matter (Fast moving molecules in ice turns into water)

Law of thermodynamics

  • First law of thermodynamics: A physical law which states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed but can change from one form to another

  • Gasoline burns energy

  • Second law of thermodynamics: The physical law states that when energy is transferred, the quantity of energy remains the same, but its ability to do work diminishes

  • Waste heat: Energy that is converted into a useless form of energy

  • Energy efficiency: The ratio of the amount of energy expended in the form you want to the total amount of energy that is introduced into the system

  • Energy quality: The ease with which an energy source can be used for work

  • Entropy: Randomness in a system (Randomness always increasing in a system, unless new energy from outside the system is added to create order)

  • Little amt of energy comes from digested food, most becomes body heat (heat has lots of entropy bc it is random)

System Dynamics

  • Open system: Exchanges of matter of energy occur across system boundaries (majority)

  • Closed system: Matter and energy do not occur across boundaries

  • Input: An addition to a system

  • Output: A loss from a system

  • Systems analysis: An analysis to determine inputs, outputs, and changes in a system under various conditions

  • Steady state: A state in which inputs = outputs so that the system is not changing over time

  • First step - measure amt of energy and matter

  • A system some things can be steady while other things are not

  • Feedback: Adjustments in inputs or output rates caused by changes to a system (cycles)

  • Negative feedback loop: A system responds to a change by returning to its original state, or by decreasing the rate at which the change is occuring

  • Positive feedback loop: Change in a system is amplified

Chapter 1 & 2 - Studying the State of Our Earth & Environmental Science

CHAPTER ONE

Fracking: hydraulic fracturing, method of oil/gas extraction that uses high pressure fluids to force open cracks in underground rocks -> cheaper & larger quantities of natural gas (decrease burning coal/air pollution)

  • large amt of water usage (millions of gallons). is taken away from local rivers & @ risk of contamination

MODULE 1 - ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

  • Environment: Conditions surrounding us that influence life. (living or nonliving) major impact on how we live our lives (heath, growth, necessary supplies)

  • Environmental Science: The field of study that looks at interactions among human systems & those found in nature (relationship between humans and the environment)

  • System: components that influence each other by exchanging energy / materials (any size)

Ei. Fracking: causes changes within a system by contaminating drinking water

  • Ecosystem: Specific location w constant interactions between living & nonliving components

  • Biotic: living

  • Abiotic: nonliving

  • Environmentalism: Environmentalists that helps protect the environment through activism, and education

  • Environmentalist: A person who participates in environmentalism

  • Environmental studies: Field of study (chemistry, biology and ecology, earth science, toxicology, atmospheric science, law, literature/writing, ethics, politics/policy, economics)

Humans alter natural systems

  • Growing human population leads to manipulating systems by building cities, agricultural farms, neighborhoods & killing species (fertilizers)

  • Humans often hunted large animals until extinction

  • Humans used fire to capture animals -> prevented growth of trees & influence the increase of other species

Converting Between Hectares and Acres

  • Hectare: land area (ha is 100m by 100m)

  • 2.5 (2.47) acres = 1 ha

Module 1 summary: Fracking bad. as humans progress, habitats and species begin to suffer along

MODULE 2 - ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS & SUSTAINABILITY

  • Ecosystem services: The processes by which life-supporting resources are produced (clean water, timber, fisheries, & agricultural crops)

  • How do humans affect the ecosystem’s services (positive & negative)

  • Humans take environment for granted

  • Environmental indicators: Describes/measures the current state of an environmental system

  • Biological diversity, food production, average global surface temperature and carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, human population, and resource depletion

Biological diversity

  • Biodiversity (Biological diversity): Diversity of life forms in an environment (Ecosystem, species, and genetic)

  • Genetic diversity: Measure of the genetic variation among individuals in a population

  • Higher genetic diversity = responds better to change (vise versa)

  • Species: A group of organisms that is distinct from other groups in its morphology (body form & structure), behavior, or biochemical properties

  • Different sizes, shapes, colors, & roles

  • Species Diversity: Number of species in a region or in a particular type of habitat

  • Ecosystems with more species = more productive

  • Scientists often focus on species diversity as a critical environmental indicator

  • Ei. increase or decrease in population is an indicator

  • Speciation: Evolution of new species (slow process)

  • Natural evolutionary process: species naturally arise and others go extinct

  • Background extinction rate: Average rate where species become extinct over a long period of time

  • Stress to a species causes a faster extinction rate (habitat destruction, climate change, overharvesting, and other species)

  • Ecosystem diversity: Measure of diversity of ecosystems/habitats that exist in a given region

  • Measured in hectares (ha)

Food Production

  • Food production: Ability to grow food to nourish the human population

  • Healthy ecosystems leads to healthy species/organisms

  • Growth of human population is restricting the growth of food species

  • Humans have found more ways to efficiently produce food -> World grain production has increased (expanding irrigation & new crop varieties)

  • Food shortages lead to higher food prices

  • (2008) Grain production has not increased w human population (bc of soil degradation, crop diseases, drought, flood) -> government discourages food production which will soon lead to uncultivated/preserved land

  • Per Capita: how much each person individually takes/consumes

Average Global Surface Temperature and Carbon Dioxide Concentrations

  • Greenhouse gasses: Gasses in Earth’s atmosphere that trap heat near the surface (carbon dioxide) helps maintain a steady climate

  • Anthropogenic: Derived from human activities (combustion of fossil fuels & lack of forests bc those two things store the most amt of CO2)

Human Population (7.79 billion)

  • Population shows the health of the environment by testing the Earth’s resources

Resource Depletion

  • Natural resources have been depleting since the human population began increasing

  • Many human activities harm the environment (Pollution, mining, waste from manufactured products)

  • Many natural resources are finite/can not be reused (coal, oil , and uranium)

  • Many infinite resources do not have enough time to replenish

  • Development: Improvement in human well-being through economic advancement (automobile use, meat consumption, living habits)

  • As economics increase, so does resource consumption

The Impact of Consumption on the Environment

  • Sustainability: Living on Earth that allows humans to use its resources without depriving future generations of those resources

  • Ei. Easter Island was overpopulated. led to the overuse of the island’s soil/water resources. No more trees led to erosion/decrease of food production

  • Environmental systems must not be damaged beyond their ability to recover

  • Renewable resources must not be depleted faster than they can regenerate

  • Nonrenewable resources must be used sparingly

  • Sustainable development: Development that balances current human well-being/economic advancement with resource management for the benefit of future generations

  • depends on the number of people using a resource along w how they are using it

  • conserving and finding alternatives to nonrefundable resources, securing the environment, and allowing it to supply renewable resources

  • Human’s needs has advanced & modified over many years (Biophilia: Love of life)

The Ecological Footprint

  • Ecological footprint: Amt an individual consumes in their lifestyle (measured in area of land)

  • Increase population = use of more resources

  • Wealthier countries = ability to enforce pollution controls/invest to protect species

  • Using or protecting one has chain effects on the others

MODULE 3 - SCIENTIFIC METHOD

  • Scientific method: A method to explore the natural world, draw inferences from it, & predict the outcome of certain events, processes, or changes (helps scientists communicate data)

  1. Observing and questioning: figure out where to begin the scientific research

  2. Forming hypothesis: A testable conjecture about how something works.

  3. Easier to prove smth wrong. null hypothesis: Prediction that there is no difference between groups/conditions, a statement that can be proved wrong

  4. Collecting data:

  5. Replication: The data collection procedure of taking repeated measurements

  6. Sample size: Number of times a measurement is replicated in data collection

  7. Accuracy: How close a measured value is to the actual or true value

  8. Precision: How close the repeated measurements are to one another

  9. Uncertainty: Estimate of how much a measured value differs from a true value

  10. Interpreting results:

  11. Inductive reasoning: process of making general statements from specific facts

  12. Deductive reasoning: process of applying a general statement to a specific fact

  13. Disseminating Findings

  • Theory: A repeated hypothesis that has reached wide acceptance (can't be contradicted)

  • Control group: A group that experiences exactly the same conditions as the experimental group, except for the single variable under study

  • Natural experiment: A natural event that acts as an experimental treatment in an ecosystem

  • Critical thinking: Question the source of the information, consider the methods/processes that were used to obtain the information, and draw your own conclusions

Environmental science presents unique challenges

  • Lack of Baseline Data: nature experiments are not true bc of the alterations of the earth’s living environment

  • Subjectivity: Choices may be difficult since it is unknown which one is more sustainable

  • Interactions: Environmental systems have so many interacting parts that intertwine

  • Human Well-Being: Ppl who are unable to meet their basic needs = less likely to be interested about the state of the natural environment -> The principle of environmental equity

  • Environmental justice: the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race with respect to the development of sustainability

City: biodiversity; energy, climate change, & ozone depletion; food/agriculture; hazardous materials; human health; parks, open spaces, & streetscapes; solid waste; transportation; & water

CHAPTER TWO

MODULE 4 - SYSTEMS AND MATTER

Radioactivity

  • Isotope’s nuclei can be stable or unstable depending on mass number and amt of neutrons

  • Unstable = radioactive

  • Radioactive decay: Spontaneous release of material from the nucleus of radioactive isotopes

  • Half-life: The time it takes for one-half of an original radioactive parent atom to decay

  • Helps protect humans from harmful radioactive decay

Chemical Bonds

  • Polar molecule: Molecule in which one side is more positive & the other side is more negative

Surface Tension and Capillary Action

  • Surface tension: A property of water that results from the cohesion of water molecules at the surface of a body of water and that creates a sort of skin on the water’s surface (allows it to resist an external force)

  • Stronger the surface tension = stronger cohesive forces (ie. water)

  • Capillary action: A property of water that occurs when adhesion of water molecules to a surface is stronger than cohesion between the molecules (ie. absorption of a paper towel) (the movement of water within the spaces w/out an outside force)

  • Many substances dissolve well in water bc their polar molecules bond easily with other polar molecules

  • Boils at 212* F and freezes at 32*F

Acids, Bases, and pH

  • Acid: A substance that contributes hydrogen ions to a solution

  • When dissolved in water, it dissociates into positive charged hydrogen ions

  • Base: A substance that contributes hydroxide ions to a solution

  • When dissolved in water, it dissociates into negative charged hydrogen ions & positive ions

  • pH: The number that indicates the relative strength of acids and bases in a substance

  • Pure water is 7 (# of hydrogen ions = # of hydroxide ions)

  • +7 is basic (alkaline) & -7 is acidic

Chemical Reactions and the Conservation of Matter

  • Chemical reaction: occurs when atoms separate or recombine with molecules

  • Atoms are not created or destroyed but bonds between atoms may change

  • Can occur in any direction

  • Law of conservation of matter: A law of nature stating that matter can not be created or destroyed; it can only change form

  • Not able to disprove of hazardous materials bc the atoms will enter the atmosphere

Module 4 summary: Atoms can completely change bc of radioactiveness, water has skin that can conflict w other materials, water can move all by itself, acid releases more hydrogen, bases release more hydroxide

MODULE 5 - ENERGY, FLOWS, AND FEEDBACK

  • Joule: Amount of energy used when a 1-watt light bulb is turned on for 1 second

Forms of energy

  • Potential energy: Stored energy that has not been released (water behind a dam)

  • Kinetic energy: The energy in motion (water out of dam)

  • Temperature: The measure of the average kinetic energy of a substance

  • Changes in temp can convert matter (Fast moving molecules in ice turns into water)

Law of thermodynamics

  • First law of thermodynamics: A physical law which states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed but can change from one form to another

  • Gasoline burns energy

  • Second law of thermodynamics: The physical law states that when energy is transferred, the quantity of energy remains the same, but its ability to do work diminishes

  • Waste heat: Energy that is converted into a useless form of energy

  • Energy efficiency: The ratio of the amount of energy expended in the form you want to the total amount of energy that is introduced into the system

  • Energy quality: The ease with which an energy source can be used for work

  • Entropy: Randomness in a system (Randomness always increasing in a system, unless new energy from outside the system is added to create order)

  • Little amt of energy comes from digested food, most becomes body heat (heat has lots of entropy bc it is random)

System Dynamics

  • Open system: Exchanges of matter of energy occur across system boundaries (majority)

  • Closed system: Matter and energy do not occur across boundaries

  • Input: An addition to a system

  • Output: A loss from a system

  • Systems analysis: An analysis to determine inputs, outputs, and changes in a system under various conditions

  • Steady state: A state in which inputs = outputs so that the system is not changing over time

  • First step - measure amt of energy and matter

  • A system some things can be steady while other things are not

  • Feedback: Adjustments in inputs or output rates caused by changes to a system (cycles)

  • Negative feedback loop: A system responds to a change by returning to its original state, or by decreasing the rate at which the change is occuring

  • Positive feedback loop: Change in a system is amplified