Science

● Refers to a body of knowledge, or a method of study devoted to developing this body

of knowledge, concerning the nature of the universe gained through methodological
observation and experimentation

Division of Science

■ Social Science: explore human society past and present, and the way human beings
behave.

■ Natural Science: division of science which deals with natural objects and natural
phenomena.
- Physical Science: deals with the predictable behavior of the world around us.

- Biological Science: those concerned with living things their structure, processes and
influencing factors

Social Science
1. Anthropology
2. Psychology
3. Economics
4. History
5. Political Science
6. Law

Physical Science
1. Mathematics
2. Chemistry
3. Astronomy
4. Physics
5. Geology
6. Meteorology

Biological Sciences
1. Biology
2. Botany
3. Anatomy
4.Medicine
5. Microbiology
6. Zoology

Scientific Method
- refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new
knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge.

STEPS:
Define a problem.
Gather information about the problem.
Form a hypothesis.
Testing a hypothesis. (experimentation) Observation and recording the data.
Analyze and interpret the data.
Draw a conclusion.

Environment
- The environment is not only the landscape and animals that you can see, it is also
how they interact

Living things
• Animals, plants, forests, fungi, etc..

Nonliving things
• Continents, oceans, clouds, soil, rocks Our built environment.

Buildings, human created living centers

•Social relationship and institution

Humans and the world around us

• Humans change the environment, often in ways not fully understood

•We depend completely on the environment for survival

- Increased wealth, health, mobility, leisure time
- But, natural systems have been degraded i.e., pollution, erosion and species
extinction
- Environmental changes threaten long-term health and survival

Environmental Science
- is the study of interactions among physical, chemical, and biological components of
the environment and the solution of the environmental problems.

Involves the following interactions between human and the environment:

- How humans use natural resources
- How human beings relate to the nonliving environment
- How human actions alter the environment

The Goals of Environmental Science

- •To understand and solve environmental problems
- •Do this in two ways:
- •Study how humans use natural resources

Subcategories of Environmental Science

- Environmental science and the issues that studies are complex and interdisciplinary.

▪︎ Ecology- The study of how living things interact with each other and with their nonliving
environment.
▪︎ Atmospheric Sciences
▪︎ Environmental Chemistry
▪︎ Geosciences

A community decides to use coal for electricity, as it is the cheapest source available.
(Economics)

- The coal must be mined from under the soil. (Geology)

- The coal must be transported to the population center by road or rail. (Engineering)

-When it is burned at a power plant, air pollution is released. Some of that pollution is
converted to acid in the atmosphere. (Chemistry)

- This falls as acid rain somewhere downwind. (Meteorology)

- The acid stresses plants by affecting their nutrient absorption. (Ecology)

- Laws are passed requiring the plant to install pollution scrubbers. (Politics)

Our Environment Through Time

● Humans changed environment over time through:
● Hunting
● Agriculture
● When they settled

Hunter-Gatherers
● For most of history, people were hunter gatherers
● They obtained food through:
● Collecting plants
● Hunting wild animals
● Scavenging their remains
● Humans lived in tribes, using fires to maintain the prairie.
•They would migrate as groups throughout the year to where resources were bountiful
Would you be willing to move every month to obtain food?

Early Environmental Problems

- They would burn down forests and grasslands to drive out animals such as Buffalo
- They would carry plants with them
- where they traveled - invasive exotic species

The Agricultural Revolution

Agriculture -
- the practice of growing, breeding, an caring for plants and animals that are used for
food, clothing, housing, transportation, and other purposes.
- It happened 10,000 years ago
- It had such an impact on humans that it became a revolution
•Plants and animals were domesticated, human populations grew
One area of land could now support up to 500 times the amount of people that could be
supported by hunting and gathering

Communities began to grow

Population growth in the 20th century led to
>Resource depletion
>Habitat destruction
>Pollution

-This agriculture changed the foods that we eat today

-We eat descendants of the plants first found by hunter and gatherers
-Over time, they picked. desired traits in plants and began to only harvest those desired
traits
-As environments were replaced by agriculture, they were destroyed
-Slash-and-burn- cut down and burn old environments to plant crops currently occurring in
rainforest

Industrial Revolution
-Occurred in the middle of the 1700's
-Involved a shift from energy resources such as animal muscle and running water to fossil
fuels
-Allowed for machinery to take over in mass
producing goods and agriculture
-People began to travel more and move to cities
-Society shifted to fossil fuels
-When most of today's environmental problems began

Improving Quality of Life

•Brought us things such as the light bulb and mass agriculture

• Also brought us pollution and habitat loss
• Included the start of artificial substances in place of raw animal and plant products
• Plastics, artificial pesticides and fertilizers, etc.
• These products made our life easier, but what about the rest of the environment?

What are the main environmental problems?

•Resource Depletion
•Pollution
• Loss of Biodiversity

Major Environmental Problems

• Resource Depletion

- A great deal of resources are needed to support the human population (~7 billion).
- Renewable resources can be replenished within a human lifetime.
> Timber, water.
-The supply of nonrenewable resources is replenished extremely slowly, if at all. These can
be used up.
> Coal, oil, minerals.
Coal is a nonrenewable resource. Over time, it will become more difficult and expensive to
extract.

Major Environmental Problems

• Pollution
>Pollution is a degradation or an undesired change in air, water, or soil that affects the
health of living things.
>Biodegradable pollution will break down naturally over time.
>Non Degradable pollution does not break down.
>Pollution, whether in air or water, can move and affect ecosystems far away from the
source.

• Loss of Biodiversity
-The number of species on the Earth is unknown, but estimated to be in the tens of millions.
- Biodiversity is the number of different species present in one specific ecosystem.
-Extinction, or the complete loss of a species, is a natural event that can be accelerated by
human actions.

Environmental Issues in the Philippines

Natural Disasters
- typhoons - floods
- landslides
- volcanic eruptions
- earthquakes
- tsunamis

Human-caused Environmental Degradation

- high annual population growth rate, loss of agricultural lands
Deforestation, soil erosion, earthquakes
air and water pollution
improper disposal of solid and toxic wastes, loss of coral reefs, mismanagement and
abuse of coastal resources,and overfishing

Anthropocentrism
- literally means "human-center

> This set of ethics protects and promotes of human interests or well-being at the expense of
all other factors.
> Often places an emphasis on short-term benefits while disregarding long-term
consequences.

Ecocentrists
 - believe that nature deserves to exist for its own sake regardless of degree of
usefulness to humans.
The preservation of ecosystems or other living things takes priority over human needs.

Environmental science is not

environmentalism
● Environmental science
● The pursuit of knowledge about the natural world
● Scientists try to remain objective

Environmentalism
● A social movement dedicated to protecting the natural world

Modern Environmentalism
- In 1952, the Cuyahoga river in Ohio caught fire due to all the pollution that had
accumulated in it.

Rachel Carson published a book in 1962 entitled Silent Spring about the effects of pesticides
on large predatory birds, particularly the Bald eagle.
- This began a public awakening to threats of pollution and toxic chemicals to humans
as well as other species.
- This movement is called Modern Environmentalism.

Global Environmentalism
GREEN ENVIRONMENT

• Increased travel and communication enables people to know about daily events in places
unknown in previous generations.

- Global environmentalism explores issues and problems over the entire world, not just
within the local community.

The Tragedy of the Commons

A great deal of progress has been made since the birth of modern environmentalism, but
many debates still rage on.

• An ecologist named Garrett Hardin wrote an essay called "The Tragedy of the Commons",
describing the source of environmental problems as a conflict:

- Short-term interests of individuals

versus...
- interests of civilization and the Earth itself

A small village consists mostly of farmers that raise and sell sheep at a nearby city.

The only place for the sheep to graze is a commons in the center of the village.
 - A commons is an area that belongs to no individual; it is shared by the entire Likely
outcome: Villagers obtain as many sheep as possible, allow to graze in the
commons.
- Maximize short-term financial gain.

What if the commons was instead divided into sections that was owned by each villager?
- Because the land is owned, individuals are much more likely to plan and use it for the
long-term.

▪︎ The Tragedy of the Commons describes the likeliness of a commons area being exploited
for short-term economic gain.
▪︎ Modern examples include the atmosphere and oceans.

Economics and the Environment

● Economics has a bage influence in environmental decision-making.
● One of the most basic principles of economics is supply and demand.
- The greater the demand for a limited resource, the higher the price.

● Another important economic idea is the cost/benefit analysis. This questions whether
the benefit of doing something justifies the economic cost.
- Waukegan Harbor cleanup efforts, starting in 2010, will cost over $30 million.

Ecological Footprint
● An ecological footprint is one measurement of a person's resource use.
- Includes the amount of space needed to support each person in a nation, including forests,
farms, cities, etc.

The Goal: A Sustainable World

● Sustainability is when human needs are met so that the population can survive
indefinitely.

"Meeting the needs of the present without

compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
● Brundtland Commission, 198
•This goal requires everyone's participation
• The 21st Century is a critical time in finding sustainability
• What will you do to make a change?