Environmental Science
Objectives:
1. Define environmental science and compare environmental science with
ecology.
2. List the five major fields of study that contribute to environmental
science.
3. Describe the major environmental effects of hunter-gatherers, the
agricultural revolution, and the industrial revolution.
4. Distinguish between renewable and non-renewable resources.
5. Classify environmental problems into three major categories.
Environment
The environment is everything around us. It includes both the natural world and human-made things.
For example, a stream, a rainforest, a home, a school are all parts of our environment.
What is Environmental Science?
Environmental science is the study of how humans impact the environment.
For example, human sewage or phosphate fertilizer or a small dam on a river made by humans may
cause the disappearance of a species of mussels in the river.
Many Fields of Study
Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary science (meaning it involves many different fields of
study). One important foundation of environmental science is ecology. Ecology is the study of how
living things interact with each other and with their nonliving environment. For example, an
ecologist might study the relationship between bees and the plants they pollinate. The science of
ecology helps environmental scientists understand how human actions affect living things and
their environment. An environmental scientist might investigate how human activities such as
suburban landscaping influence the nesting behavior of bees.
Some of the major fields of study that contribute to environmental
science include:
Biology – the study of living organisms.
Earth Science – the study of Earth’s non-living systems and the planet.
Physics – the study of matter and energy.
Chemistry – the study of chemicals and their interactions.
Social Sciences – the study of human populations.
Our Environment through time
Hunter-Gatherers
For most of human history, people were hunter-gatherers, or people who obtained food by
collecting plants and by hunting wild animals.
Hunter-gatherers affect their environment in many ways:
● They set fires to burn the prairies and prevent the growth of trees. In this way, they kept the
prairies as open grassland where they could hunt bison.
● A combination of rapid climate changes and overhunting by hunter-gatherers may have led to
the disappearance (extinction) of some large mammal species (such as giant sloths, giant
bison, cave bears) in some parts of the world.
The Agricultural Revolution
Eventually, humans began to domesticate plants and animals.
Agriculture is the practice of growing, breeding, and
caring for plants and animals that are used for food,
clothing, housing, transportation, and other
purposes. The practice of agriculture had such a
dramatic impact on human societies and their
environment that it is often called the agricultural
revolution. The agricultural revolution led to a growth
in population at an unprecedented rate. Conversion
of grasslands, forests, and wetlands into farmlands
has caused soil erosion, floods, and habitat
destruction.
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution involved a shift from
energy sources such as animal muscle and running
water to fossil fuels, such as coal and oil. The
increased use of fossil fuels and machines
increased the efficiency of agriculture, industry and
transportation. Machinery reduced the amount of
land and human labor needed for farming.
Agricultural productivity increased along with
sanitation, nutrition, and medical care being vastly
improved. Inventions such as the light bulb,
telephone, and the portable computer improved the quality of our life. Artificial substances such as
plastics replaced raw animals and plant products, and introduced new environmental problems.
Population Growth
Agricultural revolution and the Industrial Revolution increased human population, The human
population almost quadrupled during the 20th century.
Our Main Environmental Problems
We can generally group environmental problems into three categories:
Resource depletion, pollution, and loss of biodiversity.
Resource Depletion
Any natural material that is used by humans is called a natural resource. Natural resources can be
classified as renewable and nonrenewable.
A renewable resource is a resource that can be replaced relatively quickly by natural processes.
Fresh water, air, soil, energy from the sun, trees, and crops are all resources that can be renewed.
A nonrenewable resource is a resource that forms at a much slower rate than the rate at which it is
consumed. The most common nonrenewable resources are minerals and fossil fuels. Resources are
said to be depleted when a large fraction of the resource has been used up.
Pollution
Pollution is created when societies produce waste faster than they can dispose of it. Pollution is an
undesired change in air, water, or soil that adversely affects the health, survival, or activities of
humans or other organisms.
There are two main types of pollutants:
● Degradable (biodegradable) pollutants are pollutants that can be broken down by natural
processes. They include materials such as human sewage and food waste.
● Pollutants that cannot be broken down by natural processes, such as mercury, lead, and
some types of plastic are called non-degradable pollutants.
Loss of Biodiversity
The term biodiversity refers to the number and variety of species
that live in an area. The organisms that share the world with us
can be considered natural resources. We depend on other
organisms for food, the oxygen we breathe, and for many other
things. A species that is extinct is gone forever, so a species can
be considered a nonrenewable resource.
Ecological footprint
An ecological footprint shows the productive area of earth needed to support one person in a
particular country. It estimates the land used for crops, grazing, forest products, and housing. It
also estimates the ocean area used to harvest seafood, and the forest area needed to absorb the
air pollution caused by fossil fuels.
Sustainability
Sustainability is the condition in which human needs are met in such a way that the human
population can survive indefinitely. In other words, you should use resources in a way that meets
your needs while leaving enough for future generations.