Chapter 1: An Introduction to Environmental Science

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01_00CO.JPG Define the term Biosphere

01_00CO.JPG Our island, Earth Key Terms: 1.Biosphere is the sum of all Environments 2. An environment is the total sum of our local surroundings that include both biotic and abiotic factors 3.Biotic factors are living organisms (i.e., plants, animals, bacteria, viruses). Biotic factors require food/energy to exist and reproduce. 4.Abotic factors are defined as non-living chemical and physical parts of the environment such as temperature, light intensity, moisture content and PH levels, which by the way, often have a significant influence on the survivability of biotic factors.

01_01.JPG Natural resources lie along a continuum from perpetually renewable to nonrenewable

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Time to Collaborate

Working together with your table buddy, ponder the impact that a growing human population might have on the Earth. If some sort of action is not imposed soon to stabilize the human population growth, how might the world look in 2100? What about 2200? What could/should we do right now to avoid theses foreseeable problems? Analyze and Evaluate the Following

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01_12.JPG 1.Approximately how many citizen of Mexico does it take to equal the ecological footprint of the average citizen of the United States? 2.What about China? How many citizen does it take to equal the ecological footprint of the average citizen of the United States? Lastly, how many citizen of Pakistan does it take to equal the ecological footprint of the average citizen of the United States? 16

The world average is about 2.2 hectares per person for an ecological foot print. At that size, we are depleting our renewable resources 30% faster than they can replenish. The U.S. average footprint is 9.5 hectares, which is approximately _____ times larger than the average world footprint. 4.3

World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) Footprint Calculator:

Short Answer Quiz 1.A town has uncovered an environmental problem that involves the local landfill leaching chemicals into the ground water that ids used by the neighboring housing development. How will the interdisciplinary nature of environmental science help solve this problem? Possible answer: Various disciplines of natural sciences will help define the problem, such as the chemicals involved, the size of the underground chemical plume (i.e. spread) and the rate at which it moves. Social science (including, anthropology, economics, health, and psychology) can assist government agencies in understanding human behavior in devising solutions to the problem.

Easter Island

Where in the World is Easter Island?

The Nature of Science Modern scientists describe science as a systematic process for learning about the world and testing our understanding of it. Scientist test ideas by weighing evidence. In other words, they assess the importance of something by considering all available data.

The Scientific Method is the Key Element of Science It is a technique for testing ideas with observations and involves several assumptions and a series of interrelated steps. The assumptions are: a. The universe functions in accordance with fixed natural laws. b. All events arise from some cause and cause other events. c. We can use our senses and reasoning abilities to detect and describe natural laws. Mnemonic (nə ˈ mänik) noun A device such as a pattern of letter, ideas, or associations that assists in remembering something

Some Other Mnemonic Examples Taxonomy Mnemonic Device

01_09.JPG 1.Identify the problem or ask a question This is the “thing” that you want to know

01_09.JPG 2.Gather “unbiased” information from multiple sources about the thing that you want to know more about. This is the information that is already known.

01_09.JPG 3.Make an “educated” guess, or prediction of the outcome of the experiment. This guess/prediction will be tested during the experiment.

01_09.JPG 3.An experiment is an activity designed to test the validity (i.e., logically or factually sound) of a prediction and thus prove the hypothesis. It involves manipulating variables, or conditions that can change.

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01_10a.jpg What type of experiment is this again? Answer: Manipulative

01_10b.jpg And what type of experiment is this? Answer: Natural Experiment, or Correlational Study

01_09.JPG 4.Analyze and interpret the data obtained from your experiment and determine the conclusion.

01_09.JPG 5.Was your hypothesis correct or not?

01_09.JPG 6.Communicate your results via talk or a paper.

01_09.JPG Let’s see what you remember. Raise your hand if you know the answer. Ask Question Think? Try Again Research Develop a Hypothesis Test with an Experiment Analyze Results & Formulate Conclusion Hypotheses TRUE?Hypotheses FALSE? Report Results Scientific Paper Peer Review Peer Rejected Peer Accepted Publication & Further Research by Scientific Community

What are your Questions?