Ecology and Environmental Problems Dr. Ron Chesser – Lecture #1 Science, Decision-making processes, social systems & society. READING: Chapter 1—Key Themes Chapter 2 – Thinking Critically about the Environment

Assignment Give me five universally accepted truths. 1. 2 3 4 5

What is true? What information is useful? Are your truths different than mine? What happens when truths conflict? Can truth be decided by voting? What role does truth play in democracy? What role does truth play in society? What role does truth play in your personal life?

Conventional Truth vs Ultimate Truth What is blue (azul, siene, asul)?

Color Blind About 15-20% of white Males are color blind. Color blind see as 25 – spots Spots – 56 Spots - spots

What number? “5” is normal Vision “2 is blue-green color-blind vision

Figure 1.1: Flow diagram describing the scientific method.                                                      

Scientific Method 1. Observe some aspect of the universe. 2. Form a tentative description, called a hypothesis, that is consistent with what is observed. 3. Use the hypothesis to make predictions. 4. Test those predictions by experiments or further observations and modify the hypothesis in the light of your results. 5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until there are no discrepancies between theory and experiment and/or observation.

Theories, Hypotheses, and Facts In popular usage, a theory is just a vague and fuzzy sort of fact. But to a scientist a theory is a conceptual framework that explains existing facts and predicts new ones. the theory that "there is an invisible alien reading this over your shoulder" is not falsifiable. There is no experiment or possible evidence that could prove that invisible aliens do not exist. So the Alien Hypothesis is not scientific. A hypothesis is a tentative theory that has not yet been tested.

Science is consistent Results obtained using the scientific method are repeatable by other scientists. It is difficult to change scientific theories