1. Ecolog 2

2. DAY 1 Chapter 1 Science and the Environment
Section 2: The Environment and Society
DAY 1

3. “The Tragedy of the Commons”
In his essay, ecologist Garrett Hardin argued that the main difficulty in solving environmental problems is the conflict between the short-term interests of the individual and the long-term welfare of society.
The example he used was the commons, or the areas of land that belonged to the whole village.

4. “The Tragedy of the Commons”
It was in the best interest of the individual to put as many animals in the commons as possible.
However, if too many animals grazed on the commons, they destroyed the grass.
Once the grass was destroyed, everyone suffered because no one could raise animals on the commons.

5. “The Tragedy of the Commons”
The commons were eventually replaced by closed fields owned by individuals.
Owners were now careful not to put too many animals on their land, because overgrazing wouldn’t allow them to raise as many animals next year.
Hardin’s point being that someone or some group must take responsibility for maintaining a resource or it will become depleted.

6. “The Tragedy of the Commons”
Hardin’s point can be applied to our modern commons, natural resources.
Humans live in societies, and in societies, we can solve environmental problems by planning, organizing, considering the scientific evidence, and proposing a solution.
The solution may be to override the short-term interests of the individual and improve the environment for everyone in the end.

7. Supply and Demand
The Law of Supply and Demand is a law of economics that states as the demand for a good or service increases, the value or the food or service also increases.
An example is the world oil production.

8. Costs and Benefits The cost of environmental solutions can be high.
A cost-benefit analysis balances the cost of the action against the benefits one expects from it.
The results depend on who is doing the analysis.
For example, pollution control may be too costly to an industry, but to a nearby community, the price may well be worth it.
Often, environmental regulations are passed on to the consumer or taxpayer.

9. Risk Assessment
One of the costs of any action is the risk of an undesirable outcome.
Risk assessment is a tool that helps us create cost effective ways to protect our health and environment.
To come up with an effective solution to an environmental problem, the public must perceive the risk accurately.

10. Developed and Developing Countries
The unequal distribution of wealth and resources around the world influence the environmental problems and solutions a society can make.
Developed countries have higher incomes, slower population growth, diverse industrial economies, and stronger social support.
Developing countries have lower average incomes, simple agriculture-based communities, and rapid population growth.

11. Population and Consumption
Almost all environmental problems can be traced back to two root causes:
The human population in some areas is growing too quickly for the local environment to support.
People are using up, wasting, or polluting many natural resources faster than they can be renewed, replaced, or cleaned up.

12. Local Population Pressures
When the population in an area grows rapidly, there may not be enough natural resources for everyone to live a healthy, productive life.
In severely overpopulated regions, forests are stripped bare, topsoil is exhausted, and animals are driven to extinction.
In these areas, malnutrition, starvation, and disease can be constant threats.

13. Local Population Pressures
In developing countries, millions of people are starving.
Yet these human populations tend to grow the fastest.
Food production, education, and job creation cannot keep pace with the population growth, so each person gets fewer resources as time goes by.

14. Consumption Trends
To support the higher quality of life, developed countries are using much more of Earth’s resources.
Developed nations use about 75 percent of the world’s resources, although they make up only 20 percent of the world’s population.
This rate of consumption creates more waste and pollution per person then in developing countries.

15. Consumption Trends

16. Ecological Footprints
Ecological footprints are calculations that show the productive area of Earth needed to support one person in a particular country.
An ecological footprint estimates the land used for crops, grazing, forests products, and housing.
It also includes the ocean area used to harvest seafood and the forest area needed to absorb the air pollution caused by fossil fuels.

17. Ecological Footprints
An ecological footprint is one way to express the differences in consumption between nations.

18. Critical Thinking and the Environment
People on either side on an environmental issue may feel passionately about their cause and can distort information to mislead people about the issue.
Research done by scientists is often used to make a political point or is misinterpreted to support controversial data.

19. Critical Thinking and the Environment
In addition, the economic dimension of an environmental issue may be oversimplified and to complicate matters still, the media often sensationalizes environmental issues.
For these reasons and others, you must use your critical thinking skills when making decisions about environmental issues.

20. Critical Thinking and the Environment
Remember a few things as you explore environmental science further:
First, be prepared to listen to many viewpoints over a particular issue.
Second, investigate the source of the information you encounter.
Third, gather all the information you can before drawing a conclusion.

21. A Sustainable World
Sustainability is the condition in which human needs are met in such a way that a human population can survive indefinitely.
Sustainability is a key goal of environmental science.

22. A Sustainable World
A sustainable world is not unchanging as technological advances and human civilizations continue to be productive.
However, our current world is not sustainable as the developed countries are using resources faster than they can be replaced.
Achieving a sustainable world requires everyone’s participation including individual citizens, industry, and the government.

23. “The Tragedy of the Commons”

25. Study Questions What is the tragedy of the commons?
Define a developed country? A non developed country?
What is an ecological footprint?
What is sustainability?

26. DAY 1 Chapter 1 Science and the Environment
Section 1: Understanding Our Environment
DAY 1

27. What Is Environmental Science?
Environmental science is the study of the air, water, and land surrounding an organism or a community, which ranges from a small area to Earth’s entire biosphere.
It includes the study of the impact of humans on the environment.

28. What is the Goal of Environmental Science?
A major goal of environmental science is to understand and solve environmental problems.
To accomplish this goal, environmental scientists study two main types of interactions between humans and their environment:
How our actions alter our environment.
The use of natural resources like water, coal, and oil.

29. Many Fields of Study
Environmental science is an interdisciplinary science, which means that it involves many fields of study.
Important to the foundation of environmental science is ecology.
Ecology is they study of interactions of living organisms with one another and with their environment.
Biology is the study of living things.
Chemistry is the study of chemicals and their interactions.
Physics is the study of matter and energy.

30. Many Fields of Study – Page 7 in Text

31. Scientists as Citizens, Citizens as Scientists
Governments, businesses, and cities recognize that studying our environment is vital to maintaining a healthy and productive society.
Thus, environmental scientists are often asked to share their research with the world.
However, the observations of nonscientists are the first steps toward addressing an environmental problem.

32. Our Environment through Time
Wherever humans have hunted, grown food, or settled, they have changed the environment.
For example, the environmental change that occurred on Manhattan Island over the last 300 years was immense, yet that period was just a “blink” in human history.

33. First Impact: Hunter-Gatherers
Hunter-gatherers are people who obtain food by collecting plants and by hunting wild animals or scavenging their remains.
Hunter-gatherers affect their environment in many ways:
Native American tribes hunted buffalo.
The tribes also set fires to burn prairies and prevent the grow of trees. This left the prairie as an open grassland ideal for hunting bison.

34. First Impact: Hunter-Gatherers
In North America, a combination of rapid climate changes and overhunting by hunter-gatherers may have led to the disappearance of some large mammal species, including:
giant sloths
giant bison
mastodons
cave bears
saber-toothed cats

35. The Agricultural Revolution
Agriculture is the raising of crops and livestock for food or for other products that are useful to humans.
The practice of agriculture started in many different parts of the world over 10,000 years ago.
The change had such a dramatic impact on human societies and their environment that it is often called the agricultural revolution.

36. The Agricultural Revolution
The Agricultural Revolution allowed human populations to grow at an unprecedented rate.
As populations grew, they began to concentrate in smaller areas placing increased pressure on the local environments.

37. The Agricultural Revolution
The agricultural revolution changed the food we eat.
The plants we grow and eat today are descended from wild plants.
However, during harvest season farmers collected seeds from plants that exhibited the qualities they desired, such as large kernels.
These seeds were then planted and harvested again. Overtime, the domesticated plants became very different from their wild ancestors.

38. The Agricultural Revolution
Many habitats were destroyed as grasslands, forests, and wetlands were replaced with farmland.
Replacing forest with farmland on a large scale can cause soil loss, floods, and water shortages.

39. The Agricultural Revolution
The slash-and-burn technique was one of the earliest ways that land was converted to farmland.
Much of this converted land was poorly farmed and is no longer fertile.

40. Agriculture Revolution
YouTube!
Agriculture Revolution

41. The Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution involved a shift from energy sources such as animals and running water to fossil fuels such as coal and oil.
This increased use of fossil fuels changed society and greatly increased the efficiency of agriculture, industry, and transportation.
For example, motorized vehicles allowed food to be transported cheaply across greater distances.

42. The Industrial Revolution
In factories, the large-scale production of goods became less expensive than the local production of handmade goods.
On the farm, machinery reduced the amount of land and human labor needed to produce food.
With fewer people producing their own food, the populations in urban areas steadily grew.

43. Industrial Revolution Clip
YouTube!
Industrial Revolution Clip

44. The Agricultural Revolution The Industrial Revolution
Hunter-Gatherers
The Agricultural Revolution
The Industrial Revolution
Characteristics
Get food by collecting plants and hunting wild animals
Practiced growing food, breeding, and caring for plants
Started using fossil fuels such as coal and oil (Energy Shift)
Effects on Environment
Over-hunting caused extinction of some species
Habitats were destroyed because grasslands, forests, and wetlands were replaced with farmland.
Introduced artificial substances into the environment that cannot be recycled like plastic.

45. Study Questions Define Environmental Science.
What is the goal of Environmental Science?
How is Environmental Science Interdisciplinary?
Who are the hunter gatherers?
What is the agriculture revolution?
What is the industrial revolution?

46. DAY 2 Chapter 1: Science and the Environment
Section 1: Understanding Our Environment
DAY 2

47. Our Environment Through Time Continued: Improving the Quality of Life
The Industrial Revolution introduced many positive changes such as the light bulb.
Agricultural productivity increased, and sanitation, nutrition, and medical care vastly improved.

48. Improving the Quality of Life
However, the Industrial Revolution also introduced many new environmental problems such as pollution and habitat loss.
In the 1900s, modern societies began to use artificial substances in place of raw animals and plant products.
As a result, we know have materials such as plastics, artificial pesticides, and fertilizers.

49. Improving the Quality of Life
Many of these products make life easier, but we are now beginning to understand some of the environmental problems they present.
In fact, much of environmental science is concerned with the problems associated with the Industrial Revolution.

50. Spaceship Earth
Earth can be compared to a spaceship traveling through space as it cannot dispose of its waste or take on new supplies.
Earth is essentially a closed system.
This means that the only thing that enters the Earth’s atmosphere in large amounts is energy from the sun, and the only thing that leaves in large amounts is heat.

51. Spaceship Earth
This type of closed system has some potential problems.
Some resources are limited and as the population grows, the resources will be used more rapidly.
There is also the possibility that we will produce wastes more quickly than we can dispose of them.

52. Spaceship Earth
Environmental problems can occur on different scales: local, regional, or global.
A local example would be your community discussing where to build a new landfill.
A regional example would be a polluted river 1000 miles away affecting the region’s water.
A global example would be the depletion of the ozone layer.

53. Population Growth
The Industrial Revolution, modern medicine, and sanitation all allowed the human population to grow faster than it ever had before.

54. Population Growth
In the past 50 years, nations have used vast amounts of resources to meet the worlds need for food.
Producing enough food for large populations has environmental consequences such as habitat destruction and pesticide pollution.

55. Population Growth
Most scientists think that the human population will almost double in the 21st century before it begins to stabilize.
Because of these predictions, we can expect the pressure on the environment will continue to increase, and the human population and its need for food and resources grow.

56. What are our Main Environmental Problems?
Environmental problems can generally be grouped into three categories:
Resource Depletion
Pollution
Loss of Biodiversity

57. Resource Depletion
Natural resources are any natural materials that are used by humans, such as, water, petroleum, minerals, forests, and animals.
Natural resources are classified as either a renewable resources or a nonrenewable resource.

58. Resource Depletion
Renewable resources can be replaced relatively quickly by natural process.
Nonrenewable resources form at a much slower rate than they are consumed.

59. Resource Depletion
Resources are said to be depleted when a large fraction of the resource has been used up.
Once the supply of a nonrenewable resource has been used up, it may take millions of years to replenish it.
Renewable resources, such as trees, may also be depleted causing deforestation in some areas.

60. Pollution
Pollution is an undesirable change in the natural environment that is caused by the introduction of substances that are harmful to living organisms or by excessive wastes, heat, noise, or radiation
Much of the pollution that troubles us today is produced by human activities and the accumulation of wastes.

61. Pollution There are two main types of pollutants:
Biodegradable pollutants, which can be broken down by natural processes and include materials such as newspaper.
Non-degradable pollutants, which cannot be broken down by natural processes and include materials such as mercury.

62. Pollution
Degradable pollutants are a problem only when they accumulate faster than they can be broken down.
However, because non-degradable pollutants do not break down easily, they can build up to dangerous levels in the environment.

63. Loss of Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the variety of organisms in a given area, the genetic variation within a population, the variety of species in a community, or the variety of communities in an ecosystem.
The organisms that share the world with us can be considered natural resources.
We depend on them for food, the oxygen we breathe, and for many other things.

64. Loss of Biodiversity
Yet, only a fraction of all the species that once roamed the Earth are alive today and many are extinct.
Scientists think that if the current extinction rates continue, it may cause problems for the human population.
Many people also argue that all species have potential economic, scientific, aesthetics, and recreational value, so it is important to preserve them.

65. Study Questions What is spaceship Earth?
What is an effect of the industrial revolution?
What are our main environmental problems?
Compare renewable and non-renewable resources.
Define Biodiversity
Define Pollution
Define biodiversity.
What is loss of biodiversity?

66. Ecolog

67. DAY 1 Chapter 2 Tools of Environmental Science
Section 2: Statistics and Models
DAY 1

68. How Scientists use Statistics
Statistics is the collection and classification of data that are in the form of numbers.
Scientists rely on and use statistics to summarize, characterize, analyze, and compare data.
Statistics is actually a branch of mathematics that provides scientists with important tools for analyzing and understanding their data.

69. Statistics Works with Populations
Scientists use statistics to describe statistical populations.
A statistical population is a group of similar things that a scientist is interested in learning about.

70. What is the Average?
Statistical populations are composed of similar individuals, but these individuals often have different characteristics.
A mean is the number obtained by adding up the data for a given characteristic and dividing this sum by the number of individuals.
The mean provides a single numerical measure for a population and allows for easy comparison.

71. Distribution
Distribution is the relative arrangement of the members of a statistical population, and is usually shown in a graph.
The graphs of many characteristics of populations, such as the heights of people, form bell-shaped curves.
A bell shaped curve indicates a normal distribution where the data is grouped symmetrically around the mean.

72. Distribution

73. What is the Probability?
Probability is the likelihood that a possible future event will occur in any given instance of the event.
Probability is usually expressed as a number between 0 and 1 and written as a decimal rather than as a fraction.
However, there must be a large enough sample size in order to obtain accurate results.

74. Understanding the News
The news contains statistics everyday.
For example, a reporter might say, “A study shows that forest fires increased air pollution in the city last year.”
This could lead you to gather and then graph data on the pollution levels for last 20 years, and looking to see if this years seem unusually high.
Paying attention to statistics will make you a better consumer of information.

75. Thinking About Risk Risk is the probability of an unwanted outcome.
People often worry about big oil spills, but as the pie chart shows, there is a much greater risk of oil pollution from everyday sources.

76. Thinking About Risk
The most important risk we consider is the risk of death.
Most people overestimate the risk of dying from sensational causes, such as plane crashes, but underestimate the risk from common causes, such as smoking.
Likewise, most citizens overestimate the risk of sensational environmental problems and underestimate the risk of ordinary ones.

77. Thinking About Risk

78. Models
Models are patterns, plans, representations, or descriptions designed to show the structure or workings of an object, system, or concept.
Scientists use several different types of models to help them learn about our environment.

79. Physical Models
Physical models are three-dimensional models you can touch.
Their most important feature is that they closely resemble the object or system they represent, although they may be larger or smaller.
The most useful models teach scientists something new and help to further other discoveries.

80. Physical Models
One of the most famous physical models was used to discover the structure of DNA.
The structural model was built based on the size, shape, and bonding qualities of DNA.
The pieces of the model put together helped the scientist figure out the potential structure of DNA.
Discovering the structure led the understanding of DNA replication.

81. Graphical Models
Maps and charts are the most common examples of graphical models.
Scientists use graphical models to show things such as the position of the stars, the amount of forest cover in a given area, and the depth of the water in a river or along a coast.

82. Conceptual Models
Conceptual models are verbal or graphical explanations for how a system works or is organized.
A flow-chart diagram is an example of a conceptual model.
A flow-chart uses boxes linked by arrows to illustrate what a system contains, how those contents are organized, and how they affect one another.

83. Conceptual Model

84. Conceptual Models
Conceptual models can also be verbal descriptions or even drawings.
For example, one conceptual model of the structure of an atom describes the atom as one large ball being circled by several smaller balls.
This illustrates another point, that a model can be more than one type.
An atomic model made using plastic balls is both a conceptual and physical model.

85. Mathematical Models
Mathematical models are one or more equations that represent the way system or process works.
Mathematical models are especially useful in cases with many variables, such as the many things that affect the weather.

86. Mathematical Models
Although mathematical models use number and equations, they are not always right.
People are the ones who interpret the data and write the equations.
Therefore, if the data or the equations are wrong, the model will not be realistic and will provide incorrect information.
Like all models, mathematical models are only as good as the data that went into building them.

87. Mathematical Models
Scientists use mathematical models to create amazing, as well as useful images.
“False color” satellite images are created using mathematical models.
Scientists use the models to relate the amount of energy reflected from objects to the objects’ physical condition.

88. Study Questions
None for this PPT

89. Bellringer

90. DAY ONE Chapter 2 Tools of Environmental Science
Section 3: Making Informed Decisions
DAY ONE

91. Values and the Environment
Scientific research is an essential first step in solving environmental problems.
However, before research can begin, an examination of values is usually needed.
Values are principles or standards that an individual considers important.
Many values that affect environmental decision-making.

92. Values that Affect Environmental Decision Making

93. An Environmental Decision-Making Model
A decision-making model is a conceptual model that provides a systematic process for making decisions.
Decision-making models can be used to help you make decisions about environmental issues, which can be very difficult.

94. Decision-Making Model

95. A Decision-Making Model
The first step in the model is to gather information. This includes things such as watching news reports, and talking to experts.
Second, consider which values apply to the issue.
Next, explore the consequences of each option.
Finally, evaluate all of the information and make a decision.

96. A Hypothetical Situation
The golden-cheeked warbler population is declining in Valley County.
The town of Pleasanton, in Valley County, is growing rapidly, and much of the new development is occurring outside the city limits.
Biologists who have been studying the warbler warn county officials that if they do not take action, the state fish and wildlife service may list the bird as an endangered species.

97. A Hypothetical Situation
Several groups join together to propose that the county buy several hundred acres of land where the birds are known to breed and save the land as a nature preserve.

98. A Hypothetical Situation
The group also proposes limiting development on land surrounding the preserve.
The group obtains enough petitions to put the issue to a vote, and the public begins to discuss the proposal.

99. A Hypothetical Situation
People who own property within the proposed preserve oppose the plan.
These property owners have an economic interest in the situation. They believe that they will lose money if they are forced to sell their land to the county instead of developing it.
Other residents do not like the idea of more government regulations on how private property can be used.

100. A Hypothetical Situation
Other landowners support the plan and fear that without the preserve the warbler will be listed as an endangered species.
Once listed as endangered, the state will impose a plan to protect the bird that will require even stricter limits on land development.
People who have land near the preserve think that their land will increase in value.
Many residents also look forward to hiking and camping in the preserve.

101. How to Use the Decision-Making Model
The hypothetical situation in Pleasanton can be used to illustrate how to use the decision-making model.
Michael Price is a voter in Valley County who will vote on whether the county should create the nature preserve.
The steps Michael took to make his decision follow.

102. Gather Information Michael studied the warbler issue thoroughly by
watching local news reports
reading the newspaper
learning more about the golden-cheeked warblers from various websites
attended forums where the issue was discussed.
Several of the arguments on both sides made sense to him.

103. Gather Information
Michael also gathered scientific information that included graphs of the decline of the warbler population.

104. Consider Values
Michael made a table to help him clarify his thoughts and values.
Michael considered the environmental, economic, and recreational values of the preserve.
He believed these to be important, but someone else might have thought other values were more important to consider.

105. Should the Valley County Set Aside a Nature Preserve?

106. Explore Consequences
Michael decides that in the short term, the positive and negative consequences listed in his table were almost equally balanced.
For example, some people would suffer financially from the plan, but others would benefit.
In addition, taxpayers would have to pay for the preserve, yet all residents would have access the previously private property.

107. Explore Consequences
The long-term consequences that allowed Michael to make his decision.
Michael realized that the environmental values were an important factor in his decision.
The thought of the warbler becoming extinct distressed him, and protecting the habitat now would be less costly that protecting it later under a state imposed plan.

108. Explore Consequences
Michael considered that there were long-term benefits as well.
He had read that property values were rising rapidly in counties where land was preserved for recreation.
He also found that people would pay more to live in counties that have open spaces.

109. Explore Consequences
Because the county contained little preserved land, Michael thought that creating the preserve would bring the county long-term economic benefits.
He also highly valued the aesthetic and recreational benefits of the preserve, such as walking trails.

110. Make a Decision Michael chose to vote in favor of the nature preserve.
However, someone else who looked at the same table of pros and cons might have voted differently.
If you lived in Valley County, how would you have voted?

111. Make a Decision
As you learn about issues affecting the environments, use this decision-making model as a starting point to making your decisions.
Be sure to consider you values, weigh the pros and cons, and keep in mind both the short-term and long-term consequences of your decision.

112. Study Questions
None for this power point.
See your study guide.

113. Scientific Method - Controls and Variables

114. Steps in the Scientific Method
Problem
Observation
Hypothesis
Experiment
Conclusion
Retest P O H E C

115. Scientific Experiments Follow Rules.
An experimenter changes one factor and observes or measures what happens.

116. The Control Variable
The experimenter makes a special effort to keep other factors constant so that they will not affect the outcome.
Those factors are called control variables.

117. What is the Purpose of a Control?
Controls are NOT being tested
Controls are used for COMPARISON

118. Other Variables
The factor that is changed is known as the independent variable.
The factor that is measured or observed is called the dependent variable.

119. Example of Controls & Variables
For example, suppose you want to figure out the fastest route to walk home from school. You will try several different routes and time how long it takes you to get home by each one.
Since you are only interested in finding a route that is fastest for you, you will do the walking yourself.

120. What are the Variables in Your Experiment?
Varying the route is the independent variable
The time it takes is the dependent variable
Keeping the same walker throughout makes the walker a control variable.

121. One more thing… it is best to make several trials with each independent variable.

122. Study Questions
None for this power point.
Make a foldable for POHEC