Chapter 1 Review Flashcards
Define the field of environmental science and discuss it’s importance
Environmental science is the study of the interactions among human-dominated systems and natural systems and how those interactions affect environmental.
Studying environmental science helps us identify, understand, and respond to anthropogenic
Identify ways in which humans have altered and continue to alter our environment
The impact of humans on natural systems has been significant since early humans hunted some large animal species to extinction. However, technology and population growth have dramatically increased both the rate and the scale of human-included change
Identify key environmental indicators and their trends over time
Five important global-scale environmental indicators are Biological diversity, Food production, Average global surface temperatures and atmospheric CO2 concentrations, human population, and resource depletion.
Biological Diversity trends
Decreasing as a result of human actions
Habitat Destruction
Habitat Degradation
Food Production trends
Leveling off and may be decreasing
Carbon Dioxide trends
CO2 concentration are steadily increasing as a result of fossil fuels combustion and land conversion
Human Population trends
Human Population continues to increase and probably will continue to increase and probably will continue to do so
Resource depletion
Most natural resources continues to increase
Define sustainability and explain
Sustainability is the use of Earth’s resources to meet our current needs without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
The ecological footprint is the land area required to support a person’s (or a county’s) lifestyle.
We can use that information to say something about how sustainable that lifestyle would be if it were adopted globally
Explain how the scientific method
The scientific method is a process of observation, hypothesis generation, data collection, analysis of results and dissemination of findings.
Scientific methods application to the study of environmental problems
Repetition of measurements or experiments is crucial if one is to determine the availability of findings. Hypothesis are tested and often modified before being accepted
How can sustainability be used to measured using the ecological footprint
The ecological footprint is the land area required to support a person’s (or a county’s) lifestyle.
We can use that information to say something about how sustainable that lifestyle would be if it were adopted globally
Describe some of the unique challenges of environmental science
We lack an undisturbed “control planet” with which to compare conditions on Earth today. Assessments and choices are often subjective because there is no single measure of of environmental quality. Environmental system are so complex that they are poorly understood, and human preferences and policies may affect them as much as do natural laws
Describe some of the limitations of environmental science
Environmental system are so complex that they are poorly understood, and human preferences and policies may affect them as much as do natural laws
