Cunningham Vocabulary

Question 1

Environmental Science

Answer 1

the use of scientific approaches to understand the complex systems in which we live. It is the systematic study of our environment and our place in it

Question 2

The scientific method

Answer 2

an orderly approach to asking questions, collecting observations, and interpreting those observations to find an answer to a question.

Question 3

Quantitative reasoning

Answer 3

understanding how to compare numbers and interpret graphs, to perceive what they show about problems that matter.

Question 4

Uncertainty

Answer 4

we know there are limits to our knowledge. Understanding how much we don’t know, ironically, can improve or confidence in what we do.

Question 5

Ecosystem services

Answer 5

• services or resources** provided by *_environmental systems (nature, not humans) -_ often ignored, but they support all our economic activities, nature doeesn’t put a price on them.
• provisioning of resources, such as the fuel we burn
• *supporting service**
• water purification,
• production of food and atmospheric oxygen by plants
• decomposing of waste by fungi and bacteria

regulating services

• maintenance of temperatures suitable for life by the earth’s atmosphere and carbon capture by green plants - which maintains a stable atmospheric composition.

cultural services - nonmaterial benefits (recreation, aesthetic, etc)

Question 6

Critical and analytical thinking

Answer 6

the practice of stepping back to examine what you think and why you think it

or why someone believes a particular idea

acknowledging uncertainty is one part of critical thinking.

Question 7

Sustainability

Answer 7

a search for ecological stability and human progress that can last over the long term.

• Gro Harlem Brundtland (World hEALTH oRGANIZATION director) = def = sustainable development

“meeting thee needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

Question 8

Figure 1.8

Ecosystem services we depdend on are countless and often invisible

Answer 8

Question 9

Indigenous Peoples

Answer 9

• the least powerful, most neglected groups
• Typically thee descendants of original inhabitants of an area taken over by more powerful outsiders.
• Distinct from their country’s dominant language, culture, religion and racial communities.
• 10% of the world total population
• 5000 cultures are indigenous out of a total of 6000 recognized cultures.
  *

Question 10

Environmental Science Engineering PURPOSE

Answer 10

reaching sustainability - make resources available and longterm

Question 11

Biggest 3 problems

Answer 11

• but also areas where we are seeing major inovation and change*
• Climate Change (Global warming)
• Yulong Snow Mountain - 13 peaks, 19 glaciers - 4 of them are now completely gone*
• Fresh Water - limiting resource

The Flint Water Crisis (Lake Huron and Detroit River)

Flint had a financial crisis - decided to rely on the Flint River

PIPES - were installed in 1901-1920 and they contained LEAD - they did not treat the water for coming into conatct with lead pipes -> LEAD POISONING for Flint’s population.

• Air Quality

Question 12

Table 1.2 Basic Principles of Science

Answer 12

Question 13

Empiricism

Answer 13

We can learn about the world by careful observation of empirical (real, observable) phenomena;

we can expect to understand fundamental processes and natural laws by observation.

Question 14

Uniformitarianism

Answer 14

Basic patteerns and processes are uniform across time and space;

the forces at work today are the same as those that shaped the world in the past, and they will continue to do so in the future

Question 15

Parsimony

Answer 15

When 2 plausible explanations are reasonable, the simpler (more parsimonious) one is preferable.

This rule is also known as Ockham’s razor, after the English Philosopher who proposed it.

Question 16

Uncertainty

Answer 16

Knowledge changes as new evidence appears, and explanations (theories) change with new evidence.

Theories based on current evidence should be tested on additional evidence, with the understanding that new data may disprove the best theories.

Question 17

Repeatability

Answer 17

Tests and experiments should be repeatable;

if the same results cannot be reporduced, then conclusions are probably incorrect.

Question 18

Proof is elusive

Answer 18

We rarely expect science to provide absolute proof that a theory is correct, because new evidence may always improve on our current explanations.

Even evolution, the cornerstone of modern biology, ecology and other sciences, is referred to as a ‘theory’ beacuse of this principle.

Question 19

Testable Questions

Answer 19

To find out whether a theory is correct, it must be tested.

We formulate testable statements (hypotheses) to test theories.

Question 20

Science

Answer 20

approach to increase knowledge through

• observation
• experimentation
• logic

to allow us to make reasonable, reliable predictions.

Basic sciences = focus on attainment of knowleeedge for the sake of knowledge

Applied sciences = application of information

Question 21

Assumption

Answer 21

what we observe reflects the true nature of the physical world

to allow us to make reasonable, reliable predictions.

Question 22

Consensus

Answer 22

the majority of experts in the discipline agree on the principles/theories/predictions

Question 24

Contrarian

Answer 24

• minority
• disagree with the consensus view

Question 25

Paradigm shift

Answer 25

result from a change in the consensus

Question 26

Environmental Science

Answer 26

does not equal environmental advocacy

• Neutral P.O.V.
• Provide new technologies knowledge
• Innovation
• Provide information for societies to make wiser choices

Question 27

Utalitarian conservation

Answer 27

concerns the proper use of nature

Conserve resources for the greatest good, for the greatest number, for the longest time.

Gifford Pinchot chief of conservation advisor for pres. Theodore Roosevelt - he believed that natural resources should be used, but managed and regulated by government.

• land use needed to be regulated
• they established national forest, park and wild life refuge system
• national parks are most protected
• practical (pragmatic) sense, logic, realism

Question 28

Environmental Preservation

Answer 28

• Protection of nature from use
• Protection does not need to be justified eeconomically
• Land should be preserved for moral values

Question 29

Industrialization

Answer 29

by moving to cities, we removed ourselves from nature - that is to society’s harm

Question 30

John Muir

Answer 30

• wanted land to be preserved and protected from human use.
• opposed Pinchot’s utalitarian policies
• Nature deeeserves to exist for its own sake, regardless of its usefulness to us
• prioritizes PRESERVATION
• emphasizes thee fundamental rights of other organisms - and nature as a whole

Question 31

Modern Environmentalism

Answer 31

• Post WW2 - emergeencee of cheemical indsutry, atomic weapons, petrocheemical industry
• Concern about health and eecological consequences of pollution
• BIOACCUMULATION - higher conentrations of a chemical as it moves through the food chain
• pesticide use
• atomic weapons
• human population growth
• petrochemical industry (plastics)
• CREATION OF THE US ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Question 32

BIOACCUMULATION

Answer 32

higher conentrations of a chemical as it moves through the food chain

Question 33

Global Environmentalism Movement

Answer 33

• Citizeenship - we all have wqual rights over the reesources of this world
• Social Progress
• Developed Countries vs Developing Countries
• Links beetween Environmental Quality and Social Progress
• Wee CAN havee eeconomic improvement for the citizens of the world without devastating the environment.