Quiz 1 Study Guide Flashcards
What is the environment?
Environment - consists of all the living and non-living things around us. It includes the continents, oceans, clouds, ice caps, ainimals, plants, forests, and farms - as well as the human structures, urban centers, and living spaces. In broad sense - complex webs of social relationships and institutions. Many separate us from the environment. But we are part of nature. (pp. 2)
Finiteness of our environment (resources)
Lesson: Easter Island shows us that we can use up our finite amount of resources. Our environment is finite.
What happened on Easter Island, and how do we know?
Easter Island - collapsed their own civilization by abusing their environment
Located in the middle of the Pacific
Around 300-900AD people from Polynesia came over 6K-30K people living In a forested environment with a large biodiversity of birds, plants, animals. By 950AD, trees replaced by grasses.
Around 1700s Europeans arrived, found a barren landscape with a very small number of people - found large statues (weren’t able to understand at the time how the rock was mined from the quarry - assumption came that there were trees there and they had all been cut down).
People were not eating very well, lots of social unrest, not enough resources. Had used their trees for canoes, housing, fiber for clothing. Once trees were gone they didn’t have the same diet of fish.
Scientists drilled cores in lakes. Pollen settles at the bottom of the lake. Pollen differs from the types of species of plants. Determined that there was more than 21 species of trees, found burnt roots, and nuts in caves.
Found large amounts of sediment in the lakes from soil loss because of erosion.
Comparison of Easter Island with our present-day situation
Like the Easter Islanders, we are all stranded together on an island with limited resources. Earth may be vastly larger and richer in resources than Easter Island, but Earth’s human population is also much greater. The Easter Islanders must have seen that they were depleting their resources, but it seems that they could not stop. Whether we can learn from the history of Easter Island and act more wisely to conserve the resources of our island, Earth, is entirely up to us.
Renewable versus non-renewable or a continuum of renewability
Renewable natural resources are natural resources that are replenished over short periods of time
Nonrenewable natural resources (minerals and crude oil) are in finite supply and are formed much more slowly than we use them
Continuum demonstrates that resources have a rate of renewability. Natural resources lie along a continuum from perpetually renewable to nonrenewable. Perpetually renewable, or inexhaustible, resources, such as sunlight and wind energy, will always be there for us. Renewable resources such as timber, soils, and freshwater may be replenished on intermediate time scales, if we are careful not to deplete them. Nonrenewable resources, such as oil and coal, exist in limited amounts that could one day be gone.
Natural resources
the various substances and energy sources we take from our environment and that we rely upon to survive
Rate of resource use by humans is determined by:
population - Our growing population and consumption are intensifying many environmental impacts. Agriculture, deforestation, toxic substances, mineral extraction and mining impacts, freshwater depletion, fisheries declines, air and water pollution, waste generation, and global climate change.
per capita consumption rate - The rise in per person consumption of goods and services stems from multiple causes and results in diversity of environmental, social, and economic consequences.
Causes:
New technologies create more agricultural production, more resource extraction, and more manufacturing
Idea that all growth is good
Advertising
Global trade
Consequences:
More resource extraction which results in habitat alteration and a loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services
More fossil fuel use, more waste and pollution, Affluenza all results in economic loss, health impacts, and social disruption
rate of renewal - See continuum of renewability
Environmental Science: What is it?
Environmental science is the study of how the natural world works, how our environment affects us, and how we affect our environment. We need to understand this so we can create solutions to challenges.
Characteristics of Science
Science is a systematic process for learning about the world and testing our understanding of it. The term science is also used to refer to the accumulated body of knowledge that arises from this dynamic process of questioning, observation, testing, and discovery.
Observational or Descriptive Science
Research in which scientists gather basic information about organisms, materials, systems, or processes that are not well known or that cannot be manipulated in experiments. In this approach, researchers explore new frontiers of knowledge by observing and measuring phenomena to gain a better understanding of them. Such research is common in traditional fields such as astronomy, paleontology, and taxonomy, as well as in newer, fast-growing fields such as molecular biology and genomics.
Hypothesis driven
Research that proceeds in a targeted and structured manner, using experiments to test hypotheses within a structured framework traditionally known as the scientific method
Scientific Method
A technique for testing observations. The scientific method is the traditional experimental approach that scientists use to learn how the world works. This diagram is a simplified generalization that, although useful for instructive purposes, cannot convey the true dynamic and creative nature of science. Moreover, researchers from different disciplines may pursue their work in ways that vary legitimately from this model. Typically involves the steps… Observations Questions Hypothesis Predictions Test Results (fail to reject the hypothesis - go back to predictions, reject hypothesis - go back to hypothesis) >> To Scientific Process
Experiment
An activity designed to test validity by manipulation of variables. the validity of a prediction or a hypothesis. It involves manipulating variables, or conditions that can change.
Hypothesis
A statement that attempts to explain phenomena or answer a question, used to generate predictions. For example, a scientist investigating why algae are growing excessively in local ponds might observe chemical fertilizers being applied on farm fields nearby. The scientist might then state a hypothesis as follows: “Agricultural fertilizers running into ponds cause the amount of algae in the ponds to increase.”
Prediction
A specific statements that can be directly and unequivocally tested.
Example: A researcher might predict: “If agricultural fertilizers are added to a pond, the quantity of algae in the pond will increase.”
Interpretation of results and conclusion
Scientists record data from their studies. They particularly value quantitative data (information expressed using numbers) because numbers provide precision and are easy to compare.
Example: The scientist running the fertilization experiment, for instance, might quantify the area of water surface covered by algae in each pond or might measure the dry weight of algae in a certain volume of water taken from each.
Variables: Independent and Dependent
Independent variable a variable scientist manipulates, Dependent is not manipulated but is the result of experiment (pp.9)
Example: A scientist could test the prediction linking algal growth to fertilizer by selecting two identical ponds and adding fertilizer to one while leaving the other in its natural state. In this example, fertilizer input is an independent variable, a variable the scientist manipulates, whereas the quantity of algae that results is the dependent variable, one that depends on the fertilizer input. If the two ponds are identical except for a single independent variable (Fertilizer input), then any differences that arise between the ponds can be attributed to that variable. Such an experiment is known as a controlled experiment because the scientist controls for the effects of all variables except the one whose effect he or she is testing. In our example, the pond left unfertilized serves as a control, an unmanipulated point of comparison for the manipulated treatment pond.
Correlation or correlative data versus experimental data
In correlational research variables are not influenced, but researchers only measure them and look for relations (correlations) between some set of variables.Experimental research attempts to discover actual CAUSATION of one variable on another. Data analysis in experimental research also comes down to calculating “correlations” between variables, specifically, those manipulated and those affected by the manipulation. However, experimental data may potentially provide qualitatively better information: Only experimental data can conclusively demonstrate causal relations between variables.”
For example, if we found that whenever we change variable A then variable B changes, then we can conclude that “A influences B.” Data from correlational research can only be “interpreted” in causal terms based on some theories that we have, but correlational data cannot conclusively prove causality. “
Need for controls in experiments
We wouldn’t be able to compare to lack of a treatment. A lot of variability in the natural world and factors, by having a control you can essentially control the variability. If you didn’t have a control, you wouldn’t know what it was attributed.
Replication of experiments
Whenever possible, it is best to replicate one’s experiment; that is, to stage multiple tests of the same comparison of control and treatment.
Example: Our scientist could perform a replicated experiment on, say 10 pairs of ponds, adding fertilizer to one of each pair.
Quantification
Of results and doing statistics with them are likely to help understand the results. Information expressed using numbers because numbers provide precision and are easy to compare.
Example: The scientist running the fertilization experiment, for instance, might quantify the area of water surface covered by algae in each pond or might measure the dry weight of algae in a certain volume of water taken from each.
Scientific data versus anecdote
Anecdotal evidence is information that is not based upon facts or careful study, reports or observations of usually unscientific observers, casual observations or indications rather than rigorous or scientific analysis, information passed along by word-of-mouth but not documented scientifically
Nature of Scientific Theory
Theory is a widely accepted , well tested explanation of one or more cause-and effect relationships that has been extensively validated by a great amount of research. Whereas a hypothesis is a simple explanatory statement that may be disproven by a single experiment, a theory consolidates many related hypotheses that have been supported by a large body of data.
Importance - and limits - of science in addressing environmental problems
A nation’s strength depends upon its commitment to science, and this is why governments devote a portion of our taxes to fund scientific research. The more information a policy-maker can glean from scientific research, the better policy he or she will be able to craft….Whenever taxpayer-funded science is suppressed or distorted for political ends - by the right or the left - we all lose. Abuses of power generally come to light only when brave government scientists risk their careers to alert the public and when journalists work hard to uncover and publicize these issues.
Definition of Ethics
Ethics is a branch of philosophy that involves the study of good and bad, right and wrong. Tells us how we ought to behave.
Two types of ethical philosophies
Relativists believe ethics do and should vary with social context
Universalists believe there exist objective notions of right and wrong that hold across cultures and contexts
Three world view attitudes towards the environment
Anthropocentrism describes a human centered view of our relationship with the environment
Biocentrism ascribes value to certain living things or to the biotic realm in general
Ecocentrism judges actions in terms of their effects on whole ecological systems (living and non living) and the relationships among them.
1800s early 1900s Rampant exploitation of natural resources history
In the late 1800s, as the continent became more populated and its resources were increasingly exploited, public perception and government policy toward natural resources began to shift. Laws of this period aimed to alleviate some of the environmental impacts associated with westward expansion. In 1872, Congress designated Yellowstone as the world’s first national park. In 1891, Congress passed a law authorizing the president to create “forest reserves” in order to prevent overharvesting and protect forested watersheds. In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt created the first national wildlife refuge. These acts enabled the creation of a national park system, national forest system, and a national wildlife refuge system that still stand as global models. These developments reflected a new understanding that the continent’s resources were exhaustible and required legal protection.
Late 1800s - mid 1900s: the progressive conservation movement history
Very much about resource conservation for human use. With the onset of the industrial revolution, more people began adopting biocentric and ecocentric worldviews due to the rapid expansion and exploitation of resources.
Gifford Pinchot
Gifford Pinchot who founded the US Forest Service who had a more anthropocentric view - promoted the conservation ethic that people should put resources to use but should have a responsibility to manage them.
John Muir
John Muir was a pioneering advocate for conservationism. He promoted the preservation ethic -we should protect our environment in a pristine,unaltered state. He argued that nature deserved protects for its own inherent value (ecocentric) and he maintained that nature promoted human happiness(anthropocentric).
Aldo Leopold
Aldo Leopold was also a pioneering environmental philosopher who articulated a new relationship between people and the environment. Ceased to view certain species as good or bad, instead that a healthy ecosystem depends upon all of its interacting parts. He wrote The Land Ethic and argued that the people should view themselves as the land as members of the same community and that we are obligated to protect it.
Mid 1960s and 1970s response to pollution
Historians believe the major advances invite environmental policy occurred in the 1960s and 1970s because….
Evidence of environmental problems was widely readily apparent. People could visualize the policies to deal with the problems. The political climate was ripe with supportive public leaders that were willing to act. Photographs from the space program finally had allowed humanity to see for the first time ever images of the earth from space and at the time those images were extremely powerful and revolutionized many peoples worldviews by making us aware of the finite nature of our planet.
Silent Spring
1962 Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (pp. 98-99) - A landmark event was the 1962 publication of Silent Spring, a book by American scientist and writer Rachel Carson. Silent Spring awakened the public to the negative ecological and health effects of pesticides and industrial chemicals. The book’s title refers to Carson’s warning that pesticides might kills as many birds that few would be left to sing in springtime.
What role did Ohio’s Cuyahoga River have in drawing attention to pollution?
Ohio’s Cuyahoga River also drew attention to pollution hazards. The Cuyahoga was so polluted with oil and industrial waste that the river actually caught fire near Cleveland a number of times in the 1950s and 1960s. This spectacle, coupled with an oil spill offshore from Santa Barbara, California in 1969, moved the public to urge Congress and the president to do more to protect the environment. The first Earth Day in 1970 helped to galvanize public support for action to address pollution problems. Today, largely because of environmental policies enacted since the 1960s, public health is better protected and the nation’s air and water are considerably cleaner.
What is NEPA?
NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) made the leap to actually check for consequences prior to implementing any changes. This is the EIS (environmental impact statement). Some call it “red tape”. National Environmental Policy Act enacted by Richard Nixon in 1970 created an agency called the Council on Environmental Quality and required that an environmental impact statement or an EIS is prepared for any major federal action that may significantly affect environmental quality. An EIS results from studies are done as predictions for the environmental impacts that could happen from any given governmental action. This order from Nixon was followed up by another order to create the Environmental Protection Agency or the EPA to put all elements of agencies regulating water quality, air pollution, solid waste, and any other environmental issues under their umbrella.
Example: (pp. 100) The EIS process forces government agencies and businesses that contract with them to evaluate environmental impacts before proceeding with a new dam, highway, or construction project. Although the EIS process generally does not halt such projects, it can serve as an incentive to minimize environmental damage. NEPA also grates ordinary citizens input in the policy process by requiring that EISs be made publicly available and that policymakers solicit and consider public comment on them.
