Guided Notes: Intro to Enviro Science

Environmental Science Notes Outline Unit 1: Introduction to Environmental Science

Introduction to Environmental Science
1. What is environmental science?
Environmental science is the study of the interaction of humans with the natural
environment
2. The environment includes:
• a. Climate

• b. Soil and landforms

• c. Water sources

• d. Other living organisms

2. What changed about human society during the agricultural revolution?

During the agricultural revolution in the fertile crescent, humans began farming.

a. What technology enabled this?

In Sumeria, similar grain production to modern agriculture: 30 bushels/acre
4. Define these two concepts illustrated by the collapse of civilization in Mesopotamia:
a. The Law of Unintended Consequences –Decisions often have unexpected effects
• b. Resource Depletion –Consuming natural materials faster than they can replenish.

5. What changed about human society during the industrial revolution?

The Industrial Revolution marked the transition to coal power, electricity, and factory production
Tragedy of the Commons
6. According to the Tragedy of the Commons idea, what is the major cause of resource depletion?
⪢ Pamphlet published by an economist in 1833 describing a major cause of resource depletion:
Individuals neglect the well-being of society in the pursuit of personal gain
⪢ a. Define commons -are resources that are shared and not owned.

7. Give two modern examples of the Tragedy of the Commons:

Two small villages both consist of sheep farmers who raise and sell sheep to a nearby city
8. Describe each of these designations of natural resources:
a. Inexhaustible resources –Cannot be used up.
 Sunlight

b. Renewable resources –Will be replaced, but often at a slower rate than they are used.
Soil, timber.

c. Nonrenewable resources –Not replaced within the human time scale.

Single-use
Coal, oil, natural gas

d. Recyclable resources –Not replaced within the human time scale.

Can be reused repeatedly
Minerals, metals
Environmental History
9. Explain the Antiquities Act –
was passed, allowing the federal government to protect cultural and natural resources
10. Differentiate between each of these land designations made during the Progressive Era:
 a. National Parks –are to be kept unaltered from their original state.

b. National Forests –allow commercial logging and recreational hunting and fishing
c. National Wildlife Refuges –allow hunting and fishing with a permit, but no commercial
activities.
11. Define environmental ethics –
a. Anthropocentrism –
b. Ecocentrism –
12. What was the result of the Hetch Hetchy debate?
The same year the antiquities act passed, San Francisco experienced a massive earthquake and fire
a. What justification was given by Gifford Pinchot for this decision?
Where conflicting interests must be reconciled, the question shall always be answered
from the standpoint of the greatest good of the greatest number in the long run.”
-Gifford Pinchot, Chief of the U.S. Forest Service

13. Explain each of these issues that were raised during the modern environmentalism era:
a. Carcinogenic material –
b. Air pollution –
c. Persistent chemicals –
⪢ d. Extinction –

e. Famine -
⪢ f. Water pollution –
⪢ g. Hazardous waste –
14. Briefly define the role of each of these laws passed during the Modern Environmentalism era:
a. Antiquities Act – provide general legal protection of cultural and natural resources of
historic or scientific interest on federal lands
⪢ b. Clean Water Act –Reducing air and water pollution

c. Clean Air Act – EPA sets limits on certain air pollutants, including setting limits on how
much can be in the air anywhere in the United States
d. Environmental Policy Act – requires federal agencies to assess the
environmental effects of their proposed actions prior to making decisions
e. Endangered Species Act – provides a framework to conserve and protect
endangered and threatened species and their habitats both domestically
and abroad.
f. Safe Drinking Water Act – protect the quality of drinking water in the U.S
g. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act – gives EPA the authority to control hazardous
waste from cradle to grave
h. CERCLA – Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and
Liability Act

15. What is the responsibility of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)?

protects people and the environment from significant health risks, sponsors
and conducts research, and develops and enforces environmental regulations.
Developed vs Developing Countries
16. List characteristics of developed and developing countries.

17. What is gross domestic product (GDP)?

the standard measure of the value added created through the production of goods and services in a
country during a certain period.
18. What does the total fertility rate measure?
allows for more efficient and beneficial planning and resource allocation within a particular region
19. What does life expectancy measure?
the average number of years of life a person who has attained a given age can
expect to live
20. What is consumption?
the using up of natural and physical resources
21. Fill out this table contrasting a develope

Economically poor

d and developing
country.
1 A) Economically poor 2 A) Less educated 3 A) Higher fertility rates
B) Economically wealthy B) More educated B) Lower fertility rates
4 A) Lower standard of living 5 A) Lower rates of consumption
B) Higher standard of living B) Higher rates of consumption
22. What does ecological footprint measure?
the amount of biologically productive land and sea area an individual, a region,
all of humanity, or a human activity that compete for biologically productive
space.
Economics and the Environment
23. Explain the principle of supply and demand:
the theory that prices are determined by the relationship between supply and
demand
24. What is the goal of a cost-benefit analysis?
evaluate a decision or potential project free of biases.
a. What are hidden costs?
obscuring or omitting additional fees, charges, or costs until the user is
well into the purchasing or sign-up process
Environmental Worldviews
25. Explain the planetary management worldview.
the human-centered environmental worldview that guides most industrial
societies.
a. Is this an anthropocentric or ecocentric worldview?
Ecocentrism finds inherent (intrinsic) value in all of nature
26. Explain the stewardship worldview.
assumes we have an ethical responsibility as humans to be caring and
responsible managers, or stewards, of the Earth.
27. Explain the environmental wisdom worldview.
a biocentric worldview that holds nature's intrinsic value above all else and
believes that humans and nature are interconnected
a. Is this an anthropocentric or ecocentric worldview?
It takes a much wider view of the world than does anthropocentrism, which sees individual humans
and the human species as more valuable than all other organisms.