APES CH. 1 NOTES – MRS.

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ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE: STUDYING THE STATE OF OUR EARTH

"We must recognize the earth’s limited capacity to provide for us. We must recognize its
fragility. We must no longer allow it to be ravaged. This ethic must motivate a great movement,
convincing reluctant leaders and reluctant governments and reluctant peoples themselves to affect
the needed changes.”
-- Union of Concerned Scientists, 1993 (over 1500 people, many Nobel Laureates)

Various statistics from World-O-Meter: http://www.worldometers.info/

MODULE 1 – Environmental Science

I. General environmental terms
A. Environment—the sum of all surrounding conditions or forces that influence
living organisms’ characteristics and ability to survive
B. Environmental science
1) the interdisciplinary field of study that examines the interactions between
human systems and natural systems
2) an integrated science that includes agricultural science, biology, earth
science, ecology, economics, chemistry, economics, ethics, politics,
toxicology, etc.
C. ecology—the branch of biology that deals with organisms relating to one another
and to their surroundings (ecosystem interactions)
D. Parts of the environment
1) biotic factors—living aspects of the environment (plants, animals, microbes)
2) abiotic factors (A-BIO: without life)—nonliving, chemical, and/or physical
aspects of the environment; conditions and resources
E. Ecosystem—biotic and abiotic factors interacting in a specific area

II. Human alteration of natural systems

Bozeman Science: Environmental Systems - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfgE-LAJ8fA

A. System—a set of components, functioning and interacting in a regular and
theoretically predictable way; has structure and function
1) natural system = recycling of elements
2) human system = one-directional flow of elements
a) landfills
b) pollutants in stormwater and groundwater
c) “disposable society”
B. Examples of human impact:
desertification salt water intrusion genetic modification
deforestation air/water/land pollution (GMO)
overpopulation anthropogenic chemical
biodiversity loss emissions
global warming acid deposition
climate change ocean acidification
decline of ecosystems ozone depletion

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MODULE 2 – Environmental Indicators and Sustainability

Adapted from R. Costanza et al., "The Value of the World's Ecosystem Services and
Natural Capital," Nature Vol. 387 (1997).
Annual global value of Ecosystems Services = values in trillion $ U.S.

 17.1 Soil formation  0.8 Food and raw materials production

 3.0 Recreation  0.8 Genetic resources
 2.3 Nutrient cycling  0.7 Atmospheric gas balance
 2.3 Water regulation and supply  0.4 Pollination
 1.8 Climate regulation  1.6 other
 1.4 Habitat
 1.1 Flood and storm protection
TOTAL = $ 33,000,000,000,000 (USD 1997)

I. Monitoring natural systems for stress

(see chapters 2 and 3 for more on systems)
A. Ecosystem capital
1) natural capital—natural resources
2) economics involves production and distribution of goods and services
3) ecosystems provide goods and services
http://www.mcwdn.org/ECONOMICS/GoodService.html
a) ecosystem (natural) goods—what is produced or provided by ecosystems
(food, fresh water, fuel wood, fiber, genetic resources)
b) ecosystem (natural) services
i. regulating services—benefits obtained from regulation of ecosystem
processes (climate regulation, disease control, flood control,
detoxification)
ii. supporting services—services that maintain conditions for life
on Earth (soil formation, nutrient cycling, pollination, primary
production, O2 production, provision of habitats)
4) exploitation of natural systems is widespread and nonsustainable
5) natural ecosystems are undervalued because some functions they perform are not
obvious
6) incremental value—how changes in goods or services affect humans
B. Environmental indicator—describes the current condition of an
environmental system *** TABLE 2.1, 2.2***
1) biodiversity (chapters 5 and 18)
a) biodiversity— the variety of living organisms on the planet
b) genetic diversity—variation in the genome of a population
c) species—closely related group of organisms ( in the same genus) which can
interbreed and produce viable offspring
d) speciation—evolution of new species
e) background extinction rate (average long-term extinction rate) should be 1-5
species per million per year, but it is occurring 1,000 to 10,000 times the
background rate, with dozens going extinct every day (Center for Biological
Diversity)
2) food production (chapter 11), soil issues (chapter 8)

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 3) global surface temperature and CO2 concentration (chapters 4 and 19)
a) Greenhouse gases (GHG)— most important is CO2
b) anthropogenic— human-made, as opposed to naturally occurring
4) human population (chapter 7)
World: http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/popclockworld.html
U.S.: http://www.census.gov/popclock/
Various statistics from World-O-Meter: http://www.worldometers.info/
5) resource depletion (chapters 7, 12, 13)
a) developed vs. developing countries
b) development—improvements in state of humanity due to
advancement in economics; improvements in the standard of living
c) renewable vs. nonrenewable resources

II. Sustainable practices for humanity

A. Sustainability
1) long-term solutions to environmental problems (not a “quick fix”)
2) least negative environmental impact as possible
3) stewardship—taking care of the earth for future generations
4) sensible resource management: nonrenewable resources used sparingly, and
renewable resources used at a sensible place for regeneration
5) avoiding damage to environmental systems to the extent that they cannot recover
6) biophilia— love of life, our need to be connected to the environment and each
other
7) examples
a) sustainable yields in commercial fishing and forestry
b) sustainable agriculture—promotes environmental health, economic profit,
and social and economic equity
c) sustainable ecosystems use solar energy, recycle nutrients and maintain
biodiversity
d) sustainable societies—societies that are in balance with nature
B. Sustainable development
1) a balance between human well-being, economic advancements, and resource
management; harmony of ecology, sociology, and economics
2) from the U.N.) “development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
C. Ecological footprint— an indicator showing how big an area of productive land and
water is needed to produce the resources required to maintain a person’s standard of
living
1) Food footprint
a) frequency of animal-based product consumption
b) amount of processed, packaged, not locally grown (> 200 mi.) food
2) Goods footprint—amount of trash generated
3) Shelter footprint
a) number of people in dwelling
b) size of dwelling
c) type of dwelling
d) electrical conservation measures in place

4) Mobility footprint

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 a) type of dwelling
b) public transportation usage
c) vehicle usage
d) types of land vehicles used
e) mpg of land vehicles used
f) frequency of carpooling
g) frequency of air travel
h) bicycles, walking, horses, etc.
Key Messages from www.LivingBeyondOurMeans.pdf
■ “Everyone in the world depends on nature and ecosystem services to provide the conditions
for a decent, healthy, and secure life.
■ Humans have made unprecedented changes to ecosystems in recent decades to meet
growing demands for food, fresh water, fiber, and energy. These changes have helped to improve
the lives of billions, but at the same time they weakened nature’s ability to deliver other key
services such as purification of air and water, protection from disasters, and the provision of
medicines.
■ Among the outstanding problems… are the dire state of many of the world’s fish stocks; the
intense vulnerability of the two billion people living in dry regions to the loss of ecosystem
services, including water supply; and the growing threat to ecosystems from climate change and
nutrient pollution.
■ Human activities have taken the planet to the edge of a massive wave of species extinctions,
further threatening our own well-being.
■ The pressures on ecosystems will increase globally in coming decades unless human
attitudes and actions change…
■ Today’s technology and knowledge can reduce considerably the human impact on
ecosystems. They are unlikely to be deployed fully, however, until ecosystem services cease to be
perceived as free and limitless, and their full value is taken into account.
■ Better protection of natural assets will require coordinated efforts across all sections of
governments, businesses, and international institutions. The productivity of ecosystems depends
on policy choices on investment, trade, subsidy, taxation, and regulation, among others.”

MODULE 3 – Scientific Method

I. Science is a process
A. “sound science” vs. “junk science”
1) junk science or bunk science is a term used to describe purportedly scientific
data, research, analyses or claims which are perceived to be driven by
political, financial or other questionable motives (invalid experimentations,
falsifying or distorting data, not following the scientific method)
2) pseudoscience—body of alleged knowledge, methodology, belief, or practice
that is portrayed as scientific but diverges from the required standards for
scientific work or is unsupported by sufficient scientific research
3) controversial science—ideas and theories at odds with mainstream science;
often advanced by individuals either from outside the field of science or by
scientists outside the mainstream of their own disciplines
B. the scientific method
1) scientific method—a systematic way of solving problems
a) well-known steps: observe, hypothesize, experiment, theorize…

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 b) human thought processes: drawing conclusions, gaining insights, posing
questions, testing and re-testing ideas…
2) experimental and control setups
a) experiment—a controlled test of a hypothesis
i. a controlled experiment tests one variable at a time
ii. natural experiment—a natural event acting as an experimental
situation in an ecosystem
b) experimental group: the variable being tested is present
c) control group: the variable being tested is absent
3) variables
a) anything affecting the outcome of the experiment
b) only one can be tested at a time for the experiment to be valid
c) independent variable is changed by the experimenter (x)
d) dependent variable changes based on what the independent variable
does (y)
3) hypothesis— an educated guess about how something works
a) can be accepted or rejected
b) null hypothesis— there is no difference between groups or conditions
4) observation—direct or indirect recording of information
a) direct observation— made with the senses
b) indirect observation—made with measuring instruments
5) data—verbal (words) or numerical (numbers) information
a) descriptive research contains verbal data
b) data handling must be accurate
c) replication—recording of several sets of measurements; sample size
(n) cannot be too low
d) data can be anecdotal logs, pictures, graphs, tables, charts, etc.
e) accuracy vs. precision
i. accuracy—how close a measurement comes to the actual
true value
ii. precision—how consistent and repeatable are the trials
iii. high accuracy and high precision are desired
iv. uncertainty—how much an experimentally measured or
calculated value differs from the true value
6) research
a) review the existing literature
b) experimental results are shared with the scientific community
c) repeat experiments to see if results are consistent
7) theory
a) repeatedly and thoroughly tested; substantial scientific evidence to
support it
b) wide acceptance among the scientific community
c) long description which tells why
d) cannot be proven
e) constructed with objectivity and rationality
8) scientific law
a) concise statement which tells what
b) can be proven
9) scientific controversies: fueled by new information, complex phenomena,
bias, and subjective values

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 10) evaluating science
a) Can the data be verified?
b) Check the rationale: is the explanation logical?
c) Is the explanation objective, taking into account all observations?
d) Is the conclusion widely accepted by the scientific community?

If you are asked to design an experiment, include the following:

 Your hypothesis and/or predictions/expected results
 The independent variable - what treatments will you apply
 The dependent variable - what will you measure
 The variables to be manipulated and controlled (very important)
 The organism/materials/apparatus to be used
 Describe what you will actually do
 Describe how you will actually take and record data
 Describe how the data will be graphed and analyzed
 State how you will draw a conclusion (compare results to hypothesis and
predictions)
Note: Your experimental design needs to be at least theoretically possible, and it is
very important that your conclusions/predictions be consistent with the principles
involved and with the way you set up the experiment.

II. Challenges of Environmental Science

A. Lack of baseline data—no “control planet” for comparison
B. Subjectivity—value judgments and opinions
C. Multiple interactions in environmental systems
D. Human well-being
1) justice and equity: the environmental justice (EJ) movement
from http://nonoise.org/library/execords/eo-12898.htm
“Environmental justice is a movement promoting the fair treatment of people of all races,
income, and culture with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of
environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Fair treatment implies that no person or group of
people should shoulder a disproportionate share of the negative environmental impacts resulting
from the execution of this country's domestic and foreign policy programs. (The environmental
justice movement is also occasionally referred to as Environmental Equity—which EPA defines
as the equal treatment of all individuals, groups or communities regardless of race, ethnicity, or
economic status, from environmental hazards).” (combating environmental racism)
2) justice for developing countries
“No one is free when others are oppressed.” (author unknown)
a) over 1 billion people in the world live in extreme poverty
b) political corruption
c) U.N. resolutions

“There are no passengers on spaceship Earth. We are all crew.”

-- Marshall McLuhan, Canadian philosopher (1911-1980)

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