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An Introduction to Environmental Science

Our Island, Earth&

The Nature of Environmental Science

Environmental Science

Mr. BugoniLesson 3

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Objectives:

• Define the term environment and the field of environmental science.

• Explain the importance of natural resources and ecosystem services to our lives.

• Discuss the effects of population growth and resource consumption.

• Characterize the interdisciplinary nature of environmental science.

• TED Video - For almost three decades, John Francis has been a planetwalker, traveling the globe by foot and sail with a message of environmental respect and responsibility (for 17 of those years without speaking). A funny, thoughtful talk with occasional banjo.

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Define the term environment and the field of environmental science.

• Our _________ consist of everything around us, including living and nonliving things.

• Humans are part of the environment and are not __________ from nature.

• _________________ is the study of how the natural world works, how our environment affects us, and how we affect our environment.

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Explain the importance of natural resources and ecosystem services to our lives.

• Some ________ are inexhaustible or _________ renewable, others are nonrenewable, and still others are __________ if we do not overexploit them.

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Explain the importance of natural resources and ecosystem services to our lives.

• _________ _______ are benefits we receive from the process and normal functioning of natural systems.

• Resources and ecosystem services are essential to human life and civilization, yet we are ___________ and __________ them.

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Discuss the effects of population growth and resource consumption.

• Rapid growth of human population _________ our environmental impacts.

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Discuss the effects of population growth and resource consumption.

• The _______ of the _________ can lead to resource depletion.

Garret Hardin’s tragedy of the commons: ___________ exploitation of public resources leads to depletion and damage

– Soil, ____, _______

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Discuss the effects of population growth and resource consumption.

• The ________ ________ concept quantifies a person’s or nation’s resource ___________ in terms of area of biologically productive _____ and ______.

If everyone consumed the amount of resources the U.S. does, we would need 4.5 Earths!

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Discuss the effects of population growth and resource consumption.

We are using renewable resources 30% faster than they are being replenished

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Characterize the interdisciplinary nature of environmental science.

• ___________ _________ employs the approaches and insights of numerous ___________ from the _______ science and the ________ science.

Environmental science is not _________________.

Science vs. A Social Movement

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What is an “environmental problem”?

• Whether an environmental condition is seen as a __________- Depends on the __________

and ___________• Ex.: the pesticide DDT

- In malaria-infested Africa: welcome because it kills malaria-carrying mosquitoes

- In America: not welcome, due to ________ ________

People also differ in their awareness of problems, depending on who they are, where they live, what they do

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TED Video

John Francis Walks the Earth (19:28)

John Francis walks the Earth, carrying a message of careful, truly sustainable development and respect for our planet.

“We have to leave behind the security of who we’ve become and go to the place of who we are becoming.”