GE 15 - Week 1 To 3

College of Arts and Sciences Education
2nd Floor, DPT Building

Matina Campus, Davao City
Phone No.: (082)300-5456/305-0647 Local 118
Course Coordinator : JASON BEN R. PARAGAMAC, EnP

E-mail : jasonben_paragamac@umindanao.edu.ph
Student Consultation : Thru LMS, e-mail or by phone
Mobile : (082) 3050647 loc 153
Phone : 09778777007
Effectivity Date : August 2020
Mode of Delivery : Blended (On-line with Face to face or Virtual Sessions)
Time Frame : 54 Hours
Student Workload : Expected Self Directed Learning
Requisites : None
Credit : 3 units
Attendance Requirements : A minimum of 95% attendance is required at all
scheduled Virtual or Face to Face sessions.
AREAS OF CONCERN DETAILS

Contact and Non-contact This 3-unit lecture course self-instructional manual is
Hours designed for blended learning mode of instructional
delivery with scheduled face to face or virtual sessions.
The expected number of hours will be 54, including the
face to face or virtual meetings. The face to face sessions
shall include the summative assessment tasks.
Assessment Task Submission Submission of assessment tasks shall be on the 3rd, 5th,
7th, and 9th weeks of the term. The assessment paper
shall be attached with a cover page indicating the title of
the assessment task (if the task is a performance), the
name of the course coordinator, date of submission, and
the name of the student. The document should be e-
mailed to the course coordinator. It is also expected that
you already paid your tuition and other fees before the
submission of the assessment task.
If the assessment task is done in real-time through the

Blackboard Learning Management System's features,
the schedule shall be arranged ahead of time by the
course coordinator.
Turnitin submission (if To ensure the task is authentic and with honesty, all
necessary) assessment tasks requiring to submit through Turnitin
with a maximum similarity index of 30% are allowed.
This means that if your paper goes beyond 30%, the
students will either opt to redo her/his paper or explain
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in writing addressed to the course coordinator the

reasons for the similarity. In addition, if the article has
reached a more than 30% similarity index, the student
may be called for disciplinary action under the
University's OPM on Intellectual and Academic Honesty.
Please note that academic dishonesty such as cheating

and commissioning other students or people to
complete the task for you have severe punishments
(reprimand, warning, expulsion).
Penalties for Late The score for an assessment item submitted after the
Assignments/Assessments designated time on the due date, without an approved
extension of time, will be reduced by 5% of the possible
maximum score for that assessment item for each day or
part-day that the assessment item is late.
However, if the late submission of the assessment

paper has a valid reason, a letter of explanation should
be submitted and approved by the course coordinator.
If necessary, you will also be required to present/attach
pieces of evidence.
Return of Assignments/ Assessment tasks will be returned to you two (2) weeks
Assessments after the submission. This will be backed by e-mail or via
the Blackboard portal.
For group assessment tasks, the course coordinator will

require some or few of the students for online or virtual
sessions to ask clarificatory questions to validate the
originality of the assessment task submitted and to
ensure that all the group members are involved.
Assignment Resubmission You should request in writing addressed to the course
coordinator his/her intention to resubmit an assessment
task. The resubmission is premised on the student’s
failure to comply with the similarity index and other
reasonable grounds such as academic literacy standards
or other reasonable circumstances, e.g., illness, accident
financial constraints.
Re-marking of Assessment You should request in writing addressed to the program
Papers and Appeal coordinator your intention to appeal or contest the score
given to an assessment task. The letter should explicitly
explain the reasons/points to contest the grade. The
program coordinator shall communicate with the
students on the approval and disapproval of the request.
If disapproved by the course coordinator, you can

elevate your case to the program head or the dean with
the original letter of request. The final decision will
come from the dean of the college.
Grading System All culled from BlackBoard sessions and traditional
contact
Course discussions/exercises – 30%
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1st formative assessment – 10%

2nd formative assessment – 10%
3rd formative assessment – 10%
All culled from on-campus/onsite sessions (TBA):

Final exam – 40%
Submission of the final grades shall follow the usual

University system and procedures.
Preferred Referencing Style Depends on the discipline, if uncertain or inadequate, use
the general practice of the APA 6th Edition.
Student Communication You are required to create a umindanao e-mail account,
which is expected to access the BlackBoard portal.
Then, the course coordinator will enroll the students to
have access to the materials and resources of the
course. All communication formats: chat, submission of
assessment tasks, requests, etc. shall be through the
portal and other university recognized platforms.
You can meet the course coordinator in person

through the scheduled face to face sessions to raise
your issues and concerns.
For students who have not created their student e-

mail, please contact the course coordinator or
program head.
Contact Details of the Dean KHRISTINE MARIE D. CONCEPCION, PhD
E-mail: artsciences@eumindanao.edu.ph
Phone: 082-3050647 local 118
Contact Details of the JASON BEN R. PARAGAMAC, EnP
Program Head E-mail: jasonben_paragamac@umindanao.edu.ph
Phone: 082-3050647 local 153
Students with Special Needs Students with special needs shall communicate with the
course coordinator about the nature of his or her unique
needs. Depending on the quality of the need, the course
coordinator with the program coordinator's approval
may provide alternative assessment tasks or extension of
the deadline for submission of assessment tasks.
However, alternative assessment tasks should still help
achieve the desired course learning outcomes.
Online Tutorial Registration Your coordinator will endorse you to tutorial or
enhancement program offered by the CASE-
Environmental Studies to reinforce your learning in
professional courses. These tutorial sessions can be done
online, post-test and pre-test will be conducted to
determine your progress.
Help Desk Contact BSEnviSci@umindanao.edu.ph
Library Contact BRIGIDA E. BACANI
library@umindanao.edu.ph
09513766681
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CC’s Voice: Hello! Welcome to this course GE 15- Environmental Science. This a three
(3) a unit-lecture course that will cover the inland and marine
atmospheric systems and human dimensions potentially influences
the cycle and processes in the global setting. Moreover, this course
will give you an overview of how environment economy, as well as
social interaction, to form communities and within a defined
ecosystem.
CO: Studying environmental studies requires a deeper understanding of other

disciplines, including chemistry, earth sciences, biology, mathematics,
engineering, social sciences, and humanities. This course deals with the
holistic study of atmospheric, geophysical, oceanic, biological, and social
sciences. You are expecting to demonstrate an understanding of how
environmental science works as well as introduce you to the complex process
of different, including, could it be natural or human-made ecosystems.
You expect to evaluate the environment's current conditions and determine

potential threats and hazards associated with rapid industrial development
and rapid population growth. This course will enable you to learn sustainable
and unsustainable environmental practices as well as the consequence of
unplanned development and enforcement of environmental policies and
regulations and the international commitments of highly developed,
developed, and developing towards gearing towards a safe and sustainable
future.
Week 1-3: Unit Learning Outcomes (ULO): At the end of the unit, you are expecting to:
a. Explain what environmental science is and how it draws on different kinds of

knowledge. and Define species, populations, communities, and ecosystems,
and summarize the ecological significance of trophic levels
b. Trace the history of population growth and summarize different perspectives on

population growth, demographic transition, and population stability.
c. Describe how evolution produces species and discuss how species interaction
shape biological communities.
BIG PICTURE IN FOCUS: ULO -a. Explain what environmental science is and how it draws
on different kinds of knowledge. and Define species, populations, communities, and
ecosystems, and summarize the ecological significance of trophic levels
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In this section, the essential terms relevant to the study

environmental science ULO-1 will be operationally defined to establish a typical frame in
the field of natural sciences and social influences towards the quality of life and
sustainability. You will encounter these terms as we go through environmental science
studies with how people and intimately connected and the implications of rapid population
growth and towards the environment. It involves a more comprehensive understanding of
the ecological problem, making judgments evaluation of different types of environmental
and their functions. Please refer to the definition in case you will encounter difficulty in the
understanding of environmental science concepts.
1. Environment - it is a place where different things are such as a wet or hot

environment.
1.1. It can be living (biotic) or non-living (abiotic) community, which includes
three essential forces: physical, chemical, and natural.
2. Science defines the systematized body of knowledge that builds and organizes
a lot of information in a different form of testable experiments and predictions
about everything in the universe.
3. Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary academic field in science that

integrates all the physical, biological, and information to the study of the
environment, and the solution to environmental problems.
4. Ecology is a branch of biology concerning interactions among organisms, and

their biophysical environment includes both biotic and abiotic components.
5. Chemistry. The study of matter, its properties, how and why substances
combine or separate to form other elements, and how elements interact with
energy.
6. Urban Planning involves two processes, including technical and political, that
focus on the development of the land. It includes the air, water, and building
infrastructure passing into and out of the urban areas with the use of
transportation, communication, and distribution networks.
7. Sociology, the main focus on this, is about the social relationship, interaction,
and even the culture of every individual living in society.
7.1. It uses different methods of investigation and critical analysis to the body
of knowledge about individual social order and social changes.
8. Political Science is about how the government-run the system-the governance.

It also consolidates different political views and thoughts associated with
constitutions and political behavior.
9. Engineering. Its principles focus not only on building machines, structures,

bridges, tunnels, vehicles, buildings, and roads but also it covers the planning of
designs.
10. Biodiversity is a group of different individual life that inhibit the plant EArth.
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That varies on their genetic component and adaptation to the environment.

10.1. In the terrestrial biodiversity is composed of animals on land usually
greater near the equator, which is an indicator of the warming of the
climate.
11. Habitat is considered an environment is naturally occurring to a specific

organism to survive.
11.1. A species habitat is those places where the species can find food, shelter,
protection, and mates for reproduction.
11.2. Both physical and biological features characterize it.
12. Sustainability. The ability of a system to exist continually at a cost, in a universe

that evolves in the state of entropy toward the thermodynamic equilibrium of the
planet.
12.1. In the 21st century, it generally refers to the capacity for the biosphere
and human civilization to coexist.
13. They were carrying capacity when the maximum population size of a biological
species can be sustained in that specific environment, given the food, habitat,
water, and other available resources.
14. Ethics is a branch of philosophy that could somehow be systematized, defend,

recommend, and identify what right and wrong behavior is.
15. For the environmental Ethics is a discipline in philosophy that studies or focus
on the moral relationship among human beings to the value and moral status of
the environment, which includes plants and animals.
16. A hypothesis is an educated guess that cannot be answerable by yes or no

without proof of evidence through testing. One of the requirements to prove this
is to conduct thorough experiments and observations to formulate scientific
theories.
17. The disturbance is a temporary change in environmental conditions that causes

a pronounced change in an ecosystem.
17.1. Disturbances often act quickly and significantly to alter the physical
structure or arrangement of biotic and abiotic elements.
18. The ecosystem is a community comprised of living organisms in conjunction or

in relationship with the nonliving components of their specific environment that
interact with each other.
19. Elements. A species of an atom having the same number of protons in its atomic
nuclei.
20. Atom is considered as the smallest particle of each element. Elements can be
found in solid, liquid, gas, plasma, or Bosh Einstein Condensate, each composed
of the atom. Electron, neutron , and protons are the primary particles of an atom.
21. Acids are a solution having a pH (power of hydrogen) below 7. It can donate
protons or capable of forming a covalent bond using an electron pairing.
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Examples of acids are sulfuric acids, Hydrochloric acids, and muriatic acids.
22. Compounds are chemically bonded with two or more elements to form binary
compounds or ternary compounds.
23. A Cell is considered as the basic unit of all living organisms, both plants, and
animals. The study of life is biology. Cytology is for the study of cells. Cells can
be a unicellular having one-celled organisms or multi-cellular (two or more cells
combined).
24. Enzymes are considered as a catalyst; it would either speed up or lower down
the chemical reaction without changing the composition of the substance. It is
essential to each living organism to served an essential function in the body,
particularly indigestion.
25. Metabolism is the whole process of digesting the food intake of organisms. It is
commonly known for the breaking down and transportation of substances
throughout human body cells.
26. Photosynthesis. It is the process of all plants that transform into the release of
energy ATP. During this process, the light energy of the sun is captured. There
is a conversion of water, some mineral and carbon dioxide, and a certain amount
of oxygen needed by animals to survive.
27. Chlorophyll. It is a green photosynthetic pigment found in plants, algae, and

cyanobacteria.
27.1. Chlorophyll absorbs mostly in the blue and, to a lesser extent, red
portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, hence its intense green color.
28. A species is a basic unit of classifying and identifying the taxonomic rank of an
organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity.
29. Food Chain. A linear network of links in a food web starting from producer
organisms and ending at apex predator species, detritivores, or decomposer
species.
30. Food Web. The natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical
representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community.
30.1. Another name for the food web is the consumer-resource system.
To perform the aforesaid big picture (unit learning outcomes) for the first three (3)
weeks of the course, you need fully understand the following essential knowledge that will
be laid down in the succeeding pages. Please be reminded that you are not limited to refer
to these resources exclusively. Thus, you are expected to utilize other books, research
articles, and other available resources in the university library. e.g.,e-library,
search.proquest.com, etc.
To ensure a sustainable future for ourselves and future generations, we need to

understand something about how our world works, what we are doing to it, and what we
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can do to protect and improve it. The word “science” is simply an anglicized version of
the Latin “Scientia," which means knowledge.
Environment. It is defined as the circumstances surrounding an organism or group

of organisms or the complex social or cultural conditions affecting each organism in
the given biotic and abiotic community. However, human being inhabit the natural
world, as well as the, built the environment or the technological, social, and cultural
world, all constitute essential parts of our environment.
Environmental Science it is the systematic study of our environment and our proper
place in it. A highly interdisciplinary, integrating natural sciences, social sciences,
and humanities in a broad, holistic study of the world around us.
Kinds of Knowledge Contribute to Solutions in Environmental Science
Goal: Clean Energy Future
1. Ecology. How foes energy production affects populations?

2. Chemistry. How can we make better batteries?
3. Urban Planning. What urban designs can reduce energy use?
4. Sociology. How do people adopt new ideas?
5. Political Science. Which policies lead to sustainable solutions?
6. Engineering. Can we design better vehicles?
7. Economics. What are the benefits and costs of energy sources?
HUMAN POPULATION GROWTH
The most dramatic increase in the human population's history occurred in the last
part of the 20th century and continues today into the early 21st century. With an estimation
of more than 6.5 billion humans currently, we're adding about 75 million more to the whole
wide world every year. While demographers report a transition to slower growth rates in
most countries, present trends project a population between 8 and 10 billion by 2050.
The impact of that many people on our natural resources and ecological systems is
a serious concern. Human population growth is, in some crucial ways, the underlying issue
of the environment. Much current environmental damage is directly or indirectly the result
of the vast number of people on Earth and our rate of increase.
CURRENT CONDITIONS
Clean Water. Water is the most vital resource of all living in the twenty-first century
and the fourth revolution. At present, 1.1 billion people lack an adequate supply of
safe and clean drinking water. Mostly, they don't also have modern sanitation to
avoid health issues. Water pollution and lack of cleanliness can contribute to the
increase in people's health issues and even some form of animals.
Food Supplies. Global food production has more than kept pace with human
population growth, but there are concerns about whether we will maintain this pace.
Soil scientists report that about two-thirds (2/3) of all agricultural lands show signs
of degradation. Biotechnology and intensive farming techniques that are
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responsible for much of our recent production gains are often too expensive for
poor farmers.
Energy. Fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) presently provide around 80 percent
(80%) of the energy used in industrialized countries. Supplies of these fuels are
diminishing, however, and problems associated with their acquisition and use—air
and water pollution, mining damage, shipping accidents, and geopolitics—may limit
what we do with remaining reserves. Cleaner renewable energy resources—solar
power, wind, geothermal, and biomass—together with conservation, could give us
more sanitary, less destructive options if we invest in inappropriate technology.
Climate Change. Burning fossil fuels, making cement, cultivating rice paddies,
clearing forests, and other human activities release carbon dioxide and other so-
called "greenhouse gases" that trap heat in the atmosphere. Over the past 200
years, atmospheric CO2 concentrations have increased by about 35 percent. By
2100, if current trends continue, climatologists warn that mean global temperature
will probably warm 1.5° to 6°C (2.7°–11°F). Although it's controversial whether
specific recent storms were influenced by global warming, climate changes caused
by greenhouse gases are very likely to cause increasingly severe weather events,
including droughts in some areas and floods in others. Melting alpine glaciers and
snowfields could threaten water supplies on which millions of people depend. We
already see dramatic climate changes in the Antarctic and Arctic, where seasons
change, disappearance, and permafrost sea ice, (fig. 1.6). Rising of the sea levels
are flooding low-lying islands and coastal regions, while habitat losses and climatic
changes are affecting many biological species.
Air Pollution. The air quality has worsened dramatically in many parts of the world.
Over southern Asia, for example, satellite images recently revealed a 3-km (2-mile)-
thick toxic haze of ash, acids, aerosols, dust, and photochemical products that
regularly cover the entire Indian subcontinent for much of the year. Air pollution is
no longer merely a local problem. Mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB),
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), and other long-lasting pollutants or
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) accumulate in arctic ecosystems (boreal forest)
and native people after being transported by air currents from industrial regions
thousands of kilometers to the south.
Biodiversity Loss. Biologists report that habitat great destruction of some other
areas, overexploitation of some species, biochemical pollution, and launching of
exotic organisms are eliminating species at a rate comparable to the great extinction
that marked the end of the age of dinosaurs.
Health. Many cities in Europe and North America are cleaner and much more livable
now than they were a century ago. The population has stabilized in most
industrialized countries, and even in some impoverished countries where social
security and democracy have been established. The incidence of life-threatening
infectious diseases caused by some pathogenic microorganisms has been reduced
sharply in most countries during the past century, while anticipation of the
population of life has nearly doubled the number on average.
Habitat Conservation. Deforestation has slowed in Asia, from more than 8 percent
during the 1980s to less than 1 percent in the 1990s. Nature preserves and
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protected areas have increased nearly fivefold over the past 20 years, from about
2.6 million km2 to approximately 12.2 million km2. This represents only 8.2 percent
of all land area—less than the 12 percent thought necessary to protect a viable
sample of the world's biodiversity—but is a dramatic expansion, nonetheless.
Renewable Energy. Dramatic progress is being made in a transition to renewable

energy sources. The European Union has pledged to get 20 percent of its energy
from renewable sources (30 percent if other countries participate) by 2020. Former
British Prime Minister Tony Blair laid out even more ambitious plans to fight global
warming by cutting carbon dioxide emissions in his state by 60 percent through
energy conservation and a switch to renewables.
Freedom of Information. Over the past two (2) decades, the world has made
dramatic progress in opening up political systems and expanding political
freedoms. During this time, some 81 countries took significant steps toward
democracy. Currently, nearly three-quarters of the world’s 200 countries now hold
multiparty elections. At least 60 developing countries claim to be transferring
decision-making authority to local units of government. Of course, decentralization
doesn’t always guarantee better environmental stewardship, but it puts people with
direct knowledge of local conditions in a position of power rather than distant elites
or bureaucrats.
International Cooperation. Currently, more than 500 international environmental

protection agreements are now in force. Some, such as the Montreal Protocol on
Stratospheric Ozone layer, have been highly successful. Others, such as the Law of
the Sea, lack enforcement powers. Perhaps the most important of all these treaties
is the Kyoto Protocol on global climate change, which has been ratified by every
industrialized nation except Australia and the United States.
HISTORY OF CONSERVATION AND ENVIRONMENTALISM
Writers and thinkers articulated many of our modern ideas about our environment and
its resources in the past 150 years. Although many earlier societies had negative impacts
on their ecosystems, recent technological innovations have significantly increased our
results. As a consequence of these changes, different approaches have developed for
understanding and protecting our environment. We can divide conservation history and
environmental activism into at least four distinct stages:
1. pragmatic resource conservation
2. moral and aesthetic nature preservation,
3. growing concern about health and ecological damage caused by pollution, and
4. global environmental citizenship.
Pragmatic Utilitarian Conservation. Many historians of old-time consider the

publication of Man and Nature way back in 1864 by a geographer George Perkins
Marsh as the wellspring of environmental protection in North America. Marsh, who also
was a lawyer, politician, and diplomat, traveled widely around the Mediterranean as part
of his diplomatic duties in Turkey and Italy. He read widely in the classics (including
Plato) and personally observed the damage caused by the excessive grazing by goats
(Capra aegagrus hircus) and sheep (Ovis aries) and by the deforesting of steep hillsides
and mountains. Alarmed by the wanton destruction and profligate waste of resources
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still occurring on the American frontier in his lifetime, he warned of its ecological
consequences. Mainly as a result of his article, national forest reserves were established
in 1873 to protect dwindling timber supplies and endangered watersheds.
Among those influenced by Marsh's warnings were President Theodore Roosevelt

and his chief conservation advisor, Gifford Pinchot. The basis of the two policies by
Roosevelt and Pinchot is about pragmatic and practical conservation. They argued
that the forests should be saved "not because they are beautiful or because they shelter
wild creatures of the wilderness, but only to provide homes and jobs for people."
Resources should be used "for the highest good, for the most considerable number for
the longest time. The first principle of conservation is the development and use of the
natural resources in each continent that benefit the lives of people and some organisms.
Ethical and Aesthetic Concern of Preservation Movement. John Muir (fig. 1.8c),
geologist, author, and first president of the Sierra Club, strenuously opposed Pinchot's
practical approach. Muir argued that nature deserves to exist for its own sake,
regardless of its usefulness to humanity. For the Aesthetic and spiritual values formed
the core of his philosophy of nature protection. This outlook has been called biocentric
preservation because it emphasizes the fundamental right of other organisms to exist
and to pursue their interests. Muir wrote: "The world, we are told, was made for man. In
which the presumption of that is unsupported by the facts. Nature's object in making
animals (domestics and wild) and plants might be first of all the happiness of each one
of them. Why ought a man to value himself as more than an infinitely small unit of the
one great unit of creation?"
Rising Pollution Level Led to the Modern Environmental Movement. The

undesirable and unpleasant results of biochemical pollution have probably recognized
as long as those of forest destruction. In England of 1273, King Edward I, he frightens
his people to hang if caught burning coal in London because of the acrid smoke
produced from the fuel that may cause damage to the environment.
The tremendous industrial expansion during and after the Second World War
added a new set of concerns to the environmental agenda. Silent Spring, written by
Rachel Carson (fig. 1.10a) and published in 1962, awakened the public to the threats of
pollution and toxic chemicals to humans as well as other species. The movement she
engendered might be called environmentalism because its concerns are extended to
include both environmental resources and pollution.
Environmental quality is tied to Social Progress. Many people today believe that the
environmental movement's roots are elitist—promoting the interests of a wealthy
minority, who can afford to vacation in the wilderness. Most environmental leaders have
seen social justice and environmental equity as closely linked. Gifford Pinchot, Teddy
Roosevelt, and John Muir all strove to keep nature and resources accessible to
everyone, at a time when public lands, forests, and waterways were increasingly
controlled by a few wealthy individuals and private corporations. The idea of national
parks, one of our principal strategies for nature conservation, is to provide public access
to natural beauty and outdoor recreation. Increasingly, environmental activists are
linking environmental quality and social progress on a global scale. One of the core
concepts of modern environmental thought is sustainable development, the idea that
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economic improvement for the world’s poorest populations is possible without

devastating the environment.
SUSTAINABILITY AND CARRYING CAPACITY
The story of recent famines and food crises raises one of the central environmental
questions: What is the maximum number of people the Earth can sustain? That is, what is
the sustainable human carrying capacity of the Earth? Environmentalists agree that
sustainability must be achieved, but we are unclear about how to make it, in part because
the word is used to mean different things, often leading to confusion that causes people to
work at cross-purposes. Sustainability has two formal scientific meanings concerning the
environment:
1. sustainability of resources: a species of fish in marine and freshwater ecosystem,
a kind of tree from different vegetations, coal from mines, and
2. sustainability of an ecosystem.
Some of the economists, political scientists, and others also use the term
sustainability about types of development and improvement that are economically viable,
do not harm the environment, and are socially just (fair to all people).
They point out that the term sustainable growth is an oxymoron (i.e., a contradictory
term) because any steady growth (fixed-percentage growth per year) produces large
numbers in modest periods. Economists have begun to consider what is known as the
sustainable global economy: the careful management and wise use of the planet and its
resources, analogous to the control of money and goods. Those focusing on a sustainable
global economy generally agree and support that the global economy is not sustainable
under present conditions.
Carrying capacity is a concept related to sustainability. It is usually defined as the maximum

number of individuals of a species that can be sustained by an environment without
decreasing the capacity of the environment to sustain that same number in the future. There
are limits to the Earth’s potential to support humans. As we pointed out, what we consider
a “desirable human carrying capacity” depends in part on our values.
ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
The ways we interpret environmental issues, or our decisions about what we should
or should not do with natural resources, depend partly on our underlying worldviews.
Perhaps you have a primary ethical assumption that you should be kind to your neighbors
or try to contribute in positive ways to your community. Moral views in society also change
over time. In ancient Greece, many philosophers who were concerned with ethics and
morality owned slaves; today, few societies condone slavery. Most societies now believe it
is wrong, or unethical, to treat other humans as property.
The Greeks granted moral value, or worth, only to adult male citizens within their
community. Women, slaves, and children had few rights and were essentially treated as
property. Over time we have gradually extended our sense of moral value to a broader
circle, an idea known as ethical extensions.
These philosophical questions are not merely academic or historical. In 2004, the
journal science caused a public uproar by publishing a study demonstrating that fish feel
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pain. Many recreational anglers had long managed to suppress worries that they were
causing pain to fish. The story was so unsettling that it made national headlines and
provoked fresh public debates on the ethics of fishing. How we treat other people, animals,
or things, can also depend on whether we believe they have inherent value—an intrinsic
right to exist, or instrumental value (they have value because they are useful to someone
who matters). If I hurt you, I owe you an apology. If I borrow your car and smash it into a
tree, I don't owe the car an excuse. I owe you an apology—or reimbursement.
SCIENCE, VALUES, AND THE PRINCIPLES BEHIND
Science is a process for producing knowledge, methodically, and logically.

Deciding what to do about an environmental problem involves both values and science, as
we have already seen. We must choose what we want the environment to be. Critical
scientific thinking is disciplined, using intellectual standards, effective communication,
clarity, and commitment to developing scientific knowledge and skills. It leads to
conclusions, generalizations, and, sometimes, scientific theories and even scientific laws.
Some of the intellectual standards are as follows:
Clarity: If a statement is unclear, you can’t tell whether it is relevant or accurate.

Accuracy: Is a statement, right? Can it be checked? To what extent does a
measurement agree with the accepted value?
Precision: The degree of exactness to which something is measured. Can a
statement be more specific, detailed, and exact?
Relevance: How well is a statement connected to the problem at hand?
Depth: Did you deal with the complexities of a question?
Breadth: Did you consider other points of view or look at it from a different
perspective?
Logic: Does a conclusion make sense and follow from the evidence?
Significance: Is the problem an important one? Why?
Fairness: Are there any vested interests, and have other points of view received
attention?
Ideally, scientists are skeptical. They are cautious about accepting proposed
explanations until there is substantial evidence to support them. Scientists demand
reproducibility because they are careful about making conclusions. You must be able to
describe your study's conditions so that someone else can reproduce your findings.
Repeating studies or tests is known as replication. Science also relies on accuracy and
precision. Accuracy is the correctness of measurements. Inaccurate data can produce
sloppy and misleading conclusions.
HYPOTHESIS AND THEORIES
You may already be using the scientific method without being aware of it. Suppose
you have a flashlight that doesn't work. The flashlight has several components (switch, bulb,
batteries) that could be faulty. If you change all the components at once, your flashlight
might work, but a more systematic series of tests will tell you more about what was wrong
with the system—knowledge that may be useful next time you have a faulty flashlight. So you
decide to follow the standard scientific steps:
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1. Observe that your flashlight does not light; there are three main components of
the lighting system (batteries, bulb, and switch).
2. Propose a hypothesis, a testable explanation: “The flashlight doesn’t work

because the batteries are dead.”
3. Develop a test of the hypothesis and predict the result that would indicate your
assumption was correct: "I will replace the batteries; the light should then turn
on."
4. Gather data from your test: After you replaced the batteries, did the light turn
on?
5. Interpret your results: If the light works now, then your hypothesis was right; if
not, then you should formulate a new hypothesis, perhaps that the bulb is faulty,
and develop a new test for that hypothesis.
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF SCIENCE
Science has limitations and principles that rest on the assumption that the world is
knowable and that we can learn about the world through careful observation. The benefit
of scientific thinking and scientific studies is that it searches for testable evidence. By testing
our ideas with observable evidence, we can evaluate whether our explanations are
reasonable or not.
Empiricism. We can learn about the world through careful observation of empirical
(real, observable) phenomena; we can expect to understand fundamental processes
and natural laws by observation.
Uniformitarianism. Basic patterns and processes are uniforms across time and
space; today's forces are the same as those that shaped the world in the past, and
they will continue to do so in the future.
Parsimony. When two plausible explanations are reasonable, the more

straightforward (more parsimonious) one is preferable. This rule is also known as
Ockham's razor, after the English philosopher who proposed it.
Uncertainty. Knowledge changes as new evidence appear, and explanations

(theories) change with new evidence. Approaches based on current evidence
should be tested on additional evidence, with the understanding that new data may
disprove the best theories.
Repeatability. For the tests and experiments should be repeatable as trial and
error, if the same results of the study cannot be reproduced, then the conclusions
are probably incorrect.
The proof is elusive. We rarely expect science to provide absolute proof that a
theory is correct because new evidence may always undermine our current
understanding.
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Testable questions this is to find out whether a theory is correct or not; it must be
tested with different experiments; we formulate testable statements (hypotheses) to
test theories based on the observable facts.
SCIENCE AND DECISION MAKING
Like the scientific method, the process of making decisions is sometimes presented as
a series of steps:
1. First, it to formulate a clear statement of the issue to be decided.

2. Gather scientific information related to the issue.
3. List all alternative courses of action.
4. Prediction for each course of action's positive and negative consequences and the
probability that each result will occur is essential.
5. Then, weigh the possible alternatives and choose the best solution to the problems
or situations.
In the face of incomplete information, scientific controversies, conflicting interests, and

emotionalism, how can we make sound environmental decisions? We need to begin with
the scientific evidence from all relevant sources and with estimates of the uncertainties in
each. Avoiding emotionalism and resisting slogans and propaganda are essential to
developing sound approaches to environmental issues. Ultimately, however,
environmental decisions are policy decisions negotiated through the political process.
Policymakers are rarely professional scientists; generally, they are political leaders and
ordinary citizens. Therefore, the scientific education of those in government and business,
as well as of all citizens, is crucial.
SYSTEMS CONCEPTS AND INTERACTIONS
Systems, including ecosystems, they are considered as a center in the environmental

studies. A system is a network of interdependent components and processes, with
materials and energy flowing from one component of the system to another. A system is a
set of components, or parts, that function together as a whole. A single organism, such as
your body, is a system, as are a sewage-treatment plant, a city, and a river. Key systems
concepts that we will explain are;
1. how a system is connected to the rest of the environment
2. how matter and energy flow between parts of a system
3. whether a system is static or dynamic—whether it changes over time
4. average residence time—how long something stays within an order or part of a
systems
5. feedback—how the output from a system can affect its inputs
6. linear and nonlinear flows.
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SYSTEMS RESPONSES
An important distinction among environmental and ecological systems is whether

linear or nonlinear processes characterize them.
Linear Process. If you add the same amount of anything to a compartment in a

system, the change will always be the same, no matter how much you have added
before and no matter what else has changed about the system and its environment.
Nonlinear Process. This means that the effect of adding a specific amount of
something changes depending on how much has been added before.
Concerning the rest of the environment, a system can be open or closed. In an open
system, some energy or material (solid, liquid, or gas) moves into or out of the system. The
ocean is an open system about water because water moves into the ocean from the
atmosphere and out of the ocean into the atmosphere. Open systems are those that
receive inputs from their surroundings and produce outputs that leave the system. Almost
all-natural systems are open systems.
In a closed system, no such transfers take place. For our purposes, a materially
closed system is one in which no matter moves in and out of the system, although energy
and information can move across the system’s boundaries. Earth is a materially closed
system (for all practical purposes). In principle, a closed system exchanges no energy or
matter with its surroundings, but these are rare. Often, we think of pseudo-closed systems,
those that exchange only a little energy, no matter their surroundings. Throughput is a term
we can use to describe the energy and matter that flow into, though, and out of a system.
Larger throughput might expand the size of state variables.
For example, you can consider your household economy in terms of throughput. If
you get more income, you can enlarge your state variables (bank account, car, television).
Usually, an increase in income is associated with an increase in outflow
(the money spent on that new car and TV). In a grassland, inputs of energy (sunlight) and
matter (carbon dioxide and water) are stored in biomass. The biomass storage might
increase if there is lots of water (in the form of trees). If there's little input, biomass might
decrease (grass could become short or sparse). Eventually, stored matter and energy may
be exported (by fire, grazing, land clearing). The exported matter and energy can be
thought of as throughput.
Systems respond to inputs and have outputs. Think of your body as a complex
system and imagine hiking in Yellowstone National Park and seeing a grizzly bear. The sight
of the bear is an input. Your body reacts to that input: The adrenaline level in your blood
goes up, your heart rate increases and the hair on your head and arms may rise. Your
response—perhaps to move slowly away from the bear—is an output.
THE STATIC AND DYNAMIC SYSTEMS
A static system has a fixed condition and tends to remain in that exact condition—a
dynamic system changes continually over time. A birthday balloon attached to a pole is a
static system in terms of space—it stays in one place. A hot-air balloon is a simple dynamic
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system in terms of space—it moves in response to the winds, air density, and controls
exerted by a pilot. An essential kind of static system is one with classical stability. Such a
system has a constant condition, and if it is disturbed from that condition, it returns to it
once the disturbing factor is removed. The pendulum of an old-fashioned grandfather clock
is an example of classical stability. If you push it, the pendulum moves back and forth for a
while, but then friction gradually dissipates the energy you just gave it, and the pendulum
comes to rest exactly where it began. This resting point is known as the equilibrium.
Disturbances, events that can destabilize or change the system, might also be
normal for the system. There can be many kinds of disturbance in a grassland. Severe
drought can set back the community so that it takes some time to recover. Thus
disturbances are often a normal part of natural systems. Sometimes we consider this
"dynamic equilibrium," or a tendency for a system to change and then return to normal.
We will see that the classic interpretation of populations, species, ecosystems, and
Earth's entire biosphere has been to assume that each is a stable, static system. The more
these ecological systems are studied scientifically, the clearer it becomes that these are
dynamic systems that always require change. An important practical question that keeps
arising in many environmental controversies is whether we want to, and should, force
ecological systems to be static if and when they are naturally dynamic.
An idea frequently used and defended in the study of our natural environment is
that natural systems left undisturbed by people tend toward some sort of steady-state. The
technical term for this is a dynamic equilibrium, but it is more familiarly referred to as the
balance of nature. If we examine natural ecological systems or ecosystems (simply
defined here as communities of organisms and their nonliving environment in which
nutrients and other chemicals cycle and energy flows) in detail and over a variety of time
frames, it is evident that a steady state is seldom attained or maintained for very long.
FEEDBACKS
Feedback occurs when the output of a system (or a compartment in a system) affects
its input. Changes in the output “feedback" on the input. A good example of feedback is
human temperature regulation. If you go out in the sun and get hot, the temperature
increase affects your sensory perceptions (input). If you stay in the sun, your body responds
physiologically: Your pores open, and you are cooled by evaporating water (you
sweat). The cooling is output, and it is also input to your sensory perceptions. You may
respond behaviorally as well: Because you feel hot (input), you walk into the shade (output),
and your temperature returns to normal.
There are two kinds of feedback:
1. negative
2. positive.
Negative feedback. Tend to maintain stability in a system. Negative feedback is

self-regulating or stabilizing. It is the way that steady-state systems can remain in a
constant
condition.
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Positive feedback. It occurs when an increase in output leads to a further rise in

production. A fire starting in a forest provides an example of positive feedback.
Positive feedback sometimes called a
"vicious cycle" is destabilizing.
MATTER ENERGY AND LIFE
Elements of Life
As an introduction to ecology principles, this chapter first reviews the nature of

matter and energy and then explores how organisms acquire and use energy and chemical
elements. Then we'll investigate feeding relationships among organisms—the ways that
energy and nutrients are passed from one living thing to another—forming ecosystems.
Finally, we'll review some of the key substances that cycle through organisms, ecosystems,
and our environment. Every organism is a chemical factory that captures matter and energy
from its environment and transforms them into structures and processes that make life
possible. To fully understand the concepts of how these processes work, we will begin with
some of the fundamental properties of matter and energy.
Matter. By definition, it is anything that can occupy space and has a mass. Solid,
liquid, gas, plasma, and Bosh Einstein Condensate are the phases of matter that
constitute the arrangement of the structures and properties of atoms. For example,
water can exist as ice (solid), as liquid water, or as water vapor. Under ordinary
circumstances, the matter is neither created nor destroyed but instead is recycled
over and over again.
Transformation and combination of matter may vary in different ways

according to the arrangement of atoms. Still, it doesn't disappear the fundamental
elements - the law of conservation of mass and energy.
Matter consists of elements, which are substances that cannot be broken

down into simpler forms by ordinary chemical reactions. Each of the 122 known
elements (92 natural, plus 30 created under special conditions) has distinct chemical
characteristics. Just four elements—oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen—are
responsible for more than 96 percent of the mass of most living organisms.
All elements are composed of atoms, which are the smallest particles that
exhibit the element's characteristics. Atoms are composed of positively charged
protons, negatively charged electrons, and electrically neutral neutrons. Protons
and neutrons, which have approximately the same mass, are clustered in the nucleus
in the center of the
atom. Electrons, which are tiny compared to the other particles, orbit the nucleus at
the speed of light. Each element has a characteristic number of protons per atom,
called its atomic number. The number of neutrons in different atoms of the same
element can vary slightly.
Bonds
Chemical bonds hold molecules together. Atoms often join to form

compounds or substances composed of different kinds of atoms, pair, or group of
atoms that can exist as a single unit is known as a molecule. Some elements
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commonly occur as molecules, such as molecular oxygen (O2) or molecular

nitrogen (N2), and some compounds can exist as molecules, such as glucose
(C6H12O6).
When ions with opposite charges form a compound, the electrical attraction
holding them together is an ionic bond. Sometimes atoms form bonds by sharing
electrons. For example, two hydrogen atoms can bond by sharing a pair of
electrons—they orbit the two hydrogen nuclei equally and hold the atoms together.
Such electron-sharing bonds are known as covalent bonds.
Charges
The electrical charge is an important chemical characteristic. Atoms

frequently gain or lose electrons, acquiring a negative or positive electrical charge.
Charged atoms (or combinations of atoms) are called ions. Negatively charged ions
(with one or more extra electrons) are anions. Positively charged ions are cations. A
hydrogen (H) atom, for example, can give up its sole electron to become a hydrogen
ion (H_). Chlorine (Cl) readily gains electrons, forming chlorine ions (Cl_).
Substances that willingly give up hydrogen ions in water are known as acids.
Substances that readily bond with H_ ions are called bases or alkaline
substances. Acids and bases can also be essential to living things: The acids in your
stomach dissolve food, for example, and acids in soil help make nutrients available
to growing plants. We describe the strength of an acid and base by its pH, the
negative logarithm of its concentration of H_ ions (fig. 3.4). Acids have a pH below
7; bases have a pH greater than 7. A solution of exactly pH 7 is “neutral.” Because
the pH scale is logarithmic, pH 6 represents ten times more hydrogen ions in
solution than pH 7.
Compounds
Organic compounds have a carbon backbone. Organisms use some

elements in abundance, others in trace amounts, and others not at all. Certain vital
substances are concentrated within cells, while others are actively excluded. Carbon
is a particularly important element because chains and rings of carbon atoms from
the skeletons of organic compounds, the material of which biomolecules, and
therefore living organisms, are made.
The four major categories of organic compounds in living things (“bio-organic

compounds”) are:
1. lipids
2. carbohydrates
3. proteins, and
4. nucleic acids.
Lipids. (including fats and oils) store energy for cells and they provide the core
of cell membranes and other structures. Lipids do not readily dissolve in water,
and their basic structure is a chain of carbon atoms with attached hydrogen
atoms. This structure makes them part of the family of hydrocarbons.
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Carbohydrates. (including sugars, starches, and cellulose) also, store energy

and provide structure to cells. Like lipids, carbohydrates have a basic structure
of carbon atoms, but hydroxyl (OH) groups replace half of the hydrogen atoms
in their basic structure, usually consisting of long-chain sugars. Glucose is an
example of very simple sugar.
Proteins. Are composed of chains of subunits called amino acids. It is folded

into complex three-dimensional shapes; proteins provide structure to cells and
are used for countless cell functions. Most enzymes, such as those that release
energy from lipids and carbohydrates, are proteins. Proteins also help identify
disease-causing microbes, make muscles move, transport oxygen to cells, and
regulate cell activity.
Nucleotides are complex molecules that are made of a five-carbon sugar (ribose
or deoxyribose), one or more phosphate groups, and an organic nitrogen-
containing base. They can be a purine or a pyrimidine. Nucleotides are essential
as signaling molecules(they carry information between cells, tissues, and organs)
and as sources of intracellular energy. They also have long chains called
ribonucleic acid (RNA), which is single-stranded and deoxyribonucleic acid
(DNA) double helix that carries genetic information. Only four kinds of
nucleotides (adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thyamine) occur in DNA, but
billions of these molecules are lined up in a specific sequence. Groups of three
nucleotides (called codons) act as the letters in messages that code for the
aminoacid sequences in proteins. Long chains of DNA bind together to form a
stable double helix. These chains separate for replication in preparation for cell
division or to express their genetic information during protein synthesis.
Molecular biologists have developed techniques for extracting DNA from cells
and reading its nucleotide sequence.
Cells
Cells are the fundamentals units of life. All living organisms are composed of
cells, minute compartments within which the processes of life are carried out.
Microscopic organisms such as bacteria, some algae, and protozoa are composed
of single cells. Most higher organisms are multi-cellular, usually with many different
cell varieties. Every cell is surrounded by a thin but dynamic membrane of lipid and
protein that receives information about the exterior world and regulates the flow of
materials between the cell and its environment. All of the chemical reactions
required to create these various structures, provide them with energy and materials
to carry out their functions, dispose of wastes, and perform other functions of life at
the cellular level are carried out by a special class of proteins called enzymes.
Enzymes are molecular catalysts that regulate chemical reactions without being
used up or inactivated in the process. Altogether, the multitude of enzymatic
reactions performed by an organism is called its metabolism.
ENERGY
Energy is defined as the ability to do work, such as moving an object or can perform
a specific task. Energy occurs in different types and qualities.
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The unit of energy for food-related is Calorie or Kilocalorie (Cal/ kCal), and for work-done
is Joules (J). A Calorie of food-intake is equivalent to 4.184 Joules. For this, a kilo-
Calorie(kCal) is equal to 1000calories.
Energy can be in the form of:

1. Potential.
2. Kinetic
Kinetic Energy. It is energy in motion. For example, a rock rolling down an inclined
object, the wind blowing through the trees, water flowing from the faucet, or
electrons speeding around the nucleus of an atom are all examples of kinetic
energy.
Potential Energy. It is energy at rest or stable energy. For example, a rock poised
at the top of a hill and water stored behind a dam are examples of potential energy.
Heat describes the energy that can be transferred between objects of different
temperatures. When a substance absorbs heat, the kinetic energy of its molecules
increases, or it may change state: A solid may become a liquid, or a liquid may
become a gas. We sense a change in heat content as a change in temperature
(unless the substance changes state). An object can have a high heat content but
low temperature, such as a lake that freezes slowly in the fall. Other objects, like a
burning match, have a high temperature but little heat content. Heat storage in lakes
and oceans is essential to moderating climates and
maintaining biological communities. Heat absorbed in changing states is also
critical.
THERMODYNAMICS
Atoms and molecules cycle endlessly through organisms and their environment, but
energy flows in a one-way path. A constant supply of energy—nearly all of it from the sun—is
needed to keep biological processes running. Energy can be used repeatedly as it flows
through the system, and it can be stored temporarily in the chemical bonds of organic
molecules, but eventually, it is released and dissipated. The study of thermodynamics deals
with how energy is transferred to natural processes. More specifically, it deals with the flow
rates and the transformation of energy from one form or quality to another.
Thermodynamics is a complex, quantitative discipline, but you don't need a great deal of
math to understand some of the broad principles that shape our world and our lives.
The first law of thermodynamics states that energy is conserved; that is, it is neither
created nor destroyed under normal conditions. Energy may be transformed, for
example, from the energy in a chemical bond to heat energy, but the total amount
does not change.
The second law of thermodynamics states that, with each successive energy
transfer or transformation in a system, less energy is available. That is, energy is
degraded to lower-quality forms, or it dissipates and is lost, as it is used. When you
drive a car, for example, the gas's chemical energy is degraded to kinetic energy
and heat, dissipating, eventually, to space. The second law recognizes that disorder,
or entropy, tends to increase in all-natural systems.
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ENERGY FOR LIFE
Where does the energy needed by living organisms come from? How is it captured
and used to do work? For nearly all plants and animals living on the Earth's surface, the sun
is the ultimate energy source. Still, for organisms living deep in the Earth's crust or at the
bottom of the oceans, where sunlight is unavailable, chemicals derived from rocks provide
alternate energy sources. We'll consider this alternative energy pathway first because it
seems to be more ancient. Before green plants existed, we believe that ancient bacteria-
like cells probably lived by processing chemicals in hot springs.
Photosynthetic Processes
Our sun is a star, a fiery ball of exploding hydrogen gas. Its thermonuclear reactions
emit powerful forms of radiation, including potentially deadly ultraviolet and nuclear
radiation, yet life here is nurtured by, and dependent upon, this searing, energy source.
Solar energy is essential to life for two main reasons.
1. First, the sun provides warmth. Most organisms survive within a relatively narrow
temperature range. Each species has its range of temperatures within which it
can function normally. At high temperatures (above 40°C), biomolecules begin
to break down or become distorted and nonfunctional. At low temperatures
(near 0°C), some chemical reactions of metabolism occur too slowly to enable
organisms to grow and reproduce. Other planets in our solar system are either
too hot or too cold to support life as we know it. The Earth's water and
atmosphere help to moderate, maintain and distribute the sun's heat.
2. Second, nearly all organisms on the Earth's surface organisms depend on solar
radiation for life-sustaining energy, which is captured by green plants, algae, and
some bacteria in a process called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis converts
radiant energy into useful, high-quality chemical energy in the bonds that hold
together organic molecules.
Photosynthesis occurs in tiny membranous organelles called chloroplasts that reside

within plant cells. Photosynthesis captures energy while respiration releases that energy.
The most important key to this process is chlorophyll, a unique green molecule that can
absorb light energy and use it to create high- energy chemical bonds in compounds that
serve as the fuel for all subsequent cellular metabolism.
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Chlorophyll does not do this important job all alone, however. It is assisted by a large
group of other lipids, sugar, protein, and nucleotide molecules. Together these
components carry out two interconnected cyclic sets of reactions. Photosynthesis begins
with a series of steps called light-dependent reactions: These occur only while the
chloroplast is receiving light. Enzymes split water molecules and release molecular oxygen
(O2). This is the source of all the oxygen in the atmosphere on which all animals, including
you, depend for life. The light-dependent reactions also create mobile, high-energy
molecules (adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide
phosphate, or NADPH), which provide energy for the next set of processes, the light-
independent reactions. As their name implies, these reactions do not use light directly.
Here, enzymes extract energy from ATP and NADPH to add carbon atoms (from carbon
dioxide) to simple sugar molecules, such as glucose. These molecules provide the building
blocks for larger, more complex organic molecules.
SPECIES TO ECOSYSTEM
While cellular and molecular biologists study life processes at the microscopic level,
ecologists study interactions at the species, population, biotic community, or ecosystem
level. In Latin, species mean kind. In biology, species refers to all organisms of the same
kind that are genetically similar enough to breed in nature and produce live, fertile
offspring.
Organisms occur in populations, communities, and ecosystems. A population

consists of all the members of a species living in a given area at the same time. All of the
populations of organisms living and interacting in a particular area make up a biological
community. An ecological system, or ecosystem, is composed of a biological community
and its physical environment. The environment includes abiotic factors (nonliving
components), such as climate, water, minerals, and sunlight, as well as biotic factors, such
as organisms, their products (secretions, wastes, and remains), and effects in a given area.
Chains, Webs, and Trophic Levels
Photosynthesis (and rarely chemosynthesis) is the base of all ecosystems. Organisms

that photosynthesize, mainly green plants and algae, are therefore known as producers.
One of the major properties of an ecosystem is its productivity, the amount of biomass
(biological material) produced in a given area during a given period. Photosynthesis is
described as primary productivity because it is the basis for almost all other growth in an
ecosystem. Manufacture of biomass by organisms that eat plants is termed secondary
productivity. A given ecosystem may have very high total productivity, but if decomposers
decompose organic material as rapidly as it is formed, the net's primary productivity will
decrease.
An organism’s feeding status in an ecosystem can be expressed as its trophic level

(from the Greek trophe, food). In our first example, the corn plant is at the producer level;
it transforms solar energy into chemical energy, producing food molecules. Other
organisms in the ecosystem are consumers of the chemical energy harnessed by the
producers. An organism that eats producers is a primary consumer. An organism that eats
primary consumers is a secondary consumer, which may, in turn, be eaten by a tertiary
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consumer, and so on. Most terrestrial food chains are relatively short (seeds mouse owl),
but aquatic food chains may be quite long (microscopic algae).
The length of a food chain also may reflect the physical characteristics of a particular
ecosystem. A harsh arctic landscape has a much shorter food chain than a temperate or
tropical one. Organisms can be identified by the trophic level they feed and the kinds of
food they eat. Herbivores are plant eaters, carnivores are flesh-eaters, and omnivores can
eat both plants and animals. How can we classify human beings? Studies show that humans
can also be considered omnivores. The scavengers are an essential trophic level occupied
on the planet because they remove and recycle dead bodies and waste of others.
Examples of scavengers are crows, jackals, and vultures, while detritivores organisms
such as ants and beetles eat litter, debris, and dung. The decomposers, as fungi and
bacteria, complete the final breakdown of organic materials.
Ecological pyramids describe trophic levels. It is the arrangement of the food chain
according to the trophic levels. The bottom or base
are the primary consumers, followed by the secondary consumers and the decomposers
as the final product of the ecosystem.
Self-Help:
You can refer to the sources below to help you further understand the lesson.
Marten. GG 2008. Human Ecology: Basic Concepts for Sustainable Development.

Earthscan, USA
Cunningham, W. P., and Cunningham, M., 2010. Environmental Science: A Global Concern.
11th Edition. McGraw Hill, New York.
Botkin, D., and Keller, E., 2011. Environmental Science: Earth as a Living Planet. 8th Edition.
John Wiley and Sons, USA
Activity No. 1. Now that you have know the most essential terms in the study of
environmental science. Let us try to check your understanding of these terms. In the space
provided, write the terms, being asked in the following statements:
_____________________1. It refers to the systematic study of our environment and

our place in it.
_____________________2. An interdisciplinary science integrating natural sciences,
social sciences, and humanities in broad study of the world around us.
_____________________3. The circumstances or conditions that surrounds an
organisms or group of organisms or the complex of social or cultural conditions that
affect an individual or community.
_____________________4. The process of producing knowledge methodically and
logically.
_____________________5. The set of components, or parts that function together as
a whole.
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_____________________6. Refers to systems that receive inputs from surroundings

and produce outputs that leave the system.
_____________________7. It is refers to the ability of a system to exists constantly at a
cost in a universe that evolves towards thermodynamic equilibrium.
_____________________8. It is the discipline in philosophy that studies the moral
relationship of human beings and moral status of the environment and its non-
human contents.
_____________________9. The temporary change in environmental conditions
resulted to a pronounced change in an ecosystem.
_____________________10. Refers to the smallest constituent unit of ordinary
matter that constitutes a chemical element.
Activity No. 1. Getting acquainted with the essential terms in studying environmental
sciences will not be sufficient. What matters is that you should be able to discuss the inter-
relationship environment, development, social progress, and environmental ethics. Now, I
will require you to explain your answers thoroughly.
1. Define environmental science and identify some important environmental concerns

we face today. Should environmental science include dimensions? Explain.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
2. What is science? Identify and discuss some of its basic principles.

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
3. Draw a diagram showing steps of scientific methods and explain why each is
important.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
4. Why is ethics being studied in environmental science. Cite examples.

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
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Activity No. 1. Environmental science is an interdisciplinary science that ensures a holistic

study and understanding of the natural scope of environmental science and its whole
systems. The study of the environment and human dimensions is an integral part requires
deeper understanding on the role of human towards sustainability as well as the sustainable
use of resources and the growing issue and conflicts between the social, economic, and
environment. Based on the definitions and the essential elements in the study of
environmental and the learning exercises that you have done, please feel free to indicate
your arguments or lessons learned below.
1. The environment is a complex system where people and nature are intertwined, and
the unprecedented growth rate of the human population is the underlying global
environmental problem.
2. Ethics and faith base perspectives often inspire people to engage in natural
resource conservation and management, which eventually influences decision
making about environmental issues, which involves society, politics, culture,
economics, values, and scientific information.
YOUR TURN
3. ___________________________________________________________________________
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4. ___________________________________________________________________________
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5. ___________________________________________________________________________
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6. ___________________________________________________________________________
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7. ___________________________________________________________________________
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8. ___________________________________________________________________________
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9. ___________________________________________________________________________
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10. ___________________________________________________________________________
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Q and A List
Do you have any questions for clarification?
Questions/ Issues Answers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
KEYWORDS INDEX
Environmental Science Conservation Sustainable Development

Population Growth Ethics Carrying Capacity
Ecological Systems Renewable Energy Scientific Method
Climate Change Air Pollution Hypothesis
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BIG PICTURE IN FOCUS: ULO-2. Trace the history of population growth and summarize
different perspectives on population growth, demographic transition, and population
stability.
In this section, essential terms relevant to human population growth, its patterns, history,
and implication to the natural resource will be operationally defined for you to comprehend
ULO-b. You will also be required to refer to the previous definitions found in ULO-a to
connect with the topic discuss under the lesson unit. These are some key terms that will
enable you to grasp the core areas of environmental science.
1. Population. It is the entire pool from which a statistical sample is drawn from a
different group of individuals.
1.1. A population is referring to an entire group of people of different races,
sexuality, and status; objects like material things; events like social
gatherings; hospital or school visitations, and measurements of a distinct
boundary.
2. Demographic Transition. It refers to the shift in the history of birth and death rates
in society because of the absence of science and technology advancements. There
is also an issue on the economic and educational development, particularly in
women that may cause the demographic transition.
3. For the population size it is the actual number of individuals in a given population.
1.1. While population density it is a measurement of population size per unit area,
i.e., population size divided by total land area.
4. Population Density. It is the measurement of the given population over volume

respondents.
1.1. It is frequently applied to living organisms, most of the time, to humans.
1.2. It is a key geographical term.
5. Age Structure. It is referring to the distribution of people with different levels of

development as to ages. It is an essential tool mostly for some social scientists,
public health workers, health care experts, political analysts, and policymakers to
get its statistical status on birth and death rates.
6. Mortality Rate. It is referring to the number of death in a given population over

some time.
7. Sex Ratio. It is a ratio of males to females in a population. In most sexually

reproducing species, the rate tends to be 1:1.
8. Fecundity it is referring in two ways; human demography has the potential for the
reproduction of a listed population as opposed to a single organism. For the study
in the biological community, it is similar to fertility, wherein it is a natural way to
produce offspring.
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9. Demography is referring to the statistical features of the human population. The

demographic analysis can cover whole societies or groups comprising education,
nationality, religion, and ethnicity.
10. Life Expectancy. It is referring to the average population that may expect to survive
due to the presence of advancement in science and technology. A statistical results
measure of the average (see below) time a particular organism that is expected to
survive based on the demographic profile such as birthdate, age, gender, and
status.
10.1. Exponential and logistic growth are the two most commonly used to
measure life expectancy at birth (LEB).
11. Exponential Growth. A specific way that absolute inhumanity may increase over
some time. It occurs when there is an immediate rate of change of an amount
concerning the time that is proportional to the quantity itself.
12. Logistic growth. When a population's per capita growth rate decreases
as population size approach a maximum imposed by limited resources, the
carrying capacity (K) takes place.
13. For the carrying capacity, it is the maximum population size of the species that the
environment can sustain unlimitedly, given the presence of food, habitat where they
live, water to survive, and other necessities in the background.
14. Fertility. The natural capacity to produce its kind. As a measure, the fertility rate of
the individual is the number of offspring born per mating pair, individual or
population.
14.1. Fertility differs from fecundity, has the potential for reproduction.
15. Migration. It is referring to the movement of people of different sectors from one
country to another with the intention of the new location, new work or employer, or
for greener pasture.
15.1. The movement is often over long distances and from one country to another,
but internal migration within the city is also possible; indeed, this is the
dominant form globally.
16. Crude birth rate it is referring to the number of births per 1,000 individuals every
year is termed as "crude" because the population age structure is not taken into this
account.
17. The crude rate of death is the number of deaths per 1,000 individuals per year.
18. The crude growth rate is the net number added per 1,000 individuals per year in a
population. It is also the difference between the crude rate of death and birth.
19. Fertility is referring to pregnancy or the capacity to become pregnant or to have

children.
20. The general fertility rate of women is the number of live births expected in a year
per 1,000 women aged 15–49 is considered the childbearing age.
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21. Total fertility rate (TFR) is the average number of children expected to be born to
a woman throughout her childbearing years.
22. An age-specific birth rate is several births expected among women

22.1. who are fertile to have children ages between fifteen (15) and forty-nine (49)
years of age.
23. The cause-specific death rate refers to the number of deaths from one cause per
one hundred thousand (100,000) deaths.
24. Morbidity is a general term meaning the occurrence of disease and illness in a
population.
25. Incidence. Concerning disease, the number of people contracting an infection

during a specific period is usually measured per 100 people.
26. Prevalence is concerning a specific disease, the number of people afflicted at a

particular time.
27. The case fatality rate is referring to the percentage of people who die once they
contract a disease.
28. The rate of natural increase (RNI) is the difference between the birth rate and
death rate in an annual rate of population growth, excluding migration.
29. It is doubling time for several years it takes for a population to double, assuming a
constant rate of natural increase.
30. The infant mortality rate is referring to the annual number of deaths of infants
under age 1 per 1,000 live births.
31. Also, life expectancy at birth is the average number of years a newborn infant can
expect to live.
32. The Gross National Product (GNP) per capita includes the value of all domestic and
foreign output.
To perform the aforesaid big picture (unit learning outcomes) for the first three (3)
weeks of the course, you need fully understand the following essential knowledge that will
be laid down in the succeeding pages. Please be reminded that you are not limited to one
resource. Thus, you are expecting to utilize other books, research articles, and other
available resources in the university library. e.g.,e-library, search.proquest.com, etc.
PEOPLE AND THE ENVIRONMENT
One of the essential properties of living things is that their abundance changes a
period and area. It is as absolutely correct for human species as it is for all other
organisms that directly or indirectly affects our life. An example of this is the availability
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of food to survive, materials for our shelter, health issues and concerns, and those
surrounding us.
Population Dynamics is the general study of population changes.

The population is referring to the group of individuals of the same species living in
the same locality or interbreeding and sharing genetic information.
Demography refers to the statistical study of human populations and those who
study human populations, including demographers.
Five Key Properties of Population
1. abundance
2. birth rates
3. death rates
4. growth rates
5. age structure
HUMAN POPULATION
The world population now stands at around 7.8 billion inhabitants, having reached
7 billion milestones in 2011. Demographers expect the 8 billion breakthroughs in 2023,
nine (9) billion by 2037, and projected as high as te (10) billion in the year 2056. It is
common to say that human populations, like that of the United States, grow at an
exponential rate, which means that the annual growth rate is a constant percentage of the
population
Usually, in discussions of population dynamics, birth, death, and growth rates are
expressed as percentages (the number per 100 individuals). The human population is so
huge that percentages are too crude a measure, so it is common to state these rates in
terms of the number per 1,000, referring to the crude rate. Thus, we have the crude birth
rate, crude death rate, and crude growth rate. More specifically, here is a list of terms that
are used frequently in discussions of human population change and will be useful to us in
this book from time to time.
POPULATION PROJECTION
The standard way to estimate doubling time is to assume that the population is
growing exponentially and then divide 70 by the annual growth rate stated as a percentage.
(Dividing into 70 is a consequence of the mathematics of exponential growth. The doubling
time based on exponential growth is very sensitive to the growth rate—it changes quickly as
the growth rate changes.
Logistic Growth Curve
If the human population had augmented at this rate since the beginning of
recorded history, it would now exceed all the known matter in the universe. If a
population cannot increase forever, what changes in the population can we expect
over time? One of the first suggestions made about population growth is that it
would follow a smooth S-shaped curve known as the logistic curve. A logistic
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population would increase exponentially only temporarily. After that, the rate of
growth would gradually decline (i.e., the population would increase more slowly)
until an upper limit, called the logistic carrying capacity, was reached.
Although the logistic growth curve is an improvement over the exponential,

it too involves assumptions that are unrealistic for humans and other mammals. Both
the exponential and logistic assume a constant environment and a homogeneous
population—one in which all individuals are identical in their effects on each other.
In addition to these two assumptions, the logistic assumes a constant carrying
capacity, which is also unrealistic in most cases, as we will discuss later. There is, in
short, little evidence that human populations—or any animal populations, for that
matter—follow this growth curve, for reasons that are pretty obvious if you think
about all the things that can affect a population.
Nevertheless, the logistic curve has been used for most long-term forecasts
of the size of human populations in specific nations. As we said, this S-shaped curve
first rises steeply upward and then changes slope, curving toward the horizontal
carrying capacity. The point at which the curve changes is the inflection point, and
until a population has reached this point, we cannot project its final logistic size. The
human population had not yet made the bend around the inflection point. Still,
forecasters typically dealt with this problem by assuming that the population was
just reaching the inflection point when somehow the forecast
is absolute. This standard practice inevitably led to a great underestimate of the
maximum population.
Age Structure
As we noted earlier, the two standard methods for forecasting human

population growth—the exponential and the logistic—ignore all characteristics of the
environment and, in that way, are seriously incomplete. A more comprehensive
approach would take into account the effects of the supply of food, water, and
shelter; the prevalence of diseases; and other factors that can affect birth and
death rates. But with long-lived organisms like ourselves, these environmental
factors have different effects on different age groups. So the next step is to find a
way to express how a population is divided among ages. It is known as the
population age structure, which is the proportion of the population of each age
group. The population's age structure affects current and future birth rates, death
rates, and growth rates impacting the environment and impacting current and
future social and economic conditions.
The pyramid age structure occurs in a population with many young people
and a high death rate at each age—and therefore, it is a high birth rate, a rapidly
growing population, and a relatively short average lifetime population. A column
shape occurs where the birth rate and death rate are low, and a high percentage of
the population is elderly. A bulge occurs if some event in the past caused a high
birth or death rate for some age group but not others. An inverted pyramid occurs
when a population has older than younger people. The age structure varies
considerably by nation and provides insight into a population's history, current
status, and likely future.
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DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION
The demographic transition is a three-stage pattern of change in birth rates and

death rates during the industrial and economic development of Western nations. It leads
to a decline in population growth. A decrease in the death rate is the first stage of the
demographic transition. In a nonindustrial country, birth and death rates are high, and the
growth rate is low. With industrialization, health and sanitation improvements and the
death rate drop rapidly. The birth rate remains high, however, and the population enters
Stage II, a period with a high growth rate.
Most European nations passed through this period in the 18th and 19th centuries.
As education and the standard of living increase and as family-planning methods become
more widely used, the population reaches Stage III. The birth rate drops toward the death
rate, and the growth rate, therefore, declines, eventually to a low or zero growth rate.
However, the birth rate declines if families believe there is a direct connection between
future economic well-being and funds spent on the education and care of their young.
Such families have few children and put all their resources toward the education and
welfare of those few.
Although the demographic transition is traditionally defined as consisting of three

stages, advances in treating chronic health problems such as heart disease can lead
to a stage III country to a second decline in the death rate. It could bring about a
second transitional phase of population growth (Stage IV), in which the birth rate
would remain the same while the death rate fell. A second stable phase of low or
zero growth (Stage V) would be achieved only when the birth rate declined even
further to match the decline in the death rate. The spurting of growth is dangerous
in an industrialized nation, even in the standard demographic transition.
LONGEVITY
The maximum lifetime is the genetically determined maximum possible age to

which an individual of a species can live. Life expectancy is the average number of years
an individual can expect to live given the individual’s present age. Technically, life
expectancy is an age-specific number: Each age class within a population has its life
expectancy. For general comparison, however, we use life expectancy at birth. Life
expectancy is much higher in developed, more prosperous nations. Nationally, the highest
life expectancy is 84 years in the tiny nation of Macau. Of the major nations, Japan has the
highest life expectancy, 82.1 years. Other nations have a life expectancy of 80 years or
more: Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, France, Guernsey, Sweden, Switzerland,
Israel, Anguilla, Iceland, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, New Zealand, Gibraltar, and Italy.
A surprising aspect of the second and third periods in the human population's
history is that population growth occurred with little or no change in the maximum
lifetime. What changed were birth rates, death rates, population growth rates, age
structure, and average life expectancy. Ages at death, from information carved on
tombstones, tell us that the chances of a 75-year-old living to age 90 were higher in ancient
Rome than they are today in England.
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HUMAN CARRYING CAPACITY OF EARTH
What is the human carrying capacity of Earth—that is, how many people can live on
Earth at the same time? The results may depends on what quality of life people desire and
are willing to accept. Limiting factors such as short-term, intermediate-term, and long-
term can affect the population growth every year.
Short-term refers to the disruption of food distribution in a country, commonly

caused by drought or a shortage of energy for transporting food.
Intermediate-Term. This term includes the dispersal of certain biochemical

pollutants and disruption in the nonrenewable resources (metals and minerals),
transportation of machinery, and the decrease in the supply of firewood for heating
ang cooking.
Long Term. Factors include soil erosion, a decline in groundwater supplies, and
climate change. A reduction in resources available per person suggests that we may
already have exceeded Earth’s long-term human carrying
capacity.
Self-Help:
You can refer to the sources below to help you further understand the lesson.
Marten. G.G. 2008. Human Ecology: Basic Concepts for Sustainable Development.
Earthscan, USA
Cunningham, W. P., and Cunningham, M., 2010. Environmental Science: A Global Concern.
11th Edition. McGraw Hill, New York.
Botkin, D., and Keller, E., 2011. Environmental Science: Earth as a Living Planet. 8th Edition.
John Wiley and Sons, USA
Activity 2:
Instruction: Please check the answer under each item that best reflects your thinking.
1. Which of the following is/ are jet properties of the population?

I. Abundance
II. Birth rates
III. Death rates
IV. Growth rates
V. Age structure
a. I b. I, II c. I, II, III d. I, II, III, IV
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2. It is referred to as the number of births per 1000 individuals per year.

a. Crude death rate c. Crude birth rate
b. Life expectancy d. Fertility rate
3. This refers to the capacity to become pregnant or to have children.

a. Age-specific birth rate c. Fertility
b. Total fertility d. Sex ratio
4. It describes the occurrence of diseases and illnesses in a population.

a. Prevalence c. Morbidity
b. Incidence d. Fatality
5. It refers to the average number of years a newborn infant can expect to live births.
a. Birth rate expectancy c. Doubling time
b. Rate of natural increase d. Cause-specific death rate
6. It is the number of years it takes for a population to double, assuming a constant rate
of natural increase.
a. Doubling time c. Case fatality rate
b. Prevalence d. Life expectancy
7. It refers to the three-stage pattern of change in birth rates and death rates that has
occurred during the process of industrial and economic development.
a. Demographic transition c. Growth rate
b. Sex ratio pattern d. Logistic curve rate
8. The average number of years n individuals can expect to live given the individual's
present age.
a. Life longevity c. Life expectation of living
b. Life expectancy d. Life transition
9. A type of symbiosis in which one member clearly benefits and the other is neither
benefited r harmed.
a. Competition c. Predation
b. Parasitism d. Commensalism
10. It is a type of antagonistic relationship within the biological community.

a. Competition c. Predation
b. Parasitism d. Commensalism
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Activity No. 2. The study of population is a complex process where we investigate how
population grows over time and how it affects the nature and quality of life among different
communities and its implication to the limited resources and sustainability. We use different
factors and parameters to examine how the population will grow shortly and how the
resources can sustain this growth.
At this juncture., you will be required to elaborate your answer supported with literature
and data to the following questions.
1. Discuss comprehensively how population growth affects the environment,

economy, and development.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
2. How population growth rate affects the sustainability of natural resource?

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
3. Discuss the five fundamental properties of the population comprehensively, and
each of them affects each other.
___________________________________________________________________________
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___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
4. Discuss comprehensively why it is important to consider age structure of human

population.
___________________________________________________________________________
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___________________________________________________________________________
5. Why is carrying capacity considered one of the critical factors in maintaining

ecological balance and sustainability?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
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6. Why population changes? How these changes shape the population structure in the
future?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
7. Is there a need to limit population growth? Why

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Activity No. 2. Demographic studies play an important role in studying human ecology
and settlement patterns. It enables urban and environmental planners to design sustainable
communities with the utmost comfort and responsiveness to the growing population
growth and demand for resources. Identifying the key factors affecting demography will
shape the idea of projecting future demand for residential units, commercial
establishments, industrial, and institutional facilities. In this portion of the group, you will
be required to state your arguments or synthesis relevant to the topics presented. I will
answer the first two items, and you will continue the rest.
1. Population projection is a significant undertaking in demographic studies. It

supplies data on how we are going to plan communities mindful of the pressing
issues on population growth and quality of life.
2. The holistic evaluation of the triggering factors of uncontrolled population growth,

a decline of environmental quality, and scarcity of resources is deemed necessary
to attain sustainable development.
3. ___________________________________________________________________________
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___________________________________________________________________________
4. ___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
5. ___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
6. ___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
7. ___________________________________________________________________________
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8. ___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
9. ___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Q and A List
Do you have any questions for clarification?
Questions/ Issues Answers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
KEYWORDS INDEX
Feedbacks Molecules Food Chain

Bonds DNA Trophic Level
Atoms RNA Thermodynamics
Matter Enzymes Metabolism
Page | 38

GE 15 - Week 1 To 3

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College of Arts and Sciences Education

2nd Floor, DPT Building

Course Coordinator : JASON BEN R. PARAGAMAC, EnP

AREAS OF CONCERN DETAILS

If the assessment task is done in real-time through the

in writing addressed to the course coordinator the

Please note that academic dishonesty such as cheating

However, if the late submission of the assessment

For group assessment tasks, the course coordinator will

If disapproved by the course coordinator, you can

1st formative assessment – 10%

All culled from on-campus/onsite sessions (TBA):

Submission of the final grades shall follow the usual

You can meet the course coordinator in person

For students who have not created their student e-

CO: Studying environmental studies requires a deeper understanding of other

You expect to evaluate the environment's current conditions and determine

a. Explain what environmental science is and how it draws on different kinds of

b. Trace the history of population growth and summarize different perspectives on

In this section, the essential terms relevant to the study

1. Environment - it is a place where different things are such as a wet or hot

3. Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary academic field in science that

4. Ecology is a branch of biology concerning interactions among organisms, and

8. Political Science is about how the government-run the system-the governance.

9. Engineering. Its principles focus not only on building machines, structures,

That varies on their genetic component and adaptation to the environment.

11. Habitat is considered an environment is naturally occurring to a specific

12. Sustainability. The ability of a system to exist continually at a cost, in a universe

14. Ethics is a branch of philosophy that could somehow be systematized, defend,

16. A hypothesis is an educated guess that cannot be answerable by yes or no

17. The disturbance is a temporary change in environmental conditions that causes

18. The ecosystem is a community comprised of living organisms in conjunction or

27. Chlorophyll. It is a green photosynthetic pigment found in plants, algae, and

To ensure a sustainable future for ourselves and future generations, we need to

Environment. It is defined as the circumstances surrounding an organism or group

Kinds of Knowledge Contribute to Solutions in Environmental Science

Goal: Clean Energy Future

1. Ecology. How foes energy production affects populations?

HUMAN POPULATION GROWTH

Renewable Energy. Dramatic progress is being made in a transition to renewable

International Cooperation. Currently, more than 500 international environmental

HISTORY OF CONSERVATION AND ENVIRONMENTALISM

Pragmatic Utilitarian Conservation. Many historians of old-time consider the

Among those influenced by Marsh's warnings were President Theodore Roosevelt

Rising Pollution Level Led to the Modern Environmental Movement. The

economic improvement for the world’s poorest populations is possible without

SUSTAINABILITY AND CARRYING CAPACITY

Carrying capacity is a concept related to sustainability. It is usually defined as the maximum

SCIENCE, VALUES, AND THE PRINCIPLES BEHIND

Science is a process for producing knowledge, methodically, and logically.

Clarity: If a statement is unclear, you can’t tell whether it is relevant or accurate.

HYPOTHESIS AND THEORIES

2. Propose a hypothesis, a testable explanation: “The flashlight doesn’t work

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF SCIENCE

Parsimony. When two plausible explanations are reasonable, the more

Uncertainty. Knowledge changes as new evidence appear, and explanations

SCIENCE AND DECISION MAKING

1. First, it to formulate a clear statement of the issue to be decided.

In the face of incomplete information, scientific controversies, conflicting interests, and

SYSTEMS CONCEPTS AND INTERACTIONS

Systems, including ecosystems, they are considered as a center in the environmental

An important distinction among environmental and ecological systems is whether

Linear Process. If you add the same amount of anything to a compartment in a