Republic of the Philippines

Philippine State College of Aeronautics

Fernando Air Base, Lipa City

Environmental Science
Preliminary Period

LEARNING MODULE 2
Our Life on Earth
 Demonstrate a holistic understanding of the fundamental concepts and principles of Environmental Science
Demonstrate correctly the ability to apply scientific method of inquiry and display the values of excellence in crafts and
stewardship
Practice creative and critical thinking abilities as well as integrity in the process of verifying scientific principles through honest

CLO and objective collection, analysis, and reporting of data

Discuss what an environmentally sustainable society is and how the ecological footprints affects the earth
Formulate and suggest tentative solutions to problems in the environment based on the different case studies
Discuss how science and scientists deal with problems and apply these concepts in everyday activities that deals with the
present problems of our environment

TLO Manipulate properly basic science tools and equipment as well as other learning aids/instruments such as computer search
engines and networks

Discuss the different chemical cycling

Discuss some of the environmental laws that govern the survival of organisms
Discuss problems of pollution and distinguish between point sources and nonpoint sources of pollution

MLO Apply the ways of preventing or clean up solutions of pollution in your own homes

CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE TIME ALLOTMENT
Lesson 1: Sustainability 3 5 minutes
Chemical Cycling 4 8 minutes
Video Presentation 8 7:37 minutes
Lesson 2: Environmentally 9 5 minutes
Sustainable Society
Video Presentation 9 2:08 minutes
Pollution 13 5 minutes

LESSON 1: SUSTAINABILITY

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 Sustainability, according to the dictionary, is defined as the ability to be maintained at

a certain rate or level or an avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to

maintain an ecological balance. It is the ability of the earth’s various natural systems to

survive and adapt to the changing environmental conditions indefinitely in which this

includes human cultural systems and economies.

Why should we care about sustainability? It is because we are on the verge of or in

the process of rapidly degrading our own life support system.

The earth has sustained itself for billions of years and we, humans have been in this

world for a short time compared to the earth’s existence. We are considered a smart species

for we are able to learn how to use the resources around us to support our basic needs and

rapidly growing wants and in turn, in the process of degrading our life support system.

To learn to live more sustainably and more wisely, we need to find out how life on

the earth has sustained itself for 3.5 billion years. A research leads us to believe that the long-

term sustainability of life on this planet in the face of drastic environmental changes has

depended on three key factors: solar energy, biodiversity, and chemical cycling. These

powerful and simple ideas make up three principles of sustainability or lessons from nature.

Reliance on Solar Energy

The sun warms the planet and provides energy to the plants which they use to produce

food for themselves and for us and most other animals. There would be no plants, no animals,

and no food without the sun. The sun also powers indirect form of solar energy which can be

used to produce electricity like the wind and flowing water.

Biodiversity

This includes an unbelievable variety of different organisms. Most life would have

been wiped out long ago without biodiversity or biological diversity.

Chemical Cycling
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 Natural processes recycle nutrients or chemicals that plants and animals need to stay

alive and reproduce. Because the earth gets no new shipments of these chemicals, they must

be continuously cycled from organisms to their nonliving environment and back. Without

chemical cycling, there would be no air, no water, no soil, no food, and no life (Miller,Jr &

Spoolman, 2010).

WATER CYCLE

When rain falls, where does it go? Some of it immediately evaporates, going to the

atmosphere. Some are absorbed by the plants, into the soil, and are stored as groundwater.

Some run off the land surface and into the streams, lakes, and rivers. All the water on the

earth’s surface and in the water table eventually drains down to the sea. The heat of the sun

makes the water vapor called evaporation. This brings water to the atmosphere where the

water molecules clump together because of the colder temperature above in the process

condensation. It then falls back down when the clumps get bigger and heavier in the form of

rain, snow, hail or sleet through precipitation. This cycling maintains the freshwater bodies

and the needs of plants and other organisms. The water cycle is the vehicle for the movement

of several chemical substances through the ecosystem. Water is the temperature buffer that is

very important in preventing sudden temperature rises or falls in the environment.

Carbon Cycle

Inorganic carbon such as CO2 has its pool in the atmosphere and in water. The amount

in the atmosphere is determined by the two living processes of photosynthesis and

respiration, and by human activities involving combustion or the burning of matter.

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Nitrogen Cycle

Nitrogen is an important component of protein which is the building block of all

living matter. It also the most abundant gas in the atmosphere. In the gaseous state, nitrogen

cannot be used by plants and must first be converted into other forms through the nitrogen

cycle. It consists of four processes, which are fixation, mineralization, or ammonification,

nitrification, and denitrification, that involve the soil and bodies of water.

Fixation is the process of conversion of nitrogen from the gaseous state, N 2, to the

usable ammonia, NH3, and nitrate, NO3. Nitrates result from the rare case of atmospheric

fixation, where lightning or cosmic radiation combines nitrogen and oxygen gases in the

atmosphere, which then falls to earth as H2NO3, nitric acid or acid rain.
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 Mineralization or ammonification involves the breakdown of dead organisms and

their proteins and nucleic acids are further broken down into amino acids. The amino acids

are converted into carbon dioxide, water, and ammonia, with a release of energy. The

ammonia is the usable form of nitrogen that plant roots may absorb.

Nitrification is where bacteria (Nitrosomonas) use ammonia to produce their energy

needs by converting it to nitrous acid and water, and then to nitrates and nitrite with a yield of

energy.

Denitrification is a process by which nitrogen is returned to the atmosphere.

Denitrifying fungi and bacteria perform the process to acquire oxygen such as Pseudomonas

that converts nitrates into gaseous nitrogen in an oxygenated environment.

Phosphorus Cycle
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 Since phosphorus is not found in the atmosphere, this is mainly a sedimentary cycle

based on phosphorus containing rocks that are mined or are naturally weathered. However, it

involves the oceans to a certain extent. The sedimentary rocks which contain phosphorus in

the form of the mineral apatite comprise a pool of phosphorus. Phosphorus is released when

these rocks weather naturally, which takes a long time, or when humans mine these rocks to

release phosphorus, which is used in fertilizers and soaps. It is not easily available in the

natural environment, so, its sudden release in the waterways of its residues from farmland

fertilizers result in algal blooms. Through the waterways and rivers, the phosphorus gets to

the sea where it stays for long periods in deep-sea sediments and is unavailable to organisms.

Some marine organisms like fishes acquire some of the phosphorus and the birds that prey on

them produce phosphorus-rich droppings known as guano, considered to be a rich natural

fertilizer.

Sulfur Cycle

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 Sulfur is basically a sedimentary nutrient which cycles through air, soil, and water. It

involves the three spheres as it cycles through the soil, waterways, and atmosphere. It

originates from the crust and mantle of the earth and is spewed out during volcanic eruptions.

It is found in organic form as a component of fossil fuels like peat, coal, and oil so, the

burning of fossil fuels in vehicles and factories releases gaseous sulphur as sulfur dioxide

(SO2) into the atmosphere, and it forms a weak sulphuric acid, H 2SO4, and is carried back to

the earth as acid rain. In the oceans, it occurs as dimethylsulfide, (CH 3)2S, which is a

byproduct of phytoplankton decomposition and is supposed to be the largest source of

atmospheric sulfur. Plants take in sulfur in soluble form, incorporate and pass it on to other

organisms through a food web and the excretion and waste products of these return the sulfur

to the soil where microorganisms convert it to elemental form.

For more explanation and examples, refer to this link,

https://youtu.be/rNKVoJHvRaQ (7:37 mins)

LESSON 2: ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY

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 Despite the many advances in science and technology, we are very much dependent

on the environment for clean air, water, food, shelter, energy, and everything else we need to

stay alive and healthy. As a result, we are a part of, and not apart from, the rest of nature.

(Miller, Jr & Spoolman, 2010)

There are things that we need to follow that Mother Nature dictates for us to live

harmoniously with other organisms.

These are the laws governing the survival of

organisms in relation to the nutrients that they need.

These are observed in all organisms which will be

explained more in the video that follows after the

short statements of these laws.

Law of the Minimum

It states that when there is not enough of certain nutrient in the environment, the

growth of the organism that needs that nutrient will be severely limited.

Law of Tolerance

It states that they have specific ranges of minimum and maximum limits of tolerance

that affect the survival, growth, and reproduction and, therefore, their abundance and

distribution in nature.

For more information and understanding, refer to this link,

https://youtu.be/pPw51fDTl68 (2:08 minutes)

In the event of living our lives, humans and other organisms, there are things or

activities that we seem to forget sometime and may cause problems in living our daily lives.

These problems or environmental problems are mostly caused by humans and greatly affects

the other organisms, plants and animals.

Why bother with sustainability?

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 Sustainability is the ability of the ecosystem to keep diverse and productive through

time despite of humans deriving their needs from natural resources according to Biology

online dictionary. It is the state wherein anthropogenic use of natural resources is kept to a

limit or made adequate for human needs thus avoiding to inflict harm to other life forms and

future generations, preserving biodiversity, and promoting a period of natural restoration.

A critical component of sustainability is natural capital, the natural resources and

natural services that keeps us and other forms of life and support our economies.

Natural resources are materials and energy that are essential to humans and may be of

two types or classifications, the renewable resources such as air, water, soil, plants, and wind,

and the non-renewable resources such as copper, oil, and coal. Natural services are processes

in nature such as purification of air and water, which support life and human economies.

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 The earth’s biodiversity of species, ecosystems, and interacting components provide

us with these essential services at no costs. We can use technology to enhance these services

but there is no substitute for them.

Many human activities can degrade natural capital by using normally renewable

resources faster than nature can renew them. For example, in parts of the world where there

are clearing of mature forests much faster than they can grow back and eroding topsoil faster

than nature can renew them. Many species of fishes in the ocean are harvested faster than

they can replenish themselves.

While environmental scientists search for solutions to problems like unsustainable

degradation of forests and other forms of natural capital, their work is limited to finding

scientific solutions but the political solutions are left to political processes. For example,

scientific solutions to problems of depletion of trees and fishes might be is to stop chopping

down biologically diverse and mature forests and to harvest species of fish no faster than they

can replenish themselves. But implementing those solutions may need government laws and

regulations.

A shift toward environmental sustainability should be based on scientific concepts

and results that are widely accepted by experts in a particular field. In making such shift,

individuals matter. Some people are good at thinking of new scientific ideas and inventing

innovative technologies or solutions. Others are good at putting political pressures to

government officials and business leaders to implement those solutions. In any case, a shift

towards sustainability for a society ultimately depends on the actions of the individuals

within the society, beginning in where and how they live. In other words, sustainability

begins at personal and local levels.

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 The ultimate goal is an environmentally sustainable society, one which meets current

and future basic resource needs of its people in a just and equitable manner without

compromising the ability of future generations

to meet their basic needs.

In business there is an old time lesson

that are sometimes forgotten, that is, protect

your capital and live on the income it provides.

Deplete or waste your capital and you will

move from a sustainable to an unsustainable

lifestyle.

The same goes for the earth’s natural capital, that is, the global trust fund that nature

provides for us, our children, our grandchildren and the earth’s other species, which help to

support us for our economies. Living sustainably means living on natural income, they are the

renewable resources such as plants, animals, and soil provided by the earth’s natural capital.

Renewable Resources and the Tragedy of Commons

As ecological footprints grow, more of the earth’s natural capital is depleted and

degraded.

Some of the earth’s natural resources can be used by almost anyone like for example

fresh air, underground water supplies, the earth’s climate, the open oceans and its fishes.

We are environmentally degrading many openly shared renewable resources and it

was called the tragedy of the commons by a biologist, Garret Hardin in 1968.

The cumulative effect of many people trying to exploit a shared renewable resource

can exhaust or ruin it. Then no one can benefit from it and that is the tragedy.

There are two major ways to deal with this difficult problem: (1) use shared

renewable resources at rates well below their estimated sustainable yields by reducing the use
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of the resources, regulating access to the resources and doing both; and (2) convert open-

access renewable resource to private ownership.

POLLUTION

Pollution is contamination of the environment by a chemical or other agent like noise

or heat that is harmful to health, survival or activities of humans or other organisms. Polluting

chemicals, from volcanic eruptions, or human activities, burning coals and gasoline and

dumping chemicals into rivers and the ocean, can enter the environment naturally.

The pollutants that are produced come from two sources: point sources and nonpoint

sources. Point sources are single identifiable sources, for example, a smokestack coal-burning

power or industrial plant, while nonpoint sources are dispersed and often difficult to identify

like pesticides blown from the land into the air and the runoff of pesticides and fertilizers

from farmlands, lawns, gardens, and golf courses into streams and lakes. It is much easier and

cheaper to identify and control or prevent pollution from point sources than from widely

dispersed nonpoint sources.

ACTIVITY 1: RECYCLED ROBOTS

For this activity, find a few bits of waste packaging from your home that were going

to be thrown away – think cardboard boxes, plastic bottles and tin foil.

Collate all the waste items and think of anything that you can do with it-re-use and

recycle the materials and make rubbish robots!(anything you can think of that may be of use

to you or anyone). Take pictures and do documentations in doing your activity. Submit the

picture of your finished product and the documentations to your instructor.

ACTIVITY 2: RECYCLING JAM JARS

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 Reuse or recycle used jam jars, plastic bottles or cereal boxes by thinking of

alternative use for these jars and bottles. Take pictures of what you have done, the finished

product, and the procedures in the making of your finished product.

How could we reuse these items in the future to prevent them going to waste?

Write your answers on a sheet of paper or soft copy to be sent to your instructor for

grading purposes.

Academic Honesty Statement:

For this activity, I make the following truthful statement:

I understand that acts of academic dishonesty shall be penalized to the full extent
as indicated in the provision of the PhilSCA Student Manual (Page 30, No. 6.)

____________________________
Signature of Student over Printed Name
MA. JINKY G. GOMEZ
Instructor’s Name and Signature

Checking Your Understanding: Answer the questions briefly but concisely. Write your

answers on a sheet of paper or in word document file to be sent to your instructor.

1. What is the importance of chemical or nutrient cycling?

2. Explain why you agree or disagree with the following propositions.

a. Stabilizing population is not desirable because without consumers, economic

growth would stop.

b. The world would never run out of resources because we can use technology to

find substitutes and to help us reduce resource waste.

*Essays or answers to the questions will be evaluated using the rubrics made by the

instructor which can be found at the end of the module.

RUBRICS FOR ESSAY QUESTIONS

CRITERIA NUMBER OF POINTS

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Clarity of thought, understands the questions and processes, 10 points
have examples/explanations
Have ideas but not so clear, states the processes but slightly 8 points
unclear in giving specific explanations
Good beginning sentences but omits some significant parts, 6 points
misuse of some terms, incomplete analysis
Unclear explanation, incorrect use of some terms, no clear 4 points
explanation/analysis
Does not answer the question correctly, restates the question 2 points
without an attempt to explain or give samples
No answer at all, merely copies the question 0 points

References:

CALL NUMBER/E-PROVIDER MATERIALS(Textbooks,references,journals,online)

ISBN-13: 978-0-495-56016-6 Miller, G. T. Jr. & Spoolman, S. E..(2010). Environmental
Science 13th Ed. Cengage Learning Pte Ltd

Tayo, G. T., et al..(2004) Fundamentals of

ISBN:971-42-0458-1
Environmental Science. Trinitas Publishing, Inc..

https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk
For some activities used in this module
/hub/environmental-awareness-for-
kids/

Google.com For images used in this module

http://youtube.com For videos used in this module

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