KING’S COLLEGE OF THE PHILIPPINES

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE - LESSON 1_ PRELIMINARY

INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9512 – ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS EDUCATION ACT OF 2OO8

• This Act provides for the promotion of environmental awareness through environmental education
which shall encompass environmental concepts and principles, environmental laws, the state of
international and local environment, local environmental best practices, the threats of environmental
degradation and its impact on human well-being, the responsibility of the citizenry to the environment
and the value of conservation, protection and rehabilitation of natural resources and the environment.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
• It is the study of the environment, the processes it undergoes, and the problems that arise generally from
the interactions of humans.
• It is an integration of many disciplines such as chemistry, biology, physics, hydrology, geology, and
meteorology because single discipline cannot fully explain the present environmental conditions on Earth.

FIELDS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

1. ECOLOGY
• It is the scientific analysis and study of interactions among organisms and their environment.

2. BIOLOGY
• It is the natural science that involves the study of life and living organisms, including their physical and
chemical structure, function, development and evolution.

3. PHYSICS
• It is the natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion and behaviour through space and
time, along with related concepts such as energy and force.

4. CHEMISTRY
• It is a branch of physical science that studies the composition, structure, properties and change of matter.

5. ZOOLOGY
• It is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology,
evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how to
interact with their ecosystem.
6. MINERALOGY
• It is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of chemistry, crystal structure, and physical
properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts.

7. OCEANOLOGY
• It is the study of the physical and the biological aspects of the ocean.

8. LIMNOLOGY
• It is the study of inland waters.

9. SOIL SCIENCE
• It is the study of soil as a natural resource on the surface of the Earth including soil formation,
classification and mapping; physical, chemical, biological, and fertility properties of soils; and these
properties in relation to the use and management of soils.

1O. GEOLOGY
• It is a part of Earth science concerned with the solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the
processes by which they change over time.

11. ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE

• It is an umbrella term for the study of the Earth’s atmosphere, its processes, the effects other systems
have on the atmosphere, and the effects of the atmosphere on these other systems.

12. METEOROLOGY
• It is the branch of science concerned with the processes and phenomena of the atmosphere, especially as a
means of forecasting the weather.

SOME PEOPLE WHO CONTRIBUTED TO ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS

1. THOMAS ROBERT MALTHUS
• He published his thoughts and studies in “An Essay on the Principle of Population” in 1798.
• He described population growth as an exponential factor that affects the environment and he
expressed concern about it.

2. RACHEL CARSON
• An American scientist and writer who gravely expressed fears about the pesticide
dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane [DDT] in her book Silent Spring.

3. GARRETT HARDIN
• An American ecologist who published an essay called “Tragedy of the Commons”.
• Common property resources belong to no one in particular, but are used and exploited by
everyone.

 The first EARTH DAY celebration was held in the United States of America on April 22, 1970.