Introduction to Environment

The Science of Environment

• Environment is “everything that affects an organism

during its lifetime”
• Science is “an approach to studying the natural world that
involves formulating hypotheses and then testing them to
see if the hypotheses are supported or refuted”
 The Science of Environment

• Based on the definition of the environment, all living

components of the environment, including humans
may affect the many components of the environment
- both biotic and abiotic.
 Environmental Science

• Environmental science is an interdisciplinary field

which includes not just the scientific aspect of our
impact on the environment but also social aspects.
• The key concept in environmental science is
“interrelatedness”.
Group Activity # 1. How wolves change rivers?
• Based on the video, how can you relate
the interconnectedness concept of
environmental science to the case of the
wolves and the river?
• Relevant to this case, ranchers strongly
opposed the reintroduction of wolves.
What do you think is their reason?
Considering this, how do you think the
interconnectedness theme is related to
social, political, and economic aspects
of human life?
RUBRIC
How Wolves Change River
Group Activity # 1. How wolves change rivers?
• Based on the video, how can you relate
the interconnectedness concept of
environmental science to the case of the
wolves and the river?
• Relevant to this case, ranchers strongly
opposed the reintroduction of wolves.
What do you think is their reason?
Considering this, how do you think the
interconnectedness theme is related to
social, political, and economic aspects
of human life?
 “Covid 19: Urgent Call to Protect People
and Nature”

• In its report, it pointed out that zoonotic diseases are

emerging at an alarming rate.
• Read at least the executive summary of the report found
in the link below and answer the following questions:
Individual Activity: Graded Formative Assessment #1

• How is the covid-19 pandemic related to our

relationship with nature?
• (a)What are the recommendations in the
report to protect natural ecosystems?
• (b)Which among their recommendations do
you agree the most? (c) Why?
 Key Points to Remember!

• In order to solve environmental

problems, we must understand not
just its science but also other fields
concerning the issue such as
economics, politics, and ethics among
others.
 Key Points to Remember!
• With the “interrelatedness” concept,
we have seen that activities of
humans and other biotic members of
the environment have an impact in
their surroundings as clearly
illustrated in how the wolves changed
the geography of the river.
• With this in mind, human activities in
our local setting can surely have an
impact on the environment.
 Key Points to Remember!

• The kind of relationship we give to the

environment can also lead to the
emergence of diseases.
• Destruction of the natural habitat of
wildlife and unsustainable food
systems increases the likelihood of
having another pandemic in the
future.
 Graded Formative Assessment #2
Deadline: Friday, September 9, 2022

• Identify environmental issues in your locality.

• From those environmental issues, choose

the one that you believe should be
immediately addressed.
Formative Assessment #2
Deadline: Friday, September 9, 2022
Environment as a Discipline
 Environment as a Scientific Discipline
• people live harmoniously with nature during the early
times (minimal to no environmental problems).
• human global population increases exponentially
amounting to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per
year.
• interaction of humans to its environment gradually
changed from simple to complex.
• with the incorporation of modern technological
advancements, human interaction to the environment
eventually became adverse.
 Environment as a Scientific Discipline
• Environmental Science is escalated in the global arena.
• To show how environmental change and human actions are
interconnected.
• Environmental Science is the dynamic and interdisciplinary study
of the interactions of the living and nonliving parts of the
environment, with special focus on the impact of humans in the
environment (Fisher, 2020).
• Environmental science concerns itself on how an organism or
community is surrounded by circumstances, objects, or
conditions, as well as the complex ways in which they interact.
 Ecology
• When one concerns himself on the interactions of
organisms with their environment, with a core goal of
understanding the distribution and abundance of living
things in the physical environment and integrating biology
and non-biology scientific disciplines, then that pertains to
ecology.
• The scope of ecology encompasses within and outside
the organism, ranging from Organismal Ecology,
Population Ecology, Community Ecology and Ecosystem
Ecology.
 Ecology and Environmental Science
• Both disciplines aim to understand the interplay of factors
affecting living and non-living environment, however,
Environmental Science examines the science-related
implications of environmental issues.
 How do we achieve an ecologically-stable
situation for humankind?
• Environmental Science is governed by the following
principles, as discussed by Boersema and Reijnders
(2009).
• Principle of Action - rules saying how the discipline is to
be pursued; further divided into the goal of the action and
the means for reaching the goal.
• Ontological Principles - presuppositions made in the
discipline about the fundamental nature of reality
 PRINCIPLES
discussed by Boersema and Reijnders
(2009)
 Principle of Sustainable Development

• We humans must move towards the adoption of a lifestyle

that can continue indefinitely.
• Principle of action
• The conditions or lifestyles that we humankind exercise
cannot continue since it is not sustainable, and therefore
must be changed in a manner that still exercises free will
but is based on reason.
 unsustainable lifestyles....
• Energy & Transportation - world’s heat, electricity, and
transportation fuels come from non-renewable fossil-
based sources
• Food & Water - use excessive amounts of fertilizers, and
key nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen which are
being depleted, not to mention that we are destroying
topsoil, and excessively polluting fresh water
• Healthcare - ineffective use of antibiotics, both for human
uses but also for agriculture and livestock
 unsustainable lifestyles....
• Finance & Economy - a system that is addicted to growth,
it relies on a linear process of production and
consumption, which cannot be sustained indefinitely
considering the physical constraints of finite resources
• Politics - considering the globalized nature of industries,
financial markets, and supply chains, decision-making to
reverse any of the problems outlined above is extremely
difficult
 Growth Camp vs No Growth Camp
• Growth camp supports economic growth and free trade
as a means to achieve sustainability, and therefore
ensues generating the wealth necessary to pay for
developing and using the technology needed to bring
harmony between the biological and physical environment
of humans.
• Supporters of the growth camp include economic actors,
political decision makers and neoclassical economists.
 Growth Camp vs No Growth Camp
• The no-growth camp however states that economic
growth is in itself, the cause of environmental problems
consequently leading us away in obtaining sustainable
society.
• No- growth camp is composed of biologist, and most
other natural scientists.
 Principle of Conservation of Energy

• 1st Law of Thermodynamics: Quantity of energy is

constant; Hence, energy can neither be created nor
destroyed, but can only be transformed.
• Therefore, whatever form of energy we displace in our
environment, its not lost but only changes into a different
form.
 Principle of E=MC 2

• E= MC2 ; energy equals mass times the speed of light

squared
• Essentially, this means that matter is a form of energy.
Therefore, every single thing - matter - that we produce
and input in our environment, whether for a particular
purpose or simply as a pollution, will not disappear but will
only change its form and subsequently become
compounded in the ecosystem.
 The Principle of Conservation of Matter

• First declared by Antoine Laurent Lavosier in 1789, this

principle states that: Quantity of matter is constant. The
basic principle underlying Chemistry as a Science.
• Taken in another light, this principle means that energy
cannot change from a material to a non-material form or
vice versa.
 The Principle of Conservation of Matter
• Transformation of matter from a high-energy state to a
low-energy state (or vice versa) does not change the total
amount of matter - it stays the same at both states.
• This applies to all energy transformations - except that of
the production of atomic energy, making matter a form of
energy which is itself like energy as a whole in that it can
never go into or out of existence.
 Entropy Principle
• This principle is also known as 2nd Law of
Thermodynamics, first asserted by Sadi Carnot in 1824. It
states that: Energy tends to dissipate.
• Whatever concentrations of energy or chemical elements
as it exists on earth will tend to dissipate over time. The
implication of this principle is that time will come when
humans can no longer use fossil fuels, metals and other
elements, wherein the amount of usable energy they
provide falls way below the amount of energy needed to
extract them. Hence, it is no longer sustainable.
 Entropy Principle
• Fossils and minerals although a finite resource could
however be recycled.
• 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, it explicitly expresses that
for each recycling, their level of concentration - their
degree of ‘organisation’ as physical systems, tend to
diminish and over time, eventually there will be nothing
more to recycle.
 Principle of Evolution
• Charles Darwin in 1859, which states that: Life forms on
earth have evolved from a common source, each
surviving as a species as a result of its being genetically
adapted to its biological and physical environment.
• It requires establishing a stable relation with the
environment in order to obtain continued existence. Adapt
or Perish is the dictum. Adapting to the environment
meanings fitting into a system.
 Principle of Ecology
• Accordingly, as stated by Boersema and Reijnders
(2009), if they were to suggest a principle anchored on
the discipline of ecology, it would be that: Various
groupings of living beings constitute systems, each of
which may or may not be in equilibrium with the other
systems constituting its environment.
 Principle of Ecology
• The systems in which human species interact involve
both biological and non-biological (physical) systems.
• In an organismic level, it is composed of different systems
that have different functions but has only one goal; that of
maintaining the integrity and function of an organism.
• For humans (and other animals), it consists of taking
usable energy from other material systems - both
biological and physical, therefore increasing their entropy.
 Principle of Population
• Thomas Malthus in 1798 was the first to articulate the
Principle of Population, in accordance with the Biological
Principle of Evolution.
• There are two statements supporting this principle, the
first, being: There is a tendency for the human population
(and that of any species) to be as large as its environment
will allow, and the second being: If there were no checks
to population size, that of the human (or any) population
would tend to increase indefinitely.
 Vicious Circle Principle
• It states that: Human development consists in an
accelerating movement from situations of resource
scarcity, to technological innovation, to resource increase,
to increased consumption, to population growth, and back
to resource scarcity.
• Humans continuously push not only against the limit of its
environment, but have constantly been stretching its
limits.
• use of non renewable resources **
• Essentially, the essence of sustainable development
 Group Activity: Graded Formative Assessment #3

• With the key concepts presented earlier

• 1. Discuss the impact of human activities on the
environment in the different Era as depicted by the
pictures below: