INTRODUCTION TO

ENVIRONMENTAL
SCIENCE
HUSHLEY R. RENON
FACULTY, CAS-DMNS
In every deliberation, we must consider our
impact on the next seven generations.
- The Iroqouis Confederacy
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
The study of patterns and processes in the natural world and their
modification by human activity

The study of the interaction of humans with the natural environment.

It is an interdisciplinary science, it involves many other field.

INTERDISCIPLINARY:
ECONOMICS GEOLOGY
1 2
A community decides to use coal for electricity, The coal must be mined from under the soil.
as it is the cheapest source available.

3 ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
4
The coal must be transported to the population When it is burned at a power plant, air pollution
center by road or rail. is released. Some of that pollution is converted to
acid in the atmosphere.
INTERDISCIPLINARY:
METEROLOGY ECOLOGY
5 6
This falls as acid rain somewhere downwind. The acid stresses plants by affecting their
nutrient absorption.

POLITICS
7
Laws are passed requiring the plant to install
pollution scrubbers.
OUR ENVIRONMENT THROUGH TIME . . .
Hunter-Gatherers
• small groups of people that migrated from place to place
• obtained food by collecting plants, hunting or scavenging
• Impact on the environment- burned grasslands to maintain prairies for hunting, overhunting
of some game animals, took plants from their native areas

Agricultural Revolution
a time in human history when people practiced agriculture – this occurred all over the world,
agriculture involves growing of plants and breeding of animals for human use
EFFECTS
ENVIRONMENT
• more pressure on local environments
• habitats were destroyed for farmland
• changed species from their wild ancestors – plants and animals were domesticated
SOCIETY
• populations increased
• people began to concentrate in small areas
 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 1760-1850
OUR ENVIRONMENT THROUGH
• a time when animals, humans and water were
TIME . . . replaced as the major energy sources by fossil fuels
- it was a shift in energy sources
• Industralization – the development of industry on
an extensive scale

EFFECTS:
ENVIRONMENT:
• Pollution first became a problem
• More waste and trash to dispose
• Disease was a problem in many cities
SOCIETY:
• populations in urban areas grew
• life improved; sanitation, nutrition, medicine
• inventions – light bulb, telephone, computer
THE EARTH • Earth is like a space ship– it is unable to dispose
of wastes or take on new supplies energy from
the sun enters and heat leaves, but in regards to
matter Earth is a CLOSED SYSTEM – it does
not “take on” or “get rid of” matter
• The following things CANNOT be added to the
Earth or its atmosphere:
Water, Air, Land, Elements, & Ozone Layer
• ENERGY is the only thing that can enter and
leave the Earth
• Problems with Earth Being a Closed System
1. Limited natural resources
2. Wastes produced more quickly than we can
dispose of them
 Major Environmental Problems

• RESOURCE DEPLETION
• a resource is depleted when a large fraction of it has been used up
• NATURAL RESOURCES-any natural material used by humans
such as wood, water, soil, air, plants, animals
• PERPETUAL RESOURCES– will continue forever like sun &
wind
• RENEWABLE RESOURCES– can be replaced relatively quickly
by natural processes like timber & water
• NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES-form at a slower rate than the
rate it is consumed – fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas)
Major Environmental Problems
2. POLLUTION
• a degradation or an undesired change in air, water, or soil that affects the health of living
things.
2 TYPES OF POLLUTANTS
• Biodegradable
• Non-biodegradable

3. LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY
• Biodiversity refers to the number and variety of species that live in an area.
• Extinction is a natural process , whereby all members of a species die
• Mass extinction - large-scale extinction
• Threatened species – likely to become endangered; Endangered species – in danger of
extinction