Chapter 1: Environmental Science: Studying the State of Our Earth
Vocabulary
1. Fracking
2. Environment
3.Environmental
Science
4. Ecosystem
7.
Environmentalist
8. Environmental
Indicator
9. Ecosystem
Services
10.
Environmental
Indicator
25.
Hypothesis
13. Species
19. Development
14. Species
Diversity
20.Sustainability
15. Speciation
21. Sustainable
Development
26.
Replication
27. Sample
Size (n)
16. Background
Extinction Rate
22. Biophilia
28. Theory
23. Ecological
Footprint
24. Scientific
Method
29. Control
Group
30. Natural
Experiment
5. Biotic
11. Biodiversity
17. Greenhouse
Gases
6. Abiotic
12. Genetic
Diversity
18.Anthropogenic
Opening Story: To Frack, or Not to Frack
1. What environmental problems are fossil fuels responsible for?
2. Why is natural gas better than traditional fossil fuels?
3. Explain why initially natural gas appeared to be beneficial to the natural
environment.
4. Name and explain the negative environmental effects of fracking.
5. How does fracking provide a good introduction to the study of environmental
science?
Module 1: Environmental Science offers important insights into our world
1. Give an example of something biotic and something abiotic within an
ecosystem. Explain how these two interact.
2. Explain how fracking is part of a larger system.
3. Using the fisheries of the North Atlantic as an example, come up with a list of
four systems.
4. What role do humans play in environmental systems? Give an example of 2
negative impacts humans have had on these systems.
5. How does new technology generally impact resource use?
6. Who uses more resources per capita: a child born in Los Angeles or a child
born in rural India? Why?
Module 2: Scientists monitor natural systems for signs of stress
1. Fill out the following chart about five global environmental indicators outlined
in Table 2.2 and pages 8-14.
Indicator
Biological
Diversity
Food
production
Average Global
Temperature
and [CO2]
Human
Population
Resource
depletion
Increasing,
decreasing or
staying the
same right
now?
To achieve
sustainability,
does it need to
increase,
decrease or stay
the same?
Why should
you
(personally)
care about this
indicator?
How does
this
indicator
connect to
ONE other
indicator?
2. List and explain the 3 levels in which biodiversity occurs.
3. How many new species evolve (new species) worldwide per year? What should
the extinction rate be (per million every year)? Currently how many species are
going extinct?
4. Why are greenhouse gases important?
5. What are the two major sources of anthropogenic carbon dioxide?
6. What is the difference between renewable and non-renewable resources?
7. What happened on Easter Island and what should we learn from their mistakes?
8. What does an ecological footprint represent?
9. Explain how iron can be used sustainably.
Module 3: Scientific Method
1. Explain the scientific method and its application to the study of
environmental problems.
2. Explain how environmental science presents unique challenges (4 reasons).
3. What is required for an idea to be considered a theory, in a scientific sense?
Consider “the theory of evolution”.
4. What is the purpose of a control group in an experiment?
5. What are the goals of the environmental justice movement, and why are they
relevant to achieving sustainability?