•Chapter 2:
Frameworks for Understanding: Science, Systems, and Ethics
1
•Outline
What is Science?
• Cooperation and Consensus in Science
• Systems
• Environmental Ethics and World Views
• Religious and Cultural Perspectives
• Environmental Justice
•
2
2.1 What is Science?
Science assumes the world is knowable and is:
• a methodical, logical process for producing
knowledge about natural phenomena
•
a cumulative body of knowledge produced by
scientists
•
a process based on careful observation
and hypothesis testing that may lead to a theory.
3
4
Science Depends on Skepticism and Accuracy
•
Ideally scientists are skeptical and unbiased.
•
Scientists strive for:
accuracy - correctness of measurements
• reproducibility - repeatability of results
• Repeating studies or tests is called replication.
•
5
6
Deductive & Inductive Reasoning
•
Deductive reasoning - logical reasoning from general
to specific
•
Inductive reasoning - reasoning from many
observations to produce a general rule
•
It is also important to recognize the role of insight,
creativity, aesthetics, and luck in research.
7
Hypotheses and Theories
•
Hypothesis - a testable explanation
•
Scientific theory - a description or explanation that
has been supported by a large number of tests and is
considered by experts to be reliable
8
Probability
•
•
Probability is a measure of how likely something
is to occur.
Scientists often increase confidence in a study by
comparing results to a random sample or a larger
group.
9
Statistics
•
Many statistical tests focus on calculating the
probability that observed results could have occurred
by chance.
•
Usually ecological tests are considered significant if
this probability is less than 5%.
•
The amount of confidence scientists have in the
results depends upon the sample size as well. A large
sample size is better than a small sample.
10
Experimental Design
Natural experiment - involves observation of events
that have already happened
• Manipulative experiment - conditions are
deliberately altered for one variable and all other
variables are held constant
• Controlled study - comparing a treatment group to a
control group which has not received the treatment
• Blind experiment - researcher doesn’t know which
group has been treated until after the data have
been analyzed. Eliminate the “placebo effect”
• Double-blind experiment - neither the subject nor
the researcher knows who is in the treatment group.
Minimizes risk of bias.
•
11
Variables
•
In each study there is one dependent variable and
one or more independent variables.
•
The dependent variable is affected by what
happens to the independent variable.
•
In a graph, the dependent variable is on the
vertical (Y) axis and the independent variable is on
the horizontal axis (X).
12
Models
•
Models are simple representations of phenomena.
They can be physical models, model organisms,
mathematical models, or other types of models.
•
They allow scientists to study complex systems and
predict the effect of conditions that are too difficult
to create and control.
•
When multiple models agree, scientists gain
confidence.
13
Case Study: John Snow and Cholera
•
London in 1854 was suffering
from a severe cholera outbreak.
•
•
Symptoms: Diarrhea, vomiting,
paralysis, death.
John Snow did interviews and
mapped the locations of the
disease.
14
14
Cholera in London
15
15
2.2 Consensus and Conflict
•
Scientific consensus (general agreement among
informed scholars) stems from a community of
scientists who collaborate in a cumulative, selfcorrecting process.
•
Paradigm shifts (great changes in explanatory
frameworks) occur when a majority of scientists
agree that an old explanation no longer works very
well.
16
Critical Thinking
•
Table 2.2 (p42) has several
“Baloney Detection” questions.
17
Environmental Science vs. Environmentalism
•
Environmental science - use of scientific method to
study processes and systems in the environment
•
Environmentalism - working to influence attitudes and
policies that affect our environment
18
Pseudoscience
Appears or claims to be science, but does not follow
scientific principles.
• Examples…..
•
19
19
The Earth is Flat
20
20
Geocentric Solar System
21
21
Spontaneous Generation
22
22
Alchemy
23
23
y2k!
•
Many computers only used two digits to store the date, so
when the new year hit, they would revert to 1900 instead of
2000.
•
Fears: Computers controlling power grids, nuclear reactors,
weapons, would fail.
•
Reality:
• Japan had a nuclear power plant false alarm go off.
• Australia had two bus station ticket machines shut down.
• 150 slot machines in Delaware shut down.
• The clock on the U.S. Navy’s website had the incorrect
date.
24
24
Doomsday: 2012
The Mayan Calendar ends on December 21, 2012.
• A huge sunspot or sunflare will cause a polar
reversal, causing the Earth to spin in the opposite
direction.
•
•
Earthquakes, tidal waves, volcanic eruptions will follow.
25
25
2.3 Systems
•
Systems - networks of interactions among many
interdependent factors
•
Examples: ecosystems, climates systems, geologic
systems, economic systems
•
Systems are composed of processes. We can think of
them in terms of flows and storage compartments.
Example: Fish tank
26
27
System Characteristics
Positive feedback loop - when a flow leads to
compartment changes that further enhance the flow
• Negative feedback loop - dampens flow
• Equilibrium - dynamic state in which system is
changing little over time (homeostasis)
• Disturbance - periodic destructive events such as fire
or flood
• Resilience - ability of system to recover quickly from
disturbance
•
28
System Characteristics
System can be closed or open.
• Closed - self contained and receives no inputs of
energy or materials from the outside
• Open - system that takes inputs from its
surroundings
• Emergent properties - characteristics of a whole,
functioning system that are quantitatively or
qualitatively greater than the sum of the system’s
parts
• Example: The human body is a system of flows
and compartments but from that system emerge
emotions, ideas, painting, dance, etc.
•
29
2.4 Environmental Ethics & World Views
•
Ethics is a branch of philosophy concerned with what
actions are right and wrong.
•
Environmental ethics deals with our moral obligations
to the world around us.
•
Worldviews - sets of basic beliefs, images and
understandings that shape how we see the world
around us. Worldviews also determine what
questions are valid to ask.
30
Who or What has Moral Value?
•
Moral extensionism - extending moral values to
others
• Should moral extensionism include granting
some degree of moral value to animals, plants
and the environment?
•
Value - a measure of the worth of something
• Inherent value - intrinsic or innate worth
• Instrumental value - items have worth only
because they are valued by another person
31
32
Ecofeminism
•
Ecofeminists argue most philosophers came from a
patriarchal system based on domination and
superiority.
•
Contend domination, exploitation, and mistreatment
of women, children, minorities, and nature are
intimately connected and mutually reinforcing
•
Argue that we need more cooperation with both
nature and other people to achieve a peaceful,
sustainable society
33
2.5 Faith-Based Conservation and
Environmental Justice
Stewardship - taking care of the resources we are
given
• Calls for environmental stewardship and for human
domination of the environment can be found in the
writings of most major faiths. Which of these ideas
is emphasized has varied throughout human history.
• In 1995, representatives of 9 major faiths met in
Ohito, Japan to outline common beliefs and
responsibilities towards protecting the Earth.
•
34
Religious and Cultural Perspectives
35
Environmental Justice
Environmental justice combines civil rights with
environmental protection to demand a safe, healthy
environment for everyone.
• Poor and minorities often live in polluted
neighborhoods.
• Environmental racism is inequitable distribution of
environmental hazards based on race. Example:
Lead poisoning in children
• Toxic colonialism is the practice of targeting poor
communities or communities of color in developing
nations as waste disposal areas.
•
36