Introduction to Environmental Science
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Instructor Resources
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Fillable student notes outline:
http://www.aurumscience.com/environmental/1_introduction/notes_outline.html
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Study guide:
http://www.aurumscience.com/environmental/1_introduction/studyguide.html
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Other worksheets and assignments:
http://www.aurumscience.com/environmental/1_introduction/index.html
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Next Unit: Principles of Science
http://www.aurumscience.com/environmental/2_science/index.html
Written by James Dauray
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Environmental Science
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What is Environmental Science?
 How humans interact with nature
What is the Environment?
 Conditions that surround living organisms
including climate, soil, and other
organisms.
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Environmental Science Cont’d
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Environmental Science is
an interdisciplinary field.
 Includes concepts and
ideas from several
different branches of
science
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Basic History of Humans and the Environment
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Hunter-Gatherers (10,000 B.C.)
 Obtain food by collecting plants and
hunting wild animals.
How did they affect the environment?
 Hunted and killed animals
 Picked up and spread plants/seeds to new
areas.
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Basic History of Humans and the Environment
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Agricultural Revolution (6000-7000 B.C.)
 Humans first developed the process of
breeding, growing, and harvesting plants
for food.
How did this affect the environment?
 Human population grew quickly
 Natural habitats (grasslands, rainforests)
replaced by farmland and villages.
 New breeds of animals and plants were
created.
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Basic History of Humans and the Environment
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Industrial Revolution (1800s)
 Shift in the source of energy to fossil fuels
How did this affect the environment?
 Increased the efficiency of farming
 Increased the size of cities
 Introduced plastics, pesticides, fertilizers
and air pollution.
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Spaceship Earth
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Spaceship Earth
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Earth is a Closed System
 The only thing that enters or leaves the
Earth in large quantities is…?
Problems with Closed Systems
 Resources are limited, but the population
continues to increase
 Wastes do not go away
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Major Environmental Problems
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Resource Depletion
 Resources can be renewable (water) or
nonrenewable (oil)
 The supply of fossil fuels and metals will
eventually run out.
Pollution
 Undesired change in air, water, or soil that
affects the health of living things.
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Major Environmental Problems
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Loss of Biodiversity
 The number and variety of species is
decreasing.
 Extinction – Natural or man-made?
The Tasmanian tiger
may be the only mammal to become
extinct in the past 200 years on the
island of Tasmania. During the same
period of time, on nearby Australia,
as much as 50 percent of all mammals
became extinct.
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Environmental Ethics
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Environmental ethics is the discipline that
studies the moral relationship of human
beings to, and also the value and moral
status of, the environment.
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Types of Environmental Ethics
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Five Distinct Stages:
 Anthropocentric
 Pragmatic Resource Conservation
 Moral and Aesthetic Nature Preservation
 Modern Environmentalism
 Global Environmental Citizenship
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Hetch Hetchy Valley
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San Francisco in 1903 is experiencing
severe water shortages due to a rapidly
increasing population.
The Tolumne river runs through nearby
Hetch Hetchy valley.
Proposal: Dam the river, create a reservoir
for water supplies and hydroelectric power.
 Problem: The valley lies within Yosemite
National Park; public land.
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Hetch Hetchy Valley
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Tolumne River, California
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Build the Dam!
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The nearby people need water, and there are
no other practical sources.
The dam will produce pollution-free
renewable electricity.
The valley will be even more beautiful with a
lake.
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Preserve the Valley!
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Hetch Hetchy is on a national park.
The natural ecosystem will be flooded and
destroyed.
The picturesque beauty of the valley will be
ruined.
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Anthropocentrism
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Literally means “human-centered”
 The protection or promotion of human
interests or well-being at the expense of all
other factors.
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Pragmatic Resource Conservation
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Advocated by President
Theodore Roosevelt.
 The environment should
be used in a planned way
to benefit everyone.
- Should be used for “the
greatest good for the
greatest number, for the
longest time.”
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Moral and Aesthetic Nature Preservation
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Advocated by John Muir, first president of the
Sierra Club.
- Nature deserves to exist for its own sake
regardless of degree of usefulness to
humans.
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So…What Happened?
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Modern Environmentalism
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Rachel Carson wrote a book
entitled Silent Spring about the
effects of pesticides on birds.
 Awakened the public to
threats of pollution and toxic
chemicals to humans as well
as other species.
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Global Environmentalism
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Increased travel and communication enables
people to know about daily events in places
unknown in previous generations.
 Issues and problems are explored on a
global scale instead of a local one.
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Tragedy of the Commons
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According to an ecologist named Garrett
Hardin, the main difficulty behind
environmental problems is:
 Short-term interests of individuals
versus…
Long-term interests of the society
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“Tragedy of the Commons”
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A commons is an area
that belongs to an entire
village.
 Short-term individual
thinking: Put as many
animals in as possible
- Grass becomes
depleted!
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Long-term solution: Divide into fields owned by
individuals.
 Because the land is owned, individuals are much
more likely to care for it in the long-term.
“In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rental car.”

Larry Summers, Chief Economic Advisor to President Obama
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Economics and the Environment
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Supply and Demand – The
greater the demand for a
limited resource, the higher the
price.
 Examples:
- Increasing price of
oil/gasoline
- Consistently low price of
corn in U.S.
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Economics and the Environment
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Cost/Benefit Analysis – Is the cost of doing
something worth the price?
 Ex: Pollution cleanup of Waukegan Harbor
Waukegan harbor
Annual fish sampling
Dredging
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Economics and the Environment
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Risk Analysis – The probability that something will
cause injury or death.
 Ex: Nuclear power
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The Demographic Divide:
Developed and Developing Nations
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Developed and Developing Countries
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Developed – Higher incomes, industrial
economies, slower population growth.
 Ex: United States, Japan, Europe
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Developing and Developed Countries
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Developing – Have lower
incomes, agriculture-based
economies, and rapid
population growth.
 Ex: India, Afghanistan,
most of sub-Saharan
Africa
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Developing and Developed Countries
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Population and Consumption
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Developing countries tend to have severe
overpopulation. This leads to:
 Deforestation
 Bare soil
 Native animals driven to extinction
 Malnutrition, starvation, disease
About 80% of the world’s population falls in
this category
 Only use 25% of the world’s resources
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Ecological Footprint
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Amount of space needed to support each
person in a nation, including forests, farms,
cities, etc.
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The Goal: A Sustainable World
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Sustainability
 Human needs are met so that the
population can survive
indefinitely.
 “Meeting the needs of the
present without
compromising the ability of
future generations to meet
their own needs.”
- Brundtland Commission, 1987
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