Chapters 1-3
Test Review
Major Characters in
Environmental Science
 Ecologists
 Environmentalists
 Preservationists
 Conservationists
 Restorationists
 Know the difference between: ecology,
environment, and environmental science
Population Growth
 Exponential growth
 Rule of 70
 70/growth rate = doubling time in years
 Developed vs. Developing Countries
 Know characteristics
 Which use the most resources, have the most wealth,
have the most people, produce the most waste
Resources
 Examples of perpetual, renewable, and
nonrenewable resources
 What is environmental degradation?
 The Tragedy of the Commons by Garrett Hardin
 What is economic depletion?
 What kinds of resources can this happen to?
 What can we do when a resource becomes
economically depleted?
Pollution
 Examples of point and non-point pollution
 Pollution prevention vs. pollution cleanup
 How to determine how harmful a pollutant is
 Chemical nature
 Concentration
 Persistence
 Examples of biodegradable and nondegradable
pollutants
Environmental Problems
vs. Causes
 Environmental Problems
 Causes
 Air pollution
 Rapid population growth
 Water pollution
 Unsustainable resource use
 Biodiversity depletion
 Poverty
 Waste production
 Not including
environmental cost of
goods and services in
market prices
 Food supply problems
 Managing and simplifying
nature with too little
knowledge
Environmental
Worldviews
Planetary
Management
Environmental
Wisdom
 We are in charge
 Nature does not exist just for
us
 There is always more
 There is NOT always more
 All economic growth is
good and limitless
 Some technology and
economic growth is
environmentally beneficial,
while some is harmful
 Success depends on how
well we can understand,
control, and manage earth’s
systems for our benefit
 Success depends on learning
how earth sustains itself and
using how nature works into
how we act
Human Cultural Changes
 Hunter-Gatherer Societies
 Characteristics and impact
 Agricultural Revolution
 Characteristics and impact
 Shifting cultivation
 Industrial Revolution
 Characteristics and impact
 Energy sources and usage
Environmental History
 Frontier Era
 What is the frontier environmental worldview?
 Conservation Era
 David Thoreau and George Perkins Marsh
 John Muir: founded Sierra Club, biocentric conservationist
 Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot
 Environmental Era
 Rachel Carson
 Spaceship-earth environmental worldview
 Aldo Leopold
Energy: Forms & Quality
 Kinetic vs. Potential Energy
 Electromagnetic Radiation
 Ionizing vs. non-ionizing radiation
 Heat transfer: convection, conduction, radiation
 Examples of very high, high, moderate and low
sources and uses
Scientific Laws
 Conservation of matter
 What do we mean by there is no “away?”
 First law of thermodynamics
 aka: law of conservation of energy
 Second law of thermodynamics
 What happens to energy when it is used?