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Environmental science: the branch of science concerned

with the physical, chemical, and biological conditions of the


environment and their effect on organisms.
Ecology: The branch of biology dealing with the relations and
interactions between organisms and their environment, including
other organisms.
Sustainability: to supply with food, drink, and other
necessities of life. (Or) to undergo, experience, or suffer (injury,
loss, etc.); endure without giving way or yielding.
Ecological Footprint: something which has permanently
damaged or had a negative impression the environment; the
impact of humans on ecosystems created by their overuse of
land, water, and other natural resources
Fishery: a place where fish are bred; fish hatchery.
Carrying Capacity: the maximum, equilibrium number of
organisms of a particular species that can be supported
indefinitely in a given environment.
Utilitarian Justification: A rationale for the conservation of nature based 
on the idea that the environment provides individuals with direct economic benefits.

Ecological Justification: : A rationale for the conservation of nature based 


on the idea that the environment provides specific functions necessary to the persistence 
of our life.

Aesthetic Justification: A rationale for the conservation of nature based on 


its beauty and aesthetic qualities.

Moral Justification: A rationale for the conservation of nature based


on the idea that elements of the environment have a right to exist,
independent of human desire
Pseudoscience: any of various methods, theories, or systems,
as astrology, psychokinesis, or clairvoyance, considered as
having no scientific basis.
Commons: pertaining or belonging equally to an entire
community, nation, or culture; public: a common language or
history; a common water-supply system.
Tragedy of the Commons: is a type of social trap , often
economic, that involves a conflict over finite resources between individual
interests and the common good . The term derives originally from a
comparison made in an essay.
Easter Island: an island in the South Pacific, belonging to
Chile. ab. 45 sq. mi. Houses gigantic statues, from a previous
culture.

Developed Nations: is used to categorize countries with developed 


economies in which the service industry and intellectual services like 
information generation, information sharing, consultation, education and 
research and development of industry are dominate.

Developing Nations: Developing countries are countries that 


haven't reached Western­style standards of democratic government, free 
market economy, industrialization, social programs, and human rights 
guaranties for their citizens.

Anthropogenic: caused or produced by humans:


anthropogenic air pollution.
Renewable resource: any natural resource that can replenish
itself naturally over time, as wood or solar energy;
Nonrenewable resource: any natural resource from the
Earth that exists in limited supply and cannot be replaced if it is
used up; also, any natural resource that cannot be replenished
by natural means at the same rates that it is consumed
Gross national product (GNP):
Gross domestic product (GDP):
Per capita: by or for each individual person
Scientific method: a method of research in which a problem
is identified, relevant data are gathered, a hypothesis is
formulated from these data, and the hypothesis is empirically
tested.
Inference: the process of deriving the strict logical
consequences of assumed premises.
Hypothesis: a proposition assumed as a premise in an
argument
Experiment: a test, trial, or tentative procedure; an act or
operation for the purpose of discovering something unknown or
of testing a principle, supposition
Controlled experiment: any trial or test of a hypothesis
under carefully managed conditions
Control: to test or verify (a scientific experiment) by a parallel
experiment or other standard of comparison.
Dependent variable: Statistics. (in an experiment) the event
studied and expected to change when the independent variable is
changed.
Independent variable: a variable in a functional relation
whose value determines the value or values of other variables.
Scientific model: Mathematical tools used to understand large
scale processes that can't be observed directly in their entirety.

Scientific theory: A well-tested explanation for a wide range of


observations or experimental results

Accuracy: How close a predicted or measured value is to the true


value.

Precision: The state or quality of being precise


Externality: an external effect, often unforeseen or
unintended, accompanying a process or activity.
Free market economy: A free market is an economic term for an
idealized market system, where all economic decisions and actions by individuals
regarding transfer of money, goods, and services are voluntary

Cost benefit analysis: An analysis of the relationship between the


costs of undertaking a task or project, initial and recurrent, and the benefits
likely to arise from the changed situation, initially and recurrently.

Risk-benefit analysis: is the comparison of the risk of a situation to 


its related benefits.
Marginal costs: The incremental cost of increasing output of a good
or service by a small amount.
direct costs: Costs that can be specifically identified with a
particular project or activity.

indirect costs: Costs incurred for a common or joint objectives and


therefore cannot be identified readily and specifically with a particular
sponsored project, program, or activity.

DDT: A colorless crystalline organ chloride insecticide.


Part per million (ppm): a unit of measure of the amount of
dissolved solids in a solution in terms of a ratio between the
number of parts of solids to a million parts of total volume
Part per billion (ppb): Unit of measurement commonly used to
express a contamination ratio, as in establishing the maximum
permissible amount of a contaminant in water, land, or air.

Micro- Prefix denoting one-millionth


Milli- One-thousandth of a unit
Kilo- A prefix meaning 1000
Mega- A prefix meaning one million
Giga- A prefix meaning one billion.
Point source: a source of radiation sufficiently distant
compared to its length and width that it can be considered as a
point
Non-point source: a source not easily identified at a particular place,
often referred as diffuse sources
Questions (1-10) (SGQ’s)

1. (See footprint calculator pages) charts (1 &2)

2. Buying more recycled material products, eating less


animal products and using public transportation more,
are three ways I could substantially cut back on my
ecological footprint. These three things are very easy,
and I should start doing them now, to prevent more
damage to our planet.

3. In “Tragedy of the Commons” the author talks about


several main problems today. After reading the article I
feel there are other lesser but un-discussed problems
that are also present. The author covers in some depth
the effect of humans and natural resources but doesn’t
mention the role of politics and legislation in our ability
to control the use of harmful non-environmental friendly
equipment and industry. Car companies and other high-
poweredindustrial places are a tragedy in the fact that
they produce more waste then hundreds of household’s
combined. Car companies right now are not planning to
shut down, just to make our planet a little greener, and
this is terrible. The companies make so much money per
year that the industry will never even consider changing
its ways. As a solution, maybe limiting the number of cars
produced, or having the cars made out of recycled
materials, could both be rather effective.

4. Where as Environmental Science is the branch of science


concerned with the physical, chemical, and biological
conditions of the environment, Ecology on the other
hand, is based around the biology of organisms in the
environment. Although closely related the two have very
different functions.
5. Theory; is the analysis of a set of facts in their relation to
one another, where as Fact; is a piece of information
presented as having objective reality, and Law; refers to
a binding custom or practice that a community adopts. All
three have different usage depending on the context. The
context tends to change when using say “theory” in a
situation to which analization of facts in not required. The
three terms can get confusing especiall

6. I would plant three pots with soil and pea plants. When
all three plants measured 2” high I would place them all
in separate containers. I would create a separate
chamber for each plant. Into each of the 2 chambers I
would add some kind of air pollutant, the third would be
left alone. I would test the height of the plants in the
polluted chambers against the same plant growing under
normal conditions, to see if the polluted plants were
shrunken in comparison.

7. Sustainability, when applied to the resources that we


have, should mean management with regards to itsability
to regenerate and produce again. There are three things
that sustain us as a resource, and we are slowly using
them to extinction. The first is air. We need air (or rather
oxygen) in order to sustain our lives. We cannot sustain
ourselves if we pollute the air with carbon and hazardous
ozone depleting chemicals. Sooner or later there won’t be
enough breathable air left for us to use. Another resource
that is valuable is water. We have dams and rivers, and
lakes in order to preserve water and store it for later use.
We pollute the water and dam it off from its natural path
into treatment facilities, without a second glance at the
nature around it. If we keep it up like this our fresh water
supply will run out, and we will be left with no other
source. Wood is also a big consumer resource. We build
with it, we write on it, we watch the trees grow, and
thencut them down. We clear hundreds of acres of trees
from the rainforests every year, without a second thought
to replace them. If we continue at this rate the resource
with no longer sustain us say 100 years from now.
8. Human population. It’s over population that threatens
our continued survival. When there are two many people,
we will have to relocate find some means of limiting our
numbers. The more humans, the more space needed to
sustain them. The resources that we take for granted
today will no longer sustain us when there’s a billion
more people that use them. This will have a greater
effect on the earth, then it will on us humans. The earth
will get so overcrowded, and we will cut down all of our
trees in order to create living space for humans. We
won’t have cropland, cattle land, or animal preserves. All
space on earth will be allocated for human life.

9. My grandparents have 12 acres of woods behind their


home in Pennsylvania. This relatively undisturbed land is
beautiful in so many ways. This little wood has a small
stream that runs through it, allowing it to be a life
sustaining resource for animals, as well as giving my
grandparents water for their plants. The stream creates
wildlife therefore is a reason that I might save it from
destruction. The trees provide us with oxygen that’s been
removed from the carbon dioxide we breathe out. It
provides us by renewing a resource that sustains human
life. The trees provide a dense cover that allows very
little light to reach the ground, and produces several
kinds of pretty moss and flowers. The pretty environment
makes me happy, and it allows resources and
aesthetically pleasing elements to come together in
harmony.

10.We know that with economic development, that


urbanization is not far off. This trend is having a negative
effect on the environment. Urbanization means that
housing and landfills will become more prevalent. This
could have a disastrous effect on our future. The trend of
economics, effects public policy in the ways in which
legislation is passed. The Electric car and it’s downfall is
a fine example of public policy vs. the greater good.

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