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Module 1.3

The document summarizes key concepts in environmental science, including the biosphere, factors contributing to environmental problems, and current global environmental conditions. It discusses how environmental scientists study problems, test hypotheses through experimentation, and use information technology to analyze data on topics like population and hazards. The document also outlines some pressing global issues, such as over half the world's population living in areas with unsafe air, a third of fish stocks being overexploited, and climate change increasing average temperatures by 2-6 degrees Celsius by 2100.

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mashiho
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66 views

Module 1.3

The document summarizes key concepts in environmental science, including the biosphere, factors contributing to environmental problems, and current global environmental conditions. It discusses how environmental scientists study problems, test hypotheses through experimentation, and use information technology to analyze data on topics like population and hazards. The document also outlines some pressing global issues, such as over half the world's population living in areas with unsafe air, a third of fish stocks being overexploited, and climate change increasing average temperatures by 2-6 degrees Celsius by 2100.

Uploaded by

mashiho
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Biosphere – the highest level of ecological organization

- We can see the atmosphere, gas potion of the planet, hydrosphere,


lithosphere.
Environmental Science is an applied science – at UE this is
part of the curriculum but in other countries this is a formal
education (focus on protection and conservation of the
planet)
- All of them start at a problem, anything that triggers
them to think about the environment and they do
observation using the naked eye and some highly
sensitive and precise instruments/devices.
- They need to test the hypothesis by experimentation,
this is done in the lab for long days/years.
- The result of the experiment is a theory that needs to
be perfected.
 In botany, they do interbreed, crossbreeding, modify the genes
 In Economics, they tried to study the grassland and relate it to other variables
like productivity and availability
Environmental Science is related to Information Technology
- This environmental scientist, engineers, biologist always remind us that
environmental problems are global in nature and they must be studied.
- We also need to understand the impacts of the development of environment.
- The data of the different sector on environmental science is compiled in
information technology through data base software known as the
environmental information.
- They stored the data so that when we need these data we can use statistics,
mathematics to analyze and come up with decisions. Ex. Human population:
census, birth certificate, death certificate.
Project Noah
- An acronym for Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards
- These hazards are natural and manmade
- Studying different environmental activities (flood, landslides, earthquakes) so
that we know what to do.
Current Global Conditions
- We can attribute this to anthropogenic activities (activities of men that impact
society)
According to environmental scientists
- Cause of environmental problems
 Excluding environmental costs from market prices – example: you wanted to
make a furniture, you cut many trees (the cost for the cutting of trees are
not included in the pricing)
 Poverty – poor people use what is available example: the kaingin system
 Unsustainable system use – we cut trees, we create pollution, more fossil
fuels.
 Population growth – the number of children can be plan (can you afford the
cost of bearing children and the cost of sending them to school)
The human population is growing exponentially at a rapid rate
- This means double demand of everything (domino effect)
Global metrics for the Environment
2016 World Environmental Performance (Yale 2016 report)
- More deaths globally occur due to poor air quality than water. (If there is air
pollution there are respiratory diseases which affects everyone)
- More than 3.5 billion people – half of the world’s population – five in nations
with unsafe air quality
- Number of people lacking access to clean water has been nearly cut in half from
960 million in 2000 to 500 million today, around 8% of the world’s population
- 2.4 billion people lack access to sanitation
- 34% of the global fish stocks are over-exploited of collapsed
- 15.4% of the terrestrial habitats and 8.4% of marine habitats in 2014 were
protected.
- 2.52 million km2 for tree cover was lost in 2014 an area roughly twice the size
of Peru
- 23% of the countries have no wastewater treatment
- Around 1/3 of countries scored on climate and energy are reducing their carbon
intensity.
Current Global Conditions
- Climate Change – over the past 200 years, atmospheric CO 2 concentrations
have increased about 35%
- By 2100, mean global temperatures will probably increase 2 to 6 Celsius
compared to 1900 temperatures
- Soils – about two-thirds of all agricultural lands show signs of degradation
- Water and Sanitation – at least 1.1 billion people lack an adequate supply of
safe drinking water, and more than twice of that don’t have modern sanitation.
- Energy – fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) presently provide around 80
percent of the energy used in industrialized countries
- Biodiversity Loss – over the past century, more than 800 species have
disappeared and at least 10,000 species are now considered threatened (UNEP).

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