Transcript CELLS - East Pennsboro Area School District

Environmental
scientists
study how the natural world
works, and how humans and
the environment affect each
other.
The
environment includes all
the living and nonliving
things with which organisms
interact.
Environment
is often used
to mean the nonhuman or
“natural” world. But
humans are a part of
nature.
Biotic
factors: refer to the
living organisms. Example:
fish, bacteria, tree
Abiotic
factors: refers to
the non-living things.
Example: water, soil, air
Environmental
science is the
study of how the natural world
works, how the environment
affects us, and how we affect
our environment.
Understanding
interactions between
humans and the
environment is the first
step toward solving
environmental problems.
Environmental
science is
interdisciplinary which means
it will involve more than one
study of science including
ecology, earth science,
chemistry, biology economics,
political science and others.
Environmental
science is the
pursuit of knowledge about
the world whereas
environmentalism is a social
movement dedicated to
protecting the natural world.
In
the last several hundred
years, both human
population and resource
consumption have increased
dramatically. There are
limits to our resources.
Renewable
resources can be
replaced in a short period of
time.
Nonrenewable
resources
cannot be replaced or it takes
millions of years to replace.
When
they are used up, they
are gone forever. Resources
are considered sustainable if
it can continue at the same
rate into the foreseeable
future.
 Renewable
resources: fruits, grains,
sunlight, wind energy, etc.
 Nonrenewable
resources: crude oil,
natural gas, coal, copper, etc.
 Sustainable
resources: timber, water,
soil, agricultural crops
Recently
our population has
grown to about 7 billion people.
We add about 78 million people
to Earth every year, that’s more
than 200,000 people a day.
Population growth leads to many
environmental problems. It’s
not just the number of people
but the amount of resources we
consume.
Ecological
footprint expresses
the environmental effects of
an individual or population in
terms of the total amount of
land and water required:
To
provide the raw materials
the individual/population
consumes
To
dispose of or recycle the
waste the
individual/population produces
The
ecological footprint is
usually applied to humans
but every organism, natural
or synthetic object has a
footprint.