chapter one science and sustainability an introduction to the environmental science first let's look at the section titled our Island Earth so the environment consists of everything living and non-living around us environmental science studies these interactions an important topic to address is the differentiation between renewable and non-renewable resources if you look down here at the graphic an example of a renewable energy source is something things such as solar energy wind energy or geothermal energy compared to a non-renewable energy source such as coal oil and natural gas another important topic is an ecosystem service an ecosystem service is essentially a service that the natural world provides so for example a b pollinating a plant why this is a problem is that as we continue to pollute and hurt the natural world these systems stop working population growth and resource consumption currently the population of the world is somewhere near the 6.9 billion Mark in environmental science there are two important times uh in population Trends to really look at first the Agricultural Revolution so essentially the a Agricultural Revolution was when people ceased to be nomadic and instead settled down in one place and started farming another important area to look at is the Industrial Revolution which is when people left those uh agricultural centers and moved to Urban centers where they started manufacturing and burning fossil fuels population is the single greatest factor in environmental issues resource consumption a main topic in environmental science is something known as tragedy of the commons tragedy of the commons basically means that a common source that no one really owns is being depleted and since nobody owns it no one really takes care of it a prime example of this comes from Easter Island which is exemplified in the book on Easter Island it was a thriving population but then at one point they decided to cut down all their trees right after they cut down all the trees the population dipped down and the entire civilization collapsed another important topic is an ecological footprint this basically refers to an environmental impact in terms of the total area of Earth's surface that a person or group of people use with all factors both direct and indirect included if you'd refer to the graphic down here currently we are using the Earth's resources at a deficit of 30% faster than they are being replenished the nature of environmental science essentially environmental science studies the Earth's natural systems people and the interactions between the two this also involves solving environmental issues how someone values an environmental issue can really depend on socioeconomic Trends as discussed in your book with the difference between DDT in Africa and DDT in the United States an important differentiation to make is between environmentalism and environmental science environmentalism is a social issue bent strictly on defending the natural world while environmental science is essentially a study of the interactions between humans the environment and solutions to solve problems between the two the scientific method so if you if you refer to page 11 there are basically three main aspects of the scientific method that are widely accepted first off the universe functions in accordance with the fixed natural laws that do not change from time to time or from place to place next all Environ all events arise from some cause or causes and in return cause other events and third we can use our senses and reasoning abilities to detect and describe natural processes that underly the cause and effect relationships we observe in nature also the model of uh the scientific method is also widely accepted it basically reads observation leads to questions to a hypothesis to a prediction to a test to results and then based on those results you could look uh and reinterpret your prediction and you can look back and reinterpret your hypothesis beyond the scientific method essentially the scientific method continues to include a few more main areas in the peer review process scientists give their work to another group of scientists to evaluate the quality they also present the work at conferences in order to gain feedback eventually if validated the work could mold into a theory which is a widely accepted very well supported explanation of an issue from here said work could be applied to make advancements that we could use in our modern society sustainability and the future sustainability is basically the concept that we should leave the same world for our future Generations but in order to do this we cannot fully deplete the natural world together population growth and affluence are the main source of modern resource depletion and this happens evenly around the globe challenges currently nearly one half of the world's land surface has been converted to agriculture plus urban sprawl takes up another large portion of this global climate change in air pollution global climate change is another huge issue in environmental science and its effects are leading to a decrease in biodiversity and when biodiversity is decreasing this shows an uneven unstable environment energy choices and solutions currently we rely heavily on non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels which not only hurt the environment but are only available in finite amounts which are rapidly decreasing however there are also Alternatives such as wind power solar power power and geothermal energy also there are a few positive changes that are recently uh occurring including new environmental legislation Soil Conservation measures Recycling and efforts to reduce emissions sustainable development a popular term in environmental science is sustainable development although it has many meanings it is often used to describe developments that prioritize ecological preservation also along the same lines a somewhat new term known as the triple bottom line refers to businesses not only prioritizing economic gain but also keeping track of environmental effects and consequences so in conclusion environmental science strives to analyze the relationship between humans and the natural world on top of this they aim environmental scientists aim to create valuable options for the future