Chapter 1 Environmental Science: Understanding Our Environment

What is pollution?

accumulation of wastes in the environment causing undesired changes in air, water or soil adversely affecting the health, survival, or activities of humans and other organisms.

The observations of non-scientists are the first step towards _________.

addressing an environmental problem.

The _________ allowed human population to grow at and unprecedented rate and change the food humans ate.

agriculture revolution

Earth has been compared to a spaceship traveling through space because it is essentially a _______.

closed system

Resources are said to be ________ when a large fraction of the resource has been used up.

depeted

One of the major goals of environmental science is to understand and solve __________________

environmental problems.

Agriculture is the practice of ________.

growing, breeding, and caring for plants and animals that are used for food.

Biodegradable pollutants are ___________

harmful materials that can be broken down by natural processes

Environmental science is a relatively new field that studies the impact of __________ on the environment.

humans

Environmental scientists are often asked to share their research with ____________.

the world

Human population almost doubled during the ________.

20th century

nonrenewable resource

A natural resource that cannot be replaced or that can be replaced only over thousands or millions of years.

What was the industrial revolution?

A period of rapid growth in the use of machines in manufacturing and production that began in the mid-1700s.

What is Environmental Science?

An interdisciplinary study that uses information from the physical sciences and social sciences to learn how the Earth works, how we interact with the Earth, and how to deal with Environmental problems.

A renewable resource is ___________.

Any natural resource (as wood or solar energy) that can be replenished naturally with the passage of time

Non-biodegradable are ________

Pollutants that cannot be broken down by natural resources

What was the agriculture revolution?

What is the time when human beings first domesticated plants and animals and no longer relied entirely on hunting and gathering?

Environmental science is an ______________ science, which means it involves many fields of study.

interdisciplinary

Any material that is used by humans is called a _____.

natural resource

The organisms that share the world with us can be considered to be a ____________ so it is important to preserve them.

natural resource

Who were the hunter-gatherers?

people who obtained food by collecting plants and by hunting wild animals.

What is chemistry?

study of chemicals and their interactions.

What is ecology?

study of how living things interact with each other and with their nonliving environment

What is social sciences?

study of human populations

What is biology?

study of living organisms

What is physics?

study of matter and energy

What is earth science?

study of the Earth's nonliving system and the planet as a whole.

What does biodiversity refer to?

the number and varieties of species that live in an area.