Chapter 1: Environmental Science and Sustainability: What's the Big Idea? ENV 11 QUIZLET

Pseudoscience

A collection of beliefs or practices mistakenly regarded as being based on the scientific method, or claims that are not the result of scientific inquiry or are derived by a process that is not open to scientific scrutiny. The process and results used to arrive at the finding must be methodically documented, shared, and demonstrated in such a way that they can be replicated by others. This makes a scientific inquiry a collaborative and continual process of repeatedly testing findings and conclusions. In other words, science must be reproducible and open to revision. For example, the Old Farmer's Almanac, which has not been tested or revised, and yet is used to predict coming year's weather and planting.

Scientific Method

A formal process of inquiry designed to test problems and ideas. First step: Observe a problem (observation) Second step: Formulate a hypothesis, which is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon or answer to a scientific question. (Formulation of a hypothesis) Third step: Conduct an experiment and gather data. (Experimentation) Fourth step: Evaluate your data. (Evaluation) Fifth step: Refine, alter, expand, or reject your hypothesis. (Explanation of results) Sixth step: Repetition of the process because the scientific method is an ongoing process. (Repetition)

Climate Change

A long-term change in the earth's climate, especially a change due to an increase in the average atmospheric temperature and precipitation.

Footprint analysis

A method to understand the magnitude of the impact of choices and actions individuals make, both over time and collectively. For example, ecological footprint analysis translates individual actions such as energy use, food consumption, and material use into an estimate of the total natural resources needed to support these actions, expressed in terms of land area. You could learn more about your own ecological footprint by answering a series of questions about things like your transportation use, food consumption, and other material uses.

Peer Review

A process for refining research design and ensuring that conclusions can indeed be drawn from the evidence by subjecting work to assessment by experts in the field of study in question. ________ review occurs when the authors of a scientific study write up their question, methods, findings, and conclusions in an article and submit it to an academic journal in their field. The journal editor sends the article out for review by several experts in the field. Publication in a __________ journal does not mean the findings are correct, let alone conclusive. But it does provide a measure of confidence that the procedures followed and conclusions drawn meet the standards of science.

Model

A simplified concept or representations of a complex process that is designed to help understand interactions among different factors. These are designed to assemble data and observations to try to simulate what actually happens in the world so that we can better understand the interactions among many different factors. Consider the _______ that provide us with the weather report each day. These are run on the most powerful computers in the world and use millions of lines of code to program the numerical representations of Earth processes on which they are based.

Controlled experiment

A test in which researchers intentionally manipulate some specific aspect of a system to see how this change affects the outcome. The parts or participants that are subjected to this change are the test group; and those that are not are the control group. These experiments are just one way to use observations to test ideas. We cannot subject many phenomena in the natural world to experiments like this because it is either difficult, impossible, or inappropriate to manipulate variables. Instead, they tested their hypothesis—that a meteorite's collision with Earth started this process—by predicting the evidence we would likely find on Earth today if their hypothesis was correct. And most people would agree that it is ethically wrong to design an experiment in which we intentionally harm research subjects in order to observe various health effects, although unfortunately studies like this have been carried out in the past. So public health researchers often rely on natural experiments or observational studies, opportunities that arises for observation and testing because of unplanned event or an occurrence.

Ecosystems

A word that describes communities of life (living) and the physical environments (non-living) with which they interact. For example, a forest that may be a source of lumber used to build a house is also an ecosystem, which includes populations of plants, animals, microbes as well as the soil, water, and local or regional climate.

Bias

An unreasonable weighting, inclination, or prejudice of one's thinking that leads to misunderstandings. For example: Thinking that all people with glasses are smart. Or people who write with their left hand are more creative than those who use their right hand. Or the gambler's fallacy.

Fraud

An attempt to deceive people by communicating findings that are simply false. For example, a researcher alternating the results of an experiment to satisfy his own personal agenda or expectations.

Science

An organized way of gathering and analyzing evidence about the natural world, or one way of asking and answering questions and testing ideas about the natural world by using evidence gathered from the natural world.

System

Components that interact(keyword: interact!!!) to produce patterns of behavior over a period of time. "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts" because the interactions among the components of a system produce results that could not achieve on its own.

Sustainable development

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Many of these sustainable plans for cities, companies, and even college campuses have adapted this broad idea.

Ecosystem services

Ecologists use this term to describe a concept that assigns the value of the human benefits derived from naturally functioning ecosystems. The term also captures the many ways that natural systems provide the condition on which our well-being depends. We rely on the environment to do things such as assimilate our waste, cycle nutrients, and provide a climate and conditions favorable for our survival.

Misinformation

False or incorrect information that may be spread intentionally or unintentionally. For example: "Lightning never strikes the same place twice."

3Es (ENVIRONMENT, ECONOMY, EQUITY)

Framework proposed by the United Nations (UN). It did not only consider environmental effects caused by human actions --but also the Environmental objectives --but also economic and social effects related to human development. •Environment: Combating climate change and halting the loss of biodiversity. •Economy: Providing decent work and promoting economic growth •Equity: Gender equity, eliminating poverty and hunger, and reducing inequality.

Incentives

Incentives are positive or negative signals that pull us toward or push us away from certain choices or behaviors. For example, expensive parking meters might act as a negative signal discouraging us from driving, and a free and easy-to-use bike-sharing program might function as a positive signal encouraging us to bike. When we become aware of incentives, we factor them into the trade-offs we consider when making decisions. And institutions (such as universities or governments) often make use of incentives as they design policies to shape behavior.

Sustainability

It means managing natural resources in ways that do not diminish or degrade Earth's ability to provide them in the future. Using fewer polluting forms of energy (such as solar power) and harvesting fish at levels that allow for stable populations in the future are two examples of sustainable thinking. There are many historical examples of human practices developed to address our long-term impact. Consider the Native peoples of the Pacific Northwest who relied on Pacific salmon as their primary source of protein. Although the various tribes had technologies such as large nets and traps capable of overharvesting salmon swimming up their native rivers and streams to reproduce, the tribes also had rituals and rules in place to allow a substantial share of the salmon to swim upstream unhindered.

Trade-offs

Pros and cons, benefits and costs of alternative courses of action. For some major decisions (such as choosing a college), we might even formalize the consideration of trade-offs by making a two-column list of the pros and cons of each alternative. But we also quickly sort among our needs and desires as we make smaller choices, such as deciding whether to bike or drive, as mentioned above. In this case, you might have to sort among an ethical desire to do what you consider is "good" for the environment, practical desires for the cheapest and quickest option, and even social values such as the relationships with your friends.

Values

Reflections of our understanding of how we want things to be—what we desire, aim for, or demand. •They are what we use to assign relative worth, merit, or importance to different things. •Acting on values is human, and all of us use values to make decisions. Scientific inquiry can help you compare the relative environmental effects of different clothes or shoes. But your decision of what clothes to buy is based on far more than this scientific understanding of relative effects. Not only do we make ethical judgments about what is more or less good or bad but we also asses our alternatives according to other personal needs and desires. In the case of clothing, we will think about the cost, style, and comfort—not only about the environmental effects.

Ecological resilience

The measure of an ecosystem's ability to absorb changes and disturbances and still function in a productive manner, or the measure of how well an environmental entity can resist degradation and recover after it is stress or adversely affected.

Anthropocene

The modern geological era during which humans have dramatically affected the environment. Now that there are 7.5 billion people on earth, the magnitude of our impact is considerably greater than other species. When scientists identify the time period in which we are living in Anthropocene, they are highlighting the fact that the environmental effect stemming from the way humans make a living may be most important factor now affecting on Earth.

Environment

The multitude of living and non-living things on Earth that sustain life, including our own.

Communication strategies

Verbal or nonverbal ways of connecting with others to influence them. For example, communication strategies that strive to make you aware of certain costs and benefits, such as a campus campaign that publicizes the environmental cost of cars driven on campus.