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Environmental Science

Author: Sophia

what's covered
In this lesson, we are going to cover the topic of environmental science. We will discuss the definition of environmental science and explore how interdisciplinary it is. We will also discuss the importance of technology to the discipline of environmental science. Specifically, this lesson will cover the following:

Table of Contents

1. What is Environmental Science?

Environmental science is the study of the relationship between humans and the rest of the natural world. When we say, “the rest of the natural world”, we mean both biotic and abiotic environments.

  • Biotic, or living, environments include microorganisms, plants, fungi, algae, and animals.
  • Abiotic, or nonliving, environments include the temperature, rainfall, air, water, rocks, soil, and human-built elements.

EXAMPLE

The image of the forest swamp below has both biotic and abiotic elements. Fish that may be swimming in the water or algae growing, trees, and grass are all biotic factors. Water, rocks in the water, sunlight, and humidity are all abiotic elements.

term to know
Environmental Science
The study of the relationship between humans and the rest of the natural world.


2. Interdisciplinary

Environmental science is interdisciplinary in nature. There are hundreds of different fields that intersect with it, such as natural sciences and social sciences.

Natural Sciences Social Sciences
Ecology
Oceanography
Geology
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
Atmospheric Sciences
History
Sociology
Anthropology
Archaeology
Psychology
Political Science
Economics

These are just a few examples of natural and social sciences. Environmental science intersects with many other types.

IN CONTEXT

An example of an environmental science topic that involves many other disciplines is human population growth.
  • It exacerbates global climate change, which is an environmental science and ecology issue.
  • It is determined by economics because it can be expensive to have many children.
  • It can also be determined by sociology and culture because in certain countries, having many children is encouraged for religious reasons or for support in retirement.
  • It is a demographic issue because the rate of growth in certain historical time periods determines the size of each age cohort.


3. Technology

Technology plays an important role in environmental science in the world today. Almost every subject within environmental science is dependent on various technologies and instruments for measurement and other uses.

Examples of such technologies include the following:

  • Satellites that can measure global temperatures
  • GPS mapping of terrain
  • Devices for measuring water quality
  • Computer models which can project future scenarios of climate change
summary
In this lesson, we talked about environmental science, how interdisciplinary it is, and how important technology is to environmental science today. The key term is “environmental science”, the study of the relationship between humans and the rest of the natural world.

Source: THIS TUTORIAL WAS AUTHORED BY JENSEN MORGAN FOR SOPHIA LEARNING. PLEASE SEE OUR TERMS OF USE.

Attributions
  • Swamp Forest | Author: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade | License: Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
Terms to Know
Environmental Science

The study of the relationship between humans and the rest of the natural world.