Ch. 1 - Testing Your Comprehension
Chapter 1
1. The first was our transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to an agricultural way of life, known as the agricultural revolution. As people began to grow crops, raise domestic animals, they found it easier to meet their nutritional needs. As a result, they began to live longer and to produce more children. The second was known as the industrial revolution which entailed a shift from rural life, animal-powered agriculture, and handcrafted goods to an urban society provisioned by the mass production of factory made goods and powered by fossil fuels. As our world fills up with people, population growth has begun to threaten our well-being, putting unprecedented stress on natural systems and the availability of resources.
2. The “tragedy of the commons” refers to when publicly accessible resources are open to unregulated exploitations; they inevitably become overused and, as a result, are damaged or depleted. If an unregulated industry is the source of water pollution where fresh water is the commons than the pollution is viewed as overgrazing and depleting the fresh water.
3. Environmental science is the study of how the natural world works, how our environment affects us, and how we affect our environment. It includes the disciplines of ecology, earth sciences, economics, and political science.
4. Science is described as a systematic process for learning about the world and testing our understanding of it, it is also used to refer to the accumulated body of knowledge that arises from this dynamic process of questioning, observing, testing, and discovery. Knowledge gained from science can be applied to address societal needs-for instance, to develop technology or to inform policy and management decisions.
5. The scientific method is a technique for testing ideas with observations. Make observations, ask questions, develop a hypothesis, make predictions, and test the predictions. Before being published, a researcher’s results go through a
1. The first was our transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to an agricultural way of life, known as the agricultural revolution. As people began to grow crops, raise domestic animals, they found it easier to meet their nutritional needs. As a result, they began to live longer and to produce more children. The second was known as the industrial revolution which entailed a shift from rural life, animal-powered agriculture, and handcrafted goods to an urban society provisioned by the mass production of factory made goods and powered by fossil fuels. As our world fills up with people, population growth has begun to threaten our well-being, putting unprecedented stress on natural systems and the availability of resources.
2. The “tragedy of the commons” refers to when publicly accessible resources are open to unregulated exploitations; they inevitably become overused and, as a result, are damaged or depleted. If an unregulated industry is the source of water pollution where fresh water is the commons than the pollution is viewed as overgrazing and depleting the fresh water.
3. Environmental science is the study of how the natural world works, how our environment affects us, and how we affect our environment. It includes the disciplines of ecology, earth sciences, economics, and political science.
4. Science is described as a systematic process for learning about the world and testing our understanding of it, it is also used to refer to the accumulated body of knowledge that arises from this dynamic process of questioning, observing, testing, and discovery. Knowledge gained from science can be applied to address societal needs-for instance, to develop technology or to inform policy and management decisions.
5. The scientific method is a technique for testing ideas with observations. Make observations, ask questions, develop a hypothesis, make predictions, and test the predictions. Before being published, a researcher’s results go through a