Chapter 1 * Environment- * Circumstances or conditions that surround an organism or group of organisms * Complex of social or cultural conditions that affect an individual or community * Environmental Science is the systematic study of our environment and our proper place in it * Ethics is a branch of philosophy concerned with what actions are right and wrong. * Environmental ethics deals with our moral obligations to the world around us. * Worldviews - sets of basic beliefs, images and understandings that shape how we see the world around us. Worldviews also determine what questions are valid to ask. * Moral extensionism - extending moral values to others * Should moral extensionism include granting some degree of moral value to animals, plants and the environment? * Value - a measure of the worth of something * Stewardship - taking care of the resources we are given. * The field of environmental justice combines civil rights with environmental protection to demand a safe and healthy environment for everyone. * Environmental Racism is an inequitable distribution of environmental hazards based on race. * Toxic colonialism is the practice of targeting poor communities or communities of color in developing nations as waste disposal areas.
Chapter 2 * Scientists strive for: * accuracy - correctness of measurements * reproducibility - repeatability of results
Scientific Method * Observation-A question is formed from an observation. * Hypothesis-A statement predicting a result * Test/Experiment-Must be repeatable, randomized, includes controls, recognizes and tries to eliminate compounding variables. * Results-Summary of information gained and explanation of results. May compare other studies findings. * Conclusion-Is the hypothesis correct, if so it becomes a theory. * Deductive reasoning – Deduce conclusions from generals laws. Logical reasoning, from general to specific. * Inductive reasoning - reasoning from many observations to produce a general rule. * Natural experiment - involves observation of events that have already happened * Manipulative experiment - conditions are deliberately altered for one variable and all other variables are held constant (such as the B4warmed experiment at the beginning of the chapter) * Controlled study - comparing a treatment group to a control group which has not received the treatment * Blind experiment - researcher doesn’t know which group has been treated until after the data have been analyzed * Double-blind experiment - neither the subject nor the researcher knows who is in the treatment group
State Variables store resources such as matter or energy or have the pathways through which these resources move from one state variable to another * A System can be closed or open. * Closed - self contained, exchanges no matter or energy with the outside * Open – exchanges matter and energy from surroundings * Throughput –the energy and matter that flow into, through and out of a system. * Positive feedback loop – self perpetuating, as an increase in a state variable leads to further increases in it * Negative feedback loop – suppresses change within a system, helps to maintain stability in systems * Emergent properties are characteristics of a whole, functioning system that are quantitatively or qualitatively greater than the sum of the system’s parts * Environmental science is the use of the scientific method to study processes and systems in the environment * Environmentalism involves working to influence attitudes and policies that affect our environment

Chapter 3 * Ecology is the scientific study of the relationship between organisms and their environment. * Matter - everything that has mass and takes up space * Solid - Liquid - Gas – Plasma = 4 states of matter * The idea that matter cannot be destroyed but is simply transformed from one form to another is the principle of Conservation of Matter. * Elements - substances that cannot be broken down into simpler forms by ordinary chemical reactions * Atoms - smallest particles exhibiting characteristics of the element * Atomic Number- Number of protons * Isotope - forms of an element differing in atomic mass due to the fact that the isotopes have different numbers of neutrons * Acids - substances that release hydrogen ions in water * Bases - substances that readily bond with hydrogen ions * Ions - atoms that have a positive or negative charge because they have more/less electrons than protons. * Anions have a negative charge. * Cations have a positive charge. * Organic Compounds - Material making up biomolecules, which in turn make up living things. All organic compounds contain carbon. * Four major categories of organic compounds: * Lipids * Carbohydrates * Proteins * Nucleic Acids * Cells - minute compartments in a living organism which carry out processes of life * Enzymes - Molecular catalysts regulating chemical reactions. Enzymes are usually proteins. * Metabolism - multitude of enzymatic reactions performed by an organism * Energy - ability to do work * Kinetic - energy in moving objects * Potential - stored energy * Chemical - stored in food or fossil fuels * First Law of Thermodynamics - Energy is neither created nor destroyed. * Second Law of Thermodynamics - With each successive energy transfer, less usable energy is available to perform work. * Entropy (disorder) increases. * Solar energy is essential for two reasons: * Warmth - Most organisms can exist only in a relatively narrow temperature range. * Photosynthesis in plants * Ecology – the scientific study of relationships between organisms and their environment * Species - all organisms of the same kind that are genetically similar enough to breed in nature and produce live, fertile offspring * Population - all members of a species living in a given area at the same time * Biological Community - all of the populations of organisms living and interacting in a particular area * Ecosystem - biological community and its physical environment * Photosynthesis is at the base of all ecosystems so photosynthesizers (usually plants) are called the producers. * Productivity - the amount of biomass produced in a given area in a given period of time. Photosynthesis is called primary productivity because it is basic to all other growth in an ecosystem. * Secondary productivity - manufacture of biomass by organisms that eat plants * Food Chain - linked feeding series * Food Web – interconnected food chains as most consumers have multiple food sources. * Trophic level - An organism’s feeding status in a food web. Plants are at the producer level while animals are consumers. * The parts of the cycle that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (live vegetation) are called carbon sinks. *