1: Environmental Science
Learning Outcomes
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
- Describe what the environment is, and some of its major components.
- Identify the shared characteristics of the natural sciences
- Understand the process of scientific inquiry
- Compare inductive reasoning with deductive reasoning
- Describe the goals of basic science and applied science
- Define environmental science
- Understand why it is important to study environmental science
- Explain the concept of sustainability and its social, political, and cultural challenges
- Evaluate the main points of environmental ethics
- Describe the concept of environmental justice
- Differentiate between developed and developing countries
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- 1.1: The Earth, Humans, & the Environment
- Environmental science is the dynamic, interdisciplinary study of the interaction of living and non-living parts of the environment, with special focus on the impact of humans on the environment. The study of environmental science includes circumstances, objects, or conditions by which an organism or community is surrounded and the complex ways in which they interact.
Thumbnail image - “Environmental Protection” by ejaugsburg is in the Public Domain, CC0