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Terminology: Environmental Science Is An

Environmental science is an interdisciplinary field that studies the environment and seeks solutions to environmental problems. It incorporates aspects of many sciences like biology, physics, chemistry, and earth sciences. Key events in the 1960s and 1970s like Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring and high-profile oil spills increased public awareness of environmental issues and helped establish environmental science as an active field of study. Environmental science takes a systems approach to analyze complex environmental issues and brings together different disciplines to understand things like pollution, natural resource use, and climate change.

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89 views3 pages

Terminology: Environmental Science Is An

Environmental science is an interdisciplinary field that studies the environment and seeks solutions to environmental problems. It incorporates aspects of many sciences like biology, physics, chemistry, and earth sciences. Key events in the 1960s and 1970s like Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring and high-profile oil spills increased public awareness of environmental issues and helped establish environmental science as an active field of study. Environmental science takes a systems approach to analyze complex environmental issues and brings together different disciplines to understand things like pollution, natural resource use, and climate change.

Uploaded by

Ariel Gonzales
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physical, biological

and information sciences (including ecology, biology, physics, chemistry, plant
science, zoology, mineralogy, oceanography, limnology, soil science, geology and physical
geography, and atmospheric science) to the study of the environment, and the solution of
environmental problems. Environmental science emerged from the fields of natural
history and medicine during the Enlightenment.[1] Today it provides an integrated, quantitative,
and interdisciplinary approach to the study of environmental systems.[2]
Environmental studies incorporates more of the social sciences for understanding human
relationships, perceptions and policies towards the environment. Environmental engineering focuses
on design and technology for improving environmental quality in every aspect.
Environmental scientists study subjects like the understanding of earth processes,
evaluating alternative energy systems, pollution control and mitigation, natural resource
management, and the effects of global climate change. Environmental issues almost always include
an interaction of physical, chemical, and biological processes. Environmental scientists bring a
systems approach to the analysis of environmental problems. Key elements of an effective
environmental scientist include the ability to relate space, and time relationships as well as
quantitative analysis.
Environmental science came alive as a substantive, active field of scientific investigation in the
1960s and 1970s driven by (a) the need for a multi-disciplinary approach to analyze complex
environmental problems, (b) the arrival of substantive environmental laws requiring specific
environmental protocols of investigation and (c) the growing public awareness of a need for action in
addressing environmental problems. Events that spurred this development included the publication
of Rachel Carson's landmark environmental book Silent Spring[3] along with major environmental
issues becoming very public, such as the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, and the Cuyahoga River of
Cleveland, Ohio, "catching fire" (also in 1969), and helped increase the visibility of environmental
issues and create this new field of study.

Contents

 1Terminology
 2Components
o 2.1Atmospheric sciences
o 2.2Ecology
o 2.3Environmental chemistry
o 2.4Geosciences
 3Regulations driving the studies
 4See also
 5References
 6External links

Terminology[edit]
See also: Glossary of environmental science
In common usage, "environmental science" and "ecology" are often used interchangeably, but
technically, ecology refers only to the study of organisms and their interactions with each other as
well as how they interrelate with environment. Ecology could be considered a subset of
environmental science, which also could involve purely chemical or public health issues (for
example) ecologists would be unlikely to study. In practice, there is considerable overlap between
the work of ecologists and other environmental scientists.
The National Center for Education Statistics in the United States defines an academic program in
environmental science as follows:
A program that focuses on the application of biological, chemical, and physical principles to the
study of the physical environment and the solution of environmental problems, including subjects
such as abating or controlling environmental pollution and degradation; the interaction between
human society and the natural environment; and natural resources management. Includes
instruction in biology, chemistry, physics, geography, climatology, statistics, and mathematical
modeling.[4]

Components[edit]

Blue Marble composite images generated by NASA in 2001 (left) and 2002 (right)

The Earth's atmosphere

Atmospheric sciences[edit]
Main article: Atmospheric sciences
Atmospheric sciences focus on the Earth's atmosphere, with an emphasis upon its interrelation to
other systems. Atmospheric sciences can include studies of meteorology, greenhouse
gas phenomena, atmospheric dispersion modeling of airborne contaminants,[5][6] sound propagation
phenomena related to noise pollution, and even light pollution.
Taking the example of the global warming phenomena, physicists create computer models of
atmospheric circulation and infra-red radiation transmission, chemists examine the inventory of
atmospheric chemicals and their reactions, biologists analyze the plant and animal contributions
to carbon dioxide fluxes, and specialists such as meteorologists and oceanographers add additional
breadth in understanding the atmospheric dynamics.

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