1.1 Environment and Basic Concepts of Environmental Science

• Environment originates from the French word environner.
• Environner means to surround or encircle
• In the environment, the physical, non-living and living surrounding of a society has a reciprocal relationship with each other
• Environment is the total of water, air, and land and the interrelationships among them with human beings and other living organisms and materials that exist.
• Functions of the Environment:

  1. Source of resource inputs
  2. Source if amenity services
  3. Provides Life Support
  4. Receptacle for waste
• Source of resource inputs; materials, services or information that are useful to the people
• Source of amenity services; services that utilized for our comfort, convenience and enjoyment
• Provides life support; provides the air that we breathe, the water that we drink, the food that we eat, and the land that we live
• Receptacle for waste; the last receiver of wastes that we produce, may it be with positive or negative effects in the future
• Ecosystem Services;

  1. Provisioning Services
  2. Cultural Services
  3. Regulating Services
  4. Supporting Services
• Provisioning Services; Products directly obtained from the environment
• Cultural Services; Nonmaterial benefits people obtain from ecosystems
• Regulating Services; The benefits obtained from the regulation of ecosystem processes
• Supporting Services; Indirect services, as they are necessary for the production of provisioning, regulating or cultural services
• Provisioning Services;

  1. Food
  2. Raw Materials (eg. wood)
  3. Water
  4. Medicine
• Cultural Services;

  1. Recreation, Mental and Physical Health
  2. Tourism
  3. Aesthetic Appreciation and Inspiration for Culture, Arts and Design
  4. Spiritual Experience and Sense of Place
• Regulating Services;

  1. Local Climate Air Quality
  2. Carbon Sequestration and Storage
  3. Moderation of Extreme Events
  4. Waste Water Treatment
  5. Erosion Prevention and Maintenance of Soil Fertility
  6. Pollination
  7. Biological Control
  8. Regulation of Water Flow
• Supporting Services;

  1. Habitat for Species
  2. Maintenance of Genetic Diversity
• Natural Resources;

  1. Renewable
  2. Non-Renewable
• Renewable Resources; can be replenished in a short period of time
• Renewable Resources;

  1. Solar
  2. Wind
  3. Geothermal
  4. Water
  5. Biomass
• Non-Renewable Resources; cannot be remade or regrown at a scale comparable to its consumption.
• Non-Renewable Resources;

  1. Coal
  2. Petroleum
  3. Natural Gas
  4. Nuclear Energy
• 7 Environmental Principles;

  1. Nature knows best
  2. All forms of life are important
  3. Everything is connected to everything else
  4. Everything changes
  5. Everything must go somewhere
  6. Ours is a finite Earth
  7. Nature is beautiful and that humans are the stewards of God.
• Environmental Science; the use of scientific approaches to understand the complex systems in which we live
• Facts about Environmental Science;

  1. Environmental Science is integrative or multidisciplinary.
  2. Environmental Science is global
  3. Environmental Science is informative; it helps us understand our remarkable planet