ENVS 1126 : HNRS Test 1 Study Guide
Document Summary
Environmental science : branch of science that seeks to understand how the environment supports [human life] and what [human life] is doing to the environment, seeks to understand issues and find solutions. Is multidisciplinary and draws from all of the sciences. Planetary status: being rapidly overpopulated by us (biped species of moderate intelligence, landscape alterations due to technology, global climate change, loss of biodiversity. Human pop growth: grows 77 million people per. Increasing population and consumption per person is straining vital resources. Indicators of decline in ecosystems: depleted fresh water supplies, agriculture soil degraded, oceans overfished, forests cut faster than they can grow. Global atmospheric changes: over last 100 years, temp has increased by . 6+-. 2 degrees celcious. Loss of biodiversity: total diversity of things (plants animals and microbes) that inhabit the plant, we have alters 47% of earths land surface over last 150 years, loosing 4000 species per year. Sustainable solutions = socially ok + economically ok +ecologically ok.
