ENST 100g Lecture 1: Environmental Studies
25 May 2016
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Craap test: currency, relevancy, authority, accuracy, purpose (way to look at sources) Detecting media bias: first person use, tone, diction, emphasis on one side/position. False balance: one side is not fact-based and is not the majority (still given equal attention) Science: process of discovery characteristics: consistent, observable, natural, predictable, testable, tentative (subject to revision and correction) Process of science (two approaches): discovery: describing nature, hypothesis-driven: explaining nature. Hypothesis: tentative answer to a question: an explanation on trial; it is tested with experiment; uses deductive reasoning (if , then ) Scientific method: ask a question, form a hypothesis, test hypothesis, analyze date, conclusion. Historical evidence (tree rings), modern disturbance (fire recovery) Theory: an explanation for a body of observations, repeatedly tested and widely accepted. Law: a description of patterns/behaviors of the natural world. Biological diversity, food production, human population, resource depletion, atmospheric conditions (co2 concentrations, climate change, surface temperature) Biological diversity: genetic diversity, species diversity, ecosystem diversity.
