ENV100Y5 Midterm: Chapters 1-3

• School: UTM
• Department: Environment
• Course: ENV100Y5
• Professor: Barbara Murck

Document Summary

Environment: how can we start to define it: biotic (living things) Animals, plants, forests, soils, etc: abiotic (nonliving things) Continents, rocks, oceans, clouds, icecaps, etc: our built environment. Roads, buildings, dams, factories, etc: social relationships and institutions. Environment science is not the same as environmentalism. Environmental science: pursuit of knowledge about natural world. How natural resources and processes support life (human and other) How human activities affect the environment: scientists try to remain objective. Environmentalism: a social movement dedicated to protecting the natural world. Environment encompasses biotic, abiotic, built, and social/cultural environments, and the interactions that involve them. Science informs our attempts to solve and prevent environmental problems. Environmental science helps us understand how the environment works and our relationship with the environment. Environmental science is necessarily and interdisciplinary undertaking. We need to think carefully about how we define environment . Legal issues- the environment is a legal entity. Environmental policies/practices need to be defined by various organizations.