Environmental science :
Environmental science, interdisciplinary academic field that draws on ecology, geology, meteorology, biology, chemistry, engineering, and physics to study environmental problems and human impacts on the environment. Environmental science is a quantitative discipline with both applied and theoretical aspects, and has been influential in informing the policies of governments around the world. Environmental science is considered separate from environmental studies, which emphasizes the human relationship with the environment and the social and political dimensions thereof. For example, whereas a researcher in environmental studies might focus on the economic and political dimensions of international climate-change protocols, an environmental scientist would seek to understand climate change by quantifying its effects with models and evaluating means of mitigation.
Though the study of the environment is as old as any human endeavor, the modern field of environmental science developed from the growing public awareness and concern about environmental problems in the 1960s and ’70s. The publication of books such as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) and Paul R. Ehrlich’s The Population Bomb (1968), together with nuclear proliferation and growing concerns over the anthropogenic release of toxins and chemicals, raised awareness about the need to study the effects of human actions on the environment. The burgeoning field of environmental science took on the task of quantifying the effects of disasters such as the 1979 Three Mile Island accident or the impact of atmospheric sulfur dioxide and other emissions on acid rain. Environmental scientists analyze a wide variety of environmental problems and potential solutions, including alternative energy systems, pollution control, and natural resource management, and may be employed by government, industry, universities, or nonprofit organizations.
Importance of Environmental Science :
Environment belongs to all living beings and thus is important for all. Each one is affected by environmental issues like global warming, depletion of ozone layer, dwindling forest, energy resources, loss of global biodiversity etc.
Environment study deals with the analysis of the processes in water, air, land, soil and organisms which lead to pollute or degrade the environment. It helps us to establish a standard for a safe, clean and healthy natural ecosystem.
It also deals with important issues like safe and clean drinking water, hygienic living conditions and clean and fresh air, fertility of land, healthy food and development.
Sustainable environmental law, environmental protection, management and environmental engineering are emerging as dimensions in environment protection and management.
Components of Environmental Science
1. Ecology
Ecology is the study of organisms and the environment interacting with one another. Ecologists, who make up a part of environmental scientists, try to find relations between the status of the environment and the population of a particular species within that environment, and if there are any correlations to be drawn between the two. For example, ecologists might take the populations of a particular type of bird with the status of the part of the Amazon Rainforest that the population is living in. The ecologists will study and may or may not come to the conclusion that the bird population is increasing or decreasing as a result of air pollution in the rainforest. They may also take multiple species of birds and see if they can find any relation to one another, allowing the scientists to come to a conclusion if the habitat is suitable or not for that species to live in.
2. Geoscience
Geoscience concerns the study of geology, soil science, volcanoes, and the Earth’s crust as they relate to the environment. As an example, scientists may study the erosion of the Earth’s surface in a particular area. Soil scientists, physicists, biologists, and geomorphologists would all take part in the study. Geomorphologists would study the movement of solid particles (sediments), biologists would study the impacts of the study to the plants and animals of the immediate environment, physicists would study the light transmission changes in the water causing the erosion, and the soil scientists would make the final calculations on the flow of the water when it infiltrates the soil to full capacity causing the erosion in the first place.
3. Atmospheric Science
Atmospheric science is the study of the Earth’s atmosphere. It analyzes the relation of the Earth’s atmosphere to the atmospheres of other systems. This encompasses a wide variety of scientific studies relating to space, astrology, and the Earth’s atmosphere: meteorology, pollution, gas emissions, and airborne contaminants. An example of atmospheric science is where physicists study the atmospheric circulation of a part of the atmosphere, chemists would study the chemicals existent in this part and their relationships with the environment, meteorologists study the dynamics of the atmosphere, and biologists study how the plants and animals have affected and their relationship with the environment.
4. Environmental Chemistry
Environmental Chemistry is the study of the changes chemicals make in the environment, such as contamination of the soil, pollution of the water, degradation of chemicals, and the transport of chemicals upon the plants and animals of the immediate environment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.