What Is Environmental Science?
Environmental science is the study of the earth’s geological processes, interactions and consequences. This is an essential branch of earth sciences as it seeks to understand how the earth works and what can be done to preserve its delicate balance of eco-friendly elements. It is a branch of geography, physics, chemistry and biology that ultimately tries to answer the question ‘how does the environment work’. There is vast scope for research and innovation in this subject area and there are many interdisciplinary collaborations and studies ongoing.
The natural environment includes all living and nonliving things occurring on earth, therefore in this example non-living. The word is most frequently used to describe the earth or any specific regions of the earth. This definition has been stretched to include the atmosphere, oceans, landforms, ice sheets, and all the processes taking place in the earth’s surface and within the earth’s atmosphere. The environment includes a wide variety of natural systems. It also includes processes that occur at the regional or personal scales. Some of these include biogeochemical cycles, climate change and climate variability, the food web, ecosystems, and fossil fuels.
Today most of the earth is being threatened with degradation and deterioration due to non-renewable resources. This can have serious implications for the sustainable development of society and the entire human economy. The degradation of the environment includes the reduction in the productivity of the living world, the conversion of non-renewable resources into non-renewable resources, and the intrusion of non-native species into the territories of indigenous peoples. These processes are affecting the global economy by reducing the availability of the living resources on which humans depend for economic growth and development.
The development of the environment requires scientific knowledge. A major part of the field of environmental science involves the measurement, interpretation and prediction of future environmental conditions. This is essential in providing the information needed by society, management agencies, scientists, policy makers, engineers and other individuals to understand and adapt to changing environmental conditions. This is one of the most important fields because the condition of the environment will determine the level of development of humans and other life forms.
The study of the earth’s environment is multi-dimensional. The earth’s environment can be seen in the global geological, biological, economic, social and physical aspects. In short, the earth’s environment is very complex. Therefore, there is a great need for professionals in the field of environmental science to develop and improve our knowledge on the different aspects of the earth’s environment and how they inter interact with each other and how they affect us and our environments.
The study of the earth’s environment includes many different topics and fields. Among these areas are anthropology, ecology, earth’s mineralogy, physical Geology, geochemistry, microbiology, zoology, botany, forestry, aerial photography, ecology, water quality, and public health. The curriculum and the coursework of any given program in this field will always include these four specific areas. These are the basic courses that all environmental science programs should include.