CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Our planet Earth is almost completely isolated from everything in the universe and it is totally
exposed to sunlight. Organisms produce oxygen, transfer energy, and recycle water and nutrient minerals
with great efficiency. However, none of these ecological processes would be possible without the physical
or abiotic (non-living) environment of the spaceship Earth.

The science ecology deals with the abiotic environment as well as the biotic (living organisms). The
individual communities of organisms and their abiotic environments are called ecosystems.

I. External Forces and Conditions Acting on the Community of Organisms

A. Ecology
- (from a Greek word oikos means “household”; and logos means
“knowledge”) is the study of the relationship between organisms and their
environment. The environment includes not only physical but also the
biological conditions under which can organisms live while relationship
involved the interaction with the physical world as well as the interrelationship
with the number of the species and the individuals of the same species.
B. Ecosystem
- is an integrated unit consisting of a community of organisms in the form of
the bacteria, plants and animals and the physical environment in the form of
water, air, soil and climate that they inhabit.
C. Environment
- refers to the sum of the external forces and conditions acting on an
organism. There are two types of environment namely:
-
a. Natural or Physical Environment- the surroundings are mostly
provided by nature such as terrestrial (land) environment or marine
(water) environment.

b. Cultural or Social Environment – the surroundings are primarily

those are the results of human activities, such as urban centers, tall
structures or buildings, and complex network of transport systems and
shopping malls.

D. Environmental Science
- is the study of interactions among physical, chemical, and biological
components of the environment. Primarily deals on pollution and other
conditions and developments as a result of human activities and their impact
on biological diversity and sustainability
.
II. Four Meaning of Science

A. Form of Knowledge
- refer to the organized, well-founded body of knowledge of natural
phenomena contributions to which have been made by thousands of men
and women.
B. Knowledge is Sought
- meaning of science that refers to a particular field of systematic inquiry.
C. Distinctive Form or Kind of Human Cultural Activity
- referred to as scientist, natural philosophers and savants.
D. Variety of Knowledge, People, Skills, Organizations, Facilities, Techniques
Physical Resources, Methods and Technologies
- these are taken together and relation with one another are devoted to the
study and understanding of the natural world.
III. The Role of Environmental Education
.
A. To incorporate social and environmental issues, concerns, and awareness into the
curricula in the primary, secondary and collegiate levels in the educational program of the
government.

B. To develop an environmentally literate citizenry who will support and ensure the
protection, conservation and improvement of the environment, safeguard and promote
 sustainable living and development, social equity, and economic efficiency in the
utilization of our natural resources.

IV. The Concepts of Earth Capital in Sustainable Living

- Means that all other organisms are interdependent and interconnected parts
of nature and are completely dependent on nature. Our survival and health
and the survival of all living things depend on the Earth and its natural
systems.

V. Some Environmental Historical Events

BCE- 1200 AD
- Cutting of trees for timber stripped the forests of Babylon, Greece, Lebanon
and Italy with rise of civilization.
- Greeks and Romans kept important trees from being cut for timber.
- Less water pollution in cities in Israel and India due to strict religious codes
about cleanliness.
- The prevention of soil erosion is already being practiced by some cultures in
China, India, and Peru.
1200-1750
- Cutting of trees for timber in the forests of England, France and Germany
denuded large tracts by around 1550 in England and the 1600 in Europe.
- To prevent soil erosion, cultures in China, India and Peru used and built
terraces, practice crop rotation and use natural fertilizer.
1750-1830
- Thomas Malthus predicts that eventually, food and resources will run out as
populations explode and new technologies create additional pollution. Town
gas from coal drips tar into the rivers. Vulcanizing rubber plants discharge
chemicals directly into the streams. Smoke from coal chokes the air big
cities.
1830-1890
- Living conditions in urban areas horrify reform minded commissions in
London in the 1840’s and American in th 1850’s and 1860’s
- Interest in pure drinking water and sanitation is spurred by epidemics of
typhoid and cholera. Water pollution carried disease, but no one exactly
knew why until 1880’s John Snow, a London physician traced a part of the
cholera epidemic to a contaminated water pump in 1855. Conservation of
wilderness areas begins with the felling of an enormous tree, called the
“Mother of the Forest” in 1851. The outrage over the act leads to call for a
national park system.
1890-1920
- Teddy Roosevelt and his forester Gifford Pinchot characterized the ideas
about conserving large tracts of land and putting other forest to wise use.
- John Muir opposes the “wise use” idea and fights for outright preservation of
unspoiled wilderness.
- New organizations like the woman’s club helps champion natural
preservation, conservation and municipal reform.
1920-1930
- Natural Coast Anti-pollution League is formed by municipal officials from
Atlantic City to Maine who are concerned about oil and sewage pollution
detracting from tourism.
- Chemurgy movement is a Midwestern populist and scientific phenomenon.
Demands include replacement of petroleum with farm alcohol and other
industrial uses for agricultural crovs. The movement suffers when leaders die
and new leaders with secret ties in the oil industry take over.
1940-1950’s
- Sand Country Almanac by forester Aldo Leopold, published in 1948,
expresses expanding sense of human responsibility not only to each other
but also for the Earth.
- Deadly smog episode in Donora Penn, (1948), London (1952), (1956), New
York (1953), and Los Angeles (1954) create a perception that an air pollution
crisis is underway. In 1955 the first air pollution conference is held.
- Increasing CO2, build up is on surprising conclusion of Scirpps
Oceanographic Institute scientists working on International Geographic year
projects in 1957.
1960’s-1970’s
 - The truth about leaded gasoline emerges dramatically 1965 Senate hearings
as scientist Clair petterson testifies about the obvious and apparently
deliberate lacunae and falsehoods in the lead industry research. A burning
river ends the decade as a dramatic symbol of an environment on the brink.
On June 22, 1969, oil and chemicals in the Cuyahoga River in Cleaveland,
Ohio catch fire, Flames top five stories.
190’s-1980’s
- Water pollution is decreased through a massive sewage treatment expansion
program. Rivers which were once sewers now begin a gradual return from
the grave. Still the “national pollution discharge elimination system” does not
actually eliminate discharges.
- Nuclear power safety is increasingly suspect after the Three Mile Island
incident.
1980’s-1990’s
- Disaster’s show the tenuous and fragile side of industrial technology.Among
them are Bhopal mass poisoning in India; the Chemobyl nuclear reactor
disaster in Ukraine; and the challenger shuttle and the Exxon Valdez oil spills
in the USA.
- Ozone depletion from fluorocarbons is finally taken seriously which leads to
the signing of the MOntereal protocol in 1987.
- Warnings about global climate change become more convincing as evidence
mounts and are felt.
1990-2000
- Persian Gulf War creates environmental disaster with thousands of burning
oil wells.
- A Gallup poll finds 76% of Americans call themselves environmentalist.
2000-Present
- President Bill Clinton sets aside 58 million acre of forests and wilderness by
the end of his presidency, surpassing the previous conservation record set in
Teddy Roosevelt’s administration.
- President George Bush begins with strong support to traditional energy
options, such as oil, gas, coal and nuclear.
- Global climate change report by the United Nation and the National Academy
of Sciences firmly establishes scientific basis for concern.
- Poisoning from leaded gasoline is acknowledged as severe in developing
countries by the World Bank and the World Health Organization and a
gradual switch to other additives finally get underway.