Environmental Crisis
1. Understand basic scientific principles and facts as well as the methods that natural scientists use to study the physical world;
2. Recognize the impact of natural science on yourself and society; and
3. Explain how humans interact with and understand the natural and physical world
Methods that natural scientists use to study the physical world vary by country and culture, but humanity basically has similar methods to one another when studying the earth and discussing scientific concerns to the public. The first method that was taught was the idea of climate change and how it has an everlasting effect on humans. The way in which climate change, for example, can be measured is with the earth’s surface temperature. I learned, for multiple reasons, how important educating the public is to convince them that climate change is real. Education can allow people to be more conscious of what is happening globally and be more environmentally conscious. It can bring attention of this matter to the forefront in order to find solutions to slow down global warming. People need to be made aware of how their actions impact the earth and they need to be taught to change certain habits that are harmful to the environment. Before this course, I hadn’t realized how much is at stake when the world is progressively warming at a faster and faster rate. Modern technology and the help of scientists who devote their lives to understanding the physical world can help to enlighten people in ways to better take care of our planet since there is so much at stake to consider.
The second method that can be noted in terms of how scientists use modern technology is to study the physical world through ground-penetrating radar. This can help scientists understand the physical world more in-depth by observing the multiple layers of the earth to study such things as historical weather patterns, cataclysmic events, and volcanic eruptions.
The impact that natural science has had on society is to educate people about the world that we live in through research, statistics, and data. These three components allow for people to not just understand the world in a qualitative way, but also in a quantitative way. With the use of Natural Science so heavily dependent on numerical research; this data can significantly help to provide beneficial outcomes to humanity. The first benefit includes helping people be aware of their direct impacts on the environment whether they are positive or negative actions. The second benefit that Natural Science provides humanity, is recognizing what practices we participate in that are directly harmful to the environment; and, through statistics, how humanity can preserve all aspects of multiple ecosystems without causing too much of an abrasive change in ecological ecosystems. The last benefit that Natural science provides society is the use of opportunity and innovative solutions. While there might be some changes that occur in the ecosystem that are not a direct cause of human activity, humanity can provide resourceful solutions to battle constant ecological and atmospheric changes.
Humans interact with and understand the natural and physical world in multiple different ways. One way humans can do this is with the help of science. Scientists can go out and explore the world in greater depth by observing any unfamiliar changes that occur on earth and in the atmosphere. Humans have always interacted negatively and positively with the natural world in order to understand it. This can be seen with humans turning parts of forests into empty patches, left with no trees and habitats destroyed. Upon realizing the devastation to all life in these areas, humans have attempted to replant those deforested tracts of land in order to rebuild the habitats necessary to sustain life. Also, humans have constantly changed the way land is divided amongst other people, decided where crops grow, altered ecosystems and habitats in order to better understand how the world works. This can be seen in some of the blog posts I was assigned to complete which I have used for my artifact. In these posts, I was assigned to look at different articles every other day and write about how what I read was severely impacting the earth.