2/21/2020
Environmental Science (NE466)
Dr. Mohamed A. Elsayad, PhD.,
Construction & Building Department, Faculty of Engineering, AAST University
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Course Content
• Biosphere and the ecosystem components.
• Environmental resources.
• Ecological system and equilibrium.
• The evolution of the mankind’s relationship with the environment.
• Population & the development and the environment effects.
• Sustainable development.
• Consumer lifestyle.
• Human health and environment degradation.
• Environmental improvement.
• Environmental management.
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Course objectives
The course objective is introducing the student to:
• The meaning of the term environment.
• The importance of natural resources
• The scientific methods and how science operates.
• Global changes and common future.
• Environmental degradation.
• Natural resources.
• Sustainability and sustainable development.
Reference book:
Principles of Environmental Engineering & Science: Third Edition By Mackenzie
Davis, Susan Masten.
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Environmental Science:
is the field of science that integrates physical and biological components of the
environment ( including ecology, biology, physics, chemistry,, etc.) and also study the
relationships and effects of these components with the organisms in the environment.
• The historical focus of study for the environment scientists has been the nature
environment (atmosphere, lands, water, and their inhabitants as differentiated from
the built environment).
• Modern environmental science has also found applications from the built
environment more correctly to the effusions from the built environment.
Environmental science is a broad interdisciplinary applied science.
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Environmental Science:
In its broadest sense encompasses all the fields of natural science:
Biology
Is the natural science that involves the study of life and living organisms.
Ecology
The branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and
to their physical surroundings.
Chemistry
Is the study of the structure, properties, composition, mechanisms, and reactions of
organic compounds.
Physics
Natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion and behavior
through space and time, along with related concepts such as energy.
Geology
The science which deals with the physical structure and substance of the earth.
Geography
The study of the diverse environments, places, and spaces of Earth's surface and
their interactions.
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Environmental Science:
Anthropology
Is the study of various aspects of humans within past and present societies.
Demography
The study of statistics such as births, deaths, income, or the incidence of
disease, which illustrate the changing structure of human populations.
Economic
Pertaining to the production, distribution, and use of income, wealth, and
commodities.
Political
Relating to the government or public affairs of a country.
Philosophy
is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as
existence, knowledge, values, and reason.
Ethics
is the part of environmental philosophy which considers extending the
traditional boundaries of ethics from solely including humans to including
the non-human world.
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Environmental Science Main Goals:
The field of environmental science can be divided into three main goals:
Learn how the natural world works.
Understand how humans interact with the environment.
Determining how humans affect the environment also includes finding
ways to deal with these effects on the environment.
Natural Science:
Systematized knowledge derived from and tested by recognitions and
formulation of problems, collection of data through observation, and
experimentations. Natural Science Includes diverse disciplines as biology,
chemistry, geology, and physics.
Social Science:
The study of people and how they live together as families, communities, and
nations.
The social science fields that are incorporated into environmental science
include geography, economics, and political science.
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The scientific methods:
Observation
Questions
Hypothesis
Prediction
Test
Results
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Quantitative Environmental Science:
• The scientific method deals with data , that is, with recorded observations.
• The data are sample of universe of possibilities that may be representative
or they may be skewed.
• The representative data usually contain some random variations. The
gathering methods and independent verification are considered the
fundamental of science.
• If we can use certain assumptions to tie together a set of generalizations, we
formulate a theory and the theories that have gained acceptance over a long
time are known as laws like the laws of motions which describe the behavior
of moving bodies.
• Logic is, a part of all theories, divided into two types which are qualitative
and quantitative. For example we can qualitatively state that when the
amount of wastewater entering a river is too high, the fish die.
• When the data are quantitative, we need mathematic relationships to prove
the theory.
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Quantitative Environmental Science:
Quantitative Environmental Science is an organized collection of mathematical
theories that may be used to describe and explore the environmental
relationships.
• For example ‘ when the mass of organic matter entering a river equals x
kilograms per day, the amount of oxygen in the stream is y. Therefore the
quantitative logic enables us to explore ‘what if?’.
• For example if we reduce the amount of organic matters entering the
stream, how much will the amount of oxygen in the stream increase?.
• Mathematical theories often enable us to bridge the gap between the
observation data from the experiment and the field.
• For example if we control the amount of oxygen in the fish tank in the
laboratory, we can determine the minimum amount required for the fish to
be healthy. We can then use this number to determine the acceptable mass
of organic matter placed in the stream.
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THANKS
Dr. Mohamed A. Elsayad, PhD.,
Construction & Building Department, Faculty of Engineering, AAST University
