A scientific understanding of the earth’s natural mechanics starts with a fundamental basis in observation and testing of the physical world. Scientists observe and test within a universally recognized system called the scientific method. For researchers to solve problems in the natural world scientifically several stages of the scientific method must be implemented, which include formulating a hypothesis (a reasoned explanation to the problem), testing control groups against variables to isolate causes of change, and submitting their clearly articulated findings to be peer reviewed, retested, and hopefully sanctioned by a large body of qualified scientists. Since the believability of scientific work is entirely contingent on its ability to be reproduced time and time again with the same results, work that doesn’t undergo intense peer review and replication can only be considered ‘tentative science’ and not ‘reliable science’.
Like most disciplines, scientific inquiry has its limitations. These limitations mainly pertain to margins of human error, unavoidable degrees of uncertainty (regardless of size), inabilities to sequester a single variable from the complex nature of physical sciences, and reliance on imperfect collection and unavoidable estimation of statistical data. If nothing else, these limitations are a reminder of the diligence and accuracy scientists must employ to make their experiments as watertight of error and constant as possible.
The Energy Cycle: Solar energy is considered to be a perpetual source of energy for the earth. With every transferral of energy (ex: primary to secondary producer) some energy is lost and must therefore be energized by the sun continually.
The extensive timeline of scientific discovery congeals into a smaller number of overarching laws, principles, and structures that act as necessary underpinnings of support for most all scientific inquiry. Three of the most primary of these laws include the Law of Conservation of Matter, which dictates that no matter can be created nor destroyed via physical or chemical means, and the two Laws of Thermodynamics (thermodynamics being the study of energy and heat relationships). The first law declares that no energy can be created nor destroyed and the second law declares that all transferals of energy between forms must lose a fraction of its energy and become lower quality energy. Understanding these laws (and concepts that spawn from them) is incredibly important because their defining characteristics are inherently interwoven and have real world implications within every ecosystem on the planet (the subject of later chapters).
A few of the most important of these concepts are as follows: energy in living environments that have a high capacity for useful work (important energy sources for ecosystem survival, including humans) is considered to be high-quality energy, as opposed to low quality energy, which has a much lower capacity for work. Also in the grand scheme of energy transfers and cycles of life/carbon/etc, living environments are structured within a system of various inputs, such as energy/matter resources and information, through systems processes into outputs, such as work, product, waste/pollution, and heat. Finally, positive feedback loops that cause a system to move exponentially further in a given direction (and negative feedback loops, the opposite), account for system changes and are included in the many important factors that operate beneath all living environments.
Our process of observation and research begins with examining the most basic and interlocking components of earth’s grand system of life support. Life on earth takes place in four most essential zones, the atmosphere, which consists of the thin layer of gases that blanket the surface of the earth, the hydrosphere, including any form of water that covers the earth’s crust and glistens in the air, the geosphere, mainly the earth’s largely unexplored inner core/mantel, and the biosophere, perhaps the most familiar and home to the majority of living organisms and walks of life, including us humans.
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In all these areas, the sun’s flow of energy through the biosphere, the property of gravity, and the processes of nutrient cycling are the primary sustainers of life. For organisms to live, they may either consume the nutrients the need directly from the sun (producers) or within the hierarchical food chain of consuming energy found in other organisms (various layers of consumers). But while humans are second only to decomposers on the hierarchy of consumers, human activity continually alters most all of earth’s systems, including nutrient cycling and food chains within ecosystems. This can enter especially dangerous territory, for while humans have flourished from their ingenuity, our gift of great advantage might commit withstanding damage to the systems that have been in place for billions of years. The “Call of Life” video questions whether or not we should consider the past history of human ingenuity as ‘advantageous’ or ‘self-imposed destruction’. Scientists interviewed in the film described how the loss of salmon (mostly exacerbated by human overfishing and habitat loss) means more than the detriment of a single species, but rather, a detriment to an entire ecosystem because the land’s marine life provides over half of its essential nutrients. They argue that human health is entirely dependent on the land’s resources and that by transitive property, hurting salmon ends up hurting the land, which ends up hurting humans in a positive feedback loop toward their own decimation.
At the end of their life cycle, salmon swim upstream to mate and die. Their remains provide high amounts of essential nutrients for the surrounding ecosystem.
This influx of human impact on existing ecological systems is partly counterbalanced by the earth’s biodiversity, but only to a point. Each species has a specific part to play within their given environment. Biodiversity of earth species is the result of genetic mutations that end up acting beneficially to an organisms survival and are passed on to offspring, and account for differences in organism attributes. Since earth’s organisms are able to survive in various networks and ways, the planet’s net of life isn’t totally destructed when one of it’s knots are undone. However, the accelerating rapidity of species and habitat extinction under human hands might untie more knots then web of life can restring and do irreparable damage.
Man participating in efforts to restore a forest
I believe scientific exploration is one of the best ways to understand how our natural living systems function. Discoveries in the scientific field can vastly expand our knowledge about the earth and the effects humans have on it. Even the smallest discovery can quickly snowball into an extensively useful guide for us to respond efficiently and appropriately to ecological problems. Human understanding of photosynthesis, for example, would lose significant portion of its value without its real world application to ecological problems, such as the study conducted by Carbon Balance and Management that identified a precise estimation of how mass reforestation of North America and Europe could yield measurable results against climate change (Environmental News Network). Combining a scientific approach of the environment with the laws of sustainability (see blog post one) can effectively teach us how the natural world’s mechanics and better inform us on how we should treat the earth.
“Heal the World” artpiece
Scientific information is an important part of the interdisciplinary nature of environmental issues. How can we decide upon a proper course of action if we don’t have some kind of understanding about how ecosystems work? Yes, it is important to have an understanding about the economical, political, religious, technological, and cultural implications that come with human impact on the natural world (because all of those drivers play an important role in human activity), but a solid basis of scientific fact is crucial to understand what exactly needs protecting and fixing in nature (the same way medical information helps a doctor operate on a patient and save that person’s life).
Question One: Are there ways of harvesting the sun’s energy that haven’t been explored?
Question Two: How can understanding the Law of the Conservation of Matter and the Laws of Thermodynamics help the average citizen make informed decisions in his or her daily life?
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