RIZAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig

MODULE 1
INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

Lesson 1: Introduction

The following are the topics content of this module:

1. Introduction
2. Elements of Environment
3. Environment Studies: Importance
4. Various Types of Environment

Overview

The word environment describes living and nonliving surroundings relevant to

organisms. It incorporates physical, chemical and biological factors and processes that
determine the growth and survival of organisms, populations, and communities. All
these components fit within the ecosystem concept as a way to organize all of the
factors and processes that make up the environment. The ecosystem includes
organisms and their environment within a specific area. Today, human activities
influence all of the Earth’s ecosystems.

Environmental science studies all aspects of the environment in

an interdisciplinary way. This means that it requires the knowledge of various other
subjects including biology, chemistry, physics, statistics, microbiology, biochemistry,
geology, economics, law, sociology, etc. It is a relatively new field of study that has
evolved from integrated use of many disciplines.

Environmental engineering is one of the fastest growing and most complex

disciplines of engineering. Environmental engineers solve problems and design
systems using knowledge of environmental concepts and ecology, thereby providing
solutions to various environmental problems. Environmentalism, in contrast, is a social
movement through which citizens are involved in activism to further the protection of
environmental landmarks and natural resources. This is not a field of science, but
incorporates some aspects of environmental knowledge to advance conservation and
sustainability efforts.

Study Guide

Environmental Science 1
2024
-Doc Beloy
 RIZAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
Cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig

This module was designed to provide the students with meaningful opportunities for
guided and independent pace of learning. Students will be able to process the learning
context in their own flexible time.

This module has the following parts:

a. Learning outcomes
b. Topic presentation
c. Learning activities
d. Assessment
e. Assignment
f. References

Students are required to finished every module by finishing learning activities,

answering the assessment and complying with the given assignment.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the learning episode, the students are expected to:

1. Understand the role of human to their environment.

2. Differentiate Renewable and non-renewable resources.

Topic Presentation

Specific Objectives:
1. Compare elements of the environment.
2. Identify the various types of the environment.
3. Appreciate the importance of studying environmental science.

CONSTITUENTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Environmental Science 2
2024
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 RIZAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
Cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig

PHYSICAL
BIOLOGICAL CULTURAL
ELEMENTS
ELEMENTS ELEMENTS
landforms,
plants, economic, social
water-bodies, and political
animals, conditions which
climate, are largely man-
micro-organisms,
soils, made features
and
rocks,
man.
and
minerals.

Components of the Environment

Now a days the word environment is often being used by almost all people
around us, on television and in newspapers. Everyone is speaking about the protection
and pre-serration of environment. Global summits are being held regularly to discuss
environmental issues. During the last hundred years, the mutual relationship among
environment, social organization and culture has been discussed in sociology,
anthropology and geography. All this shows the increasing importance of environment.
Besides, it is a fact that life is tied with the environment. It has four components:

Atmosphere – gas portion

Layers:
Troposphere
Stratosphere
Mesosphere
Thermosphere
Exosphere

Hydrosphere – water portion

Consists of 71% of the Earth

Water moves through the hydrosphere

In a cycle

Environmental Science 3
2024
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 RIZAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
Cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig

Lithosphere - solid portion

The rigid outer part of the earth,

consisting of the crust and upper mantle.

Biosphere, relatively thin life-supporting

stratum of Earth's surface, extending
from a few kilometers into the
atmosphere to the deep-sea vents of the
ocean.
The biosphere is a global
ecosystem composed of living
organisms (biota) and the abiotic
(nonliving) factors from which they derive
energy and nutrients.

Basic Components of the Environment

Biotic are the living components of the ecosystem

Abiotic are the non-living components of the ecosystem

Environmental Science 4
2024
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 RIZAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
Cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig

Importance of Environmental Studies

1. To clarify modern environmental concept like how to conserve biodiversity.
2. To know the more sustainable way of living.
3. To use natural resources more efficiently.
4. To know the behavior of organism under natural conditions.
5. To know the interrelationship between organisms in populations and communities.
6. To be aware and educate people regarding environmental issues and problems at
local, national and international levels.
The Environmental Ethics
The concepts of ethics involved standard of environmental conduct which
distinguished between behaviors that are considered right of wrong. However, it is
difficult to distinguish between right or wrong since there is no universal code of ethics.
Right or wrong are usually determined by an individual’s morals. And to change the
ethics of the entire society, it is necessary to change the individual ethics of a majority
of the people in that society.
Ethics is a branch of philosophy that is derived from the logical application of
human values. Environmental ethics is the discipline in philosophy that studies the
moral relationship of human beings to, and also the value and moral status of, the
environment and its non-human contents. This entry covers: (1) the challenge of
environmental ethics to the anthropocentrism (i.e., human-centeredness) embedded
in traditional western ethical thinking; (2) the development of the discipline from the
1960s and 1970s; (3) the connection of deep ecology, feminist environmental ethics,
animism and social ecology to politics; (4) the attempt to apply traditional ethical
theories, including consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics, to support
contemporary environmental concerns; (5) the broader concerns of some thinkers with
wilderness, the built environment and the politics of poverty; and (6) the ethics of
sustainability and climate change.
Suppose putting out natural fires, culling feral animals or removing some
individual members of overpopulated species is necessary for the protection of the
integrity of a certain ecosystem. Will these actions be morally permissible or even
required? Is it morally acceptable for farmers in non-industrial countries to practice
slash and burn techniques to clear areas for agriculture? Consider a mining company
which has performed open pit mining in some previously unspoiled area. Does the
company have a moral obligation to restore the landform and surface ecology? And
what is the value of a humanly restored environment compared with the originally
natural environment? Many people think that it is morally wrong for human beings to
pollute and destroy parts of the natural environment and to consume a huge proportion
of the planet’s natural resources. If that is wrong, is it simply because a sustainable
environment is essential to human existence and well-being? Or is such behavior also
wrong because the natural environment and/or its various contents have certain values
in their own right so that these values ought to be respected and protected in any case?
These are among the questions investigated by environmental ethics. Some of them

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 RIZAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
Cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig

are specific questions faced by individuals in particular circumstances, while others are
more global questions faced by groups and communities. Yet others are more abstract
questions concerning the value and moral standing of the natural environment and its
non-human components.

Types of Environment
Geographical Environment
 It consists of all components provided by nature and hence can be called as
the natural environment.
 It is also referred to as the physical environment as it pertains to the physical
requirements of life
 It includes natural resources, the earth’s surface, mountains, plains, land,
water, deserts, storms, cyclones, volcanoes, oceans, climatic factors, and so
on.

Man Made Environment

 It is created by man in order to regulate and monitor certain environmental
conditions.
 Some address it as a social-cultural environment.
 Can be and Inner Environment of Outer Environment
The Inner Environment
It is a social environment and it exists as long as a particular society exists. It
pertains to the regulations, traditions, organizations and institutions. It involves
customs and folkways which is existent in every human group. It is addressed with
names such as non-material culture, social heritage etc. This heritage is essential for
the social life of humans to flourish, it is known to have an influence on an individual’s
life. The altered form of the economic and physical environment – artificial
environment, are seen as two different aspects of the man-made environment.
The Outer Environment
Through advancement in the field of science and technology, humans have
attempted to alter conditions of their physical environment. This outer environment is
as a result of these modifications which includes modern infrastructure in cities, our
homes and their associated amenities, our modes of communication and transport, our
resorts to conveniences and luxury, different kinds of industry manufacturing luxurious
commodities, electrical appliances and so on which ultimately aims at civilization and
urbanization.

Environmental Science 6
2024
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 RIZAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
Cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig

Guided Exercises / Learning Activities

(separate paper)

Assessment

To evaluates the level of mastery in achieving the learning outcomes, validates

the concepts, and provides more opportunities to deepen the learning, QUIZ will be
given.

References

Guido et al (2015). Fundamental of Environmental Science. Boks atbp. Publishing

Corp. Mandaluyong City Metro Manila.
Paulson, J. (2021). Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Oxford St.
Cambridge, MA.
https://www.seas.harvard.edu/environmental-science-
engineering/courses#:~:text=This%20course%20will%20provide%20students,solutio
ns%20to%20some%20of%20our

https://www.solarschools.net/knowledge-bank/non-renewable-energy
https://www.google.com/search?q=natural+energy&oq=natural+energy&aqs=chrome
..69i57j0l7.8466j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Brennan, Andrew and Norva Y. S. Lo, "Environmental Ethics", The Stanford

Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =
<https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2021/entries/ethics-environmental/>.

Environmental Science 7
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