Environmental Science 20

Environmental science supports many occupations - environmental consultant, watershed technician, conservation officer, air-quality specialist - each with distinct roles.

These careers require particular education and professional qualifications, and some fields face shortages while others are oversubscribed.

A strong project starts with a narrow, testable question or a well-defined environmental issue, with a hypothesis or a stated goal.

The design names variables, methods, or policy levers, data sources, and safety considerations before any data is gathered.

Carrying out the study means following the plan, gathering data or case-study evidence carefully, and repeating or corroborating where possible.

Analysis - surveys, statistics, cost-benefit or impact assessment - turns evidence into a defensible finding about a population or environment.

A portfolio gathers the question, method, evidence, analysis, and conclusion or action plan into a clear story.

People hold different environmental worldviews - anthropocentric, biocentric, and ecocentric - expressed through the policies and action plans they support.

First Nations and Metis worldviews centre relationship and responsibility to the land, including the four elements, and one's connection to the environment is shaped by personal experience and culture.

Environmental science is a newly developing field integrating ecology, chemistry, and other disciplines, distinct from environmental studies in its questions and methods.

It relies on systems thinking (boundaries, inputs, outputs, feedback loops), the three pillars of sustainability, and tools like environmental impact assessments.

Indoor and outdoor air pollutants - particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, VOCs, carbon monoxide - come from combustion, industry, and everyday products.

Techniques like satellite imagery, ice-core samples, and dendrology (tree rings) give scientists different, complementary records of climate.

Stratospheric ozone depletion raises UV exposure (cancers, cataracts), and industrial and photochemical smog harm the lungs.

Organizations such as the IPCC synthesize this data, and climate models simulate past and present climate to project future change; the Arctic is a sensitive indicator region.

Regulations like the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) and National Ambient Air Quality Objectives set limits and inform the public.

Human population growth is driven by factors like food security and access to medicine, and past trends help project future growth.

Models such as I = PAT relate environmental impact to population, affluence (consumption), and technology, and First Nations and Metis practices model using resources wisely.

The life cycle of a product generates waste at every stage; a waste audit reveals where it can be reduced or diverted.

Technologies and processes - sewage treatment, composting, engineered landfills, incineration, and curbside recycling - store, treat, or divert waste to limit pollution.

Advances in food security and access to medicine let the human population grow, but sustaining it strains resources.

The condition of an aquatic ecosystem is measured with abiotic factors (turbidity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH) using probe ware and test kits.

Changes to water conditions create health challenges - blue-green algae, mercury in fish, E. coli in drinking water - from point-source and non-point-source pollution.

Biological indicators - indicator and keystone species, biodiversity, a water quality index - reveal the ecosystem's health, and lakes range from oligotrophic to eutrophic.

Water quality standards, such as the Saskatchewan Surface Water Quality Objectives and the Canadian Water Quality Index, set limits and guide protection.

An integrated watershed management approach addresses water supply, drainage, runoff, habitat, and water rights across a whole watershed.

Soil forms as parent material breaks down through weathering, erosion, deposition, and the decomposition of organisms, giving varying characteristics.

Plants provide ecological goods and services - anchoring soil, filtering air and water, sheltering organisms - determined by their morphology and physiology.

Soil characteristics connect to Saskatchewan's ecozones and natural vegetation, and First Nations and Metis peoples value soil as an integral part of Mother Earth.

Photosynthesis, respiration, and net primary productivity set how much energy plants add to an ecosystem, and plants have deep significance in First Nations and Metis cultures.

Soil quality is sampled and monitored (pH, nitrate, phosphate, moisture) with sensors and test kits, and diverse organisms drive biogeochemical cycling like nitrogen fixation.