UNIT 1 Science and the Environment (covers chapters 1-2)

Why does environmental science need to be interdisciplinary?

Why has environmental change occurred throughout earth’s history?

How do short-term interests conflict with the long-term interests of a society?

Do environmental problems in different societies have the same causes?

What is the main goal of environmental science?

How do we learn about things using science?

Must we use the experimental method to solve scientific problems? Correlations?

What intellectual characteristics must scientists possess?

Is statistics necessary to evaluate scientific data? Models?

What makes a decision-making model important?

UNIT 2 Organisms and Ecosystems (covers chapters 4-5)

Can ecosystems exist without interconnecting parts and interactions?

Is natural selection possible without unequal survival and reproduction?

Why must evolution take place over the course of many generations?

Have humans influenced the course of evolution?

What is an organism? What makes them the same? Different?

How do organisms obtain energy?

How do organisms obtain other essential materials?

Why does the environment never run out of energy and materials?

Can humans affect the cycling of materials through an ecosystem?

Is there a pattern of change in ecosystems or is it random?

UNIT 3 Terrestrial and Aquatic Environments (covers chapters 6-7)

What determines the organization of organisms in an ecosystem?

What is a biome?

What is an ecosystem?

What allows an organism to exist in a particular biome or environment?

Do humans impact biomes?

Do humans impact aquatic ecosystems?

UNIT 4 Populations (covers chapters 8-10)

What is a population? How does it grow?

How do populations and the environment respond to each other?

What is a niche?

How do species interact?

What is competition? What is cooperation?

Can species co-exist without affecting each other?

What affects human population growth?

Can we know what will happen to the human population?

Is every human population the same?

How does our growth affect the planet’s environment?

What is a developed country? What is a developing country?

What can we do to for the sake of future human populations?

What is biodiversity?

Do we benefit from biodiversity?

Why is preservation of biodiversity a challenging environmental issue?

What causes extinction?

Are certain areas more important than others with respect to biodiversity?

Where should conservation efforts be focused?

UNIT 5 Water, Air, and Land (covers chapters 11-15)

Why should we be concerned with water as a resource?

How does human water use affect the environment? Society?

What effects do humans have on the earth’s water supply?

Can anything be done to maintain our freshwater supply for the future?

What is pollution?

What effects does pollution have on the environment?

What effects does pollution have on us?

Who is responsible for pollution?

What can be done to minimize pollution?

What determines climate?

How do our actions affect climate?

Why is the ozone layer of particular concern?

What can be done to lessen our impact on the planet’s climate and related systems?

What is global warming? Do we play a role in global warming?

How do we use land?

In what ways do we impact the parts of the environment that we use

Do natural ecosystems provide processes that impact us?

Do we affect environmental change?

Can we feed the world?

What is the importance of crops and soils?

What is the importance of animals and agriculture?

Do our food choices affect the environment? Society?

Can we do anything to improve the food situation for ourselves and future generations?

UNIT 6 Energy and Resources (covers chapters 17-19)

Can the energy-needs of the world be met?

What is nonrenewable energy?

What determines the value of an energy source?

What are the benefits of using nonrenewable energy (economic, social, environmental)?

What are the costs of using nonrenewable energy (economic, social, environmental)?

Can the energy-needs of the world be met?

What is renewable energy?

What determines the value of an energy source?

What are the benefits of using renewable energy (economic, social, environmental)?

What are the costs of using renewable energy (economic, social, environmental)?

What is waste?

How do we contribute to waste?

How does waste affect us? Society? The environment?

What is the best way to dispose of waste?

Can we produce less waste?

UNIT 7 Our Health and Our Future (covers chapter 20)

How does pollution affect human health?

Where does pollution come from?

What is the relationship between waste, pollution, and human health?

Why is the health of the environment important to the health of humans?

What can be done to improve the health of the environment?