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Unit 1 The Environment and Environmental Problems Humans have always inhabited two worlds. One is the natural world of plants, animals, soils, air, and water that preceded us by billions of which we are a part. The other is the world of social institutions and artifacts that we create for ourselves using science, technology, and political organization. Both worlds are essential to our live, but integrating them successfully causes enduring tensions. Where earlier people limited ability to alter their surroundings, we now have power to extract and consume resources, produce wastes, and modify our world in ways that threaten both our continued existence and that of many organisms with which we share the planet. To ensure a sustainable future for ourselves and future generations, we need to understand something about how our world works, what we are doing to it, and what we can do to protect and improve it. Environment and Environment Science Environment (from the French environner : to encircle or surround) can be defined as(1) the circumstance or conditions that surround an organism or group of organisms, or(2) the complex of social or cultural conditions that affect an individual or community. Since humans inhabit the natural as well as the “built” or technological, social, and cultural world, all constitute important parts of our environment, Environmental science, then, is the systematic study of our environment and our proper place in it. A relatively new field, environmental science is highly interdisciplinary, integrating natural of the world around us. In contrast to more theoretical disciplines, environmental science is mission-oriented. That is, it seeks new, valid, generalizable knowledge about the natural world and our impacts on it, but obtaining this information creates a responsibility to get involved in trying to do something about the problems we have created. As distinguished economist Barbara Ward points out, for an increas