Environmental Science

Chapter Overview

What is environmental science? What should an environmental science course teach? What defines a science? Does environmenta science fit that definition or does it require a separate definition?

Is environmental science the scientific study of the effects of humans on the earth (e.g. some way of measuring and thinking about the earth's capacity to carry humans?)?

What should an undergraduate environmental science curriculum include? Is environmental science a topic that can and should be taught at the undergraduate (or even high school) level or is a subject that belongs in graduate school? Should undergraduates interested in environmental science train first in one of the traditional science discipines?

Many people have thought about these issues. Below we provide links to some of the writings on this topic that we have found useful. We also have created a blog where we hope people will contribute their own thoughts. The issue is an important one. Training knowledge workers is a sacred task. We hope that by thoughtfully engaging this issue, we will train the next generation of environmental scientists well enough to prepare them to face the challenges they will face.

We do believe that there are certain tools and skills that environmental scientists need to have and these are the tools we are providing here. We also believe that this is an equally valid way of training non-specialists. At Bates, both science and non-science environmental studies students took this course.

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