Chapter OverviewOne of the defining characteristic of an environmental scientist is the ability to be comfortable thinking about issues that occur at many different spatial and temporal scales. Most scientific disciplines exist, by virtue of the subjects they study and the approaches they take to understanding those subject, in a limited range of temporal and spatial scales. Not true of environmental science. One day, the focus may be on the molecular mechanisms of lead toxicity, another day on the aeolian distribution of lead in Northern Europe hundreds of years ago. An environmental scientist, or a person working on environmental issues, must be able to recognize the relevant scales in a particular problem and, more importantly, feel comfortable with them. Many practicing professional scientists, trained in a traditional discipline, will feign ignorance at a topic that covers scales that they are totally unfamiliar with -- e.g. the chemist who looks disbelievingly at discussions of "geologic" time. The environmentalist does not have this luxury. Being able to recognize and construct appropriate models is another set of skills the environmental scientist (liberally educated person ?) should have. As we make clear in our introductory lecture on this topic, all models are flawed -- imperfect. However, identifying the critical elements to include in a model AND recongizing the limitations of a model are fundamental activities for the well trained environmental scientist. We ask our students, repeatedly, over the course of the semester, to identify the model driving a particular analsysis and to build simple models as the first step in any laboratory exercise.
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