environmental science

environmental science, interdisciplinary academic field that draws on ecology, geology, meteorology, biology, chemistry, engineering, and physics to study environmental problems and human impacts on the environment. Environmental science is a quantitative discipline with both applied and theoretical aspects and has been influential in informing the policies of governments around the world. Environmental science is considered separate from environmental studies, which emphasizes the human relationship with the environment and the social and political dimensions thereof. For example, whereas a researcher in environmental studies might focus on the economic and political dimensions of international climate-change protocols, an environmental scientist would seek to understand climate change by quantifying its effects with models and evaluating means of mitigation.

Though the study of the environment is as old as any human endeavour, the modern field of environmental science developed from the growing public awareness and concern about environmental problems in the 1960s and ’70s. The publication of books such as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) and Paul R. Ehrlich’s The Population Bomb (1968), together with nuclear proliferation and growing concerns over the anthropogenic release of toxins and chemicals, raised awareness about the need to study the effects of human actions on the environment. The burgeoning field of environmental science took on the task of quantifying the effects of disasters such as the 1979 Three Mile Island accident or the impact of atmospheric sulfur dioxide and other emissions on acid rain. Environmental scientists analyze a wide variety of environmental problems and potential solutions, including alternative energy systems, pollution control, and natural resource management, and may be employed by government, industry, universities, or nonprofit organizations.