22nd of June, 2011 - Principles of Environmental Science Class

Today's class starts
in the morning at 9am
but the lesson of Chapter 1
starts around 11am lawl

Hence, we learn about
Chapter 1 - Understanding Our Environment

Key Terms
Analytical Thinking
is you Analise and think about a concept
or about anything.
:Reference:

Biocentric Preservation
Biocentric is the belief that all living
organisms have an inalienable right
in life. That each organism should live
and let live, allow the pursuit of
their own interests.
:Reference:

Blind Experiments
Single-blind describes experiments
where information that could
introduce bias or otherwise
skew the result is withheld
from the participants, but
the experimenter will be
in full possession of the facts
:Reference:
:Example:

Controlled Studies
A randomized controlled trial (RCT)
is a type of scientific experiment
-a form of clinical trial-
most commonly used in testing the safety
(or more specifically, information
about adverse drug reactions and adverse
effects of other treatments)
and efficacy or effectiveness
of healthcare services
(such as medicine or nursing)
or health technologies
(such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices or surgery)
:Reference:

Creative Thinking
is thinking outside the box
or thinking creatively
LAWL

Critical Thinking
is a way of deciding
if a claim or issue is true or false
through interpretation, analysis,
evaluation, inference,
explanation and self-regulation

Deductive Reasoning
is reasoning which constructs or
evaluates deductive arguments.
Deductive argument is a form
of argument in which one
reasons from premises (data)
that are known or assumed to be true
to a conclusion that follows
logically from these premises (data)

Double-blind Design
Double-blind describes an especially
stringent way of conducting an experiment,
usually on human subjects, in an attempt
to eliminate subjective bias on the part
of both experimental subjects
and the experimenters.
In most cases,
double-blind experiments are
held to achieve a higher standard
of scientific rigor.
:Reference:
:Example:

Environment
is the circumstances and conditions
that surround an organism or
a group of organisms

Environment Science
is the systematic study of our
environment and our place in it

Global Environmentalism
is a concern for, and action to help solve,
global environmental problems.
Global interconnections have expanded
environmentalism so our attention has shifted
from preserving particular landscapes
or preventing pollution of a specific watershed or air-shed
to worrying about the life-support systems
of the whole planet.
:Reference:

Hypothesis
is a specific statement of prediction.

Inductive Reasoning
is a kind of reasoning that constructs
or evaluates inductive arguments.
On the other hand, it is (also) reasoning from
a specific case or cases to a general rule.
In other words a contrast of
deductive reasoning.
:Reference:

Logical Thinking
is the process in which
one uses reasoning consistently
to come to a conclusion.
It answers "Can orderly reasoning help?"

Arithmetic Mean
The arithmetic mean of a set of values
is the quantity commonly
called "the" mean or the average.
Given a set of samples , the arithmetic mean is

:Reference:

Modern Environmentalism
is today's environmental issues
(biodiversity, global warming, green politics,
conservation, climate change, etc.)

Paradigms
is the intellectual perception or view,
accepted by an individual or a society
as a clear example, model,
or pattern of how things work in the world.
:Reference:

Parsimony
Unusual or excessive frugality and/or
extreme economy or stinginess.

Probability
is a way of expressing knowledge
or belief that an event will occur or has occurred.
The concept has an exact mathematical meaning
in probability theory where it is the branch of mathematics
concerned with analysis of random phenomena
:Reference:

Reflective Thinking
involves personal consideration of one's own learning.
Answers "What does it all mean?"

Reproducibility
is the ability of a experiment or study
to be accurately reproduced, or replicated,
by someone else working independently.
:Reference:

Sample
is a portion, piece, or segment
that is representative of a whole.

Scientific Theory
comprises a collection of concepts, including abstractions
of observable phenomena expressed as
quantifiable properties, together with rules
(called scientific laws)
that express relationships between
observations of such concepts.
:Reference:
:Other Reference:
:Example (Collision Theory):

Significant Numbers
are those digits that carry meaning
contributing to its precision.
:Example:

Statistics
is the study of the collection,
organization, and interpretation of data,
which deals with all aspects of this,
including the planning of data collection
in terms of the design of surveys and experiments
:Reference:

Sustainability
is the capacity to endure.
In ecology,
the word describes how biological systems
remain diverse and productive over time.
:Reference:

Sustainable Development
is a pattern of resource use, that aims
to meet human needs while preserving the environment
so that these needs can be met
not only in the present, but also for generations to come
:Reference:

Utilitarian Conservation
Utilitarian is essentially using
all of the resources we have available
to us right now in a careful manner.
:Reference:

--------------------------

Had to actually read
the whole definition for about 3-4 times
for me to actually understand it fully (=w=)

And so in today's class

We learned about the terms
that we will mostly encounter
when learning the subject.

We learned that environmental issues
interconnects will a whole
lot more issues and vise versa

We learned that this knowledge
has been long considered
since the Classical Period

Then, we learned more terms..lawl

We learned a little bit about the
history of conservation and
environmentalism
which I still can't keep it through my head

We learned about global issues.

We learned about human impact
and human dimension.

We learned that America
throws away 160 million tons
of garbage every year
LAWL

and we learned that locals throw
150 tonnes of plastics every day
So LAWL

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I guess that's all for today
Until Next Time! :D