Environmental Science & Technology

 Environmental Science & Technology is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal published since 1967 by the American Chemical Society. It covers research in environmental science and environmental technology, including environmental policy. Environmental Science & Technology has a sister journal, Environmental Science & Technology Letters, which publishes short communications.

Environmental Science & Technology

Environmental Science is the study of the environment, the processes it undergoes, and the issues that arise generally from the interaction of humans and the natural world.

It is an interdisciplinary science because it is an integration of various fields such as: biology, chemistry, physics, geology, engineering, sociology, and most especially ecology. All these scientific disciplines are relevant to the identification and resolution of environmental problems.

Environmental science came alive as a substantive, active field of scientific investigation in the 1960s and 1970s driven by (a) the need for a multi-disciplinary approach to analyze complex environmental problems, (b) the arrival of substantive environmental laws requiring specific environmental protocols of investigation and (c) the growing public awareness of a need for action in addressing environmental problems. Events that spurred this development included the publication of Rachel Carson's landmark environmental book Silent Spring[3] along with major environmental issues becoming very public, such as the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, and the Cuyahoga River of Cleveland, Ohio, "catching fire" (also in 1969), and helped increase the visibility of environmental issues and create this new field of study.

Terminology

In common usage, "environmental science" and "ecology" are often used interchangeably, but technically, ecology refers only to the study of organisms and their interactions with each other as well as how they interrelate with environment. Ecology could be considered a subset of environmental science, which also could involve purely chemical or public health issues (for example) ecologists would be unlikely to study. In practice, there are considerable similarities between the work of ecologists and other environmental scientists. There is substantial overlap between ecology and environmental science with the disciplines of fisheries, forestry, and wildlife.[citation needed]

Environmental studies incorporates more of the social sciences for understanding human relationships, perceptions and policies towards the environment. Environmental engineering focuses on design and technology for improving environmental quality in every aspect.[citation needed]

History

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Ancient civilizations

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Historical concern for environmental issues is well documented in archives around the world.^[4] Ancient civilizations were mainly concerned with what is now known as environmental science insofar as it related to agriculture and natural resources. Scholars believe that early interest in the environment began around 6000 BCE when ancient civilizations in Israel and Jordan collapsed due to deforestation.^[5] As a result, in 2700 BCE the first legislation limiting deforestation was established in Mesopotamia.^[5] Two hundred years later, in 2500 BCE, a community residing in the Indus River Valley observed the nearby river system in order to improve sanitation.^[5] This involved manipulating the flow of water to account for public health. In the Western Hemisphere, numerous ancient Central American city-states collapsed around 1500 BCE due to soil erosion from intensive agriculture.^[5] Those remaining from these civilizations took greater attention to the impact of farming practices on the sustainability of the land and its stable food production. Furthermore, in 1450 BCE the Minoan civilization on the Greek island of Crete declined due to deforestation and the resulting environmental degradation of natural resources.^[5] Pliny the Elder somewhat addressed the environmental concerns of ancient civilizations in the text Naturalis Historia, written between 77 and 79 ACE, which provided an overview of many related subsets of the discipline.^[6]

Although warfare and disease were of primary concern in ancient society, environmental issues played a crucial role in the survival and power of different civilizations. As more communities recognized the importance of the natural world to their long-term success, an interest in studying the environment came into existence.^{[citation needed]}

^{archives, public awareness of environmental issues, and international scientific communication.[11] The ability to crowdsource on the Internet, for example, represents the process of collectivizing knowledge from researchers around the world to create increased opportunity for scientific progress.[11] With crowdsourcing, data is released to the public for personal analyses which can later be shared as new information is found.[11] Another technological development, blockchain technology, monitors and regulates global fisheries.[11] By tracking the path of fish through global markets, environmental scientists can observe whether certain species are being overharvested to the point of extinction.[11] Additionally, remote sensing allows for the detection of features of the environment without physical intervention.[11] The resulting digital imagery is used to create increasingly accurate models of environmental processes, climate change, and much more. Advancements to remote sensing technology are particularly useful in locating the nonpoint sources of pollution and analyzing ecosystem health through image analysis across the electromagnetic spectrum. Lastly, thermal imaging technology is used in wildlife management to catch and discourage poachers and other illegal wildlife traffickers from killing endangered animals, proving useful for conservation efforts.[11] Artificial intelligence has also been used to predict the movement of animal populations and protect the habitats of wildlife.[11]}