Editing Environmental science (section)

{{Short description|Study of the environment}}
{{Redirect|Environmental research|the academic journal|Environmental Research}}
{{For|the TV series episode|Environmental Science (Community)}}
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'''Environmental science''' is an [[interdisciplinary]] [[academic field]] that integrates [[physics]], [[biology]], [[meteorology]], [[mathematics]] and [[geography]] (including [[ecology]], [[chemistry]], [[plant science]], [[zoology]], [[mineralogy]], [[oceanography]], [[limnology]], [[soil science]], [[geology]] and [[physical geography]], and [[atmospheric science]]) to the study of the environment, and the solution of environmental problems. Environmental science emerged from the fields of [[natural history]] and [[medicine]] during the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Eddy|first1=Matthew Daniel|title=The Language of Mineralogy: John Walker, Chemistry and the Edinburgh Medical School 1750-1800|date=2008|publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing]]|url=https://www.academia.edu/1112014}}</ref> Today it provides an integrated, quantitative, and [[interdisciplinary]] approach to the study of [[ecosystem|environmental systems]].<ref>Environmental Science: Iowa State University. Environmental Sciences provides an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to understand and mitigate hazards arising from anthropogenic and natural activities by focusing on key areas of environmental chemistry, earth sciences, environmental engineering, atmospheric sciences, and sustainable systems. http://www.ensci.iastate.edu {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200127173049/https://www.ensci.iastate.edu/ |date=27 January 2020 }} (Accessed 17 February 2010)</ref>

Environmental scientists seek to understand the earth's  physical, chemical, biological, and geological processes, and to use that knowledge to understand how issues such as [[alternative energy]] systems, [[pollution control]] and mitigation, [[natural resource management]], and the [[Effects of climate change|effects of global warming and climate change]] influence and affect the natural systems and processes of earth.
[[Environmental issues]] almost always include an interaction of physical, chemical, and biological processes. Environmental scientists bring a systems approach to the analysis of environmental problems. Key elements of an effective environmental scientist include the ability to relate space, and time relationships as well as quantitative analysis.

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 law]]s 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]]<ref>Carson, Rachel. ''Silent Spring'' (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1962), Mariner Books, 2002, {{ISBN|0-618-24906-0}}</ref>'' 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.