Environmental Science

This study material covers topics such as renewable and non-renewable energy sources, Hetch Hetchy watershed, endangered species, reasons to conserve nature, and sustainable agriculture.

Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Environmental Science
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Table of Contents
Part 1................................................................................................................................................2
Part 2................................................................................................................................................2
Reference.........................................................................................................................................6

2ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Part 1
1. The 2 types of the energy categories are renewable and the non-renewable energy sources.
The three renewable energy sources are solar energy, wind energy and tidal energy. While the
three non-renewable energy sources are the coal, oil and natural gas. The benefits of using these
energy types is that the sources of energy and it helps in generating electricity, running engines
and big machineries (Alrikabi, 2014).
2. The 2 different types of the energy types provide two different types of experience. The
renewable energy sources include the solar energy, tidal energy and wind energy and these
energy sources are environment friendly and do not environmental pollution. While the non-
renewable energy sources include the oil, coal and natural gas. These energy sources itself
contain a specific energy value and engines can be used to transform into mechanical, electrical
and heat energy (Alrikabi, 2014).
3. Environmental impact of the nonrenewable energy is high in comparison to the renewable
sources of energy. The renewable sources of energy provide the cleanest source of energy by
harnessing the natural sources like solar energy, wind energy and tidal energy. While the non-
renewable sources of energy generate highest amount of pollutants (Shahzad, 2012).
4. The non-renewable sources of energy are finite and cannot be renewed. While the renewable
sources of energy are renewable. For example, the wind energy can be harnessed effectively with
the wind turbines by converting the mechanical energy into electrical energy. Wind is created by
the pressure difference across regions and it is a natural process which makes it a renewable
source of energy (Shahzad, 2012).
Part 2

3ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
1. The Hetch Hetchy is a watershed area, and it is located in the Yosemite National Park. This
area provides an approximately 85 percent of the water needs of San Francisco. The snowmelt
water during the spring moves down and it fills the Hetch Hetchy, which is the largest reservoir
in the Hetch Hetchy water system. It is important to note that the surface water in Reservoir of
Hetch Hetchy is treated. However, it is not filtered due to its high quality (Sfwater.org, 2019).
While it is important to mention that the quality of water supplied from the Hetch Hetchy
water reservoir is of high quality. However, the major issue is that majority of the times the
water supplied by the Hetch Hetchy water reservoir is enough. The Demand for water is high and
the Hetch Hetchy water reservoir is unable to meet the rising demands of water supply. The
shortage of supply is the single most concern (Sfwater.org, 2019). Water conservation is an
important step towards the reducing wastage of water. The water conservation strategy that is
used world over is the rainwater harvesting. Rain water harvesting will require the entire surface
area of the roof (Sfwater.org, 2019). Thus, during the rainy season water can be passed to the
underground tanks and that same water can be used for different purposes. Rainwater is one of
the purest forms of water, and it can be used for gardening, cleaning and washing cars and bikes.
This will effectively reduce the dependence on the drinking water for cleaning purposes. Using
rain water can effectively reduce the overdependence on the supply of water from Hetch Hetchy
water reservoir.
2. After conducting a search of the Fish and Wildlife Service website, one species which is
endangered in the San Francisco area is the Southern Sea Otter. The species is endangered in the
19th century sea otters are hunted and this led to near extinction. The main reason behind hunting
is for fur. Unlike most other sea mammals, the Sea otters do not have a blubber to stay protected
from the cold ocean water. However, instead the sea otter has a thick coat and it is thickets in the

4ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
animal kingdom. This thick coat prevents the sea otter from hypothermia. The second big reason
is the crude oil spill. The crude oil spill can kill the sea otters in two different ways. Firstly, the
black oily substances sticks to the fur of the sea otter and renders them incapable of insulating
sea otter from cold. Secondly, when the sea otters try to remove the black oily substance from
their fur by their mouth and claws, then the sea otters ingest a high amount of oil and this leads
to organ damage (Sfbaywildlife.info, 2019).
Due to the endangered status, the southern sea otters are recognized and provided
protection under the Marine Mammal protection Act. The reason cited for listing the southern
sea otters in the endangered category are the risk of oil spill from the coastal tanker traffic,
vulnerability from the oil spills, population size and reduced range. The fur trade is banned
which is the main reason of killing in the 18th and the 19th century. The steel nets are considered
to be extremely lethal for the sea otters and due to this steel nets are banned through the coastal
areas and in each and every region in California. The southern sea otters are provided protection
under the Endangered species Act (Fws.gov, 2019).
3. The reasons that are mentioned for conserving life on earth are divided into two types. The
first type is the tangible quality and the second is the intangible quality. The tangible qualities
include the ecological and the utilitarian aspect. While the intangible qualities include the
cultural, inspirational, spiritual, recreational, moral and aesthetic (Pearson, 2016). However, it is
important to mention that the reasons cited are convincing because for the following reason. The
utilitarian concept justifies that the several wild species can prove to be useful to many now or in
the near future. Thus, it is the duty of the humans to protect such species from extinction; The
ecological justification presents that organisms are necessary to maintain the functions of the
biosphere and ecosystems; The aesthetic justification highlights that biological diversity leads to

5ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
the enhancing the quality of life as it provides the appealing and the beautiful aspects of
existence; moral justification implies that species have the right to exist and also without the
dependence of the humans; cultural justification says that the endangered, threatened and certain
species are of huge importance to the indigenous people because they rely on such species for
their food, shelter, and vegetation (Pearson, 2016).
4. Sustainable agriculture takes different forms, however in the core it is a deviation from the
industrial approach for food production. The sustainable agriculture relies on the government
subsidies, biotechnology, fertilizers, chemical pesticides, mechanization and monoculture. The
sustainable agriculture has made food affordable and abundant (Nationalgeographic.com, 2019).
The current form of large-scale industrial agriculture practices is mainly based increasing
the food production and affordability. This has led to an increase in the usage of high quantity of
pesticides for hindering pest attack, fertilizers are used to increase the degree of production, and
genetic manipulation of the crop varieties so that it can sustain drought and other extreme
weather conditions. The genetic manipulation has led to the increase in the crop production,
while it has rendered the wild crop varieties extinct. Thus, it can be said that the large-scale
industrial agriculture practice is not sustainable (Logan et al., 2013).
The examples of the sustainable agricultural practice include eliminating or reducing
tillage; plating cover crops’ embracing diversity and rotating crops; application of the integrated
pest management; integrating crops and livestock; adoption of the agroforestry practices;
managing landscapes and whole systems (ucsusa.org, 2019).

6ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Reference
Alrikabi, N. K. M. A. (2014). Renewable energy types. Journal of Clean Energy
Technologies, 2(1), 61-64.
Fws.gov. (2019). Endangered Species Program | About Us | Featured Species: Southern Sea
Otter. Retrieved from https://www.fws.gov/endangered/about/ep-35.html
Logan, L. H., Karlsson, E. M., Gall, H. E., Park, J., Emery, N., Owens, P., ... & Rao, P. S. C.
(2013). Freshwater Wetlands: Balancing Food and Water Security with Resilience of
Ecological and Social Systems. In Climate Vulnerability: Understanding and Addressing
Threats to Essential Resources (pp. 105-116).
Nationalgeographic.com. (2019). Sustainable Agriculture. Retrieved from
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/sustainable-agriculture/
Pearson, R. G. (2016). Reasons to conserve nature. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 31(5), 366-
371.
Sfbaywildlife.info. (2019). Endangered Species of Wildlife in San Francisco Bay Area :
sfbaywildlife.info. Retrieved from http://www.sfbaywildlife.info/species/endangered.htm
Sfwater.org. (2019). Rainwater Harvesting. Retrieved from https://www.sfwater.org/index.aspx?
page=178
Sfwater.org. (2019). Serving 2.7 million residential, commercial and industrial customers.
Retrieved from https://sfwater.org/index.aspx?page=355
Shahzad, U. (2012). The Need for Renewable Energy Sources. International Journal of
Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, 2, 3.

7ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
ucsusa.org. (2019). What Is Sustainable Agriculture?. Retrieved from
https://www.ucsusa.org/food-agriculture/advance-sustainable-agriculture/what-is-
sustainable-agriculture