HUMANS AND THE GEOLOGIC ENVIRONMENT Chapter Outline Introduction What is Geology? Scientific Inquiry How Science Operates Science and Society Environmental Geology Environmental Problems and Time Scales Geologic Time Environmental Risk and Human Reaction Earth as a System The Earth and Human Population Population Growth Limits to Growth Sustainability Ecological Footprint Environmentalism Box Readings: Case Study 1.1: Harmful Algae Blooms and Humans Interacting with the Earth System Case Study 1.2: Collapse of a Society and its Fragile Ecosystem Student Learning Outcomes 1. Describe the major focus of the discipline called environmental geology. 2. Characterize how scientists develop hypotheses and theories as a means of understanding the natural world. 3. Describe the concept of geologic time and how the geologic time scale was constructed.