--- title: Environmental Science description: This field examines the interactions between physical, chemical, and biological components of the environment. Learners will understand human impacts on ecosystems, biodiversity loss, and the scientific principles behind sustainability and conservation strategies. category: sciences subcategory: earth-and-environmental-science difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/environmental-science --- # Environmental Science This field examines the interactions between physical, chemical, and biological components of the environment. Learners will understand human impacts on ecosystems, biodiversity loss, and the scientific principles behind sustainability and conservation strategies. ## Available Resources 2 Books • 5 Courses • 9 Websites ## Websites ### 1. Our World in Data - Environment A collection of charts, datasets, and explainer articles covering greenhouse gas emissions, energy, biodiversity loss, deforestation, waste, and water use. Readers can trace long-run trends by country and download the underlying data for their own analysis. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://ourworldindata.org/environment **Tags:** data-visualization, greenhouse-gas-emissions, biodiversity, statistics, sustainability ### 2. EPA Environmental Topics The US Environmental Protection Agency's directory of regulatory and scientific pages on air quality, water, chemicals, waste, land cleanup, and pesticides. Readers can find current US standards, monitoring data, and the statutes behind each program area. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.epa.gov/environmental-topics **Tags:** epa, environmental-regulation, air-quality, water-quality, pollution ### 3. NASA Climate Kids NASA's introductory site explaining the greenhouse effect, carbon cycle, sea level rise and weather versus climate through short articles, games and videos. Gives newcomers of any age a plain vocabulary for the basic mechanisms. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://climatekids.nasa.gov/ **Tags:** climate-science, greenhouse-effect, earth-science, nasa ### 4. epa.gov EPA.gov is the official website of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, providing policy guidance, regulations, and data on environmental issues. It covers air and water quality, climate, pollution prevention, enforcement, grants, and educational resources for researchers, policymakers, and the public. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://epa.gov **Tags:** websites, science-research, climate-action ### 5. climate.nasa.gov NASA's Climate Change site provides accessible explanations of climate science and current data visualizations on temperature, greenhouse gases, sea level, and impacts, with interactive maps and datasets. It offers educational resources and materials for students, educators, and researchers. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://climate.nasa.gov **Tags:** websites, science-research, earth-science ### 6. Yale Environment 360 Online magazine published at Yale that runs long-form reporting, analysis and interviews on global environmental issues, including climate change, energy, biodiversity loss, water and conservation policy. Readers follow current environmental science and understand the evidence and debates behind major environmental problems. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://e360.yale.edu **Tags:** environmental-journalism, climate-change, biodiversity, energy, water-resources ### 7. iucn.org IUCN.org is the official site of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It offers conservation data, reports, and tools—including the Red List of Threatened Species, biodiversity dashboards, policy resources, and news on nature-based solutions. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://iucn.org **Tags:** websites, science-research, environmental-science ### 8. wwf.org WWF.org is the official website of the World Wildlife Fund, focusing on biodiversity conservation, climate, forests, oceans, and sustainable living. It features news, research and reports, species information, and action-oriented campaigns and resources. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://wwf.org **Tags:** websites, science-research, earth-science ### 9. unep.org UNEP.org is the official website of the United Nations Environment Programme, offering policy guidance, research, data, and news on global environmental issues. It features circular economy content—concepts, case studies, tools, and policy resources to advance sustainable production, consumption, and resource management. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://unep.org **Tags:** websites, science-research, climate-action ## Courses ### 1. Introduction to Ecology Learn ecology basics: populations, communities, ecosystems, and the environment. Free course by Khan Academy Team! **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/ecology **Tags:** ecology, biology, ecosystems, population-dynamics, video-lessons ### 2. Global Environmental Management **Author:** Henrik Bregnhøj, Steffen Foss Hansen Technical University of Denmark course on global environmental trends and how environments are managed, with cases from Greenland, China and Denmark. Covers water supply, wastewater and solid waste, stormwater, soil management, groundwater protection and integrated water resources management, comparing management approaches. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/global-environmental-management **Tags:** environmental-management, water-resources, waste-management, groundwater-protection, sustainable-development ### 3. The Environment of the Earth's Surface (MIT 12.090) **Author:** John Southard Surface processes drawing on geology, climatology, hydrology and soil science: production and movement of surficial materials, soils and erosion, precipitation, streams and lakes, groundwater flow, and glaciers. The page provides the full open textbook and exams, grounding practical management of the physical environment. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/12-090-the-environment-of-the-earths-surface-spring-2007/ **Tags:** geomorphology, earth-surface-processes, soil-erosion, hydrology, groundwater, glaciers ### 4. Environmental Science The Introduction to Environmental Science course explores the field of environmental science and encourages participants to understand how environmental scientists think. It addresses some important questions such as: 1. What is the difference between environmental science and environmental studies? 2. How do both differ from environmentalism? 3. Why is energy so important in environmental science? 4. What do you mean by biodiversity? You will also explore what global cycles are and how they impact our lives. You must be aware that the human impact on biodiversity and global change are two of the most important discussion points in environmental science. Have you ever wondered how we are affecting global change and biodiversity? How can we reconcile human population growth, resource demands and sustainability? The effects of global change on humans and natural ecosystems and additional factors in evaluating personal environmental impact will also be discussed in this course. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/environmental-science **Tags:** courses, science-research, earth-science ### 5. Environmental Studies: A Global Perspective Six-week introductory CurtinX course on basic environmental principles and how they play out in urban, rural and natural areas worldwide. Takes a solutions-focused approach, asking learners to document local environmental challenges and share them with a global cohort. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.edx.org/learn/environmental-science/curtin-university-environmental-studies-a-global-perspective **Tags:** environmental-studies, sustainability, urban-environments, environmental-challenges ## Books ### 1. Silent Spring **Author:** Rachel Carson Carson's 1962 account of how synthetic pesticides, DDT above all, accumulate through food chains and damage birds, fish and human health. The chemistry is explained carefully, and the book's reception helped drive the US ban on agricultural DDT. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/Silent-Spring-Rachel-Carson/dp/0618249060?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** book, health-medicine, medical-sciences ### 2. Environmental Science **Author:** G. Tyler Miller Introductory college textbook surveying ecosystems, biodiversity, population, energy, pollution, and resource use through case studies and data figures. Readers finish able to reason about environmental trade-offs and evaluate sustainability claims against scientific evidence. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0534376142?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, science-research, earth-science --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/environmental-science