Top Highlights

• At its core, environmental science is like any science — based on a methodical way of asking and answering questions to expand the human understanding of the natural world.
• The scientific method is simply a methodical approach to asking questions and collecting information to answer those questions.
• Living things, or organisms, either capture the sun’s energy (through photosynthesis) or get their energy by eating other living things.
• Climate scientists observe how different parts of the Earth are warmed by the sun to greater or lesser degrees, and they track how heat from the sun moves around the globe in atmospheric and ocean currents.
• The patterns of living communities on Earth are called biomes. Scientists define each biome according to its temperature and moisture levels and the types of plants and animals that have adapted to live within those limits.