In the modern world, it’s easy to take for granted some specialists and structures that keep us healthy or safe on the daily: sanitation workers and pharmacists, bridge beams and highway paint, even fungi and maggots (and soon their secretions?) — to name a few. Most of us could add environmental scientists to that list.
Whether or not you have met an environmental scientist in the flesh, it’s a solid bet that their work has shaped your life, often for the better. This can apply to daily physical and mental health support or countless civic systems that benefit our lives, given the broad reach of the field. But what is an environmental scientist?
At its core, the field of environmental science typically involves identifying and limiting harm between humans and the natural world. The pursuit often illuminates how that harm can go both ways.
Specialists in this arena generally monitor ...
