Structure of the Earth System (5-8)

* The solid earth is layered: an outer crust, inner mantle, and dense metallic core. * The crust is made of huge plates that the oceans and continents rest on. The plates move at centimeters per year. Major geologic events: earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountains occur because of plate movement. * Some changes in the earth are called the "rock cycle". * Soils consist of weathered rocks and decomposes organic matter. * Water circulates through the crust, oceans, and atmosphere in the "water cycle". * The atmosphere is a mixture of gases. * Global patterns of atmospheric movement influences local weather. (NSES, 1996)
Science is a way of practising knowledge, as well as the knowledge itself, whereas technology is the application of science, particularly to industrial or commercial objectives. Technology can also be defined as the scientific methods and materials used to achieve industrial objectives. On many resources, the amount of resources available are limited and not able to be replaced. These are non-renewable resources such as oil which is used to make plastic, gasoline, and other fuels. Some are renewable, but you have to remember that often they can only be renewed so fast and not all of them may get renewed. Trees are a renewable resource, so paper comes from a renewable resource. As populations grow, the strain on resources grow. Non-renewable resources become the greater strain because they can't be renewed and their availability keeps dwindling as the population and use of them keeps growing. Renewable resources can be replenished, however there is only so much ground out there to use to replenish them and they can only be replenished so fast. So as the population grows, so does the strain on replenishing renewable resources and being able to supply everyone that needs that resource.

Environmental quality is a set of properties and characteristics of the environment, either generalized or local, as they impinge on human beings and other organisms. It is a measure of the condition of an environment relative to the requirements of one or more species and or to any human need or purpose.[1]
The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) was established in the US by Executive Order on November 23, 1993. This Cabinet-level council is the principal means within the executive branch to coordinate science and technology policy across the diverse entities that make up the Federal research and development enterprise. Chaired by the President and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the membership of the NSTC is made up of the Vice President, Cabinet Secretaries and Agency Heads with significant science and technology responsibilities, and other White House officials where necessary.