Environmental science is often confused with other fields of related interest, especially ecology, environmental studies, environmental education, and environmental engineering. Renewed interest in environmental issues in the late 1960s and early 1970s, gave rise to numerous programs at many universities in the United States and other countries, most under two rubrics: environmental science or environmental studies. The former focused, as might be expected, on scientific questions and issues of environmental interest; the latter were often courses, with the emphasis on questions of environmental ethics, aesthetics, literature, etc.

These new academic units marked the first formal appearance of environmental science on most campuses, at least by that label. But environmental science is essentially the application of scientific methods and principles to the study of environmental questions, so it has probably been around in some form as long as science itself. Air and water quality research, for example...