Introducing Environmental Science and Sustainability

Introducing Environmental Science and Sustainability

Chapter 1

SustainabilitySustainability

Web Definitions:Social and environmental practices that protect and enhance the human and natural resources needed by future generations to enjoy a quality of life equal to or greater than our own.

A strategy by which communities seek economic development approaches that also benefit the local environment and quality of life. ...

Systems PerspectiveSystems Perspective

What is this and what other perspective might we have had at one time?

What is this and what other perspective might we have had at one time?

Earth AgesEarth Ages

Extreme PovertyExtreme Poverty

1:2 earn less than two dollars a day

Poverty

1:2 earn less than two dollars a day

Poverty

Increasing Human Numbers

Old World At Night

How many is too many?

Could We All Live In…1. Could we all live in Georgia?

- 43,560 Square feet in an acre or 91% of a football field minus the end zones- 640 acres in a square mile- 57,906 square miles in Georgia

Georgia = 37,059,840 AcresTexas = 172 Million and changeUS Population = 304 Million

2. 11,000,000 acres of land devoted to farms in Georgia

3. 23,631,000 acres devoted to timber in Georgia

Hectares of Land Required

Ecological footprintOne U.S. Child has a 1:12 Ratio of consumption

Overpopulation Vs Consumption

Resources

The Middle Class

Why is a middle class significant?

Environmental Impact

IPAT Model

I = P A T

New Model IPAT

I = P x A x T1

I = P x A T2

Ray C. Anderson

Tragedy of CommonsSustainability and the Tragedy of the Commons

Garrett Hardin

In England and Wales, a common (or common land) is a piece of land over which other people—often neighboring landowners—could exercise one of a number of traditional rights, such as allowing their cattle to graze upon it. - HOA

Feedback

Scientific Method - relative to our study

"The greatest invention of the nineteenth century was the invention of the method of invention." -- A.N. Whitehead (1926)

Steps:1.Observation and description of a phenomena2.Formation of a hypothesis3.Use hypothesis to predict phenomena -

experiment - null hypothesis4. Independent testing by others5.Share your results - publish

A theory can never be proven only disproved

Environmental Science

Hypothesis: Burning will increase frequency of prairie wildflowers.

Which is the: control group, IV, DV

Experimentation

Independent Variable (IV): The Independent part is what you, the experimenter, changes or enacts in order to do your experiment. X axis

Dependent Variable (DV): The dependent variable is what changes when the independent variable changes. There can be more than one dependent variable. Y Axis

Control Group:Control Group: A trial in an experiment where all factors are kept from changing.

Constants: unchanging qualities

Lake Washington & Pugent Sound

What was done here, and what was the case used to demonstrate?