Env200 Chap 1 Introduction to Environmental Sciences
Transcript of Env200 Chap 1 Introduction to Environmental Sciences
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TOENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ENVIRONMENTALPROBLEMS,THEIR CAUSES AND
SUSTAINABILITY
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
I. What is Environmental ScienceA. Definitions
II. SustainabilityA. Definition
B. Environmentally Sustainable Societies
III. Population GrowthA. Economic Growth
B. Economic Development
IV. ResourcesA. Definition
B. The Tragedy of the Commons
C. Ecological Footprin t
V. Environmental Problems:A. Major Causes
B. Major Connections
VI. Environmental WorldviewsA. Planetary Management Worldview
B. Stewardship Worldview
C. Environmental Wisdom Worldview
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I. What is Environmental Science?
A. Definitions:
Environment: ( from the French wordenvironner): to encircle or to surround.
Environmentis all circumstances or the conditionsthat surround an organism or a group oforganisms.
Environmentis the social, and culturalconditions that affect an individual or a community.
The natural world where humans live in, as well
as the built or technological, social, and culturalworld; all constitute important parts of ourenvironment.
I.What is Environmental Science?
A. Definitions: (contd)
Environmental Science: is a systematic study ofour environment and our place in it.
Environmental science is highly interdisciplinary.It integrates information from natural sciencessuch as biology, chemistry, agriculture, that studythe natural world; as well as the social sciencessuch as economics, politics, ethics that study how
humans and institutions interact with the naturalworld
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II. Sustainability:
A. Definit ion Sustainability or durabilityis the ability of earths
various systems, including human cultural systemsand economies to survive and adapt to changingenvironmental conditions.
Our existence, lifestyles, and economies dependcompletely on the sun and earth. This is our solarand natural capital
Natural capitalconsists of all resources and
ecological services that support life on earth. Thispriceless gift that nature provides at no cost to ussustains life on our planet.
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Fig. 1-4, p. 9
+=NATURAL RESOURCES NATURAL SERVICES
NATURAL CAPITAL NATURAL RESOURCES NATURAL SERVICES
Air Air puri ficat ionWater purification
Water storage
Soil renewal
Nutrient recycling
Food production
Conservation ofbiodiversity
Wildlife habitat
Grassland andforest renewal
Waste treatment
Climate controlPopulation control(species interactions
Pest Control
NATURAL CAPITAL = +
Water
Soil
Land
Nonrenewableminerals(iron, sand)
Life (Biodiversity)
Renewable energysun, wind, waterflows
Nonrenewableenergy (fossil fuels,nuclear power)
NATURAL RESOURCES NATURAL SERVICES
II. Sustainability:
A. Definit ion (contd) The path to sustainability comprises five essential
components: natural capital, natural capitaldegradation, solutions, trade-offs, andindividuals matter.
All components to sustainability must besupported by science.
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II. Sustainability: (contd)
B. Environmentally Sustainable
Societies:
An environmentally sustainable society meets thecurrent needs of its people for food, clean water,clean air, shelter, and other basic resources withoutcompromising the ability of future generations tomeet their own needs
Living sustainably means living off natural incomereplenished by soils, plants, air, and water; without
depleting or degrading the earth natural capital thatsupplies this biological income
III. Population growth
The rate at which the world population is growinghas slowed but the population is still increasingrapidly and is unequally distributed between richand poor people.
The world population is still increasing at anexponential rate of 1.23% (2006), that is anincrease of about 81million people a year.
This increase has dangerous impact and mayreduce the time we have to find solutions toenvironmental problems and challenges we face.
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Fig. 1-1, p. 6
Industrial
Revolution
?
Agr icul tural revo lutionHunting and
Gathering
Time
Black Deaththe Plague
III. Population growth
III. Population growth
A. Economic Growth:
Economic growth is an increase in the capacity ofa country to provide people with goods andservices.
Measured in gross domestic product (GDP), theannual market value of all goods and servicesproduced by all firms and organizations
operating within the country Usually GDP is combined with purchasing
power parity (PPP).
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III. Population growth
B. Economic Development:
Economic development uses economic growthto improve living standards. The United Nations (UN), classifies The worlds
countries economic status as developed vs.developing, based on their degree of industrializationand their per capita GDP-PPP.
The developed countries (1.2 billion people),USA, Canada, J apan, Australia, New-Zealandand most European countries
The developing countries (5.4 billion people),most of which are in Asia, Africa, and Latin
America. Some are middle income, moderately
developed, others are low income countries
Fig. 1-6, p. 11
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III. Population growth
IV. Resources:
A. Definition
From a human standpoint, a resource is anythingobtained from the environment to meet our needsand wants. Example: food, water, shelter
In our short human time scale, we classify the materialresources as:
Perpetual: On a human time scale arecontinuous. Ex: the sun
Renewable: On a human time scale can bereplenished rapidly (e.g. hours to several
decades). Ex: fresh water, air, forests,grasslands, Nonrenewable: On a human time scale are in
fixed supply. Ex: oil, natural gas, metallic and non-metallic mineral resources,
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IV. Resources:
B. The Tragedy of the Commons:It is the overuse of common property or free
access resources. Example: clean air, open
ocean and its fish, birds,
In 1968, biologist Garret Hardin called the
degradation of free-access resources the
tragedy of the commons.
It happens because each user thinks:
if I dont use this resource, someone else will. Thelittle bit I use or pollute is not enough to matter,and such resources are renewable.
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IV. Resources:
B. The Tragedy of the Commons:With only a few users, this logic works.
However the cumulative effects of many peopleexploiting a free access resource willultimately ruin it. Then no one will benefitfrom it; that is the tragedy of the commons.
Possible solutions can be to regulate access toshared free resources like forests andfisheries; or to convert free-access resourcesinto private ownership.
IV. Resources:
C. The Ecological Footprint
Called also as environmental impact, it is theamount of productive land and water needed tosupply an area with resources and to absorb thewastes and pollution produced by such resourceuse.
The per capita ecological footprint is the averageecological footprint of an individual in an area.
Humanitys ecological footprint exceeds by about39% the earths capacity to replenish itsrenewable resources and absorb the resultingwaste products and pollution produced.
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C. The Ecological Footprint
IV. Resources:
C. The Ecological Footprint(contd) When a countrys ecological footprint is larger
than its ecological capacity, it is using anddegrading its resources (forests, groundwater,)faster than the nature can replenish them.
The country will be then depleting its naturalcapital and must either suffer the harmfulenvironmental consequences, import food andother resources from a different country and
export its pollutants and wastes to theatmosphere, oceans.
USA, EU, China, India, and J apan collectivelyuse about 74% of the earth ecological capacityand leave about 26% for the rest of the world.
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V. Environmental Problems: Causes and
Connections:
A. Major causes:
Population Growth
Wasteful resource use
Poverty
Poor environmental accounting
Ecological ignorance
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Fig. 1-13, p. 18
2.6 billion (38%)
Number of people
(% of world's population)
Lack of
access to
Adequate
sanitation facilities
Enough fuel for
heating and cooking
Electricity
Clean drinki ng
water
Adequate
health care
Adequatehousing
Enough food
for good health 0.86 billion (13%)
1 bill ion (15%)
1.1 billion (16%)
1.1 billion (16%)
2 bill ion (29%)
2 bill ion (29%)
V. Environmental Problems: Causes and
Connections
B. Major Connections
The environmental impact of a population on agiven area depends on three factors:
1. The number of people
2. The average use of resources per person (affluence)
3. The beneficial and harmful environmental effects of
technologies used to provide and consumes eachresource and control and prevent the resultingpollution and environmental degradation.
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VI. Environmental World Views
Planetary Management Worldview
We are separate from nature.
Nature exists mainly to meet
Our needs.
We can use technology to
manage the earth life
support system o our
benefit.
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VI. Environmental World Views
Stewardship Worldview:
We can manage the earth to our benefit but wehave an ETHICAL responsibility as stewards soas to encourage beneficial
beneficial economic growth
and discourage environmentally
harmful economies.
VI. Environmental World Views
Environmental Wisdom Worldview:
We are part of the environment.
We totally depend on nature.
Nature exist for all species
not only for us.
We encourage earth
Sustaining economic growth.