Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainabilityerwinapes.wikispaces.com/file/view/APES...
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LIVING IN THE ENVIRONMENT, 18eG. TYLER MILLER • SCOTT E. SPOOLMAN
© Cengage Learning 2015
1Environmental Problems, Their
Causes, and Sustainability
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• Environment: everything around us
• Environmental science: interdisciplinary
science connecting information and ideas
from:
– Natural sciences: ecology, biology, geology,
chemistry
– Social sciences: geography, politics,
economics
– Humanities: ethics, philosophy
Environmental Science Is a Study of
Connections in Nature
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• What is sustainability?
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• The capacity of
the earth’s
natural systems
and human
cultural systems
to survive,
flourish, and
adapt into the
very long-term
future
Sustainability
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• Dependence on solar energy
– The sun provides warmth and fuels
photosynthesis
• Biodiversity
– Astounding variety and adaptability of natural
systems and species
• Chemical cycling
– From the environment to organisms and then
back to the environment
Three Scientific Principles of Sustainability
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• Natural capital: keep species alive
– Natural resources: useful materials and
energy in nature
– Natural or ecosystems services: important
nature processes provided by healthy
ecosystems.
• Examples: air/water purification, topsoil renewal,
pollination, nutrient recycling
Sustainability Has Certain Key
Components
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Natural Capital
Solar energy
Air
Air purification
Climate control
UV protection (ozone layer) Life
(biodiversity)
Water Population control
Pest controlWaste treatment
Nonrenewable minerals
(iron, sand)
Soil Land
Soil renewal Food production
Nutrient recycling
Nonrenewable energy
(fossil fuels)
Natural resources
Ecosystem services
Natural Capital = Natural Resources + Ecosystem Services
Renewable energy (sun, wind, water
flows)
Water purification
Fig. 1-3, p. 7
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• Full-cost pricing
– Include harmful health and environmental
costs of goods and services
• Win-win solutions
– Benefit people and the environment
• A responsibility to future generations
Other Principles of Sustainability Come
from the Social Sciences
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Fig. 1-5, p. 9
ECONOMICS
Full-cost pricing
Principles of Sustainability
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• Resources
– Anything we obtain from the environment to meet our needs
• An inexhaustible resource
– Solar energy
• Renewable resource
– Several days to several hundred years to renew
– Examples: forests, grasslands, and fertile soil
• Sustainable yield
– Highest rate at which we can use a renewable resource
without reducing available supply
Some Resources Are Renewable and
Some Are Not
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• Nonrenewable resources
– Finite stock on earth
– Energy resources
– Metallic mineral resources
– Nonmetallic mineral resources
Some Resources Are Renewable and
Some Are Not (cont’d.)
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• Sources of pollution
– Point sources
– Nonpoint sources
Pollution Comes from a Number of
Sources
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• Ecological footprint
– Amount of biologically productive land and
water needed to provide a person or area with
renewable resources, and to recycle wastes
and pollution
• Per capita ecological footprint
• Ecological deficit
– Footprint is larger than biological capacity for
replenishment
Ecological Footprints: A Model of
Unsustainable Use of Resources
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• As our ecological footprints grow, we are
depleting and degrading more of the
earth’s natural capital
• Environmental degradation: wasting,
depleting, and degrading the earth’s
natural capital
– Happening at an accelerating rate
We Are Living Unsustainably
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© Cengage Learning 2015Fig. 1-7, p. 11
Natural Capital Degradation
Degradation of Normally Renewable Natural Resources
Climate change
Shrinking forests
Air pollution
Decreased wildlife habitats
Species extinction
Soil
erosion Water pollution
Declining ocean fisheries
Aquifer depletion
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• I = P x A x T
– I = Environmental impact
– P = Population
– A = Affluence
– T = Technology
IPAT is Another Environmental Impact
Model
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• More-developed countries
– Industrialized nations with high average
income
– 17% of the world’s population
• Less-developed countries
– 83% of the world’s population
Countries Differ in their Resource Use and
Environmental Impact
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Natural Capital Use and Degradation
Fig. 1-11, p. 13
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© Cengage Learning 2015Fig. 1-14, p. 17
Less-Developed Countries
Consumption per person
(affluence, A)
Population (P)Technological
impact per unit of consumption (T)
Environmental impact of
population (I)
More-Developed Countries
X X =
IPAT
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• Types of resources
– Open access renewable resources
– Shared resources
• Tragedy of the commons
– Common property and open-access
renewable resources are degraded from
overuse
– What are some solutions?
The Tragedy of the Commons: Degrading
Commonly Shared Renewable Resources
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Tragedy of the Commons
• Written by Garrett Hardin in 1967
• Concerns over-use of common property
• Clean air, open ocean and its fish, wildlife
species, publicly owned land,
gases of lower atmosphere,
space, welfare
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Tragedy of the Commons
• A small village consists mostly of farmers that raise and sell sheep at a nearby city. The only place for the sheep to graze is a commons in the center of the village.
– A commons is an area that belongs to no individual; it is shared by the entire society.
• The villagers in this situation will have an incentive to obtain and graze as many sheep as possible. Over time, the commons will become barren and unusable.
• A second village has its grazing land divided into nine fenced sections, each of which is owned by a different family.
– These families will carefully control the amount of grazing to ensure their land is usable in the long-term.
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• Climate change, air pollution, water
pollution, and overfishing of international
waters are all modern examples of the
Tragedy of the Commons.
23
Norilsk, RussiaSource: ecojunk.wordpress.com
Zadar, CroatiaSource: Agence France-Presse
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Causes of Environmental Problems
Excluding
environmental costs
from market prices
PovertyUnsustainable
resource use
Population
growth
Increasing
isolation
from nature
Causes of Environmental Problems
Fig. 1-15, p. 16
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© Cengage Learning 2015Fig. 1-16, p. 17
?
Industrial
revolution
Black Death—the Plague
Hunting and
gathering
Agricultural revolution Industrial
revolution
Billio
ns o
f peo
ple
Exponential Growth of Human Population
Time
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• Humans were hunters and gatherers
12,000 years ago
• Three major cultural events
– Agricultural revolution
– Industrial-medical revolution
– Information-globalization revolution
• Current need for a sustainability revolution
Cultural Changes Can Grow or Shrink Our
Ecological Footprints
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A Global Concern
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• Harmful environmental impact due to:
– High levels of consumption
– High levels of pollution
– Unnecessary waste of resources
• Affluence can provide funding for
developing technologies to reduce:
– Pollution
– Environmental degradation
– Resource waste
Affluence Has Harmful and Beneficial
Environmental Effects
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• Unable to fulfill basic needs
– Adequate food, water, shelter, health care,
and education
• Working to survive
Poverty Has Harmful Environmental and
Health Effects
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• Companies do not pay the environmental
cost of resource use
• Goods and services do not include the
harmful environmental costs
• Companies receive tax breaks and
subsidies
Prices of Goods and Services Do Not
Include the Harmful Environmental Costs
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• StarKist brand chunk light tuna
in water
– Price at Shop Rite: $0.99
• American Tuna brand wild
albacore tuna in water
– Price at Whole Foods Market:
$4.99
• What are the hidden costs
behind that $4.00 price
difference?32
Example of Hidden Costs
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• Increasing populations in urban areas
• Nature deficit disorder
– Not having enough contact with nature
We are Increasingly Isolated from Nature
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• Environmental ethics: What is right and
wrong with how we treat the environment?
– Planetary management worldview
• We are separate from and in charge of nature
– Stewardship worldview
• Manage earth for our benefit with ethical
responsibility to be stewards
– Environmental wisdom worldview
• We are part of nature and must engage in
sustainable use
People Have Different Views on
Environmental Problems/Solutions
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• Each of these worldviews acknowledges that the Earth is a closed system, meaning matterdoes not enter or leave it in large amounts.
– Resources are finite.
– Wastes do not “go away”.
• These understandings form the basis for understanding and solving each of the issues within environmental science.
35
Earthrise, taken by astronaut Frank Borman in 1968, during the Apollo 8 mission.
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• Environmentally sustainable society
– Meets current needs in a just and equitable
manner without compromising future
generations’ ability to meet their needs
• Natural income
– Renewable resources
Environmentally Sustainable Societies
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• Overall attitude that combines
environmental wisdom with compassion
for all life
• Social scientists suggest it only takes 5-
10% of the population to bring about major
social change
• Significant social change can occur more
quickly than we often think
A More Sustainable Future is Possible
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Can You Make a Difference?
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• A more sustainable future will require that
we:
– Rely more on energy from the sun and other
renewable energy sources
– Protect biodiversity through the preservation
of natural capital
– Avoid disrupting the earth’s vitally important
chemical cycles
Three Big Ideas
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• The key to environmental solutions
– Apply the principles of sustainability to the
design of our economic and social systems,
and individual lifestyles
• The 21st century’s transition generation will
decide the path which humanity takes
Tying It All Together
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• Sustainability is when human
needs are met so that the
population can survive indefinitely.
– “Meeting the needs of the
present without
compromising the ability of
future generations to meet
their own needs.”
• Brundtland Commission, 1987
41
The Goal: A Sustainable World