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Chapter 1 Environmental Problems, Their Causes and Sustainability

Chapter 1 Environmental Problems, Their Causes and Sustainability. Environmental Science vs. Environmentalism. Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary study Environmentalism is a philosophy and social movement dedicating to protecting the earth and environmental conservation.

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Chapter 1 Environmental Problems, Their Causes and Sustainability

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  1. Chapter 1Environmental Problems, Their Causes and Sustainability

  2. Environmental Science vs. Environmentalism • Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary study • Environmentalism is a philosophy and social movement dedicating to protecting the earth and environmental conservation

  3. What is the environment and why study it? • Everything around us – living and nonliving • We depend on it for survival • Environmental science is an interdisciplinary study of how humans interact with their surroundings • Ecology is big component

  4. Sustainability • The capacity of the earth’s natural systems and human cultural systems to survive, flourish and adapt to changing environmental conditions into the very long-term future • Earth has been sustained for 4.5 billion years • Life on earth ~ 3 billion years

  5. How has life on Earth sustained itself? Three Principles of Sustainability: • Reliance on sun (photosynthesis, warms earth, atmospheric and oceanic circulation) • Biodiversity - variety of organisms providing food, shelter, renewal of topsoil, pest control, air purification, fertilization, etc.) • Nutrient Cycling – circulation of carbon, nitrogen and others from soil, water and organisms

  6. Natural Capital • Natural resources and natural services that keep us and other forms of life alive and support our human economies

  7. Natural Capital = Natural Resources + Natural Services • Resources – materials and energy that are useful or essential to humans; air, water, soil, wind, solar energy, etc. • Services – processes in nature that support life; air purification, renewal of topsoil

  8. Resources • Perpetual- continuous supply; sun, wind • Renewable – don’t use it faster than nature can renew it; forests, grasslands, fish populations, fresh water, etc. • Nonrenewable – exist in a fixed amount; can be renewed but takes a long time; fossil fuels, metals, etc.

  9. We are living unsustainably • Environmental Degradation: we are wasting, degrading and depleting the earth’s natural capital at an accelerating rate • Examples? • Forests shrinking • Soil eroding • Glaciers melting • Sea level rising • Rivers drying • Coral reefs disappearing • Biodiversity decreasing

  10. Pollution:What is it? Examples?

  11. Pollution • Presence of a substance, heat, noise that is harmful to the health or survival of humans or other organisms

  12. Point vs. Nonpoint Source Pollution

  13. Activity: marine debris timeline

  14. Types of Property • Private property – individuals or companies own the rights to land, minerals or other resources • Common property – rights to certain resources are held by large groups of individuals (ex: National parks) • Open access renewable resources – atmosphere, underground water supplies, open ocean

  15. Many common property and open access renewable resources have been degraded. • Biologist Garrett Hardin (1968) called this the “Tragedy of the Commons” “If I don’t use this resource, someone else will. The little bit that I use or pollute is not enough to matter and anyway, it’s a renewable resource.” Okay until the number of users gets too big. So what’s the answer?

  16. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/worldbalance/material.html

  17. Ecological Footprint Amount of biologically productive land and water needed to provide an indefinite supply of renewable resources and to absorb and recycle the wastes and pollution produced by such resource use

  18. If ecological footprint is greater than biological capacity (biocapacity) there is an “ecological deficit.”

  19. Homework: www.myfootprint.orgestimate your own ecological footprint

  20. Read p 21-22. Which has more harmful environmental effects, affluence or poverty? Explain

  21. Environmental Sustainability • Living off the earth’s natural income without depleting or degrading the natural capital that supplies them. • Natural income – renewable resources (plants, animals, soil) • Considerable evidence that we’re living unsustainably (remember your ecological footprint?)

  22. How do we globally live sustainably? • What are the challenges we face in trying to do so? • Can a few make a difference?

  23. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead, anthropologist

  24. 50-100 years to make a shift in living unsustainably to living sustainably. • Three principles of sustainability: (general themes in this class) • Rely on renewable energy from the sun, wind, water • Protect biodiversity • Reduce production of waste and pollution as to not degrade nature

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