ON THE ROAD TO COLLAPSE CHAPTER 1 ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY What lessons can we learn from a vanished Viking society?

WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE? It is an interdisciplinary field of research that draws on the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities in order to better understand the natural world—and our relationship to it.

Why did the Greenland Vikings vanish? And how do you even begin to answer this question when the disappearance occurred over 700 years ago?

Thomas McGovern used empirical science to observe middens (garbage piles) for clues.

McGovern came to a conclusion: natural events and human choices led to the demise of the Greenland Vikings.

Why did the Viking society on Greenland collapse? Biologist Jared Diamond’s five factors offer an explanation.

1. Natural climate change 2. Self-inflicted environmental damage 3. Failure to respond to the natural environment 4. Hostile neighbors 5. Loss of friendly neighbors Jared Diamond’s Five Factors How they applied to the Vikings mini ice age overgrazing, overharvesting would not eat fish refused Inuit’s help European supplies stopped arriving

Applied science: What lessons can we learn from the Greenland Vikings?

Environmental literacy = the ability to understand environmental problems

Environmental problems—and the choices they force us to make—are frequently complicated. They often involve trade-offs. They have environmental, social, and economic impacts. This is called the “triple bottom line.”

Humans are an environmental force that impacts Earth’s ecosystems.

Carrying capacity = population size that an area can support indefinitely

Ecological footprint = land needed to provide resources, assimilate waste of a population

Anthropogenic = caused by or related to human action

Ecocide = willful destruction of the natural environment

The U.N. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment reported that—due to humanity’s actions—the ability of Earth’s ecosystems to sustain future generations is gravely imperiled.

The U.N. says there’s hope to reverse damage…if we act now. We can’t allow our own attitudes to prevent us from solving these problems.

Humans tend to rely on nonrenewable resources (fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, petroleum).

Nonrenewable resources = resources in finite supply or not replenished in timely fashion

Fossil fuels are replenished over vast geologic time – far too slowly to keep up with our rampant consumption of them.

Sustainable = using resources in a way that we can use them indefinitely

A sustainable ecosystem is one that makes use of renewable energy.

Renewable energy is energy that comes from an infinitely available or easily replenished source.

Sustainable ecosystems rely on biodiversity: a variety of species to provide resources and keep populations in check

How can we adopt more sustainable practices?

use nature as a model, mentor, and measure for our human ecosystems BIOMIMICRY

decisions that produce short-term benefits, but hurt society in the long run SOCIAL TRAPS

When people are aware of consequences, they are more likely to examine trade-offs to determine whether long-term costs are worth short-term gains. Education is our best hope for avoiding social traps.

Another obstacle to sustainable growth is wealth inequality. 20% of the world’s population controls 80% of the world’s resources.

Conflicting worldviews are another challenge to sustainable living.

An ecocentric worldview values all living creatures and nonliving processes of an ecosystem.

The view of the United States toward the natural world has gradually changed over time. These views have led to landmark events in U.S. environmental history.

“Their conservatism and rigidity, which we can see in many different aspects, seems to have kept them on the same path, maybe even prodded them to try even harder— build bigger churches, etc.— instead of trying to adapt.” --Thomas McGovern