1. Ch1 Key Issue 4- Why Are Some Human Actions Not Sustainable?

2. What is a RESOURCE?
Substance in the environment that is useful to people and feasible to access.
A resource is a substance and the environment that is useful to people, economically and technologically feasible to access, and socially acceptable to use.
Sustainability the use of Earth’s renewable and nonrenewable natural resources in ways that ensure resource availability in the future.

3. Until we decide it has value, a resource is just a part of
nature

4. Renewable vs. Nonrenewable

5. Renewable vs. Nonrenewable
Renewable – a resource produced in nature more rapidly than it is consumed by humans

6. Renewable vs. Nonrenewable
Nonrenewable – a resource depleted by man faster than it can be replenished by nature

7. Two major misuses of resources:
1.) Humans deplete nonrenewable resources.
A resource is a substance and the environment that is useful to people, economically and technologically feasible to access, and socially acceptable to use.
Sustainability the use of Earth’s renewable and nonrenewable natural resources in ways that ensure resource availability in the future.

8. Depleted oil field near Baku, Azerbaijan

9. Two major misuses of resources:
2.) Humans destroy otherwise renewable resources through pollution and mismanagement.

11. The ARAL SEA was once the 4th biggest inland body in the world
The ARAL SEA was once the 4th biggest inland body in the world. - In the 1960s, the Soviet Union dammed the sources of the river to sue the water for cotton irrigation - Its inflow blocked, the Aral has withered- and by 2014, had nearly ceased to exist.

12. Desiccation of ARAL SEA in Central Asia

13. 2014

14. FISHING SHIPS ON FORMER ARAL SEABED

16. Three Pillars of Sustainability
Environment Pillar
Conservation must be embraced in general, preservation where possible
Economy Pillar
Prices of resources should reflect true environmental costs
Society Pillar
Modifying the wants of society to reward sustainable production

17. Earth’s Physical Systems
Four Interrelated Systems:
Atmosphere: thin layer of gas surrounding Earth
Hydrosphere: all water on and near Earth’s surface
Lithosphere: Earth’s crust and layer just below the crust
Biosphere: all living organisms on Earth

18. Earth’s Physical Systems
A Biotic system is one composed of living organisms
An Abiotic system is one composed of nonliving or inorganic matter

20. CLIMATE is long-term and varies little year-to-year
WEATHER vs. CLIMATE
WEATHER is the atmospheric condition at any given time, changing regularly
CLIMATE is long-term and varies little year-to-year

21. Koppen’s Biomes

22. Environmental determinism the belief that the physical environment CAUSES social development
In his book Principles of Human Geography (1940) Ellsworth Huntington stated that climate was the determining factor in progress, energy and the culture of people.
Environmental Determinists hold that human behavior individually and collectively is strongly affected by and controlled or determined by the physical environment.

23. Possibilism has replaced determinism.
People can react to and master their surroundings, no matter the challenges

24. Few ecosystems have been as thoroughly modified as those of the Netherlands and Florida.

25. Netherlands
Much of the Netherlands would be underwater, if it weren’t for polders- a piece of land that is created by draining water from an area.
Dutch have become world leaders in reducing the causes of global warming and industrial pollution.

26. Figure 1-44 SUTAINABLE ECOSYSTEM: THENETHERLANDS (left) The Dutch people have considerably altered the site of the Netherlands through creation of polders and dikes. (right) A polder in North Holland has been created by pumping the water from the site into the canal.

28. Florida
Highly unsustainable modifications made to ecosystem of the Everglades

29. Figure 1-45 UNSUSTAINABLE ECOSYSTEM: SOUTH FLORIDA To control flooding in central Florida, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers straightened the course of the Kissimmee River, which had meandered for 160 kilometers (98 miles) from near Orlando to Lake Okeechobee. The water was rechanneled into a canal 90 meters wide (300 feet) and 9 meters deep (30 feet), running in a straight line for 84 kilometers (52 miles).