1. CHAPTER 1
ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS, THEIR CAUSES, AND SUSTAINABILITY

2. Environmental Science Is a Study of Connections in Nature
Everything around us; biotic and abiotic
“The environment is everything that isn’t me.“
Environmental science: interdisciplinary science connecting information and ideas from
Natural sciences: ecology, biology, geology, chemistry…
Social sciences: geography, politics, economics
Humanities: ethics, philosophy

3. Environmental Science Is a Study of Connections in Nature (cont.)
How nature works
How the environment affects us
How we affect the environment
How to deal with environmental problems
How to live more sustainably

4. Nature’s Survival Strategies Follow Three Principles of Sustainability
Reliance on solar energy
The sun provides warmth and fuels photosynthesis
Biodiversity
Astounding variety and adaptability of natural systems and species
Chemical cycling
Circulation of chemicals from the environment to organisms and then back to the environment
Also called nutrient cycling

5. Three Principles of Sustainability
Figure 1.3: Three principles of sustainability.
We derive these three interconnected principles of sustainability from learning how nature has sustained a huge variety of life on the earth for at least 3.5 billion years, despite drastic changes in environmental conditions (Concept 1-1a).

6. Sustainability Has Certain Key Components
Natural capital: supported by solar capital; includes:
Natural resources: useful materials and energy in nature
Natural services: important nature processes such as renewal of air, water, and soil
Human activities tend to degrade natural capital
Scientific and social solutions needed for environmental sustainability

7. Natural Capital Degradation
Figure 1.6: Natural capital degradation.
This was once a large area of diverse tropical rain forest in Brazil, but it has now been cleared to grow soybeans. According to ecologist Harold Mooney of Stanford University, conservative estimates suggest that between 1992 and 2008, an area of tropical rain forest larger than the U.S. state of California was destroyed in order to graze cattle and plant crops for food and biofuels.
Mongabay, Peru; satellite images

8. Some Sources Are Renewable and Some Are Not
Resource
Anything we obtain from the environment to meet our needs
Some directly available for use: sunlight
Some not directly available for use: petroleum
Perpetual resource
Solar energy

9. Some Sources Are Renewable and Some Are Not, cont.
Renewable resource
Several days to several hundred years to renew
E.g., forests, grasslands, fresh air, fertile soil
Sustainable yield
Highest rate at which we can use a renewable resource without reducing available supply 9

10. Some Sources Are Renewable and Some Are Not, cont.
Nonrenewable resources
Energy resources (Fossil Fuels)
Metallic mineral resources
Nonmetallic mineral resources
Reduce – the amount we need
Reuse – as much as we can of the amount we have used before
Recycle – all of the resources that can be reused in some way

11. Countries Differ in Levels of Unsustainability
Economic growth: increase in output of a nation’s goods and services
Gross domestic product (GDP): annual market value of all goods and services produced by all businesses, foreign and domestic, operating within a country
Per capita GDP: one measure of economic development

12. Countries Differ in Levels of Unsustainability, cont.
Economic development: using economic growth to raise living standards
More-developed countries: North America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, most of Europe
Less-developed countries: most countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America

13. Countries by Gross National Income per Capita
Equator
Figure 2 This map shows high-income, upper-middle income, lower-middle-income, and low-income countries in terms of gross national income (GNI) PPP per capita (U.S. dollars) in (Data from World Bank and International Monetary Fund)
Supplement 8, Fig 2

14. We Are Living Unsustainably
Environmental degradation: wasting, depleting, and degrading the earth’s natural capital
Happening at an accelerating rate
Also called natural capital degradation

15. Pollution Comes from a Number of Sources
Sources of pollution
Point sources
E.g., smokestack
Nonpoint sources
E.g., pesticides blown into the air
Main type of pollutants
Biodegradable
Nondegradable
MOST COMMON WAYS TO DEAL WITH POLLUTION
Pollution cleanup (output pollution control)
Pollution prevention (input pollution control)

16. Point-Source Air Pollution
Figure 1.10: This point-source air pollution rises from a pulp mill in New York State (USA).
Fig. 1-10, p. 14

17. Nonpoint Source Water Pollution
Figure 1.11: The trash in this river came from a large area of land and is an example of nonpoint water pollution.
Fig. 1-11, p. 14

18. Overexploiting Shared Renewable Resources: Tragedy of the Commons
Three types of property or resource rights
Private property
Common property
Open access renewable resources
(COMMONS)
Tragedy of the Commons: Common property and open- access renewable resources degraded from overuse

19. Ecological Footprints: A Model of Unsustainable Use of Resources
Ecological footprint: the amount of biologically productive land and water needed to provide the people in a region with indefinite supply of renewable resources, and to absorb and recycle wastes and pollution
Unsustainable if footprint is larger than biological capacity for replenishment

20. Patterns of Natural Resource Consumption
Figure 1.12: Patterns of natural resource consumption: The top photo shows a family of five subsistence farmers with all their possessions. They live in the village of Shingkhey, Bhutan, in the Himalaya Mountains, which are sandwiched between China and India in South Asia. The bottom photo shows a typical U.S. family of four living in Pearland, Texas, with their possessions.

21. Natural Capital Use and Degradation
Figure 1.13: Natural capital use and degradation.
These graphs show the total and per capita ecological footprints of selected countries (top). In 2008, humanity’s total, or global, ecological footprint was at least 30% higher than the earth’s biological capacity (bottom) and is projected to be twice the planet’s biological capacity by around Question: If we are living beyond the earth’s renewable biological capacity, why do you think the human population and per capita resource consumption are still growing rapidly? (Data from Worldwide Fund for Nature, Global Footprint Network, Living Planet Report See
Fig. 1-13, p. 16

22. The IPAT Environmental Impact Model
The mathematical notation of a formula put forward to describe the impact of human activity on the environment.
Equates human impact on the environment to the product of three factors: Population, Affluence, and Technology.
I = Environmental impact
P = Population
A = Affluence
T = Technology

23. IPAT Illustrated
Figure 1.14: Connections: This simple model demonstrates how three factors—number of people, affluence (resource use per person), and technology—affect the environmental impact of populations in less-developed countries (top) and more-developed countries (bottom).
Fig. 1-14, p. 17

24. Natural Systems Have Tipping Points
Ecological tipping point: an often irreversible shift in the behavior of a natural system
Environmental degradation has time delays between our actions now and the deleterious effects later
Long-term climate change
Over-fishing
Species extinction

25. Tipping Point
Figure 1.15: In this example of a tipping point, you can control the ball as you push it up to the tipping point. Beyond that point, you lose control. Ecological tipping points can threaten all or parts of the earth’s life-support system.
Fig. 1-15, p. 19

26. Cultural Changes Have Increased Our Ecological Footprints
12,000 years ago: hunters and gatherers
Three major cultural events
Agricultural revolution
Industrial-medical revolution
Information-globalization revolution
Current need for a sustainability revolution

27. Technology Increases Population
Figure 1.16: Technological innovations have led to greater human control over the rest of nature and to an expanding human population.
Fig. 1-16, p. 19

28. Experts Have Identified Four Basic Causes of Environmental Problems
Population growth
Wasteful and unsustainable resource use
Poverty
Failure to include the harmful environmental costs of goods and services in market prices

29. Exponential Growth of Human Population
Figure 1.18: Exponential growth: The J-shaped curve represents past exponential world population growth, with projections to 2100 showing possible population stabilization as the J-shaped curve of growth changes to an S-shaped curve. (This figure is not to scale.) (Data from the World Bank and United Nations, 2008; photo L. Yong/UNEP/Peter Arnold, Inc.)
Fig. 1-18, p. 21

30. Affluence Has Harmful and Beneficial Environmental Effects
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

31. Poverty Has Harmful Environmental and Health Effects
Population growth affected
Malnutrition
Premature death
Limited access to adequate sanitation facilities and clean water

32. Harmful Effects of Poverty
Figure 1.20: These are some of the harmful effects of poverty. Questions: Which two of these effects do you think are the most harmful? Why? (Data from United Nations, World Bank, and World Health Organization)
Fig. 1-20, p. 22

33. Prices Do Not Include the Value of Natural Capital
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
Economy may be stimulated but there may be a degradation of natural capital

34. Different Views about Environmental Problems and Their Solutions
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

35. Environmentally Sustainable Societies Protect Natural Capital and Live Off Its Income
Environmentally sustainable society: meets current needs while ensuring that needs of future generations will be met
Live on natural income of natural capital without diminishing the natural capital