1. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
CHAPTER 1: Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability

2. Core Case Study: It’s All About Sustainability (1)
“The ability of the earth’s various natural systems and human cultural systems and economies to survive and adapt to changing environmental conditions indefinitely."
United Nations Millennium Ecosystem Assessment:
Human actions of put long-term sustainability in doubt
Life on earth for 3.5 billion years
Survived many catastrophes
Humans have caused major changes in the last 500 years
Humans are smart, but are they wise?

3. Core Case Study: It’s All About Sustainability (2)
Sustainability depends on three key principles
1. Solar energy
Warms earth
Provides energy for plants to make food for other organisms
Powers winds
Powers the hydrologic cycle – which includes flowing water
Provides energy: wind and moving water can be turned into electricity

4. Core Case Study: It’s All About Sustainability (3)
2. Biodiversity (biological diversity)
Large variety of species
Many ecosystems
Deserts
Forests
Oceans
Grasslands
Species and systems renew soil and purify air and water.

5. Core Case Study: It’s All About Sustainability (4)
3. Chemical Cycling
Natural processes recycle nutrients
Recycling is necessary because there is a fixed supply of these nutrients on earth
Nutrients cycle from living organisms to the nonliving environment and back
Chemical cycles are necessary to sustain life

6. Fig. 1-1, p. 5

7. 2009. Used under license from Shutterstock.com.
Solar Energy
Figure 1-1: Three principles of sustainability: These three interconnected principles of sustainability are derived
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. Globe photo used by permission. Image copyright Ragnarock,
2009. Used under license from Shutterstock.com.
Chemical Cycling
Biodiversity
Fig. 1-1, p. 5

8. Solutions
Understand our environment
Practice sustainability

9. 1-1 What Is an Environmentally Sustainable Society?
Concept 1-1A Our lives and economies depend on energy from the sun and natural resources and natural services (natural capital) provided by the earth.
Concept 1-1B Living sustainably means living off earth’s natural income without depleting or degrading the natural capital that supplies it.

10. Studying Connections in Nature
Environment
Environmental Science
Ecology
Organisms
Species
Ecosystem
Environmentalism

11. Living More Sustainably
Sustainability – central theme
Natural capital
Natural resources
Natural services
Photosynthesis
Powered by solar energy
Human activities degrade natural capital

12. Natural Resources Materials Renewable Nonrenewable
Air, water, soil, plants
Nonrenewable
Minerals, oil, coal

13. Natural Services Functions of nature Purification of air, water
Nutrient cycling
From the environment to organisms and back to the environment

14. Fig. 1-2, p. 7

15. Figure 1-2: Key natural resources (blue) and natural services (orange) that support and sustain the earth’s life and
economies
Fig. 1-2, p. 7

16. Fig. 1-3, p. 8

17. organisms and back to the environment.
Organic
matter in
animals
Dead
organic
matter
Organic
matter in
plants
Figure 1-3: Nutrient cycling: an important natural service that recycles chemicals needed by organisms from the environment (mostly from soil and water) through
organisms and back to the environment.
Decomposition
Inorganic
matter in soil
Fig. 1-3, p. 8

18. Environmental Sustainability
Trade-offs (compromises)
Sound science
Individuals matter
Ideas
Technology
Political pressure
Economic pressure

19. Sustainable Living from Natural Capital
Environmentally sustainable society
Financial capital and financial income
Natural capital and natural income
Living sustainably: living on natural income only

20. 1-2 How Are Our Ecological Footprints Affecting the Earth?
Concept 1-2 As our ecological footprints grow, we deplete and degrade more of the earth’s natural capital.

21. Natural Resources (1) Perpetual – renewed continuously
Solar energy
Renewable – days to centuries
Water
Air
Grasslands
Forest
Soils
Fish populations

22. Natural Resources (2) Sustainable yield Environmental degradation
Highest use while maintaining supply
Environmental degradation
Use exceeds natural replacement rate

23. Fig. 1-4, p. 10

24. mostly as a result of rising population and resource use per person.
Shrinking
forests
Climate
change
Decreased
wildlife
habitats
Air pollution
Species
extinction
Soil erosion
Water
pollution
Declining ocean
fisheries
Aquifer
depletion
Figure 1-4: Degradation of normally renewable natural resources and services in parts of the world,
mostly as a result of rising population and resource use per person.
Fig. 1-4, p. 10

25. Tragedy of the Commons
Environmental degradation of openly shared renewable resources
Users focus on their own selfish, short-term gain
Works when only a small number of users
Big part of why humans now live unsustainably

26. Ecological Footprint (1)
The amount of biologically productive land and water needed to indefinitely supply the people in a given area with renewable resources
Also includes the land and water necessary to absorb and recycle wastes and pollution
Per capita ecological footprint
Average ecological footprint of an individual in a given area

27. Ecological Footprint (2)
Ecological deficit
Total ecological footprint greater than biological capacity for resource renewal and absorption of wastes and pollution
2008 study: at least 30% global excess
88% for high-income countries
Humans currently need 1.3 earths

28. Fig. 1-5, p. 11

29. (Data from Worldwide Fund for Nature, Global Footprint Network)
Figure 1.8: Natural capital use and degradation: total and per capita ecological footprints of selected countries (top). In 2003, humanity’s total or global ecological footprint was about 25% higher than the earth’s ecological capacity (bottom) and is projected to be twice the planet’s ecological capacity by 2050.
Question: If we are living beyond the earth’s ecological capacity, why do you think the human population and per capita resource consumption are still growing exponentially?
(Data from Worldwide Fund for Nature, Global Footprint Network)
Stepped Art
Fig. 1-5, p. 11

30. Nonrenewable Resources
Nonrenewable – fixed quantities
Energy (fossil fuels)
Metallic minerals
Nonmetallic minerals
Recycling
Reuse

31. Fig. 1-5, p. 11

32. Developed Countries Have Higher Impacts
United States, Japan, New Zealand, most of Europe, some others
19% world population
Use 88% of world’s resources
Create 75% of world’s pollution

33. Supplement 3, Fig. 5, p. S9

34. IPAT Environmental Impact Model
Determines impact of a country or regions
I = P x A x T
I = environmental impact
P = population size
A = affluence of population
T = technology influence

35. Fig. 1-7, p. 13

36. suffer from not having enough resources.
Developing Countries
Consumption
per person
(affluence, A)
Technological impact per unit of consumption (T)
Environmental
impact of population (I)
Population (P)
Figure 1-7: Connections: simple model of how three factors—number of people, affluence (resource use per person),
and technology—affect the environmental impact of populations in developing countries (top) and developed
countries (bottom). While many people in affluent countries over-consume, many poor people in developing countries
suffer from not having enough resources.
Developed Countries
Fig. 1-7, p. 13

37. Developing Countries 81% world population
Middle income: Brazil, China, India
Least developed: Haiti, Nigeria, Nicaragua
Use far fewer resources per capita than developed countries
Smaller per capita ecological footprint

38. 1-3 What Is Pollution and What Can We Do about It?
Concept 1-3 Preventing pollution is more effective and less costly than cleaning up pollution.

39. Pollution What is pollution? Point sources Nonpoint sources
Unwanted effects of pollution

40. Fig. 1-8, p. 14

41. Solutions to Pollution
Pollution prevention
Prevent pollutants from entering the environment
Pollution cleanup
After pollutants released into environment
Temporary fix only
Often results in different pollution: burning garbage
Dispersed pollutants usually too costly to clean up effectively

42. 1-4 Why Do We Have Environmental Problems?
Major causes of environmental problems are population growth, wasteful and unsustainable resource use, and exclusion of harmful environmental costs from the market prices of goods and services.

43. Causes of Environmental Problems
Exponential population growth
Wasteful and unsustainable resource use
Poverty
Failure to include environmental costs of goods and services in market prices

44. Fig. 1-9, p. 15

45. Causes of Environmental Problems
Population
growth
Unsustainable
resource use
Poverty
Excluding
environmental costs from market prices
Figure 1-9 Environmental and social scientists have identified four basic causes of the environmental problems we
face (Concept 1-4). Question: What are two environmental problems that result from each of these causes?
Fig. 1-9, p. 15

46. Causes of Environmental Problems
Population
growth
Unsustainable
resource use
Poverty
Excluding
environmental costs from market prices
Figure 1.10: Environmental and social scientists have identified five basic causes of the environmental problems we face.
Question: What are three ways in which your lifestyle contributes to these causes?
Stepped Art
Fig. 1-9, p. 15

47. Fig. 1-10, p. 16

48. Industrial revolution Black Death—the Plague Agricultural revolution13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ?
Industrial revolution
Figure 1-10: Exponential growth: the J-shaped curve of past exponential world population
growth, with projections to 2100 showing possible population stabilization with the J-shaped
curve of growth changing 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)
Black Death—the Plague
2-5 million
years
8000
6000
4000
2000
2000
2100
B.C.
A.D.
Hunting
and gathering
Agricultural revolution
Industrial revolution
Fig. 1-1, p. 1
Fig. 1-10, p. 16

49. Fig. 1-11, p. 16

50. Fig. 1-12, p. 17

51. Lack of access to Number of people (% of world's population) Adequate
sanitation facilities
2.5 billion (37%)
Enough fuel for
heating and cooking
2 billion (29%)
Electricity
2 billion (29%)
Clean drinking
water
1.1 billion (16%)
Adequate
health care
Figure 1-12: Some harmful results 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)
1 billion (15%)
Adequate
housing
1 billion (15%)
Enough food
for good health
0.93 billion (14%)
Fig. 1-12, p. 17

52. Fig. 1-13, p. 17

53. Environmental Effects of Affluence
Harmful effects
High per-capita consumption and waste of resources – large ecological footprints
Advertising – more makes you happy
Affluenza
Beneficial effects
Concern for environmental quality
Provide money for environmental causes
Reduced population growth

54. Evaluating Full Cost of Resources Use
Prices do not include the value of natural capital and harmful environmental costs
Examples
Clear-cutting + habitat loss
Commercial fishing + depletion of fish stocks
Tax breaks
Subsidies

55. Different Environmental Views
Environmental worldview
Environmental ethics
Planetary management worldview
Stewardship worldview
Environmental wisdom worldview

56. 1-5 How Can we Live More Sustainably? Three Big Ideas
We can live more sustainably by relying more on solar energy, preserving biodiversity, and not disrupting the earth’s natural chemical recycling processes.

57. Three Big Ideas for Sustainability
Rely more on renewable energy from the sun
Protect biodiversity
Do not disrupt earth’s natural chemical cycles

58. Animation: Levels of organization

59. Animation: Two views of economics

60. Animation: Resources depletion and degradation interaction

61. Animation: Exponential growth

62. Animation: Capture-recapture method

63. Animation: Life history patterns

64. Video: Cahuachi Excavation
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VIDEO

65. Video: Easter Island
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VIDEO