1. Chapter 1: Environmental Problems, Their Causes and Sustainability

2. Introductory definitions
Environment:
Everything around us (includes living and nonliving), with which we interact
Environmentalism: the SOCIAL movement dedicated to protecting the Earth’s life-support systems
More political and ethical (not based on science)
Otherwise known as the “Green Movement”

3. Humans are part of nature.
Environment: Includes all relationships like food chains, parasitism, mutualism
Humans (and all animals) depend upon the environment for air, water, food, shelter and energy

4. 1-1 What Is an Environmentally Sustainable Society?
Concept 1-1A Our lives and economies depend on energy from the sun (solar capital) and on natural resources and natural services (natural capital) provided by the earth.
Concept 1-1B Living sustainability means living off the earth’s natural income without depleting or degrading the natural capital that supplies it.

5. Environmental Science is…
A study of the connections in nature and how humans interact with the environment
It is an interdisciplinary science connecting information and ideas from:
Natural sciences: (emphasis on ecology), biology, chemistry, earth/space, climate, zoology
Social sciences: economics, politics, demography
Humanities: history, ethics, philosophy

6. Connections in Nature 5 Major connections: How nature works
How the environment affects us
How we affect the environment
How to deal with environmental problems
How to live more sustainably

7. Major Fields of Study Related to Environmental Science
Page 7

8. (There are some vocab words to know in this section… See list)

9. Sustainability is the central theme of this book
Natural capital:
1) Natural resources
Ex: oil, water, wind, soil
2) Natural services
Ex: nutrient cycling
Natural capital is supported by Solar capital
Must study the degradation of natural capital through human activities
Scientific solutions must be sought

10. NATURAL CAPITAL Natural Capital = Natural Resources + Natural Services
Solar
capital
Air
Air purification
Renewable
energy
(sun, wind,
water flows)
Climate control
UV protection
(ozone layer)
Life
(biodiversity)
Water
Population
control
Water purification
Waste treatment
Pest
control
Nonrenewable
minerals
iron, sand)
Land
Soil
Food production
Soil renewal
Natural gas
Nutrient
recycling
Oil
Nonrenewable
energy
(fossil fuels)
Coal seam
Natural resources
Natural services
Fig. 1-3, p. 8
Fig. 1-3, p. 8

11. Nutrient Cycling

12. Human activities can degrade natural capital
 By using renewable resources faster than can be replenished (ie fish, trees)
And by using nonrenewable resources up

13. Solutions Solutions to problems must be scientific + political
Often trade-offs are required because solutions may require economic losses

14. The Goal:
Environmentally sustainable societies protect natural capital and live off its income.
Currently, humans are degrading or over-using about 62% of earths' natural services, but we know how to change that.

15. 1-2 How Can Environmentally Sustainable Societies Grow Economically?
Concept 1-2 Societies can become more environmentally sustainable through economic development dedicated to improving the quality of life for everyone without degrading the earth's life support systems.

16. Economic Gap
There is a wide economic gap between rich and poor countries
Economic growth is measured by a percentage of change in a country's gross domestic product (GDP): the annual market value of all goods and services produced by all firms and organizations, foreign and domestic, operating within a country.

17. Changes in growth
Changes in economic growth: measured by per capita GDP
Purchasing power parity (PPP) plus GDP are combined for per capita GDP PPP
Compare developed with developing countries

18. Comparison of Developed and Developing Countries, 2008

19. Developed: highly industrialized, high per capita GDP PPP; The developed countries (make up 1.2 billion people) are: US, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and most of Europe.

20. Developing: low income, high population growth, high poverty; ex: Mexico, African countries, Latin America (5.5 billion people)
Some are middle-income (compared to the world, not like middle-class in the US) countries such as China, India, Brazil, Turkey, Thailand, and Mexico.
11% of the world's population lives in one of the 49 countries called "low-income, least developed countries". (See supplement 3, Figure 2 for a map)

21. 97% of the projected increase in the population from is expected to take place in the developing countries which are not equipped to handle the growth.
More than half of the people on earth live on less than $2 a day. One in 6 live on less than $1 a day - desperately poor.
These are UN categorizations (“developing” or “developed”). Maybe not relevant when looking at data from last 60 years.

22. Which kind of growth is good?
Some economists call for continuing all types of economic growth, including increased production of foods which help people live longer, healthier lives.
This should cause a resulting increase in wealth which will trickle down to countries and people at the bottom of the economic ladder.
Others call for limiting economic growth to only such growth as will be environmentally sustainable. This would use political and economic systems to discourage harmful and unsustainable growth which degrades natural capital.

23. Nonrenewable resources
Exist in fixed quantity: coal, oil, metal ores, salts, sand. When these are depleted, a new substitute material must be found.
Some materials can be reused or recycled. Reuse examples - wash and refill glass or metal bottles, etc. Recycle - collect, melt down, reform plastics or metals.
Coal and oil can't be recycled or reused once burned.
Technically coal and oil are renewed, but over millions of years

24. 1-3 How Are Our Ecological Footprints Affecting the Earth?
Concept 1-3 As our ecological footprints grow, we are depleting and degrading more of the earth’s natural capital.
Eco footprint: amount of biologically productive land/water needed to supply people with sufficient resources and the ability of the people to absorb and recycle wastes
Per capita ecological footprint is average for an individual in a particular country/area.
If the ecological footprint exceeds the biological capacity for replenishment of resources, this is called ecological deficit.

25. Some Sources Are Renewable
Resource
Directly available for use
Not directly available for use
Perpetual resource
Solar energy

26. Some Sources Are Renewable
Renewable resource
E.g., forests, grasslands, fresh air, fertile soil
can be replenished fairly quickly (hours up to hundred years)
Sustainable yield
highest which renew resources can be used indef w/out reducing available supply
Environmental degradation
when availability supply begins to shrink 26

27. How resources become degraded

28. Some Resources Are Not Renewable
Nonrenewable resources
exist in a fixed quantity; can be renewed in million to billion yrs (maybe)
Energy resources
Metallic mineral resources
Nonmetallic mineral resources –salt,sand
Reuse-ability for us to use resource over and over in same form (ex: glass bottle)
Recycle-ability for us to collect and process waste material into new materials (ex: alum cans – alum foil)

29. Our Ecological Footprints Are Growing
Ecological footprint concept
Biological capacity
Ecological footprint

30. Natural Capital Use and Degradation

31. WWF estimated humanity's ecological footprint exceeded earth's biological capacity by about 25% in 2003, and 88% for the wealthiest countries. US had the overall largest footprint.
UAE has largest per capita footprint, with the US coming in second. If everyone used resources the way we do in the US, the planet could only support 1.3 billion humans. (Currently the population is above 7 billion and rising. Uh oh. )
If we are living beyond the planets ecological capacity, why do you think the human population is still growing exponentially? How is that possible?

32. Cultural Changes Have Increased Our Ecological Footprints
Until 12,000 years ago: hunters and gatherers
Three major cultural events
Agricultural revolution
Industrial-medical revolution
Information-globalization revolution
China - By 2020, will have leading economy in terms of GDP PPP. Pop will be 1.5 bil by 2033.   

33. 1-4 What Is Pollution and What Can We Do about It?
Concept 1-4 Preventing pollution is more effective and less costly than cleaning up pollution.
Pollution is anything in the environment that is harmful to the health, survival or activities of humans or other organisms. Can be natural - volcanic eruptions, etc. Or caused by humans - burning coal, discharging chemicals into rivers, oceans, etc.

34. Pollution Comes from a Number of Sources
Sources of pollution
Point
E.g., smokestack
Nonpoint
E.g., pesticides blown into the air
Main type of pollutants
Biodegradable
Nondegradable

35. Point-Source Air Pollution

36. Biodegradable?
Biodegradable pollutants - can break down naturally over time.
Nondegradable are harmful for long periods of time. Lead, mercury, arsenic, plastics - nondegradable.
Fertilizers, sewage, newspaper - biodegradable.

37. Effects of pollution
Disrupt or degrade life support systems for humans and others.
Damage wildlife, human health and property.
Create nuisances - smell, taste, sight.

38. We Can Clean Up Pollution or Prevent It
Pollution cleanup (output pollution control)
Pollution prevention (input pollution control)

39. Cleanup/control?
Pollution cleanup or output pollution control - how can we take care of pollution already being made?
Pollution prevention or input pollution control - how can we change the process to cause less pollution?
Both methods are needed.

40. Problems with cleanup only (rather than output control)
Only temporary bandage unless population and use stop increasing.
Cleanup often removes pollutants in one place by putting them in another place, directly or indirectly (burn, bury, dump - all cause more problems).
Once dispersed, pollutants are hard and expensive to clean up.

41. 1-5 Why Do We Have Environmental Problems? (1)
Concept 1-5A Major causes of environmental problems are population growth, wasteful and unsustainable resource use, poverty, exclusion of environmental costs of resource use from the market prices of goods and services, and attempts to manage nature with insufficient knowledge.
Concept 1-5B People with different environmental worldviews often disagree about the seriousness of environmental problems and what we should do about them.

42. Experts Have Identified Five 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 their market prices
Insufficient knowledge of how nature works

43. Causes of Environmental Problems

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

45. Some Harmful Results of Poverty

46. Affluence Has Harmful and Beneficial Environmental Effects
Harmful environmental impact due to
High levels of consumption
Unnecessary waste of resources
Affluence can provide funding for:
Developing technologies to reduce pollution, environmental degradation, resource waste

47. Affluence is more harmful to the environment than poverty. Why
Affluence is more harmful to the environment than poverty! Why? attitude causes affluent populations to over-consume and waste resources.

48. In the US, air and water quality have improved since 1970, and some endangered species are coming back from the brink of extinction.

49. 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

50. Different Views about Environmental Problems and Their Solutions
Planetary management: nature exists to meet our needs and we are separate from it.
Stewardship: we should manage the earth for our benefit, but we have an ethical responsibility to be caring and responsible managers.
Environmental wisdom: We are a part of and totally dependent on nature, which exists for all species.

51. Environmental worldviews: the set of assumptions and values reflecting how you think the world works and what you think your role in the world should be
Environmental ethics: our beliefs about what is right and wrong and how we treat the environment.

52. We Can Learn to Make Informed Environmental Decisions
Scientific research
Identify problem and multiple solutions
Consider human values

53. Steps Involved in Making an Environmental Decision

54. We Can Work Together to Solve Environmental Problems
Social capital
Encourages
Openness and communication
Cooperation
Hope
Discourages
Close-mindedness
Polarization
Confrontation and fear

55. 1-6 What Are Four Scientific Principles of Sustainability?
Concept 1- 6 Nature has sustained itself for billions of years by using solar energy, biodiversity, population control, and nutrient cycling—lessons from nature that we can apply to our lifestyles and economies.
It seems we have years to make crucial changes.

56. Studying Nature Reveals 4 Scientific Principles of Sustainability

57. Solutions For Environmental or Sustainability Revolution