1. Introducing Environmental Science and Sustainability 1

2. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Overview of Chapter 1  Human Impacts on The Environment  Population, Resources and the Environment  Sustainability  Environmental Science  Addressing Environmental Problems

3. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. The Environment (Earth)  Life has existed on earth for 3.8 billion yrs  Earth well suited for life  Water over ¾ of planet  Habitable temperature, moderate sunlight  Atmosphere provides oxygen and carbon dioxide  Soil with essential minerals for plants

4. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Human Impacts on Environment- Population  Expected to add several billion more people in 21 st century  Earth’s Human Population is at 6.9 billion  Growing exponentially

5. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Extreme Poverty  1 in 4 people in the world live in extreme poverty  Cannot meet basic need for  Food  Safe drinking water  Clothing  Shelter  Health  Sanitation & Education

6. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.  Extreme poverty was defined in 1996 by Joseph Wresinski  Defined as : the absence of one or more factors enabling individuals and families to assume basic responsibilities and to enjoy fundamental rights.  The World Bank defined the new international poverty line as $1.25 a day for 2005The World Bank Extreme Poverty

7. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Less vs. Highly Developed  81% of the world’s population live in poor countries  Development Ranges of Countries  Less developed (LDC’s – Bangladesh, Ethiopia & Laos)  Moderately developed (MDC’s - Mexico, South Africa & Thailand)  Highly developed (HDC’s – Canada, Japan, USA & most of Europe)

8. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Gap Between Rich and Poor  Less Developed Countries (LDC)  Low level of industrialization  very high fertility rate  high infant mortality rate  low per capita income

9. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Gap Between Rich and Poor  Highly Developed Countries (HDC)  Complex industrialized bases  low population growth  high per capita incomes  Ex: US, Canada, Japan

10. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Population/Resources&Environment  Nonrenewable resources  Present in limited supplies and are depleted by use  Aluminum, tin, copper, fossil fuels  Renewable resources  Replaced by nature fairly rapidly and can be used forever as long as they are not overexploited in the short term  Trees, animals, soils, fresh water

11. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Types of Natural Resources

12. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Consumption  Consumption  Human use of materials and energy  People in HDCs are big consumers Children born in HDC’s cause a greater impact on the environment and on resource depletion then 12 or more born in developing countries.  Unsustainable Consumption  Occurs when the level of demand on a country’s resources damages or depletes the resource enough to reduce the quality of life for future generations  Caused by overpopulation and/or overconsumption

13. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Ecological Footprint  The average amount of land, water and ocean required to provide that person with all the resources they consume Earth’s Productive Land and Water11.4 billion hectares Amount Each Person is Allotted (divide Productive Land & Water by Human Pop.) 1.8 hectares Current Global Ecological Footprint of each person 2.7 hectares A Hectare = 10,000 square meters (100 m x 100 m) Primarily used in the measurement of land (A football field is 0.54 hectares)

14. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Ecological Footprint  Humans have an ecological overshoot

15. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. IPAT Model  Measures 3 factors that affect environmental impact (I) I = P A T Environmental Impact Number of people Affluence per person Environmental effect of technologies

16. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. IPAT Model  P = Population  The number of people  A = Affluence (wealth)  represents the average consumption of each person in the population  T = Technology  represents how resource intensive the production of affluence is; how much environmental impact is involved in creating, transporting and disposing of the goods, services and amenities used.

17. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Environmental Sustainability  The ability to meet current human need for natural resources without compromising the needs of future generations  Requires understanding :  The effects of our actions on the earth  An understanding that earth’s resources are not infinite

18. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Tragedy of the Commons (1968 Paper)  Garrett Hardin (1915–2003)  an American ecologist who warned of the dangers of overpopulation  called attention to  “the damage that innocent actions by individuals can inflict on the environment”  He is also known for Hardin's First Law of Human Ecology:  "You cannot do only one thing", which expresses the interconnectedness of every action

19. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Sustainable Development  Economic development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising future generations

20. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Environmental Science  An interdisciplinary study of human relationship with other organisms and the earth  Biology  Ecology  Geography  Chemistry  Geology  Physics  Economics  Sociology  Demography  Politics

21. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Earth System and Environmental Science  System  A set of components that interact & function as a whole  Model  Used to describe interactions of environmental systems  Global Earth Systems  Climate, atmosphere, land, coastal zones, ocean  Ecosystem  A natural system consisting of a community of organisms and its physical environment

22. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Earth Systems and Environmental Science  Negative feedback  Change triggers a response that counteracts the changed condition

23. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Positive Feedback  Positive feedback  Change triggers a response that intensifies the changing condition

24. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Scientific Method

25. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Controls and Variables in Experiment  Variable  A factor that influences a process  The variable may be altered in an experiment to see its effect on the outcome  Control  The variable is not altered  Allows for comparison between the altered variable test and the unaltered variable test

26. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Five Steps to Addressing Environmental Problem  Case Study: Lake Washington  Five steps are idealistic  Scientific Assessment  Risk analysis  Public Education & Involvement  Political Action  Long-term Evaluation

27. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Assessing Environmental Problem Case Study: Lake Washington  Large, freshwater pond  Suburban sprawl in 1940’s  10 new sewage treatment plants dumped effluent into lake  Effect = excessive cyanobacteria growth that killed off fish and aquatic life

28. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.  Scientific Assessment  Aquatic wildlife assessment done in 1933 was compared to the 1950 assessment  Hypothesized treated sewage was introducing high nutrients causing growth of cyanobacteria  Risk Analysis  After analyzing many choices, chose new location (freshwater) and greater treatment for sewage to decrease nutrients in effluent Assessing Environmental Problem Case Study: Lake Washington

29. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.  Public Education/Involvement  Educated public on why changes were necessary  Political Action  Difficult to organize sewage disposal in so many municipalities  Changes were not made until 1963!  Evaluation  Cyanobacteria slowly decreased until 1975 (gone) Assessing Environmental Problem Case Study: Lake Washington

30. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.  Results Assessing Environmental Problem Case Study: Lake Washington

31. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. To discuss:  Come up with 10 reasons why  Children born in HDC’s cause a greater impact on the environment and on resource depletion then 12 or more born in developing countries.  Ted talks – Building a toaster from scratch http://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_thwaites_how_i_built_a_t oaster_from_scratch.html http://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_thwaites_how_i_built_a_t oaster_from_scratch.html