Welcome to Environmental Geography!

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Welcome to Environmental Geography!

(Photo by P. Regoniel in Picable).

• GEOG 101 (Section 01) Day 1

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Getting Oriented

• My name is Don Alexander. My office is across the
  street at Building 359, Room 215. My local is
  2261, and my office hours are 1130 to 1230 on
  Tuesdays and Thursdays.
• How many of you are at VIU for the first time? If
  so, if you need a hand figuring anything out,
  just let me know.
• The textbook for this course is available in the
  bookstore. There may be used copies of the
  previous edition at the bookstore or at the
  student union store. Its Environment The
  Science Behind the Stories (Canadian edition) by
  Jay Withgott, Scott Brennan, and Barbara Murck
  (Toronto Pearson Canada, 2013) see
  www.pearsoned.ca/highered/ myenvironmentplace/inde
  x.html for student support materials. It's a
  good book, with lots of illustrations, case
  studies, and Canadian examples. Please note that
  we will be skipping Chapters 4 5.

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Course Focus

• This course will provide an introduction to the
  Earths biophysical processes and systems at a
  variety of scales, and will examine the impact of
  human population and land use activities.
• Topics include population, agriculture,
  biodiversity, forestry, ocean and freshwater
  systems, climate change and air pollution,
  energy, air pollution and climate change,
  resource consumption and waste, environmental
  ethics/ policy, and sustainable land use
  practices. Successful solutions for
  sustainability will also be highlighted along
  with social change strategies for implementing
  them.

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Course Objectives

• By the end of the course, you will
• understand better how local, regional and global
  ecosystems affect one other
• have a stronger appreciation of the impacts of
  human populations and activities on nature and
  the role played by economic, social, and
  political institutions
• understand better what is happening in different
  sectors, such as forestry and agriculture
• learn more about how sustainable management
  concepts and strategies are being applied to
  address the pressing environmental issues of our
  age, and how you can play a crucial role in
  building a more sustainable world.

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Getting Oriented

• The course will be a mix of lectures, discussion,
  occasional guest speakers, videos, assignments,
  and possible in-class debates.
• Also read the course outline carefully.... We
  will go over some of it today.
• If you suffer from a disability of any kind, you
  need to register with Disability Services (in
  Building 200) and let me know as soon as possible
• Regarding extreme weather and campus closures,
  whats on the web site is the final authority, so
  use that as your guide.

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Getting Oriented

• The focus of the course is the global ecological
  crisis see http//energyskeptic.com/2011/9-planet
  ery-boundaries/ and what we can do to address
  it, including what is already being done in a
  number of sectors. If you have specific
  interests, let me know and I will try to
  accommodate them if at all possible.
• What are some key environmental issues facing our
  planet? What is causing them and how are they
  impacting on people and other species?
• I would also like to take advantage of whatever
  knowledge or previous life experience you have
  that is relevant. What can you offer?
• Arctic Ice Decline Much Worse Than Expected
• (summer 2012 news story)

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Getting Oriented

• In addition to the final exam and a mid-term
  quiz, there will be two major assignments. For
  these, you will choose from the four following
  options
• a life-cycle analysis of an everyday product,
• a media analysis of a controversial environmental
  issue, a research and writing project on the
  ecological and social values associated with West
  Linley Valley or a look at the Colliery Dam Park
  controversy, an
• the development of an environmental education
  unit to present in a local elementary or
  secondary school.
• You may also be asked to answer questions about
  videos shown, and to participate in a debate on a
  key environmental topic. more instructions soon!

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Getting Oriented

• EVALUATION
• 1. Attendance and Participation in in-class work-
  10
• 2. Mid-term quiz- 15
• 3. Life-cycle Analysis or Research Writing
  Project- 25 (see outline for proposal and final
  due dates)?
• 4. Media analysis or Elementary/ High School
  Educational Outreach Exercise- 25
• 6. Final Exam- 25 (TBA)?
• ________________________
• 100 more on the assignments soon
• You can also boost your participation marks by
  bringing relevant resources to my and the class'
  attention.

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Ground Rules

• No late assignments unless there is some health
  or family emergency.
• No plagiarism all assignments must be original.
  If you have any questions about what that means,
  we can talk about it.
• Critical thinking is encouraged!
• For referencing use the parenthetical forms of
  APA or University of Chicago (The Writing Centre
  has handouts or see http//libguides.viu.ca/citing
  ).
• If at all possible, print double-sided or on
  scrap paper.
• If you're going to miss a class, please let me
  know.
• When you do miss, it's your responsibility to
  keep up with the readings, and see what was
  covered in lecture by viewing the lecture notes
  on my web site http//web.viu.ca/alexander2
  under Courses.
• No abuse of laptops or phones in class (i.e.
  surfing or Facebook).

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Chapter 1 will help you understand

• The meaning of the term environment
• The importance of natural resources and
  ecosystems
• That environmental science and environmental
  geography are interdisciplinary
• The scientific method and how science operates
• Some pressures facing the global environment
• Sustainability and sustainable development

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Our Island, Earth -- Overview

• All the things around us with which we interact
• Biotic (living things)
• Animals, plants, forests, soils, etc.
• Abiotic (nonliving things)?
• Continents, oceans, clouds, icecaps
• Our built environment
• Structures, human-created living centres
• Social relationships and institutions

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Humans

• are altering the natural systems we need for
• resources, health, life-span, wealth, mobility,
  leisure
• Impacts
• natural systems have been degraded
• long-term threat to health and survival of
  ourselves, other species and ecosystems
• Environmental science and environmental geography
  study
• how the natural world works
• how the environment affects humans and vice versa
• Environmental geography gives special emphasis to
  how things interrelate in space for instance,
  the relationship between pollution and climate
  change and health impacts on humans or
  ecosystems, or the spread of exotic species and
  how they impact on indigenous species.

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Natural resources vital to human survival
FIGURE 1.1

• Renewable resources
• Perpetually available sunlight, wind, wave
  energy
• Those that renew themselves over longer periods
  timber, water, soil
• can be overharvested
• Nonrenewable resources finite supply can be
  depleted
• Oil, coal, minerals

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Global human population growth

• More than 7 billion humans
• Why so many humans?
• Agricultural revolution
• Stable food supplies
• Industrial revolution
• Urbanized society powered by fossil fuels
• Sanitation and medicines (decline in death rate)

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FIGURE 1.2
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The Tragedy of the Commons
by Garrett Hardin

• Unregulated exploitation of open access
  resources leads to resource depletion --
  examples?
• Resource users are tempted to increase use until
  the resource is gone
• Solution?
• Private ownership?
• Voluntary organization to enforce responsible
  use?
• Governmental regulations?

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The ecological footprint concept
developed by Mathis Wackernagel William Rees

• The environmental impact of an individual or
  population
• Amount of biologically productive land water
  required to provide raw materials a population
  consumes and absorb the waste produced
• Overshoot humans have surpassed the Earths
  capacity (the date when humans are said to have
  overshot the Earth's carrying capacity is said to
  fall earlier and earlier each year and now occurs
  August 22nd).

We are using 40 more of the planets resources
than are available on a sustainable basis from
all the land!
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Environmental science
can help us avoid mistakes made in the
past. The lesson of Easter Island
people annihilated their culture by destroying
their environment. Can we act more wisely to
conserve our planet, or will we drive a
bitumen-filled SUV straight into a cement wall?
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Environmental science/ geography are
interdisciplinary

• What experts would you need for
• The construction of a new hydroelectric dam
• Environmental review for the Northern Gateway
  pipeline
• The proposed draining of a wetland to build a new
  subdivision
• A proposal to permit bear hunting in a national
  park
• The management of a large oil spill offshore from
  a coastal ecosystem

FIGURE 1.3
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What is an environmental problem?

• The perception of what constitutes a problem
  varies between individuals and societies
• e.g. DDT, a pesticide
• In developing countries welcome because it kills
  malaria-carrying mosquitoes
• In developed countries not welcome, due to
  health risks

FIGURE 1.4
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Environmental science is not environmentalism

• Environmental science
• The pursuit of knowledge about the natural world
• Scientists try to remain objective (though
  sources of funding can influence questions
  studied and conclusions arrived at)?
• Environmentalism
• A social movement dedicated to protecting the
  natural world, though some environmental
  scientists (e.g. David Suzuki, Andrew Weaver)
  become environmentalists because they feel the
  'facts' demand that we take action as a society
  and as a species.

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• Science
• A systematic process for learning about the world
  and testing our understanding of it
• A dynamic process of observation, testing, and
  discovery
• The accumulated body of knowledge that results
  from this process
• Science is essential for
• Sorting out fact from fiction
• Developing solutions to the problems we face

The nature of science
Current controversy over federal government
cancelling evidence-based science projects/
centres and muzzling scientists. This has led to
recent protests (Death of Evidence in Ottawa)
and to editorials in the prestigious science
journal, Nature http//www.nature.com/nature/jour
nal/v487/n7407/full/487271b.html
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Science Critically examining evidence

• Scientists design tests are ideas supported by
  evidence?
• Explanations must
• Be testable
• Resist repeated attempts to disprove it
• Eventually consensus results, as with
  human-induced climate change.
• Accepted ideas can be applied in policy and
  management decisions (e.g. prescribed burning)?

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The scientific method

• A technique for testing ideas with observations
• Assumptions
• The universe works according to unchanging
  natural laws
• Events arise from causes, and cause other events
• We use our senses and reason to understand
  natures laws

FIGURE 1.7
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The scientific method

• A scientist makes an observation and asks
  questions of some phenomenon
• The scientist formulates a hypothesis, a
  statement that attempts to explain the scientific
  question.
• The hypothesis is used to generate predictions,
  which are specific statements that can be
  directly and unequivocally tested.
• The test results either support or reject the
  hypothesis

FIGURE 1.7
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There are different ways to test hypotheses

• Natural or correlational tests show real-world
  complexity
• Cannot show causation

• Manipulative experiments yield the strongest
  evidence
• Can show causation
• Not always possible to use

FIGURE 1.8
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The scientific process is part of a larger process

• The scientific process includes peer review,
  publication, and debate
• A consistently supported hypothesis becomes a
  theory, a well-tested and widely accepted
  explanation
• With enough data, a paradigm shift a change in
  the dominant view can occur (examples?)

FIGURE 1.9
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Sustainability and the future of our world

• Human population growth exacerbates all
  environmental problems
• The growth rate has slowed, but we still add more
  than 200,000 people to the planet each day
• Our consumption of resources has risen even
  faster than our population growth.
• Life has become more pleasant for us so far
• However, rising consumption amplifies the demands
  we make on our environment.

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Ecological footprints are not all equal

• The ecological footprints of countries vary
  greatly
• Canada uses far more than its equal share of the
  worlds resources
• Developing countries have much smaller footprints
  than developed countries

FIGURE 1.10
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We face challenges in agriculture

• Expanded food production led to increased
  population and consumption
• Its one of humanitys greatest achievements, but
  at an enormous environmental cost
• Nearly half of the planets land surface is used
  for agriculture that depends heavily on
• chemical fertilizers
• pesticides, and produces
• erosion
• changed natural systems

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We also face challenges in pollution

• Waste products and artificial chemicals used in
  farms, industries, and households
• Each year, millions of people
  die from pollution

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We face challenges in climate

• Scientists have firmly concluded that humans are
  changing the composition of the atmosphere
• The Earths surface is warming
• catastrophic decline in Artic sea ice
• melting glaciers
• rising sea levels
• impacted wildlife and crops
• increasingly destructive weather
• Since the Industrial Revolution, atmospheric
  carbon dioxide concentrations have risen by 38,
  to the highest level in 650,000 years

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We face challenges in biodiversity

• Human actions have driven many species extinct,
  and biodiversity is declining dramatically
• We are at the onset of a mass extinction event

FIGURE 1.12
Biodiversity loss may be our biggest
environmental problem once a species is extinct,
it is gone forever
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The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

• The most comprehensive scientific assessment of
  the condition of the worlds ecological systems,
  carried out by the UN
• Major findings
• humans have drastically altered ecosystems
• these changes have contributed to human
  well-being and economic development, but at a
  cost
• environmental degradation could get much worse
• degradation can be reversed, but it requires a
  lot of work (and leadership, which is in short
  supply)

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Our energy choices will affect our future

• The lives we live today are due to fossil fuels
• machines
• chemicals
• transportation
• products (e.g. plastics)
• Fossil fuels are a one-time bonanza supplies
  will certainly decline
• We have used up ½ of the worlds oil supplies
  how will we handle this imminent fossil fuel
  shortage?

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Sustainable solutions exist

• We must develop solutions that protect both our
  quality of life and the environment. Components
  include
• organic agriculture
• new technology
• reduce pollution
• conservation
• recycling
• renewable energy sources

FIGURE 1.13
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Are things getting better or worse?

• Many people think environmental conditions are
  better
• Cornucopians Human ingenuity will solve any
  problem
• Some think things are much worse in the world
• Cassandras predict doom and disaster
• How can you decide who is correct?
• Are the impacts limited to humans, or are other
  organisms or systems involved?
• Are the proponents thinking in the long or short
  term?
• Are they considering all costs and benefits?

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Sustainability a goal for the future

• How can humans live within the planets means?
• Humans cannot exist without functioning natural
  systems
• Sustainability
• Leaves future generations with a rich and full
  Earth
• Conserves the Earths natural resources leaves
  natural capital intact
• Maintains fully functioning ecological systems
• Sustainable development the use of resources to
  satisfy current needs without compromising future
  availability of resources (ambivalent meaning??)

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Conclusion

• Environmental science helps us understand our
  relationship with the environment and informs our
  attempts to solve and prevent problems.
• Identifying a problem is the first step in
  solving it (e.g. scientific understanding of
  climate change)
• Solving environmental problems can move us
  towards health, longevity, peace and prosperity
• Environmental science and geography can help us
  find balanced solutions to environmental problems.

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QUESTION Review

• The term environment includes
• Animals and plants
• Oceans and rivers
• Soil and atmosphere
• All of the above are included in this term

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Will we develop in a sustainable way?

• The triple bottom line sustainable solutions
  that meet
• environmental goals
• economic goals
• social goals
• Requires that humans apply knowledge from the
  sciences to
• limit environmental impacts
• maintain functioning ecological systems

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QUESTION Review

• Which of the following is correct about the term
  environmentalism?
• It is very science-oriented
• It is a social movement to protect the
  environment
• It usually does not include advocacy for the
  environment
• It involves scientists trying to solve
  environmental problems

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QUESTION Review

• Adding various amounts of fertilizer to plants
  in a laboratory is a _____ type of experiment
• Correlative
• Natural
• Manipulative
• Rare

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QUESTION Review

• What is the definition of sustainable
  development?
• Using resources to benefit future generations,
  even if it means lower availability now
• Letting future generations figure out their own
  problems
• Using resources to satisfy current needs without
  compromising future availability
• Letting each country decide what is its best
  interest

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QUESTION Weighing the Issues

• Which do you think is the best way to protect
  commonly owned resources (i.e., air, water,
  fisheries)?
• Sell the resource to a private entity
• Voluntary organizations to enforce responsible
  use
• Governmental regulations
• Do nothing and see what happens

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QUESTION Weighing the Issues

• Do you think the rest of the world can have an
  ecological footprint as large as the footprint of
  the Canada?
• Yes, because we will find new technologies and
  resources
• Yes, because the footprint of Canada is not
  really that large
• Definitely not the world does not have that many
  resources
• It does not matter its not that important

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QUESTION Interpreting Graphs and Data
According to this graph, what has happened to the
population over the last 500 years?
a) It has grown exponentially b) It has grown
linearly c) It has decreased d) It has slowed
down recently
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QUESTION Interpreting Graphs and Data

• What happens if test results reject a hypothesis?
• a) The scientist formulates a new hypothesis
• b) It shows the test failed
• c) The hypothesis was supported
• d) The predictions may not have been correct

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