Title: Environmental Issues, Their Causes, and Sustainability
1Environmental Issues, Their Causes, and
Sustainability
G. Tyler Millers Living in the Environment 13th
Edition Chapter 1
2Key Concepts
- Growth and Sustainability
- Resources and Resource Use
- Causes of Environmental Problems
3Living More Sustainably
- Ecology scientific study of the relationship
between living organisms and their environment.
4Living More Sustainably
- Environmental Science
- interdisciplinary science that uses natural and
social sciences to help us understand - how the earth works
- how we are affecting the earths systems
- how to deal with environmental problems
5Living More Sustainably
- Groups involved
- Ecologists
- Environmental Scientists
- Conservation biologists
- Environmentalists
- Preservationists
- Conservationists
- Restorationists
Which are you?
6What keeps us alive?
- solar capital
- natural capital/resources
- solar energy
7Objectives
- Differentiate between ecology and environmental
science. - Define the term ecological footprint and
calculate it based on varying scenarios. - Discuss sustainability and how factors associated
with ecological footprints may impact it.
8Environmentally Sustainable Society?
- An Environmentally Sustainable Society does not
- deplete or degrade the earths natural resources
- prevent current and future generations of humans
and other species from meeting their basic needs.
9Living Sustainably?
- Living sustainably means
- living off the natural income replenished by
soils, plants, air, and water. - NOT depleting the earths endowment of natural
capital that supplies this income.
10Activity Cats in Borneo
- Work with a partner to try and put the order of
events of the story of why cats were parachuted
into Borneo.
Early finishers work on signs and safety cartoon.
11Exponential growth
12Bell Ringer
Based on your general knowledge, explain how the
economic growth of a country can both help and
hurt the environment.
13Objectives
- Use the Rule of 70 to calculate the doubling time
of a population. - Describe the use of Integrated Biosystems (IBS)
to achieve sustainability. - Identify the six economic indicators
- Compare developed and developing countries based
on their indicators and use of resources.
14Agenda
- Bell Ringer
- Rule of 70
- Calculations
- Case Study IBS as a zero emission strategy to
achieve sustainability (video clip 13 min)
15Population Growth
16Rule of 70
- 70 / percentage of growth rate doubling time in
years - Example in 1963 the world population grew by
2.1 - 70 / 2.1 33.3 years
- What would be the doubling time at a rate of
1.28? 0.1? 1.6?
17World Population
Fig. 1-1 p. 2
18Current Exponential Growth
- At the current rate of 1.28
- 4 days number of Americans killed in all US
wars - 2 months population of the LA basin
- 1.6 years 129 million killed in all the wars
of the past 200 years - 3.6 years 288 million (US pop. 2002)
- 16 years 1.28 billion (China pop. 2002)
19Case Study in Sustainability
- Zero Emissions
- Integrated Biosystems
- Video Case Study
- Identify the steps in this IBS
- What kind of IBS strategy might be used by our
school?
20Economic Growth
- Gross National Income (GNI)
- Formerly called GNP
- GNI PPP is better for comparisons
- Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
- Gross World Product (GWP)
- Per Capita GNI (formerly GNP)
- Per Capita GNI PPP
21Economic Development
- Economic development improvement of living
standards by economic growth. - Countries are classified based mostly on their
degree of industrialization and per Capita GNI.
22Economic Development
- Developed Countries most highly industrialized
with high per capita GNI PPPs (above 10,750
usually). - Examples? -
23Economic Development
- Developing Countries middle income, moderately
developed (10, 750 - 2,701 and low income
countries (less than 2,701). - Examples? -
24Comparison
- Developed
- 1.2 billion people
- 19 of world pop.
- 85 of worlds wealth
- use 88 of resources
- produce 75 of the pollution.
- Developing
- 5 billion people
- 81 of world pop.
- 15 of worlds wealth
- use 12 of resources
- produce 25 of the pollution.
25Economic Development
- Positive Aspects
- Life expectancy doubled (36 72) from 1900
2002 (76 developed, 65 developing) - Infant mortality dropped (60 developed 40
developing) from 1955 2002. - Global food production has outpaced population
growth since 1978 - Rural families with access to safe drinking water
increased from 10 in 1955 to 75 now in
developing countries.
26Economic Development
- Positive Aspects
- Weve learned to produce more goods with less raw
materials. - Levels of most major air and water pollutants
have been reduced in most developed countries.
27Economic Development
- Negative Aspects
- Avg. life expectancy is 11 yrs. less in
developing countries - Infant mortality 8 times higher in developing
countries - Industrialized food production harming the
environment and may limit future production. - Air water pollution too high in developing
countries.
28Economic Development
- Negative Aspects
- Natural resources are being used unsustainably
including - extinction of species 100 1000 times faster
than pre-human times. - destruction/degradation of wetlands, coral reefs,
and forests. - gradual depletion of ground water.
29Economic Development
- Negative Aspects
- Studies by Conservation International
- 73 of habitable land is partially or heavily
disturbed by human use. - Global warming may cause
- shifting of agricultural land
- alteration of water supplies
- shifting of plants and animals
- rising average sea levels
30Economic Development
- Negative Aspects
- 1.4 billion avg. income of less than 370 per
year. (1/day acute poverty) - Half of the worlds population suffer from
poverty and are living on 1 - 3 per day. (70
are women children) - The gap between the richest and poorest countries
is growing.
31Globalization
Globalization the process of social, economic,
and environmental global changes lead to an
increasingly interconnected world.
32Globalization
Economic
Information and Communication
Environmental Effects
33Resources
Resources Anything we obtain from the
environment to meet our needs and wants.
34Resources
Fig. 1-6 p. 9
35Renewable Resources
- Environmental Degradation
Refer to Connections, p. 12
36Non-Renewable Resources
37Ecological Footprint
Fig. 1-8 p. 10
38Calculate your footprint
- www.earthday.net/footprint
39(No Transcript)
40(No Transcript)
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42Pollution
Sources
43Dealing With Pollution
- Prevention (Input Control)
44Environmental and Resource Problems
- Major Problems(See Fig. 1-9 p. 12)
45- Biodiversity Depletion
- Habitat destruction
- Habitat degradation
- Extinction
- Air Pollution
- Global climate change
- Stratospheric ozone depletion
- Urban air pollution
- Acid deposition
- Outdoor pollutants
- Indoor pollutants
- Noise
- Food Supply Problems
- Overgrazing
- Farmland loss
- and degradation
- Wetlands loss
- and degradation
- Overfishing
- Coastal pollution
- Soil erosion
- Soil salinization
- Soil waterlogging
- Water shortages
- Groundwater depletion
- Loss of biodiversity
- Poor nutrition
Major Environmental Problems
- Water Pollution
- Sediment
- Nutrient overload
- Toxic chemicals
- Infectious agents
- Oxygen depletion
- Pesticides
- Oil spills
- Excess heat
- Waste Production
- Solid waste
- Hazardous waste
(See Fig. 1-9 p. 12)
46Poverty Environmental Problems
- Poverty is a major threat to human health and the
environment. - Deplete degrade forests, grasslands, soils and
wildlife for short-term survival.
47Poverty Environmental Problems
- Live in areas with high levels of pollution and
risks of natural disasters. - Unhealthy and unsafe working conditions for low
pay when they are even available.
48Poverty Environmental Problems
- Have many children for economic security.
- No retirement plans, social security, or
government sponsored health plans.
49Poverty Environmental Problems
- One in every three children under age 5 suffer
from malnutrition. - 13,700 children die prematurely every day from
malnutrition and infectious diseases.
50Resource Consumption and Environmental Problems
- Affluenza the unsustainable addiction to over
consumption and materialism. (Shop til you drop
virus) - 1 American 27 tractor-trailer loads/year
- All Americans 7.9 billion truckloads/year
51Solving the Problem
- Admit theres a problem
- Ask
- Do I really need this?
- Can I buy it used?
- Can I borrow one?
- Avoid other shopaholics and malls.
52Law of Progressive Simplicity
- Historian Arnold Toynbees true measure of a
civilizations growth - True growth occurs as civilizations transfer an
increasing proportion of energy and attention
from the material side of life to the nonmaterial
side and thereby develop their culture, capacity
for compassion, sense of community, and strength
of democracy.
53Can Affluenza help the problem?
- Affluent countries have more money for improving
environmental quality.
54Environmental Impact
Fig. 1-11 p. 13
55Environmental Interactions
Fig. 1-12 p. 14
56Better or Worse?
- Two extremes
- Technological optimists
- Environmental pessimists
- I have no hope for a conservation based on fear
Aldo Leopold, Conservationist
57Environmental Worldviews
- Planetary Management
- We are in charge of nature
- We will find new resources as old ones run out.
- Global economic growth is unlimited
- Success depends on how we manage the earths
systems, mostly for our benefit.
58Environmental Worldviews
- Stewardship View
- We have a ethical responsibility to care for
nature. - We probably wont run out of resources but they
should not be wasted. - Encourage environmentally beneficial economic
growth and discourage that which is harmful. - Success depends on we manage the earths systems
for our benefit AND the rest of nature.
59Environmental Worldviews
- Environmental Wisdom View
- Nature exists for all species, not just us and we
are not in charge of the earth. - Resources ARE limited, and should not be wasted.
- Encourage earth-sustaining economic growth and
discourage earth-degrading growth. - Success depends on learning how the earth
sustains itself and using these lessons to
determine how we think and act.
60Environmentally-Sustainable Economic Development
Fig. 1-13 p. 17