1.1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

1
1.1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
2

• Environmental Science is the study of ecosystems
  interacting with human systems.
• It is a broad, interdisciplinary science that
  includes science, math and social studies.
• Environmental science recognizes that very few
  ecosystems are not impacted by humans. We share
  the same resources, use energy, and undergo
  changes as the environment changes.

3

1. ENVIRONMENTAL INTRODUCTION

• These symbols represent aspects of society.
  Sustainable societies seek to manage growth of
  the economy, population and resources.

• Sustainability is living off of resources without
  depleting the Earths capital and jeopardizing
  future generations.

• Sustainable yield is the highest rate that a
  resource can be used indefinitely without
  reducing its available supply.

• Exponential human population growth is at the
  center of all environmental concerns.

4
The foundations of the course are built around
these themes

1. Science is a constantly changing process used to
   learn about the world.
2. All ecosystems are built around energy
   conversions.
3. All life is interconnected.
4. Technology and human population growth has
   affected natural systems.
5. Environmental problems have social, cultural,
   political, economic and ethical implications.
6. Human survival depends on building sustainable
   systems.

5
The Wealth Gap is the distance between the GNP
of developed and developing countries.
1.2 WEALTH GAP
6

1. Developed nation status is based on a per capita
   GNP of 3,500.

1. The U.S., Japan, and Germany produce more than
   half of the worlds economic wealth.

1. GNP - gross national product is the value of all
   goods and services produced by a country in one
   year from all national and international
   business per capita means divided by population.

1. GDP - gross domestic product measures only what
   is produced with the country.

7

1. Per capita, the U.S., Luxembourg and Switzerland
   are the richest nations. Cambodia and Mozambique
   are the poorest, per capita.

1. Developed countries have 1.2 billion people. This
   is 21 of worlds population, but they use 88 of
   all natural resources and generate 75 of the
   pollution.

• World Growth Rate
• is 1.55, producing 10,250 babies / hr.
• In one year, enough babies are born to fill a
  city the size of Los Angeles.

8

1. Out of 6 billion people, 1/5 live in luxury, 3/5
   have a meager existence, and 1/5 are starving.

1. At least 100 million are permanently homeless.

• Developing countries
• add 1 million people every 4 days - but 27,400
  die each day from malnutrition.
• use minimal amounts of resources per person, but
  their total populations are huge.
• do less environmental protection.

9

1. Earths capital is grouped into

• Renewable resources, such as energy from the sun,
  wind, tides, trees, grasslands, animals, soil and
  water can be replenished naturally.

• Nonrenewable resources, such as fossil fuels and
  minerals, cant be replaced by natural processes.

10

1. Some minerals can be recycled after melting,
   shredding, etc.

1. A material is considered reusable if it can be
   put to another use without altering the product.

1. Sustainability is a relative term. Every
   civilization that has ever existed has ultimately
   collapsed. Dr. Henry Kissinger

USMA
Dr. Henry Kissinger
11
1.3 POLLUTION OVERVIEW
12

• Pollution
• is the wasteful use of resources - Earths
  capital
• Unevenly distributed population and resources
  increase it.

13

1. The severity of pollution depends on its

• Concentration
• Amount
• Toxicity
• Ability to degrade
• Speed at which it is added.

14

• Biomagnification
• is a process that increases the effects of
  pollution as it is passed through organisms in
  the food chain.
• Small amounts of toxic materials are magnified as
  they are passed along the food web, poisoning
  larger and larger organisms.
• As biomass increases so does toxicity.
• They are directly proportional.

15

1. Regulators and legislators at all levels must
   choose how to get the desired behavior.

1. All behaviors are maintained, changed or shaped
   by the consequences of that behavior.

• Regulatory legislators and other officials at all
  levels basically have 4 choices
• Reward the behavior
• Punish the behavior
• Ignore the rules or
• Change the rules

16

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• was first established in 1970.
• Its purpose is to monitor and eliminate air and
  water pollution, noise pollution, pollution from
  radiation, pesticides and other toxic chemicals
• basically to set the rules of environmental
  behavior.

17

• Carrot vs. the Stick
• Carrot Approach - Positive consequences offering
  incentives to do the right thing .
• Stick Approach - involves regulation and
  enforcement.
• About 99 of the money spent on pollution is for
  cleanup, but prevention is MUCH cheaper, which
  means we are not applying either.
• Best Management Practices (BMP) are a set of
  strategies for industry, business, agriculture,
  and the government to act smarter and operate
  more efficiently.

18

• Pollution in Poland
• is one of the most polluted countries.
• Air pollution is 50 times the legal limit.
• The Soviet Union used Poland as their backyard
  dumpsite and as a resource bank for many years
  without any thought for its protection.

19
1.4 Tragedy of the Commons
20

1. Garrett Hardins Tragedy of the Commons (1968).

Boston Commons

1. In his famous essay, he reviews the tragedy of
   fouling our nest. The problem is not new

21

1. Aristotle Politics, BookII, Chapter 3 (circa 350
   B.C.) What is common to the greatest number gets
   the least amount of care. Men pay the most
   attention to what is their own they care less
   for what is common.

1. H. Scott Gordon (1954) Everybodys property is
   nobodys property. Wealth that is free for all is
   valued by none because he who is foolhardy enough
   to wait for its proper time of use will only find
   that it has been taken by another.

22
1.5 HISTORY OF THE CONSERVATION MOVEMENT

1. Land impact increased as hunter-gathering peoples
   became agricultural societies and then
   industrialized countries.

23

• Thoreau The Environment
• In the mid 1800s, Thoreau urged preservation and
  became a father of the environmental movement.
• In wildness is the preservation of the world..
  from the forest and wilderness come the tonics
  and barks which brace mankind
• Epidemics from overcrowding, hazardous working
  conditions, and water-related infections such as
  cholera, typhoid fever killed thousands.

24

1. President Theodore Roosevelts term of office
   (1901-1909) became the Golden Age of
   Conservation.
2. 1872 Yellowstone National Park established

1. 1892 Sierra Club founded by John Muir, who is
   also considered a father of environmentalism
2. 1902 Pelican Island, FL - first federal wildlife
   refuge

25

1. 1905 - U.S. Forest Service under Gifford Pinchot

• 1905 - Audubon Society founded to protect birds
• 1920 - Aldo Leopold founded game management,
  later wrote
• Sand County Almanac

26

• 1962 - Rachel Carsons book Silent Springbegan
  the modern environmental movement.
• Her book told the story of spring arriving
  without any insects from overuse of pesticides.
• The other creatures had nothing to eat and died
  as well as the food chain collapsed.
• The pesticide industry mounted a huge campaign to
  discredit her. She died of cancer before her book
  was released without knowing the tremendous
  impact she would have.

27

1. In New York, 300 people died from an air
   inversion foam began to appear in rivers from
   detergents.

1. The Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio caught fire
   and burned for 8 days!

1. Lake Erie was officially closed to fishing and
   swimming.

28

1. DDT was killing birds and a half dozen other
   species were near extinction.
2. April 20, 1970 was the first Earth Day, founded
   by Senator Gaylord Nelson
3. The 1970s became known as the Environmental
   Decade.
4. Hundred of environmental laws have been passed,
   but too many are not enforced

Sen. Gaylord Nelson (right) with William K.
Reilly, Earth Day 1990