Environmental Policy: Decision Making And Problem Solving Precious Time

1. AP Environmental Science Mr. Grant Lesson 15 Environmental Policy: Decision Making And Problem Solving Precious Time

2. Objectives: • Define the term globalization. • Explain how time is limited but how human potential to solve problems is tremendous. • TED - Accepting his 2005 TED Prize, photographer Edward Burtynsky makes a wish: that his images -- stunning landscapes that document humanity's impact on the world -- help persuade millions to join a global conversation on sustainability.

3. Define the term globalization. Globalization - Name for the process of increasing the connectivity and interdependence of the world's markets and businesses. • This process has speeded up dramatically in the last two decades as technological advances make it easier for people to travel, communicate, and do business internationally. • Two major recent driving forces are advances in telecommunications infrastructure and the rise of the internet.

4. Explain how time is limited but how human potential to solve problems is tremendous Time for turning around our increasing environmental impacts is running short. • The natural systems we depend on are changing rapidly • Human impacts are intensifying • Deforestation, overfishing, wetland loss, resource extraction, and climate change • Our window of opportunity to turn these trends around is short • We need to find time to implement solutions before we do irreparable harm

5. Explain how time is limited but how human potential to solve problems is tremendous • We need to reach again for the moon • President Kennedy created NASA in response to the prospect of “losing” the space race to the moon • Humanity faces a challenge more important than any previous one • Achieving sustainability • It is larger and more complex than going to the moon • Government, industry, and citizens can contribute • Human ingenuity is capable – we simply need to rally public resolve and engage governments

6. We hold our future in our hands “Survival is not negotiable.” The United States and other nations have met tremendous challenges before, so we have reason to hope that we will be able to attain a sustainable society.

7. Explain how time is limited but how human potential to solve problems is tremendous We must think of Earth as an island • Earth is, indeed, an island • Islands can be paradise, or they can be destroyed • Some people speak out for conservation and finding ways to live sustainably amid dwindling resources • Others ignore those calls and continue environmental destruction • It would be a tragic folly to let the planet be destroyed

8. TED Video 2005 TED Prize winner Edward Burtynsky has made it his life's work to document humanity's impact on the planet. His riveting photographs, as beautiful as they are horrifying, capture views of the Earth altered by mankind. Edward Burtynsky on manufactured landscapes (34:25) “These images are meant as metaphors to the dilemma of our modern existence ... They search for a dialogue between attraction and repulsion, seduction and fear. We are drawn by desire — a chance at good living, yet we are consciously or unconsciously aware that the world is suffering for our success.”