Environmental Science

1. Environmental Science Unit 1 -Environmental Issues, Their Causes, & Sustainability (STE Chapter 1, pp. 1-16)

2. Where are we going? 1. Living more sustainably 2. Population growth, economic growth, and sustainable development 3. Resources 4. Pollution 5. Problems: causes and connections 6. Is our present course sustainable?

3. 1.1 Living more sustainably environment - everything that affects a living organism ecology - study of the interactions between organisms & environment environmental science - interdisciplinary study (ecology, biology, chemistry, geology, social science, economics, politics and ethics) of the relationship between humans & their environment.

4. Natural Capital

5. The Sun and Earth’s Natural Capital

6. Renewable Energy Sources (RES) • RES • solar • wind • waves • hydro • biomass • geothermal • tidal Solar derived

7. Question What is the big difference between solar energy and energy from natural resources?

8. Question What does it mean to be sustainable? Sustainability – ‘Ability of a system to survive and function over time’

9. Exponential Growth exponential growth – quantity increases by a fixed %-age in a given time e.g. 2x where x = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, … Complete the table: 0 1 1 2 2 4 3 8 4 16 7 128

10. World Population Growth In less than 200 years, the population went from 1 billion to 6 billion people Why?  BIRTH RATE > DEATH RATE

11. Critical Environmental Problems • population growth • increasing resource use • destruction/degradation of wildlife habitats • extinction of plants and animals • poverty • pollution

12. Movie Movie - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTjQO163P2E

13. Solutions • management • planning • conservation • education • life style changes • new ways of doing things

14. Views VIEW 1 - Neo-malthusianismHeld by Environmentalists ‘we are living unsustainably’ As the population increases it puts strain on our natural resources  VIEW 2 – Cornucopian Held by Economists and business leaders ‘there are no limits to human population growth that cannot be overcome by human ingenuity and technology’ 73% of habitable area of the planet has been disturbed. How much more when the population increases from 6 to 8 billion by 2028?

15. End • Review

16. 1.2 Population Growth, Economic Growth, and Sustainable Economic Development Cultural change • has given us more energy and technology to alter our planet - allowed population expansion - increased our environmental impact What is in store for future generations?

17. Economic Growth • Economic growth provides people with more goods and services • Measured in gross domestic product (GDP) and purchasing power parity (PPP) • Economic development uses economic growth to improve living standards • The world’s countries economic status (developed vs. developing) are based on their degree of industrialization and GDP-PPP

18. Global Outlook

19. Population Increase developing countries > developed countries

20. End • Review

21. 1.3 Resources Resource – obtained from the environment to meet human demand, e.g. food, water, goods etc Perpetual resources – renewed continuously, e.g. solar energy Renewable resources - can be replenished relatively rapidly, e.g. forests, grasslands, animals, water, air, soil Nonrenewable resources - can be exhausted & not renewed in human time scales, e.g. fossil fuels, metallic minerals, nonmetallic minerals

22. Renewable vs. Nonrenewable Resources

23. Renewable vs. Nonrenewable Resources We can extend the supply of non-renewables: - Reduce Reuse Recycle (requires less water, energy and other resources, produces less pollution)

24. Ecological Footprint Ecological footprint – amount of land needed to produce resources and assimilate waste for an average person in a country Includes Carbon FP, Food FP,Housing FP, Goods + Services FP Biologically productive land: 1.9 ha land per person (1 ha = 10,000 m2) Mean EFP is 2.3 ha per person What is you EFP? see CW1: have to convert 1 ha = 2.5 acres

25. Ecological Footprint When population reaches 10 billion, 1 ha per person Larger for developed countries e.g. Netherlands EFP is 15x the countries area.

26. Example How many times the country’s total land area is the combined ecological footprint (EF) of all persons living in the USA? EF = 9.6 ha/person Total EF USA = 9.6 ha/person x (300 x 106) people = 3 x 109 ha (3 billion hectares) Area Land USA = 9631418 km2 100 ha = 1 km2, so 1 x 107 km2 x 100 ha = 1 x 109 ha 1 km2 Ratio EF USA : Area Land USA = 3 x 109 ha = 3 1 x 109 ha

27. Ecological Capacity

28. Humanity’s EFP Humanity’s ecological footprint has exceeded earths ecological capacity

29. For US available land is 6.7 ha per person Where is extra land coming from?

30. World Consumption For developed countries to enjoy their standard of living, others must make do with less. Environmental destruction and pollution do not know political boundaries How long it will be until we begin to feel the impacts of our actions at home?

31. Ecological footprint in relation to available ecological capacityCountries indicated by red dots were in an ecological deficit in 1997 when this study was conducted.

32. End • Review

33. 1.4 Pollution Pollution: undesirable change in physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of air, water, soil, or food that can adversely affect humans or other living organisms Nonpoint Source: dispersed & often difficult to identify sources (e.g., agricultural runoff) Point Source: single identified sources of pollution (e.g., smoke stack or effluent discharge)

34. Point and Non-point Sources Smol, 2002

35. What Types of Harm do Pollutants Cause? - disrupts life-support systems- damages health and property- nuisances (Noise and smell) What type of pollutant is CO2?

36. Severity Severity - 3 governing factors: 1. SpeciationHow active and harmful a pollutant is.e.g. organic or methyl-mercury is highly toxic to humans whilst its elemental form is also toxic, but to a lesser extent 2. ConcentrationMeasured in parts per million (ppm)  mg/kg g/g 3. Persistence Degradable (nonpersistent) – may be broken down, e.g. sewage Slowly degradable (persistent) – e.g. pesticides, oil, plastics Nondegradable – e.g. lead, mercury The dose makes the poison

37. Dealing with Pollution Prevention (the three R’s – refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle) or Cleanup? 2 BIG problems with cleanup. 1. With the population increasing this is only a temporary solution, e.g. catalytic converter in cars 2. Removes a pollutant from one environment into another

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39. 1.5 Environmental Problems ‘World Scientists' Warning to Humanity’ 1,700 of the world leading scientists issued an appeal in 1992 -The Environment is suffering critical stress in the following areas:

40. Some Major Problems

41. Tragedy of the Commons • Problems cannot by solved by technical means • Problems raised by human population growth and the use of the Earth's common property natural resources • Examples: • Depleting biodiversity • Burning of fossil fuels • Pollution of waterways and the atmosphere • Logging of forests • Overfishing of the oceans Fresh water?

42. “If I do not use this resource, someone else will. The little bit I use or pollute is not enough to matter, resources are renewable”

43. Cartoon Management solutions: Use less, restrict access, convert to private ownership Solutions?

44. Game • Tragedy of the Bunnies http://www.bunnygame.org

45. Connections P x A x T = I developing countries P is high A and T are low developed countries A and T are high P low Actually much more complicated than this!

46. End • Review

47. 1.6 Is Our Present Course Sustainable?Guidelines for Sustainability • Leave the earth as good or better than we found it • Take no more than we need • Try not to harm life, air, water, soil • Protect biodiversity • Help maintain Earth's capacity for self repair • Don't use potentially renewable resources faster than they are replenished • Don't waste resources • Don't release pollutants faster than Earth's natural processes can dilute or degrade them • Slow the rate of population growth • Reduce poverty Advocates for environmentally sustainable economic development call for a shift to using economic rewards to encourage sustainable choices

48. Quote What's the use of a house if you don't have a decent planet to put it on? –– Henry David Thoreau

49. How do I succeed in this course? • be an active learner • seek help (quickly) if needed • complete all assignments, discussions and tests on time