Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability

1. Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability Chapter 1 : APES Ms. Miller

2. Key Concepts • Growth and Sustainability • Resources and Resource Use • Pollution • Causes of Environmental Problems

3. Living More Sustainably • Ecology—biological science that studies the relationships between living organisms and their environment

4. Environmental Science—interdisciplinary study that uses information from both physical sciences and social sciences to learn how the earth works

5. Sustainable Society—society that meets the basic resource needs of its people indefinitely without degrading or depleting the natural capital that supplies these resources

6. What Keeps Us Alive? Capital • Solar • Natural Fig. 1-2, p. 7

7. Population Growth • Doubling Time/Rule of 70: 70/ %growth rate=doubling time • ExponentialGrowth Fig. 1-4, p. 8

8. World Population Fig. 1-1 p. 5

9. Economic Growth • Economic Growth—increase in the capacity of a country to provide people with goods and services • Gross Domestic Product (GDP)—annual market value of all goods and services produced in a country • Per Capita GNP—GDP divided by total population at midyear

10. Economic Development • Developed Countries—high average per capita GDP and highly industrialized (United States, Canada, Japan, Australia New Zealand and countries of Europe) • Developing Countries—low average per capita GDP and/or not highly industrialized (most in Africa, Asia, and Latin America)

11. Globalization • Globalization—process of social, economic, and environmental global changes that lead to an increasingly interconnected world • Social—increasing exchange of people and modern communications and human mobility • Economic—increases in international trade • Environmental Effects—decentralized network allows for sustainability on a global scale

12. Resources • Perpetual (continuously renewed) • Renewable (replenished rapidly; Hoursseveral decades) • Non-renewable (exist in a fixed quantity) Fig. 1-6 p. 9

13. Renewable Resources • Sustainable Yield—highest rate a renewable resource can be used indefinitely without reducing supply • Environmental Degradation—exceeding a renewable resource’s natural replacement rate • Tragedy of the Commons—(Garett Hardin)—explanation of environmental degradation that if “I” do not use the resource, “Someone else will”

14. Ecological Footprint Per capita ecological footprint is the amount of biologically productive land and water needed to supply each person with renewable resources to use and to absorb or dispose of wastes Fig. 1-7 p. 10

15. Non-Renewable Resources Economic Depletion Fig. 1-8 p. 11 • Energy Resources (coal, oil, natural gas) • Metallic Resources (iron, copper, aluminum) • Non-MetallicResources (salt, clay, sand) • Reuse (use again in the same form) • Recycle (process of turning waste into new product

16. Dealing With Pollution • Prevention (Input Control)—reduces or eliminates production of pollutants • Cleanup (Output Control)—cleaning up or diluting pollutants after they have been produced

17. Environmental and Resource Problems • Major Problems(See Fig. 1-10 p. 13) • Five Root Causes

18. Environmental Impact Fig. 1-13 p. 15

19. Environmental Interactions Fig. 1-14 p. 15

20. Environmental Worldviews • PlanetaryManagement/Cornucopianism/ • Resourcism(some consumer’s belief) • We are most important species and thus in charge of nature • We will not run out of resources because of our ability to develop and find new ones • Potential for global economic growth is essentially unlimited • Success depends upon how we manage earth (mainly for our benefit)

22. Stewardship Worldview (another perspective) • We are the most important species and must care for other species • We will probably not run out of resources but do not waste them • We should encourage environmentally beneficial forms of economic growth and discourage harmful forms • Our success depends on how well we can manage earth’s life support for our benefit as well as for the rest of nature

23. Environmental Wisdom Worldview 1) Nature exists for all species, not just for us and we are not in charge of the earth 2) Earth’s resources are limited, should not be wasted, and are not all for us 3) We should encourage earth-sustaining forms of economic growth

24. What is Our Greatest Environmental Problem? Disease Overpopulation Water Shortages Climate Changes Biodiversity Loss Poverty Malnutrition

25. Solutions • Current Emphasis (Reactive) • Sustainability Emphasis (Proactive) Fig. 1-16, p. 18