Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability

1. Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability Chapter 1

3. Sustainability

4. What is sustainability? • Sustainability is the capacity of the earth’s natural systems and human cultural systems to survive, flourish and adapt to changing environmental conditions into the very long-term future.

5. Section 1-1 What are three principles of sustainability?

6. Environmental science is a study of connections in nature • Environment includes all living and nonliving things with which an organism interacts. • Ecology studies relationships between living organisms, and their interaction with the environment.

7. What is Environmental Science? • Opinions? • Ideas?

8. topics • Recycling • Global warming • Fuel shortages • Alternative energy • Invasive Species • Overfishing • Etc.

9. Relationship between Environmental Science and Environmentalism Environmentalism Environmental Science

10. Environmental science studies how the earth works, our interaction with the earth, and ways to deal with environment problems and live more sustainably. • Environmentalism is a social movement dedicated to protecting life support systems for all species

11. Disclaimer The purpose of this class is not to convert you to environmentalism but to educate you in environmental science and make you aware of current environmental issues.

12. Back to Sustainability

13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5NiTN0chj0 • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp3eooTJkY4 • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnYHFRq7-5s

14. Three principles of sustainability • Life depends on solar energy. • Biodiversity provides natural services. • Biodiversity – variety of different species, genetic variability among individuals within each species, variety of ecosystems • Chemical/nutrient cycling means that there is little waste in nature.

16. Figure 1.4 Ecosystem O2 O2 Sunlight Heat Producers(such asplants) Consumers(such asanimals) Chemical energy(food) CO2 CO2 Decomposers(in soil) Water and mineralstaken up by tree roots Cycling ofchemical nutrients

17. Three principles of sustainability

18. Sustainability has certain key components • Life depends on natural capital = natural resources and natural services. • Many human activities can degrade natural capital. • Solutions are being found and implemented. • Sustainability begins at personal and local levels.

19. Natural Capital Solar energy Natural Capital = Natural Resources + Natural Services Air Renewable energy (sun, wind, water flows) Air purification Climate control UV protection (ozone layer) Life (biodiversity) Population control Water Water purification Pest control Waste treatment Soil Land Nonrenewable minerals (iron, sand) Food production Soil renewal Natural gas Nutrient recycling Oil Nonrenewable energy (fossil fuels) Coal seam Natural resources Natural services Fig. 1-3, p. 9

20. Organic matter in animals Dead organic matter Organic matter in plants Decomposition Inorganic matter in soil Fig. 1-4, p. 10

21. Some resources are renewable and some are not • Humans depend on resources to meet our needs. • Water • Food • Electricity • Housing • Etc.

22. Where can these resources come from? • Renewable vs. Nonrenewable • Renewable resources are things which cannot be used up • Nonrenewable resources are usually things which are dug out of the earth and can be used up

23. Renewable Resources • A renewal resource, also known as a perpetual resource, is continuously renewed and expected to last (e.g. solar energy). • A renewable resource is replenished in days to several hundred years through natural processes.

24. Sustainable Yield • Sustainable yield is the highest rate at which a renewable and non-renewable resource can be used indefinitely without reducing its available supply. (harvestable surplus) • Forestry • Fisheries

26. Some resources are renewable and some are not • Some resources are not renewable. • Nonrenewable resources exist in fixed quantities. • Exhaustible energy (e.g. coal and oil). • Metallic minerals (e.g. copper and aluminum). • Nonmetallic minerals (e.g. salt and sand). • Sustainable solutions: Reduce, reuse, recycle.

28. Section 1-2 How are our ecological footprints affecting the earth?

29. We are living unsustainably • Scientific evidence indicates that we are living unsustainably. • Environmental, or natural capital, degradation is occurring. • However, we have solutions to these problems that can be implemented.

30. Natural Capital Degradation Degradation of Normally Renewable Natural Resources Climate change Shrinking forests Decreased wildlife habitats Air pollution Species extinction Soil erosion Water pollution Declining ocean fisheries Aquifer depletion Fig. 1-5, p. 11

31. Pollution comes from a number of sources • Point sources - are single, identifiable sources (e.g., smokestack). • Nonpoint sources - are dispersed and often difficult to identify (e.g., lawn runoff). • We can clean up pollution or prevent it. • Pollution cleanup is usually more expensive and less effective. • Pollution prevention reduces or eliminates the production of pollutants.

34. Environmental degradation • Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction ofecosystems and the extinction of wildlife. It is defined as any change or disturbance to the environment perceived to be deleterious or undesirable.

35. The tragedy of the commons: overexploiting shared renewable resources • In 1968, the biologist Garrett Hardin called the degradation of openly shared resources the tragedy of the commons.

36. Tragedy of the Commons • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8gAMFTAt2M

37. 2 ways to prevent degradation: • Reduce use by government regulations. • Like regulating fishing for example. • Shift to private ownership – such as land. The idea is that if you own it you are more likely to take care of it.

38. Ecological footprints: our environmental impacts • Ecological footprint - the amount of biologically productive land and water needed to supply a person or country with renewable resources and to recycle the waste and pollution produced by such resource use.

39. Per Capita Ecological Footprint • Per capita ecological footprint - the average ecological footprint of an individual in a given country or area

41. Ecological footprints: our environmental impacts • Ecological deficit means the ecological footprint is larger than the biological capacity to replenish resources and absorb wastes and pollution.

42. Humanity is living unsustainably. • Footprints can also be expressed as number of Earths it would take to support consumption.

43. Total Ecological Footprint (million hectares) and Share of Global Biological Capacity (%) Per Capita Ecological Footprint (hectares per person) United States United States 2,810 (25%) 9.7 European Union 2,160 (19%) European Union 4.7 China China 2,050 (18%) 1.6 0.8 India 780 (7%) India Japan Japan 540 (5%) 4.8 2.5 Unsustainable living 2.0 Number of Earths 1.5 Projected footprint 1.0 Ecological footprint 0.5 Sustainable living 0 1961 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050 Year Fig. 1-8, p. 14

44. How big is a hectare?

45. IPAT is another environmental impact model • In the early 1970s, scientists Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren developed the IPAT model. • I (environmental impact) = P (population size) x A (affluence/person) x T (technology’s beneficial and harmful effects).

46. I = P x A x T

47. Section 1-3 Why do we have environmental problems?

48. Experts have identified four basic causes of environmental problems • Population growth. • Unsustainable resource use. • Poverty. • Excluding environmental costs from market prices.

49. The human population is growing exponentially at a rapid rate • Human population is increasing at a fixed percentage so that we are experiencing doubling of larger and larger populations. • Human population in 2009 was about 6.8 billion. • http://www.census.gov/popclock/

50. Human population growth • Based on the current increase rate there will be 9.6 billion people by 2050. • We can slow population growth. • Developing countries have the highest population growth because of poverty and the inability to pay for contraceptives.