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Sustainable Resource Management: Ensuring a Healthy Environment for Future Generations

This chapter discusses the importance of managing natural resources wisely to safeguard the environment for future generations. It covers topics such as the balance of nature, carrying capacity, human population growth, conservation, preservation, and protecting resources against pollution. The text emphasizes the need for active involvement in caring for the environment and understanding how ecosystems work to ensure a sustainable future.

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Sustainable Resource Management: Ensuring a Healthy Environment for Future Generations

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  1. Chapter 3 pg 41 Ecosystem Management

  2. Humans and Their Environment • People have always lived in an environment • In the past, our impact was smaller • hand tools, smaller populations, etc. • With technology, our impact has increased

  3. Managing Natural Resources • Active role in caring for environment • Need to understand how environment works • Must gather information about environment health • “spaceship” earth

  4. Managing Natural Resources • Environmental issues require their own solutions • Each issue is different (some are fixable) • Each issue should be considered separately • Questions that need to be asked in management ; • How will we know when a healthy environment exists? • What conditions must be present for healthy ecosystems to continue into the future?

  5. Natural Resources • Everything in environment is natural resource • Any object used or has potential to perform work • Exhaustible, • Nonexhaustible • Renewable

  6. Natural Resources • Nonexhaustible resources • could last forever BUT can be damaged • continuously renewed • does not mean they are not limited • Human misuse can still damage resource • Examples • water and air

  7. Natural Resources • Renewable resources • Resource can be replaced by human efforts • Use should be restricted • used no faster than can be regenerated • Does not mean it will never be used up • Examples • forests, fish populations, wildlife populations

  8. Natural Resources • Nonrenewable or exhaustible resources • resources that cannot be replaced or reproduced • exist in finite amounts • do not renew themselves • We can learn to • conserve, use less, and recycle

  9. Nonrenewable and Exhaustible Resources • Examples • oil, lead, cobalt, zinc • even soil • constantly being formed • Why not a nonexhaustible resource? • Nature makes soil too slowly • Nonrenewable also means renewed too slowly

  10. Balance of Nature • No such thing as balance of nature • Forces of nature constantly produce change: continuous and natural • It is essential that change be gradual • Managing resources wisely requires careful use • using resources slowly and gradually

  11. Carrying Capacity • Population • number of individuals in given area • Carrying capacity • population level an ecosystem can support • number of individuals that can get resources (habitat) • Populations that exceed carrying capacity • experience disease, predation, starvation, competition for resources

  12. Human Population • Earth’s current approximate population 7.3 Billion • What is the Earth’s carrying capacity? • Balancing Population with needs for resources • Increase in food and material production as a result of agricultural and livestock production • Science and Technological discoveries

  13. Conservation and Preservation • “The abuse or misuse of natural resources can no longer be allowed” pg 48 • Protecting natural resources against harm and waste • Involves • using less so resource available in future • not using resources wastefully or carelessly • managing resources for current and future use

  14. Conservation • One of the most important conservation goal is conserving topsoil. Why? • Soil necessary for • farms, human use • maintaining wildlife habitats • Soil erosion greatest source of water pollution

  15. Conservation • Takes approx 500 yrs to make 1 inch of topsoil • Need 5 – 6 inches for agriculture • Lose approx ? • Soil conservation • protecting soil from wind and water • minimizing erosion • keeping soils fertile and productive

  16. PreservationJust for the sake of it.. • Maintaining resource in natural state • simply because we value it • We must balance our desires • for preservation with needs as a people • National Park Service 1916 • National Forest Service 1905

  17. Preservation • Questions for this generation: • Can we set aside certain resources? • Which is more important: • economic growth or preservation? • Preservation as part of conservation • Multiple uses • Awareness and education

  18. Protecting Resources • Pollution • must find origin and reduce release • may even involve cleanup • Environmental Protection Agency • Clean Water Act 1972 • Regulations to guard against untreated sewage or industrial waste entering water • Clean Air Act 1970 • Regulations on air emissions reducing amount of exhaust and combustion products

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