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Overarching Themes. Chapter 1 What is environmental science? What is sustainability ? An organisms footprint Tragedy of Commons. Chapter 2 Basic outline of U.S. environmental history Historical figures of the environmental movement NEPA and EIS’s and other environmental laws
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Overarching Themes • Chapter 1 • What is environmental science? • What is sustainability? • An organisms footprint • Tragedy of Commons Chapter 2 Basic outline of U.S. environmental history Historical figures of the environmental movement NEPA and EIS’s and other environmental laws The environment & economics Pollution control Ethics Chapter 3 Biomes (biotic & abiotic distinguishers) Aquatic Ecosystems
Chapter 1 Introducing Environmental Science and Sustainability
Sustainability • What does it mean to be sustainable?
Sustainability Perpetuated indefinitely Improved or continued well being Economics & Growth Web Definitions: A strategy by which communities seek economic development approaches that also benefit the local environment and quality of life. ...
Could We All Live In… 1. Could we all live in Georgia? - 43,560 Square feet in an acre or 91% of a football field minus the end zones - 640 acres in a square mile - 57,906 square miles in Georgia Georgia = 37,059,840 Acres Texas = 172 Million and change US Population = 304 Million 2. 11,000,000 acres of land devoted to farms in Georgia 3. 23,631,000 acres devoted to timber in Georgia
Increasing Human Numbers What is the world’s (USA VsEthiopia) carrying capacity for people?
The Middle Class People who have a degree of economic independence, but not a great deal of social influence or power. The term often encompasses merchants and professionals, bureaucrats, and some farmers and skilled workers. Why is a middle class significant?
Renewable, but only when managed in a sustainable way Resources
Environmental Impact Affluence per person I = P A T Number of people Environmental effect of technologies Environmental Impact • IPAT Model
New Model IPAT • How to move T to the denominator • Emulate Nature • Linear becomes cyclical • Resource extraction Vs renewable • Ray C. Anderson I = P x A x T1 I = P x A T2
Chapter 2 Environmental Laws, Economics, and Ethics
Land Ethic What is a land ethic?
Aldo Leopold 1887-1948 Land Ethic “When the private landowner is asked to perform some unprofitable act for the good of the community, he today assents only with outstretched palm. If the act costs him cash this is fair and proper, but when it costs only forethought, open-mindedness, or time, the issue is at least debatable.” The Shack - In 1935, he and his family initiated their own ecological restoration experiment on a worn-out farm along the Wisconsin River outside of Baraboo, Wisconsin.
Aldo Leopold Continued Land Ethic Continued “To sum up: a system of conservation based solely on economic self-interest is hopelessly lopsided. It tends to ignore, and thus eventually to eliminate, many elements in the land community that lack commercial value, but that are (as far as we know) essential to its healthy functioning. It assumes, falsely, I think, that the economic parts of the biotic clock will function without the uneconomic parts. It tends to relegate to government many functions eventually too large, too complex, or too widely dispersed to be performed by government.”
Aldo Leopold Continued Land Ethic Continued Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac The land Ethic All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts. His instincts prompt him to compete for his place in the community, but his ethics prompt him also to co-operate. The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land. We can be ethical only in relation to something we can see, feel, understand, love, or otherwise have faith in. The case for a land ethic would appear hopeless but for the minority which is in obvious revolt against these “modern” trends. Examine each question in terms of what is ethically and esthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient.
Environmental Laws Why do we have environmental laws or laws period?
General Revisions Act The General Revision Act of 1891 authorizes the President to create forest preserves "wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not....” and prevent them from being acquired through the various public land laws.
General Revision Act 1st National Park: Yellowstone (Est.1872) Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks Environmental History of U.S. 1900 1950 1850 Several presidents, particularly Theodore Roosevelt, used this Act to establish 43 million acres of forest reserves. Republican
Antiquities Act 1906 The Antiquities Act of 1906 resulted from concerns about protecting mostly prehistoric Indian ruins and artifacts-collectively termed "antiquities ” Authorized presidents to proclaim historic landmarks as national monuments Use of the Antiquities Act http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/hisnps/NPSHistory/antiq.htm
Wilderness What makes wilderness - wilderness?
Wilderness Act 1964 The Wilderness Act describes a wilderness as - "an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” Requires act of congress An area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. List of wilderness Areas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._Wilderness_Areas#Georgia
Spotted Owl Controversy & The ESA
Endangered Species Act (1973) • Authorizes listing of species as endangered and threatened • Prohibits unauthorized taking, possession, sale, and transport of endangered species • Provides authority to acquire land for the conservation of the listed species • Establishes a recovery plan
Economy Products Source Sinks Raw Materials Waste Production Consumption Money Economics and the Environment How does our economic system compare to natural systems ? Why compare them?
Making a Can What does it cost to make a can? What does it cost to lose a species or to save one from endangerment?
Full Cost Accounting What are internal and external costs? Making the aluminum can: http://www.cancentral.com/canc/text/history.htm
Case-in-Point: The Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem Service
Mangrove Swamps Losing approximately 2% a year 40% overall current loss 69 endemic terrestrial species Reasons for loss? Reasons for protection? Found 30 Latitude - fringe habitat
Economics and the Environment First graph - harm caused by pollution exceeds cost of reducing it - so it makes sense to control the pollution Second Graph - Cost of reducing pollution exceeds the harm of the pollution - so it makes sense to pollute Green line = cost $$$ Brown line = harm done • Cost-Benefit Analysis
Regulation 1) Command and control regulations A set of standards that all must meet - auto emissions - catalytic converters 2) Incentive-based regulation Pollution tax - uses economic forces 3) Cap & Trade system In effect, the buyer is being fined for polluting, while the seller is being rewarded for having reduced emissions. Over time the cap can be lowered. Uses market forces.
Subsidy What is a subsidy?
Types of Subsidies • Labor: pays for employees • Tax: income tax deductions • Regulatory: fewer regulations • Infrastructure: roads, scientific development • Trade protection: tariffs • Procurement: government buys the goods? • Consumption: government produces and sells at lower price - bread • Tax Breaks: “Corporate welfare” land, pollution, property • Examples: • Oil subsidies • 1. http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/05/22/208130/why-oil-companies-dont-need-tax-subsidies/ Time 2:04 • Farm Subsidies • 1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w27OzQDX7QTime 1:56 • 2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8G1HIlRppoTime 7:32
Chapter 6 Major Ecosystems of the World
Fire Human Fire History Impacts of Fire? Which biomes burn regularly?
Earth’s Major Biomes • Type of biome controlled by temperature and precipitation
Photosynthetically productive - upper surface with light penetration Highly productive, high species richness - sunlight penetration / rooted plants Aquatic Ecosystems • Freshwater Ecosystems • Lakes and Ponds
Not always present; anaerobic, dominated by decomposers - below light penetration Aquatic Ecosystems • Freshwater Ecosystems • Lakes and Ponds
Thermocline - lakes • Freshwater Ecosystems • Thermal stratification in temperate lakes Point of change between warm surface & cold depths
Turnover - Lakes • Turnover in • temperate lakes Spring Turnover - Melting Ice (40C) & warming surface waters + wind Fall Turnover - cooling surface water = > density(40C) + wind Littoral-Limnetic-Profundal Zones
Tend to be narrow, swift, clear, cold, nutrient poor, and highly oxygenated • Tend to be wide, slow, cloudy, warm, nutrient rich, and less oxygenated Aquatic Ecosystems • Freshwater Ecosystems • Rivers and Streams
Rivers & Deltas Headwaters-Waterfall-Tributaries-Basin-Flood Plain-Meanders-Oxbow lakes-Salt Marsh-Delta-Barrier Islands - detritus
Photo Benthic Photo Benthic Environment 1) Sea grasses 2) Kelp forests 3) Coral reefs