Homework

1. Homework • To solve these problems, use the rule of 70 70 % growth • The population of a city grows at a rate of 5% per year. The population in 1998 was 400,000. In what year will the population reach 800,000? • If the cost of an all-day ski lift ticket at Colorado's Vail Ski Area has been growing at 7% per year ever since Vail opened in 1963, and at that time the cost of a ticket was $5, what did it cost in 1993?

2. APES Chapter 2 Environmental History: An overview

3. Cultural Changes and Sustainability • What major Human Cultural Changes have taken place? • Age of our solar system - 4.6 billion years • Homo sapiens sapienshave been on Earth for 60,000 years

4. The Evolution of Human Culture:

5. Hunters and Gatherers • Until about 12,000 years ago we moved as needed to find food for survival. • Survived through expert knowledge of their natural surroundings • Had only three energy sources: • 1. the sun • 2. fire • 3. their own muscle power • Lived sustainably through low resource use per person and working with nature in small groups • Advanced hunter-gatherers had a greater impact on their environment.

7. The Agricultural Revolution • Began 10,000 to 12,000 years ago • Involved a gradual transition from nomadic hunting lifestyle to a lifestyle based on a community where people domesticated wild animals and plants • Initially involved subsistence farming (growing only enough to feed your individual family)

8. The first crop growing technique may have been a combination of slash-and-burn and shifting cultivation.

9. 1 4 Clearing and burning vegetation Allowing to revegetate 10 to 30 years 2 3 Harvesting for 2 to 5 years Planting

10. The Agricultural Revolution • Impact on the environment included: • Use of domesticated animals to have increased energy • More reliable food source led to increase in birth rates • Large areas were cleared and irrigation systems were built • People began accumulating material goods • Farmers could grow more than just enough for their families • Urbanization became practical and prevalent

11. The Agricultural Revolution • Impact on the environment included: • The survival of plants and animals once vital to humanity became less important • Human population began working to tame and manage nature rather than working with nature to survive

12. Dust Bowl

13. The Industrial Revolution • Began 275 years ago (~1870s) • Production, commerce, trade and distribution of goods expanded rapidly • Shifted dependence from renewable resources to non-renewable resources • New machines were then created and large-scale production became prevalent • More food and supplies became available so the population began to grow rapidly

14. The Industrial Revolution • Dramatic increase in environmental impact.

15. Information Revolution • Current cultural shift • New technologies are enabling people to deal with more information more rapidly • The impact of this on the environment is not yet clear

16. Information Revolution Positive Negative An overload of information can cause confusion and distraction as we try to identify useful environmental information. • We are finding out new information on how to respond to environmental problems more effectively.

17. Environmental History of the United States • Tribal Era • North America was occupied by 5-10 million tribal people for at least 10,000 years. • Native Americans generally low-impact hunter-gatherer or agricultural societies. • Most Native American cultures had a deep respect for the land and its animals and did not believe in land ownership.

18. Frontier Era (1607-about 1890) • European colonists began settling North America. • Frontier environmental worldview—most of the continent was wilderness full of dangerous savages and wild beasts to be conquered. • Significant environmental impact as land was cleared and plowed.

19. Conservation Era (1832-1960) • Concern over resource use • Preservation of public land • Public health initiatives • Environmental restoration projects

20. Environmental Era (1960-2000) • Science of Ecology • Spaceship Earth worldview • 1980’s: anti-environmental movement • 1990’s: environmental awareness

21. Environmental Challenges of the 21st Century • The threat of climate change • Growing water shortages • Continuing population growth • Continuing biodiversity loss • Continuing poverty

22. Important People • Henry David Thoreau • Built a cabin in the woods on Walden Pond near Concord, Mass. • Lived there alone for 2 years and wrote “Life in the Woods”, an environmental classic.

23. George Perkins Marsh • A scientist and member of congress • Questioned the idea that resources were inexhaustible • Formulated basic resource conservation principles we still use today.

24. John Muir • Founded the Sierra Club • Leader of the preservationist movement, advocating the protection of large areas of wilderness on public lands.

25. Theodore Roosevelt • Conservationists whose term in office was known as the “Golden Age of Conservation”. • Designated the Grand Canyon as one of the first 16 national parks. • More than tripled the size of the national forest reserves.

26. Rachel Carson • Wrote the book “Silent Spring” about the dangers of pesticides. • Contributed to the ban of DDT

27. Chapter 28

28. Paradigm Shifts • We are moving from a USE USEUSE frame of mind to a Conserve and Recycle state of mind! • Examples:

29. Environmental Worldviews • There are conflicting opinions concerning how serious environmental problems are and what should be done about them. Differences of opinion are a result of differences in Personal Ethics which involve: • Individual centered (atomistic): usually human centered (anthropocentric) or life centered (biocentric). • 2. Earth centered (holistic): either ecosystem centered or ecosphere centered.

30. Types of Worldviews • Atomistic (Individual-centered) • Biocentric (Life-centered) • Anthropocentric (Human-centered) • Individual Centered • Species Centered • Holistic (Earth-centered or Ecocentric) • Ecosphere-centered • Ecosystem-centered

31. Environmental Worldviews

32. Major Human Centered Worldviews • Most have planetary management worldview: human beings, as the planet’s most important and dominant species, can and should manage the planet mostly for their own benefit. • Other species merely have instrumental value: their value depends on whether they are useful to us.

33. The Basic Belief 1. We are the most important species, and we are in charge of nature. 2. There are always more resources. 3. All economic growth is good, and our potential for economic growth is limitless. 4. Success depends on how well we can understand, control, and manage earth’s life-support systems for our benefit.

34. Schools Of Thought 1. No problem school- all problems can be solved with technology. 2. Free-Market school- the best way to manage earth is to use a free-market global with minimal government interference and regulation. All public property would become private. 3. Responsible planetary management- hold enlightened self-interest, or the thought that better earth-care is better self-care. Want to mix economy, technology, and government intervention 4. Space-ship-earth view- earth is a spaceship, with a complex machine that we can understand and manage. 5. Stewardship- we have a responsibility to care for and be responsible for the earth and we should treat it as our guardian.

35. Life-Centered and Environmental-Centered Worldviews Managing the Planet • Some feel that we will not necessarily be able to learn technology fast enough to save the earth. Also, a free market would rely too much on resources. • We don’t understand the earth, so they question how we could possibly manage it.

36. Major Biocentric and Ecocentric Worldviews • • We should realize the inherent value of nature. Everything has a right to exist. • •Some go so far as to have a species-centered view, also known as the animal rights movement • They think preventing injury to species will save the money it takes to protect endangered species. • Some hold the earth-wisdom worldview: • 1. Nature exists for all of earth’s species. • 2. There is not always more. • 3. Some forms of economic growth are environmentally beneficial, but some are destructive. • 4. Success depends on our willingness to cooperate with earth.

37. Cont. • Are Biocentrists Antihuman/Antireligious • • Those with the views of ecocentrism feel they are prohuman. • • They feel they are helping the earth, which helps us. • Ecofeminist Worldview • • Idea that being human centered and androcentric (male-centered) is the problem with the environment. • • Being male-dominant, we are destroying nature. • • Want to emphasize gentleness, caring, compassion, non-violence, cooperation, and love. • Social Ecology Worldview • • As long as we have an industrial society, we will be damaging the environment. • • This will cause decentralization of political and economic systems.

38. How Do we fix it? Evaluating Sustainability • We don’t know the answer to environmental questions, so we ought to follow the pre-cautionary principle - use prevention guidelines and strategies for developing sustainable societies.

39. Ethical Guidelines for Earth Ecosphere and Ecosystems- 1. We should try to understand nature. 2. When we must alter nature, first we should do our best to avoid environmental harm. Species and Cultures- 1. We should work to preserve genetic diversity. 2. We may do what we must to stay alive, but we should do what it takes to avoid premature extinction of other species. 3. We must protect ecosystems to save species. 4. No human culture should become extinct because of present actions.

40. Individual Responsibility • 1. We should not cause any suffering to our food sources. • 2. We should leave the earth better than we found it. • 3. We should use only what we have. • 4. We should heal the wounds we have already caused.

41. Earth Education We should teach our children about our earth: 1. Respect life. 2. Understand earth. 3. Understand interactions of humans and the earth. 4. Seek wisdom. 5. Evaluate personal worldviews. 6. Evaluate consequences of lifestyles and professions 7. Use critical thinking skills. 8. Want to help the earth.

42. Learning to work with Earth 1. Listen to our children, who favor saving the earth. 2. Learn to make our own area sustainable. 3. Have fun saving the earth. Learning to live Simple: Gandhi’s Philosophies 1. Voluntary simplicity- do and enjoy things more with less. 2. It is based on Gandhi’s principle of enoughness- the earth provides enough, and we should use the minimal amounts of everything. 3. This is not the same as forced simplicity that plagues those that cannot afford to have possessions. 4. Law of progressive simplification- we must transfer energy from material to nonmaterial.

43. Moving on… • We need to stop blaming and start taking responsibility. • We must avoid the traps: • Avoid the common mental traps that lead to denial, indifference and inaction: • Gloom and doom pessimism - feeling it’s over • Blind technological optimism - science will save us • Fatalism - we have no control of the future • Extrapolation to infinity - if there’s no quick fix, why bother? • Paralysis by analysis - try to find the perfect solution before acting • Only faith in simple answers • We must realize no one can do it all. • Hope is vital. • There is more than one possible solution.

44. Components of the Earth- Wisdom Revolution • Efficiency revolution to make the most of the earth • Pollution prevention • Sufficiency revolution- being sure that everyone has his or her basic needs. • Demographic revolution- balance population growth. • Seeing the world as a flow of matter and energy.