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Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and

Sustainability

Chapter 1

WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE?

Environmental science is a study of connections in nature

• Environment… • Science…

• Ecology…

• Environmentalism…

WHAT ARE THREE PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY?

Three principles of sustainability

Sustainability has certain key components

• Life depends on natural capital, natural resources and natural services.

Key natural resources and services

Nutrient cycling

Some resources are renewable and some are not

• A perpetual resource is continuously renewed and expected to last (e.g. ?).

• A renewable resource is replenished in days to several hundred years through natural processes (e.g. ?).

• Sustainable yield is the highest rate at which a renewable and non-renewable resource can be used indefinitely without reducing its available supply (e.g. ?).

Some resources are renewable and some are not

• Some resources are not renewable. – Nonrenewable resources exist in fixed

quantities. – Exhaustible energy (e.g. ). – Metallic minerals (e.g. ). – Nonmetallic minerals (e.g. ).

• Sustainable solutions: 3 R’s (Jack Johnson) 80-90% metal & plastic

recycling Know-how http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShC0RqSANr4

Rich and poor countries have different environmental impacts

• Developed countries include the high income ones – e.g.

• Developing countries include the low income ones – e.g.

HOW ARE OUR ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS AFFECTING THE EARTH?

Section 1-2

We are living unsustainably

• Environmental, or natural capital, degradation is occurring.

• Examples?

• We have solutions to these problems that can be implemented.

• Examples?

Degradation of normally renewable natural resources

Pollution comes from a number of sources

• Point sources are single, identifiable sources (e.g., ).

• Nonpoint sources are dispersed and often difficult to identify (e.g., ).

What can we do?

Pollution comes from a number of sources

• Clean it up…

Or • Prevent it…

• Which is “better”?

Why?

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.

• Reducing degradation. – Reduce use by government regulations. – Shift to private ownership.

Ecological footprints: our environmental impacts

• Ecological footprint is 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.

• Per capita ecological footprint is the average ecological footprint of an individual in a given country or area (per person).

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.

• Humanity is living unsustainably. By what %??? • Footprints can also be expressed as

number of Earths it would take to support consumption.

30% World ~90% U.S.

Total and per capita ecological footprint of selected countries

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).

I = P x A x T

WHY DO WE HAVE ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS?

Section 1-3

Fig. 1-10, p. 16

Causes of Environmental Problems

Population growth

Unsustainable resource use

Poverty Excluding environmental costs from market prices

Exponential growth

Poverty has harmful environmental and health effects

• Poverty occurs when…

• One in every five people live in extreme poverty (<$1.25/day), and more are susceptible.

Harmful effects of poverty

Malnutrition

Prices of goods and services due not include harmful environmental and health costs

• A company’s goal is often to maximize the profit. • Often consumers do not know the damage

caused by their consumption. • Government subsidies may increase

environmental degradation. • There are ways to include harmful costs of

goods and services. – Shift from environmentally harmful to beneficial

government subsidies. – Tax pollution and waste heavily while reducing taxes

on income and wealth.

People have different views about environmental problems and their solutions

• Each individual has their own environmental worldview—a set of assumptions and values reflecting how you think the world works and what your role should be.

• Environmental ethics

• Planetary management worldview

People have different views about environmental problems and their solutions

• Environmental ethics • Why should be care about the environment? • Are we the most important species? • Is it a sin to cause extinction? • Do we owe future generations anything? • Do we all have inalienable environmental

rights?

People have different views about environmental problems and their solutions

• Each individual has their own environmental worldview—a set of assumptions and values reflecting how you think the world works and what your role should be.

• Environmental ethics

• Planetary management worldview

People have different views about environmental problems and their solutions

• Stewardship worldview

• Environmental wisdom worldview

WHAT IS AN ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY?

Section 1-4

What is an environmentally sustainable society?

• Environmentally sustainable societies protect natural capital and live off its income. – Increase reliance on renewable resources. – Protect earth’s natural capital.

• We can work together to solve environmental problems. – Trade-off solutions provide a balance between

the benefits and the costs. – Individuals matter especially in success of

bottom-up grassroots action.

Three Big Ideas

1. Solar Power!!!

2. Protect Biodiversity

3. Help sustain earth’s natural chemical cycles