"Alone in space, alone in its life-supporting systems, powered by inconceivable energies, mediating them to us through the most delicate adjustments, wayward, unlikely, unpredictable, but nourishing, enlivening, and enriching in the largest degree -- is this not a precious home for all of

us? Is it not worth our love?”Barbara Ward and Rene Dubos

Class Business

Absent students

Popsicle stick

File folder tab

Please get ready for first lecture

Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and

Sustainability

Ch. 1

Miller and Spoolman 16th ed.

Earth, our island in space, as seen from Apollo 17 in 1972. This image portrayed Earth as a small, fragile, lonely rock in space and helped galvanize many people to care for Earth's environment.

E is for the environment

To aid in your note taking

1. Your notebook should be interesting to look at

Feel free to paste in and color the picture, if you so choose :)

Vocabulary is in red

Super-important-don’t-miss-this concepts are underlined

General Overview

There are four major themes of your book:SustainabilityHuman impactSolutionsTrade offs

The questions we will ask are:How can we maintain or improve the environment and our society?What are we doing to damage these two?What are some ways we can repair and prevent problems?What will we have to sacrifice for the greatest good?

Sustainability

This is the central theme of the book and of this course

Definition: the ability of the earth’s systems and of human society to survive and adapt to the changing world indefinitely.

Human Impact

Many human activities, from farming to fossil fuel use to over-fishing are negatively impacting the planet and are not sustainable at current levels of practice

SolutionsEnvironmental scientists look for solutions to these issues, but it is politicians who put them into practice (or not)

Complex decisions involving social, economic, moral, ethical, and philosophical views

Trade-offsScientists might say halt all fishing of tuna or else it will go extinctEconomics and culture may demand continued fishingEvery decision involves compromises It is important to understand the PROS and CONS of every issue

The Ultimate Goal

Environmental scientists strive to find ways to achieve an environmentally sustainable society

Meets the current and future needs of its peopleDistributes resources in a just mannerDoes not compromise the ability of future generations to do the same

Like a bank account

I have $1 millionI invest it in a bank that gives me 10% interestI can live off the interest only - $100,000I can do this indefinitelyIf I spend more than this, I will eventually go broke

The interest is like renewable resources in the environment

Carefully manage our resources to live off the renewable resources like plants, water, soil without overspending

What is the environment?

Environment - everything that surrounds us

Both biotic and abiotic

What are the biotic and abiotic components of this environment?

We are totally dependent on the environment for:

Air

Water

Food

Shelter

Energy

Nutrient cycling

We are a part of the environment, not separate from it

What are we trying to sustain?

Natural capitalThe resources and services that nature provides to all living things

Capital includes:Resources such as water, plants, soil

Services such as water purification and nutrient cycling

It all comes back to the source

The ultimate source of all our planet’s resources and the driving force of natural services isTHE SUN

Provides the energy for water cycleAllows plants to make foodDrive wind and ocean currents

Examples of natural capital

Resources provided by nature are classified in three ways:

Perpetual

Renewable

Nonrenewable

Resources

A resource is anything we get from the environment to satisfy our needs and desires

Perpetual resources

Renewed continuously

Not affected by human use of them

Examples: Sun

Wind

Renewable resourcesReplenished fairly quickly through natural processesWe must be careful not to use it faster than it can renew itselfExamples:

Forests (wood)Grasslands (food production)Fisheries (food)FreshwaterFresh airFertile soil

Renewable resources

Using a resource while still giving it enough time to naturally renew itself = sustainable yield

When we take too much too quickly, we cause a degradation of the environment

Switchgrass grown for biodiesel fuel

Nonrenewable resources

Exist in a limited amount in the Earth

Cannot be replenished on a human time scale

Examples:Coal, oil, natural gas (energy)

Copper, aluminum (metals)

Salt, sand

Think-Pair-Share

Think about your day so far…

What resources have you used…

What category are they inPerpetualRenewableNonrenewable

Reduce, reuse, recycle

People have come up with ways to extend our use of renewable and nonrenewable resources

Reduce

Limit, by law or societal shift, the amount of resource used

Limiting freshwater use

Fisheries management

ReuseUsing the same resource over and over in the same form

Glass bottles cleaned and reused

Grocery bags good for more than one use

Recycle Processing waste materials into new materials

Aluminum cans melted and reformed into new productsWetting paper back to pulp and making new products

Recycling metals uses much less energy and much less environmental damage than harvesting virgin metals

Ecological Footprints

This is the amount of productive land and water needed to support your lifestyle and deal with your waste

If a country’s average ecological footprint (or the world’s) is greater than the ability of the environment to replenish natural resources, then we move into ecological debt (ecological deficit)

If all humans lived an average American lifestyle…

China & India are…a concernOver 1.5 billion people in ChinaOver 1.1 billion people in IndiaTogether they have over 700 million middle class - 2x the size of the entire US population

The middle class goal - to live better (more like an average American)China is the leading consumer of:

WheatRiceMeatCoalFertilizerSteelCementTVsCell phonesRefrigeratorsPersonal computersOil (2nd after US)

China is also leading in…

World’s most polluted cities (66% of them in China)

Food for Thought…

Should China and India be forced (through UN sanctions) to reduce their environmental impact?

USA developed…lives the richest lifestyle…was not hampered by any restrictions…USA doesn’t want to restrict itself if China and India won’t…

Balancing Economic Growth with Environmental Sustainability

Economic growth = an increase in the output of goods and services of a country

Some vocabGross domestic product (GDP) - a measurement of economic growth - the market value of all the goods and services produced in a country

Per capita GDP = the GDP divided by the population size

US GDP by major societal function, 2000

Money (currency) values are different in different countries

A certain amount of money in one country may buy more of something than a similar amount of money in another country

This is the purchasing power of that currency

Economic Development

Using economic growth to improve the standard of living

Developed vs. Developing Nations

DevelopedUSCanadaJapanAustraliaItalyEnglandFrance

Highly industrializedHigh GDP

DevelopingMost of AfricaMost of AsiaMost of Latin AmericaChinaIndiaBrazilTurkeyThailandMexico

Highly agriculturalLow GDP

What is the difference between these two groups?

Developing nations

97% of the population growth from now to 2050 will occur in these countries

More than 1/2 the people in the world live in extreme poverty (less than $2/day; 17% of those on less than $1/day)