Transcript Chapter 1 - cloudfront.net

Agenda: Week one
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Welcome! Course introduction and syllabus
Pretest, Survey Questions p21
Introduction to Environmental Science (Ch 1)
Concepts: What is Environmental Science, Easter
Island and The Lorax, population and sustainability,
tragedy of the commons, resources
Homework:
Easter Island
Tragedy of commons lab report
Bring Liter bottles for Ecocolumn
Materials sign up sheet
Introduction to
Environmental Science
What is Environmental Science?
Environmental
Science is the
study of how human activities
impact both the living (biotic)
and non-living (abiotic)
environment.
Characteristics of
Environmental Science
it aims to learn how life on earth
has survived and thrived
 it aims to understand how we
interact with the environment
 it aims to find ways to deal with
environmental problems and live
more sustainably

What are the goals of Environmental
Science
 The
goals of environmental science are to
learn:




how nature works.
how the environment effects us.
how we effect the environment.
how we can live more sustainably without
degrading our life-support system.
The problem…
•Natural
resources has its limits, and our
population growth is not helping
•Renewable-these are virtually
unlimited because they are
replenished…however, we are using
them too quickly and degrading it.
•examples: wind,others?
•Nonrenewable-take forever to
replenish, so if we use it, we lose it.
•examples: mineral ores, others?
SOLAR
CAPITAL
EARTH
Goods and services
Heat
Human Capital
Natural Capital
Human
Economic
and
Cultural
Systems
Depletion of
nonrenewable resources
Degradation of
renewable resources
Pollution and waste
Fig. 1-10, p. 17
Natural capital degradation
 The
exponential increasing flow of material
resources through the world’s economic
systems depletes, degrades and pollutes the
environment.
 our-impact-on-the-planet
Figure 1-11
?
Black Death—the Plague
Time
Hunting and
Gathering
Agricultural revolution
10,000 years ago
Industrial
Revolution
Mid 1700s
Population growth

Thomas Malthus: number of people would outgrow
the availability of food supply until starvation, war,
or disease arose and reduced the population
(Essay on Principle of Population, 1798)

Garrett Hardin: resources that are open to
unregulated exploitation will eventually become
depleted “Tragedy of the Commons”
 Is
there a check and who/what checks?
 world population
Ecological Footprint
the impact of an individual or a population measured as
the area of land required to produce the goods
consumed and to assimilate the wastes generated.
More simply, it is the amount of the environment
necessary to produce the goods and services
necessary to support a particular lifestyle.
calculate your carbon footprint
Developing Countries
Population (P)
Consumption
per person
(affluence, A)
Technological impact
per unit of
consumption (T)
Environmental
impact of
population (I)
Developed Countries
Fig. 1-14, p. 20
Fig. 1-6, p. 11
Percentage of World's
18
Population
82
Population
Growth
Wealth and
Income
Resource
use
0.1
1.5
85
15
88
12
Pollution
and waste
75
25
Developed countries
Developing countries
Fig. 1-5, p. 11
Place
Per capita
ecological
footprint
(hectares per
person)
Per capita
biological
capacity
(hectares per
person)
Ecological
credit (+) or
debit (-)
(hectares per
person)
World
2.2
1.8
-0.4
US
9.8
4.7
China
1.6
0.8
Russia
4.4
0.9
Brazil
2.1
9.9
India
0.8
0.4
Germany
4.5
1.7
Japan
4.4
0.7
Mexico
2.6
1.7
Canada
7.6
14.5
One global
hectare represen
One global
hectare=10,000m2
Our Ecological Footprint
 Humanity’s
ecological
footprint has exceeded
earths ecological capacity.
Figure 1-7
Garrett Hardin – Economist
Authored essay in 1968 titled
“The Tragedy of the Commons”.
Focuses on:
1. environmental degradation
2. population growth
3. limited natural resources
4. privatization of land
What does commons mean?
“Held in common” means the resource is
owned by:
 No one…or
 Owned by a group
=all who have access to the resource.
What are common resources?
Air! No one owns the air-avail to all
2. Water in oceans & rivers is avail to all.
3. Fish of the sea avail to all.
Note: First codified by Romans in 535 AD.
1.
Common Resources
Common Resources
Imagine…
 Hardin’s
parable involves a pasture "open to
all."
 He asks us to imagine the grazing of animals
on a common ground.
 Individuals are motivated to add to their
flocks to increase personal wealth.
 What would happen to the COMMONs?
Tragedy of the Commons
 As
selfish stewards, each owner adds
another to their flock and the pasture.
 If
all owners follow this pattern the commons
will ultimately be destroyed.
Earth is Our Island
 What
is an island?
 Learning
from past mistakes
What is the “tragedy”?
 “We
can avoid tragedy only by
altering our values.” Hardin, 1968
This means we can change the way
we live (sustainably) by preserving
our natural resources—even in the
private sector.
Core Case Study:
Environmental Lesson from Easter
Island
 Thriving

society
15,000 people by 1400.
 Used
resources faster
than could be renewed

By 1600 only a few
trees remained.
 Civilization

collapsed
By 1722 only several
hundred people left.
Figure 2-1
Video: Easter Island
PLAY
VIDEO

From ABC News, Environmental Science in the Headlines, 2005 DVD.
Sustainability: The Integrative Theme
 Sustainability,
is the ability of earth’s
various systems to survive and adapt to
environmental conditions indefinitely.
 The steps to sustainability must be
supported by sound science.
Figure 1-3
Four Scientific Principles of
Sustainability: Copy Nature
 Reliance
on Solar
Energy
 Biodiversity
 Population Control
 Nutrient Recycling
Figure 1-16
Sustainable Low-Throughput
Economies: Learning from Nature
 Matter-Recycling-and-Reuse
Economies:
Working in Circles


Mimics nature by recycling and reusing, thus
reducing pollutants and waste.
It is not sustainable for growing populations.
ENDing questions
1. Why
should we care about the
environment?
2. How
3. Do
do we promote sustainability?
we have an obligation to pass on to
future generations the extraordinary
natural world in a condition that is at least
as good as what we inherited?
Inputs
(from environment)
Energy
Matter
System
Throughputs
Outputs
(into environment)
Energy
conservation
Waste
and
pollution
Low-quality
Energy
(heat)
Sustainable
low-waste
economy
Pollution
control
Matter
Feedback
Waste
and
pollution
Recycle
and
reuse
Energy Feedback
Fig. 2-16, p. 47
Lower limit of
tolerance
Few
organisms
Abundance of organisms
Population size
No
organisms
Upper limit of
tolerance
Few
No
organisms organisms
Zone of
intolerance
Low
Zone of
physiological
stress
Optimum range
Temperature
Zone of
physiological
stress
Zone of
intolerance
High
Fig. 3-11, p. 58
Core Case Study:
Have You Thanked the Insects
Today?
 Many
plant species depend on insects for
pollination.
 Insect can control other pest insects by
eating them
Figure 3-1
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Earth's Life-Support System
Air
(atmosphere)
Water
(hydrosphere)
Soil and
rocks
(lithosphere)
Life
(biosphere)
Human Culturesphere
Population
Size
Worldviews
and ethics
Economics
Politics
Fig. 1-2, p. 7
 Which
single
advantage and
disadvantage are
the most important?
Figure 1-15