Understanding Our Environment
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Transcript Understanding Our Environment
Understanding Our Environment
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Outline
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Introduction
Historical Perspective
Pragmatic Resource Conservation
Moral and Aesthetic Nature Conservation
Modern Environmentalism
Global Conservation
Current Conditions
A Divided World
Sustainable Development
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Introduction
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Humans have always inhabited both the
natural world and the social world.
Environment:
Circumstances or conditions that surround
an organism or groups of organisms.
The complex of social or cultural conditions
that affect an individual or community.
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Introduction
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Environmental Science: Systematic study of
our environment, and our proper place in it.
Interdisciplinary
Integrative
- Natural Sciences
- Social Sciences
- Humanities
Mission Oriented
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Environmental Science
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
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Four Distinct Stages
Pragmatic Resource Conservation
Moral and Aesthetic Nature Preservation
Health and Ecological Damage Concerns
Global Environmental Citizenship
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Pragmatic Resource Conservation
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George Perkins Marsh - Man and Nature
- Influenced Theodore Roosevelt and
Gifford Pinchot.
Pragmatic Utilitarian Conservation
“Greatest good for the greatest
number for the longest time”
Multiple Use Policies of USFS.
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Moral and Aesthetic Nature Preservation
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John Muir - President Sierra Club
Nature deserves to exist for its own sake regardless of degree of usefulness to
humans. (Biocentric Preservation)
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Modern Environmentalism
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Industrial explosion of WW II added new
concerns to the environmental agenda.
Rachel Carson - Silent Spring (1962)
Environmental Agenda expanded in 1960’s
and 70’s to include:
Atomic Weapons Testing
Fossil Fuel Issues
Air and Water Pollution
Wilderness Protection
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Global Concerns
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Increased technology has greatly expanded
international communications.
Daily events now reported worldwide
instead of locally or regionally.
- Global Environmentalism
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CURRENT CONDITIONS
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Human Population > 6 Billion.
Food shortages and famines exist in many
densely populated areas.
Water Quantity and Quality Issues
Fossil Fuel Burning
- Air and Water Pollution
Landscape Destruction
- Loss of Biodiversity
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Signs of Hope
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Progress has been made on many fronts.
Population has stabilized in many
industrialized countries.
Incidence of life-threatening diseases has
been reduced in some countries.
Average life expectancy nearly doubled.
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RICH / POOR: A DIVIDED WORLD
Poor countries tend to be located in Southern
Hemisphere.
World Bank estimates1.4 billion people live in
acute poverty of < $1 (U.S.) per day.
Daily survival necessitates over-harvesting
resources thus degrading chances of longterm sustainability.
Poor are often victims and agents of
environmental degradation.
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RICH / POOR: A DIVIDED WORLD
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Wealthy countries tend to be located in the
Northern Hemisphere.
About 1/5 of world population live in countries
with per capita income > $25,000.00 (U.S.).
Poor people exist here as well.
Gap between rich and poor continues to
increase.
Wealthiest 200 people in the world have
combined wealth of $1 trillion - more than
total wealth of poorest half (3 billion) of the
world’s population.
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Human Development
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United Nations releases Human
Development Index (HDI). Based on social
factors - ranges from 0.0 -1.0.
Aggregate numbers hide many important
inequity issues:
- Gender
- Race
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A Fair Share of Resources
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Affluent lifestyles of richer countries consume
inordinate share of natural resources and
produces high proportion of pollutants.
Takes approximately 450 kg to get an
average American through the day.
US annually throws away 160 million tons
of garbage.
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Economic Progress
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Over the past 50 years, the world’s Gross
Domestic Product (GDP)increased from $2
Trillion to $22 Trillion.
Since WW II, average real income in
developing countries has doubled.
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General welfare has increased.
Worldwide gap between rich and poor has
widened.
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Sustainable Development
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“Meeting the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.”
Benefits must be available to all humans,
not just sub-set of privileged group.
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Sustainable Development
Many economists see continual economic
growth as essential in providing more
resources to more people.
Most ecologists view continual growth as
impossible in the long-run due to nonrenewable resources and limited ecological
waste-disposal capabilities.
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20 : 20 Compact
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1995 United Nations Summit for Social
Development called all nations to ensure
basic needs for everyone.
20:20 Compact
- Wealthy countries contribute 20% of aid
to humanitarian concerns and social
development.
- Developing countries contribute 20% of
budget to human primary concerns.
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Indigenous People
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Indigenous (native) people are often least
powerful, most neglected people in the world.
At least half the world’s 6,000 distinct
languages are dying.
Indigenous homelands may harbor vast
percentage of world’s biodiversity.
Recognizing native land rights and political
rights may often be a solid ecological
safeguard.
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Summary
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Introduction
Historical Perspective
Pragmatic Resource Conservation
Moral and Aesthetic Nature Conservation
Modern Environmentalism
Global Conservation
Current Conditions
A Divided World
Sustainable Development
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