Transcript envsci

1.1 ENVIRONMENTAL
SCIENCE
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1. Environmental Science is the
study of ecosystems
interacting with human
systems.
2. It is a broad, interdisciplinary
science that includes science,
math and social studies.
3. Environmental science
recognizes that very few
ecosystems are not impacted
by humans. We share the
same resources, use energy,
and undergo changes as the
environment changes.
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4. ENVIRONMENTAL INTRODUCTION
• These symbols represent aspects of society.
Sustainable societies seek to manage growth of
the economy, population and resources.
• Sustainability is living off of resources without
depleting the Earth’s capital and jeopardizing
future generations.
• Sustainable yield is the highest rate that a
resource can be used indefinitely without
reducing its available supply.
• Exponential human population growth is at the
center of all environmental concerns.
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The foundations of the course are built around these themes:
1. Science is a constantly
changing process used to learn
about the world.
2. All ecosystems are built around
energy conversions.
3. All life is interconnected.
4. Technology and human
population growth has affected
natural systems.
5. Environmental problems have
social, cultural, political,
economic and ethical
implications.
6. Human survival depends on
building sustainable systems.
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1.2 WEALTH GAP
1. The Wealth Gap is the distance between the
GNP of developed and developing countries.
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2. Developed nation status is based on a per capita
GNP of $3,500.
3. The U.S., Japan, and Germany produce more than
half of the world’s economic wealth.
4. GNP - gross national
product is the value of all
goods and services
produced by a country in
one year from all national
and international business;
per capita means divided by
population.
5. GDP - gross domestic
product measures only
what is produced with the
country.
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6. Per capita, the U.S., Luxembourg and Switzerland are
the richest nations. Cambodia and Mozambique are
the poorest, per capita.
7. Developed countries have 1.2 billion people. This is
21% of world’s population, but they use 88% of all
natural resources and generate 75% of the pollution.
8. World Growth Rate
• is 1.55%, producing
10,250 babies / hr.
• In one year, enough
babies are born to fill
a city the size of Los
Angeles.
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9. Out of 6 billion people,
1/5 live in luxury, 3/5
have a meager
existence, and 1/5 are
starving.
10. At least 100 million are
permanently homeless.
11. Developing countries
• add 1 million people every 4 days - but 27,400
die each day from malnutrition.
• use minimal amounts of resources per person,
but their total populations are huge.
• do less environmental protection.
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12. Earth’s capital is grouped into:
• Renewable
resources, such as
energy from the sun,
wind, tides, trees,
grasslands, animals,
soil and water can be
replenished naturally.
• Nonrenewable
resources, such as
fossil fuels and
minerals, can’t be
replaced by natural
processes.
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13. Some minerals can be
recycled – after melting,
shredding, etc.
14. A material is considered
reusable if it can be put to
another use without altering the
product.
USMA
Dr. Henry Kissinger
15. Sustainability is a relative term.
“Every civilization that has ever
existed has ultimately collapsed.”
– Dr. Henry Kissinger
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1.3 POLLUTION OVERVIEW
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1. Pollution
• is the wasteful use of
resources - Earth’s capital
• Unevenly distributed
population and resources
increase it.
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2. The severity of pollution depends on its:
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•
•
•
•
Concentration
Amount
Toxicity
Ability to degrade
Speed at which it is
added.
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3. Biomagnification
• is a process that increases the effects of pollution
as it is passed through organisms in the food
chain.
• Small amounts of toxic materials are magnified as
they are passed along the food web, poisoning
larger and larger organisms.
• As biomass increases so does toxicity.
• They are directly proportional.
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4. Regulators and legislators at all levels must choose
how to get the desired behavior.
5. All behaviors are maintained, changed or shaped
by the consequences of that behavior.
6. Regulatory legislators and other officials at all
levels basically have 4 choices:
Reward the behavior
Punish the behavior
Ignore the rules or
Change the rules
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7. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• was first established in 1970.
• It’s purpose is to monitor and eliminate air
and water pollution, noise pollution, pollution
from radiation, pesticides and other toxic
chemicals –
• basically to set the rules of environmental
behavior.
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8. Carrot vs. the Stick
• Carrot Approach - Positive consequences
offering incentives to do the right thing .
• Stick Approach - involves regulation and
enforcement.
9. About 99% of the money spent on pollution is
for cleanup, but prevention is MUCH cheaper,
which means we are not applying either.
10. Best Management Practices (BMP) are a set of
strategies for industry, business, agriculture,
and the government to act smarter and operate
more efficiently.
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11. Pollution in Poland
• is one of the most
polluted countries.
• Air pollution is 50 times
the legal limit.
• The Soviet Union used
Poland as their “backyard
dumpsite” and as a
resource bank for many
years without any thought
for its protection.
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1.4 Tragedy of the
Commons
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1. Garrett Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons” (1968).
Boston Commons
2. In his famous essay, he reviews the tragedy of
“fouling our nest.” The problem is not new:
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3. Aristotle Politics, BookII,
Chapter 3 (circa 350
B.C.) “What is common
to the greatest number
gets the least amount of
care. Men pay the most
attention to what is their
own; they care less for
what is common.”
4. H. Scott Gordon (1954) “Everybody’s property is
nobody’s property. Wealth that is free for all is
valued by none because he who is foolhardy
enough to wait for its proper time of use will only
find that it has been taken by another.”
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1.5 HISTORY OF THE
CONSERVATION
MOVEMENT
1. Land impact increased as huntergathering peoples became agricultural
societies and then industrialized
countries.
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2. Thoreau & The Environment
• In the mid 1800s, Thoreau urged
preservation and became a father
of the environmental movement.
• “In wildness is the preservation of
the world.. from the forest and
wilderness come the tonics and
barks which brace mankind”
• Epidemics from overcrowding,
hazardous working conditions,
and water-related infections such
as cholera, typhoid fever killed
thousands.
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3. President Theodore Roosevelt’s
term of office (1901-1909) became
the “Golden Age of Conservation”.
4. 1872 Yellowstone National Park
established
5. 1892 Sierra Club founded by
John Muir, who is also
considered a father of
environmentalism
6. 1902 Pelican Island, FL - first
federal wildlife refuge
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7. 1905 - U.S. Forest Service
under Gifford Pinchot
8. 1905 - Audubon Society
founded to protect birds
9. 1920 - Aldo Leopold founded
game management,
later wrote
Sand County Almanac
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10. 1962 - Rachel Carson’s book “Silent
Spring”began the modern
environmental movement.
• Her book told the story of spring
arriving without any insects from
overuse of pesticides.
• The other creatures had nothing to
eat and died as well as the food
chain collapsed.
• The pesticide industry mounted a
huge campaign to discredit her. She
died of cancer before her book was
released without knowing the
tremendous impact she would have.
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11. In New York, 300 people
died from an air
inversion; foam began to
appear in rivers from
detergents.
12. The Cuyahoga River in
Cleveland, Ohio caught
fire and burned for 8
days!
13. Lake Erie was officially closed to fishing and
swimming.
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14. DDT was killing birds and a
half dozen other species
were near extinction.
15. April 20, 1970 was the first
Earth Day, founded by
Senator Gaylord Nelson
16. The 1970’s became known
as the Environmental
Decade.
17. Hundred of environmental
laws have been passed, but
too many are not enforced
Sen. Gaylord Nelson (right) with
William K. Reilly, Earth Day 1990
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