Transcript Environmental Science and Sustainability

•Rats brought the plague.
•Rats increased.
•Cats died.
•Caterpillar numbers went up.
•WHO sent DDT to Borneo.
•Mosquitoes were wiped out.
•Caterpillars ate grass roofs.
•Cats were parachuted in.
•Cats caught lizards containing
DDT.
•Roaches stored DDT in their
bodies.
•Lizards disappeared.
•Lizards slowed down.
•Lizards ate roaches and got DDT.
•Bad Mosquitoes
1. Bad Mosquitoes
2. WHO sent DDT
3. Mosquitoes Died
4. Cockroaches stored DDT
5. Lizards at cockroaches
6. Lizards slowed down
7. Cats ate lizards
8. Lizards Disappear
9. Cats die
10.Caterpillar #’s increase
11.Caterpillars ate grass roofs
12.Rats increase
13.Rats spread plague
14.Cats are Parachuted into Borneo
Environmental Science
and Sustainability
Purpose of Environmental Science –
assess the state of the abiotic and
biotic interactions and how they affect
the overall environmental health of a
region, state, nation and the planet
giving special consideration to the
impact of human behavior
Maintaining Balance
Earth – well suited for life
 position from the sun – not too hot, not
too cold
 plenty of water
 enough sunlight to drive photosynthesis
 atmospheric gases support life
 minerals and nutrients for growth and
development
Changes disrupt life’s balance
1. human activity - largest agent of
environmental change
Ex: Use and depletion of natural
resources
2. Pollution
3. Extinction of other species
4. Introduction of foreign species – Zebra
muscle, kudzu, gypsy moth, Japanese
Beetle
5. Alteration of Ecosystems
Major Impact – Population
Basic Example: 10 gallon aquarium = 10
inches of fish
- why? Availability of nutrients and the
accumulation of waste
- more fish = necessity for more
nutrients and the production of more waste
 Humanity
 Human
Population:
 Population Growth – page 4
 Estimated Size > Population Clock
 rapid growth means impact on human
quality of life and environmental health
Result of a large population = fewer
resources per person  Poverty
 Poverty: WHO (World Health
Organization) definition = making less
than one dollar a day
 Associations of Poverty: low life
expectancy, illiteracy, inadequate
access to health services, safe water
and balanced nutrition
 Solutions: Population control

May not be culturally or religiously
accepted

Rich Countries Vs. Poor Countries
Highly Developed Countries(HDC): 20% of world’s
population
Ex: US, Canada, Japan, most of Europe
Moderately Developed and Less Developed (Poor)
Countries(LDC): 80% of world’s population
Ex: Bangladesh, Mali, Ethiopia
LDC have many people for labor but little economic
resources for development - mostly agricultural – lots
of poverty and disease
- during development, rapid growth of population often
causes a depletion in the natural resources
HDC and LDC disparity
HDC use more natural resources per capita
than LDC
HDC (20% of world population) use over
50% of the resources
 Draw two pie charts


1 - Showing relative population sizes of HDC
and LDC countries
2 – Showing relative resource consumption of
HDC and LDS countries
Unequal Distribution of
Resources
 The

world is not homogenous.
Resources are clustered in different areas of
the world.
RESOURCES = $$$$$$
Steel Production
Types of Resources
Non-renewable – in limited supply and are
depleted with use and cannot be replenished
by natural processes within a reasonable
human time scale
Ex: metallic minerals, non-metallic minerals,
fossil fuels
Renewable – can be replaced by natural
processes
Ex: fresh water, fertile soil, solar energy,
wind energy, clean air, animal populations
(barring extinction)
Renewable vs. Sustainable
- overuse of a renewable resource may cause
its depletion
- need to be used in a sustainable way – gives
time for replenishment
Resource Consumption
- use of materials and energy
- HDC individuals use a far greater amount of
resources than LDC individuals
Ex: amount of electricity and water used and waste
generated, products consumed and the energy
needed to produce it
- Overconsumption due to overpopulation
Overpopulation: when the level of demand on
the resource base results in damage to the
environment
Types of Overpopulation
1. People Overpopulation: too many people for
the resources available – even if each person
uses a small amount of the resources
2. Consumption Overpopulation: too many
resources are used by each person (more
than necessary) – consumption oriented
lifestyle
Ecological Footprint
- the average amount of productive land, fresh
water and ocean required to supply a person
with food, wood, energy, water, housing
transportation and waste disposal on a
continuous basis
-
Earth contains 11.4 billion hectares (or
28.2 billion acres or 1.2 x 1014 ft2) of
productive land and water
 1 hectare = 1.87 football fields
- divided by the population results in a 1.9
hectares (4.7 acres) per person which is
less than the current 2.3 hectare (5.7 acre)
ecological footprint
- RESULT: ECOLOGICAL DEFICIT which
causes forest destruction, degredation of
crop land, loss of biological diversity,
,
declines in ocean fishing and water
shortages
 HDC
disparity: developing countries such
as India have ecological footprints
approximating 1 hectare (1.87 football
fields) per person. US footprint is about
9.6 hectares.
- If all the people in the world lived as US
citizens lived, we would need 4 more
planets for the necessary supplies
- Ecological footprint is not only affected by
the population but also by the level of
development. As a nation gets more and more
developed it consumes more and more
resources per person.
Impact Determination
(IPAT MODEL)
- the
level of impact any activity causes can be estimated
by the factors that cause it
- the number of people involved (P)
- the consumption or amount of resources used per
person in that activity (A)
- – known as the affluences
- the environmental effects (T) of the technologies
used to obtain and consume the resources
- – this is a measure of the resources needed and wastes
produced
- thus the impact (I) is the product of these three
factors (P x A x T)
I=PxAxT
 Ex:
Impact of CO2 emissions by
automobile is based on
 P = amount of people with cars
 A = number of cars per person
 T = amount of CO2 per car
- the level of impact varies based on these
three factors and continuous fluctuate
based on usage and trends
Ex: SUV’s and Hybrid cars
 ENVIRONMENTAL
SUSTAINABILITY
- one of the goals of environmental science
is to develop and educated people in the
ways of environmental sustainability
-
Sustainability: indefinite use of the
environment in a manner that it’s quality
does not decline – needs of the human
population are met without endangering the
welfare of future generations
-
Sustainability avoids the Tragedy of the
Commons
Tragedy of the Commons
- Its not my land, why should I clean it up?
- I didn’t make the mess, why should I
bother?
- Its not going to hurt me, why should I care?
- lack of communal responsibility, lack of
foresight, lack of a sense of stewardship
- when there is no sense of ownership or
responsibility, the effort to care for a
resource is diminished – thus when a large
number of people use the resource (a
common resource) without the sense of
stewardship (care and sustaining), the
common resource will degrade and be
unavailable for future use
Ex: Generate lots of air pollution now –
affect future generations
Don’t recycle – impacts availability of
resources
Need Stewardship – shared responsibility
for the use and care of the resources of the
planet
– not for exploitation but a protective and
sustainable approach to using the
resources and developing new and better
ways of meeting our needs
Role of Government: Regulate and Control
the use of Resources
Ex: Fish and Game Commission