Transcript Chapter 1ppx

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One of the major concerns in
environmental science is how to
successfully integrate the natural world
and the socio-cultural-technological
world of our own creation.
Human actions now impact natural
systems in ways that threaten earth’s
life-support systems on which we
depend.
Earth has the capacity to support about
ten billion people on a sustainable basis.
The world population is increasing at a
rate comparable to adding four new
Californias of people every year.
5. The vast majority of global villagers dwell in
urban centers as opposed to the countryside.
6. About one in four residents in the global
village is a child under 15
7. Illiteracy among adults in the global village is
about 20%.
The study of environmental science
involves three fundamental goals:
1. Learn how life on Earth has survived and thrived.
2. Understand how humans interact with the
environment
3. Find ways to deal with environmental problems
and live more sustainably
What is Environmentalism?
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Environmentalism is not a scientific field of study, but
rather a social movement dedicated to protecting Earth
and its resources.
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It is practiced more in the realms of politics and ethics
than science.
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The connection between the two…
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The findings of environmental scientists can provide
evidence to back or refute environmentalist’s claims and
activities.
Solar Capital vs. Earth’s
Capital
Energy from the
Sun
Interdependent
and
Interconnected
Click on the Earth above to see a video about
Ecological Footprints of different countries.
Our planet’s air, water,
soil, wildlife, minerals,
and natural
purification, recycling,
and pest control
processes
Example
Living sustainably means living off of income and
not depleting the capital that supplies the
income.
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Inherit $1 million dollars
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Invest this capital at 10% interest
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You will have a Sustainable income of $100,000
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You can spend $100,000 each year
without touching your capital
BUT….
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If you choose to spend $200,000 – your
million will be gone in the 7th year!
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If you choose to spend $110,000 – your
million will be gone in the 18th year
Deplete your capital and you move from a
sustainable to an unsustainable lifestyle.
During the last 40 years the U.S. alone has
used more resources than the rest of
humanity in all previous years.
Population Growth
60,000 years to reach 1
billion people
130 years to add the
2nd billion people
30 years for the 3rd
billion (1960)
17 years for the 4th
billion (1977)
12 years for the 5th
billion (1989)
10 years for the 6th
billion (1999)
Expected Growth
2012 7th billion
2025 8th billion
2050 11th billion
We will have grown from 5.9
billion to 8 billion between 1998
and 2025 (Just…16 years)
How Big is a Billion???
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What is the population of the world?
about 7 billion
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One teaspoon of rice = 200 grains of
rice
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One cup of rice = 9600 grains of rice
(48 tsp)
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How many cups are in a gallon?
16 cups
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How many grains of rice are there in
16 cups?
(9,600 X 16 = 153,600 grains of
rice)
How Big is a Billion???
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How many gallons would it take to equal
1 million grains of rice?
1,000,000/ 153,600 = 6.5 gallons =
1 million grains of rice
If 6.5 gallons equals 1 million grains of
rice, how many gallons would it take to
equal 1 billion grains of rice?
6.5 gallons (1 million) X 1,000 =
6,500 gallons = 1 billion
How Big is a Billion???
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How many gallons of rice would it take to
equal 6 billion?
39,000 gallons of rice = 6 billion
Exponential vs. Linear Growth
Exponential
Population Growth
The red line shows
linear growth
Developed Countries
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Highly industrialized
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20% of the world’s population
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Command about 85 % of the world’s
wealth
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Uses about 88% of Earth’s natural
resources
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Generate abut 75% of the Earth’s
pollution and wastes ( including about
90% of the world’s estimated hazardous
waste)
Developing Countries
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Low to moderate industrialization and per
capita GNP
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Africa, Asia, and Latin America
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15% of the wealth and income
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Use only about 12% of the world’s natural
resources
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1 million people are added every 4 days!!!
Characteristics of Developed and
Developing Countries
Developed
Developing
Average GNP per
person
$30,000
$3,000
Annual Growth Rate
0.1% (slow
1.7% (very rapid)
Infant deaths per
1000 live births
9
64
Population under age 19%
15
35%
Average life
expectancy
78 years
63 years
Adult literacy
97%
48%
Population with safe
water
96%
45%
Click on the Lorax to see the
demographics if there were 100
people!
Ecological Footprint
What year did we reach
100% Biocapacity?
Biocapacity represents the ability of ecosystems
to produce useful biological materials and to
absorb CO2 generated by humans, using current
management and extraction technologies.
Useful biological materials are defined as those
materials that the human economy actually
demanded in a given year. The Ecological
Footprint measures demand on this productive
capacity.
Sustainable Society
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Manages it’s economy and population size
without exceeding all or part of the
planet’s ability to absorb environmental
insults, replenish its resources, and
sustain human and other forms of life over
a specified period (usually hundreds to
thousands of years)
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Intergenerational Equity
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Sustainable Development
Green Architecture
Components of Sustainability
Society
Environment
•How are people’s live
affected?
•How are cultures affected?
•Do some people benefit at the
expense of others?
•How are plants and animals
affected?
•How are air, water, and soil
affected?
•What is the long-term impact on
the environment?
Economy
•How are local, national, and international
economies affected?
•Are meaningful job opportunities provided?
•Is there a long-term economic gain for people
and communities?
http://pulitzercenter.org
/video/congos-bloodycoltan
3 Types of Resources
Renewable
Nonrenewable
Potentially Renewable
Types of Environmental
Degradation
Wetland Destruction
Deforestation
Environmental
Degradation
Air Pollution
Ground Water
Depletion
Environmental Degradation
When the available supply of a renewable
resources begin to shrink because a
resource’s natural replacement rate is
exceeded.
Tragedy of the Commons
If I don’t use this resource
someone else will… the little bit I
use or pollute is not enough to
matter!
Human Disturbance of Land
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73% of the habitable area of the planet
has been altered by human activities.
The Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment
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The most comprehensive scientific assessment of
the condition of the world’s ecological systems
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In 2005, 2000 of the world’s leading scientists
from 100 nations reported :
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Humans have drastically altered ecosystems
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These changes have contributed to human
well-being and economic development, but
at a cost
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Environmental degradation could get much
worse
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Degradation can be reversed, but it requires
work
1992 U.N. Conference on
Environment and Development
Held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
 Agenda 21 - a complex plan for sustainable
development for the 21st century
 Particularly in developing countries
 Goal is to improve living condition for all
people while maintaining a healthy
environment in which natural resource are
not overused and excessive pollution is not
generated.
3 factors necessary for achieving sustainable
development
 Environmentally Sound Decisions
 Socially Equitable Decisions
 Economically Viable Decisions
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Agenda 21
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Agenda 21 is a 350-page document divided into
40 chapters that have been grouped into 4 sections:
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Section I: Social and Economic Dimensions: is directed
toward combating poverty, especially in developing
countries, changing consumption patterns, promoting
health, achieving a more sustainable population, and
sustainable settlement in decision making.
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Section II: Conservation and Management of Resources
for Development: Includes atmospheric protection,
combating deforestation, protecting fragile
environments, conservation of biological diversity
(biodiversity), control of pollution and the management
of biotechnology, and radioactive wastes.
Agenda 21 continued
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Section III: Strengthening the Role of Major
Groups: includes the roles of children and
youth, women, NGOs, local authorities,
business and industry, and workers; and
strengthening the role of indigenous peoples,
their communities, and farmers.
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Section IV: Means of Implementation:
implementation includes science, technology
transfer, education, international
institutions and financial mechanisms.
The 2002 World Summit on
Sustainable Development
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Johannesburg, South Africa
Assess the progress and failure of the
1992 summit.
Agreement was made to restore the
world's depleted fisheries for 2015. It
was agreed to by negotiators at the
World Summit.
The Earth Summit was organized mostly
around almost 300 "partnership
initiatives. These were to be the key
means to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals.
The 2002 World Summit on
Sustainable Development
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The absence of the United States rendered the summit
partially impotent. George W. Bush boycotted the summit
and did not attend. Except for a brief appearance
by Colin Powell, who hurriedly addressed the closing
stages of the conference while his airplane taxied on the
runway of Johannesburg International, the US
government did not send a delegation, earning Bush
praise in a letter from conservative organizations such
as Americans for Tax Reform, American Enterprise
Institute, and Competitive Enterprise Institute.
2012 World Summit on Sustainable
Development (Rio12 or Rio+20)
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The 10-day mega-conference (June 13-22) was
intended to be a high-level international gathering
organized to re-direct and renew global political
commitment to the three dimensions of sustainable
development: economic growth, social
improvement and environmental protection;
focusing on reducing poverty while promoting jobs
growth, clean energy and more fair, sustainable
uses of resources; goals first established at Earth
Summit in 1992.
2012 World Summit on Sustainable
Development (Rio12 or Rio+20)
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The official discussions had two main themes:
*How to build a green economy to achieve
sustainable development and lift people out of poverty,
including support for developing countries that will allow
them to find a green path for development.
*How to improve international coordination for
sustainable development by building an institutional
framework.
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Included participation from 192 UN member states —
including 57 Heads of State and 31 Heads of
Government, private sector companies, NGOs and
other groups.
Three Key Factors – P x A x T = I
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Model developed in the early 1970’s by
John Holdren (physicist)
Paul Ehrlich (biologist)
PxAxT=I
P = Population
A = Affluence (resource use)
T = Technology (environmental degradation and
pollution per unit of resource used)
Environmental Impact =
Number of
People
X
Number of units
of resource use
per person
X
Environmental impact
unit of resource use
What is meant by an
Environmental Value System
(EVS)?
Environmental World Views
Commonly shared perspectives based on a collection of
our basic values that help us make sense of the world.
Anthropocentric - Western Worldview –
Frontier Worldview
Conservationist– Use Resources Sustainably Biocentric
Preservationist - Deep Ecology Worldview
(Ecocentric) – Earth Wisdom
Western Worldview –
Technocentric/Anthropocentric
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Expansionist worldview
Human centered/dominance over nature
Utilitarian
Frontier attitude: a desire to conquest and exploit nature
as quickly as possible
Unrestricted use of natural resources
Increased economic growth/accumulation of wealth
Unlimited consumption of goods and services to provide
material comforts
Concerns for environment are based on human interests
Anthropogenic
Preservationish- Deep Ecology
Worldview – Ecocentric
Stresses harmony with nature
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Spiritual respect for life
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Belief that humans and all other specie have an equal
worth
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All forms of life have the right to exist
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Advocates sharply curbing human population growth
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Proposes rethinking of how we use technology today
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Asks individuals and societies to share an inner
spirituality connected to the natural world
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biocentric
Environmental Philosophies
Ecocentrism
(nature centered)
Holistic worldview.
Minimum disturbance of
natural view. processes.
Integration of spiritual,
social and environmental
dimensions. Sustainability
for the whole Earth.
Self-reliant communities
within a framework of
global citizenship.
Self-imposed restraint on
resource use.
Anthropocentrism
(people centered)
People as
environmental
managers of sustainable
global systems.
Population control
given equal weight to
resource use. Strong
regulation by
independent authorities
required.
Technocentrism
(technology centered)
Technology can
keep pace with and
provide solutions to
environmental
problems. Resource
replacement saves
resource depletion.
Need to understand
natural processes in
order to control
them. Importance
of market and
economic growth
Sustainable Solutions Abound
We must develop solutions that
protect both our quality of life
and the environment
Renewable energy and efficiency
 Organic agriculture
 Legislation and technology to reduce pollution
 Protect species and their habitat
 Recycling, decreasing waste
 Decrease greenhouse gas emissions
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