Transcript APES Getting Started Guide

What do I have to do to be successful and still keep my
sanity in tact, while trying to have a life ?
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Be familiar with the APES Web Page, www.ehsscience.com
Read assigned pages at home and learn the objectives.
Go the textbook web page and answer all quiz questions.
Don’t wait till the last minute to begin your project.
Know how to write a lab report, as posted on the web page.
Always ask questions when you get stuck or don’t
understand something.
Don’t get intimidated, I am always here to help you.
Visit the web page often., keep a journal!
Use study groups or a study buddy to learn concepts.
Relax and take a genuine interest in Environmental Science
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Includes chapter notes!
Includes class notes!
Returned papers!
On-line quiz and essay questions!
Chapter and class objective answers!
Class and web research!
Project information!
With approximately 6.7 billion people on Earth now
and a projected 9 billion by mid-century, we must find
ways of reducing consumption of resources if we are to
avoid dramatic environmental degradation and the
potential of global ecosystem collapse.
Sustainability does not just consider the
environmental dimension; the social and economic
dimensions are what round out the “triple bottom
line,” a standard of ethical responsibility many
corporations, institutions, and governments have
adopted as a guiding principle.
Approximately 6.6 billion humans now inhabit the
Earth. By comparison, there might be 20 million
mallard ducks and, among a multitude of threatened
and endangered species, perhaps 100,000 gorillas,
50,000 polar bears, and less than 10,000 tigers, 2,000
giant pandas and 200 California condors
What is the IPAT Equation, or
I = P X A X T?
It describes the multiplicative contribution of
population (P), affluence (A) and technology (T) to
environmental impact (I). Environmental impact (I)
may be expressed in terms of resource depletion or
waste accumulation; population (P) refers to the size of
the human population; affluence (A) refers to the level
of consumption by that population; and technology
(T) refers to the processes used to obtain resources and
transform them into useful goods and wastes.
In Summary
The IPAT equation made a contribution to understanding
the multiple causes of environmental impact, and it
continues to be developed as a method for improving our
understanding of these issues. It has not helped in
identifying sustainable scale, but it is a useful framework
to assist in thinking about ways of reducing environmental
impacts by reducing various types of throughput.
The Tragedy of the Commons
on Georges Bank, and
Elsewhere
In the Massachusetts State
Capitol there is a wooden statue
of the Sacred Cod, a tribute to
the massive fishing ground
called Georges Bank. For 200
years codfish from Georges Bank
have enriched New England.
Now, says the Northeast
Fisheries Center, the cod
population of Georges Bank is
collapsing.
Zebra mussels can severely effect native mussels and clams
by interfering with their feeding, growth, movement,
respiration, and reproduction. For example, zebra mussels
can colonize a clam shell to such an extent that the clam
cannot open its shell to eat. Some native mussels have
been found with more than 10,000 zebra mussels attached
to them. In addition to colonizing native mussels and
clams, zebra mussels may attach to slow-moving species
such as crayfish and turtles.
Neotropical migrant birds are the songbirds that represent
over 50%, more precisely, 340 of the 600 species, of North
American birds. As spring begins, more than 300 species
of Neotropical migratory birds head north to breed and
raise young in the United States and Canada. In the fall
they return to warmer climates in tropical regions of
Mexico, Central America, South America, and the
Caribbean.
No environmental issue as vividly
demonstrates the impact human-produced
chemicals can have on nature as the
destruction of stratospheric ozone.
Ozone is a relatively unstable form of molecular oxygen
containing three oxygen atoms (O3). Radiation from the sun
continuously bombards the Earth's atmosphere, causing
molecules to break apart into component elements that form into
new chemical compounds. Ozone is produced when upperatmosphere oxygen molecules (O2) are broken apart by
ultraviolet light. Most of the freed oxygen atoms immediately
bond with nearby oxygen molecules to form ozone (O + O2 =
O3).
Ozone is a gas that occurs both in the Earth's upper
atmosphere and at ground level. In the troposphere, the air
closest to the Earth's surface, ground-level or "bad" ozone is
a pollutant that is a significant health risk, especially for
children with asthma. It also damages crops, trees and other
vegetation. It is a main ingredient of urban smog.
Although tropical forests cover only about 7
percent of the Earth’s dry land, they probably
harbor about half of all species on Earth.
Many species are so specialized to microhabitats within
the forest that they can only be found in small areas.
Their specialization makes them vulnerable to
extinction.
Global markets consume rainforest
products that depend on sustainable
harvesting: latex, cork, fruit, nuts, timber,
fibers, spices, natural oils and resins, and
medicines.
In addition, the genetic diversity of tropical forests is
basically the deepest end of the planetary gene pool.
Hidden in the genes of plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria
that have not even been discovered yet may be cures for
cancer and other diseases or the key to improving the yield
and nutritional quality of foods—which the U.N. Food and
Agriculture Organization says will be crucial for feeding
the nearly ten billion people the Earth will likely need to
support in coming decades.
Finally, genetic diversity in the planetary gene pool is
crucial for the resilience of all life on Earth to rare but
catastrophic environmental events, such as meteor
impacts or massive, sustained volcanism.
Varieties of Soy
Beans
Environmental ethics is the discipline that studies the
moral relationship of human beings to, and also the value
and moral status of, the environment and its nonhuman
contents.