Transcript Earth`s Main Environmental Concerns:

• Environmental scientists study
interactions between organisms and
their environments.
What would
happen in the
ecosystem if this
praying mantis
were to become
extinct?
• Environmental scientists learn
about the interdependence of all
life on Earth.
What natural
things do we
depend upon
for survival?
Why is the birth of these
otter pups an indication of a
healthy ecosystem?
• How are we humans impacting
the Earth’s environments?
• Resource Depletion
• Pollution
• Extinction
• Poverty
• Weighted
environmental
cost
• Environmental
misunderstanding
Decapitation!
Phorid Fly
• Natural Resources
Sunlight, air, water, soil, minerals,
plants, animals, forests and fossil fuels
When a resource becomes depleted,
a large part of it has been used up.
No matter how much solar energy we use, sunlight
will continue to shine on the surface of the Earth,
and remain a source of energy until our Sun dies.
Some renewable resources can become depleted!
When all the coal has been mined, that will
be it. No more silver will be formed deep
within the Earth…at least not within the
short span of human existence.
Most recently, another category of “renewable”
resources has been added. Inexhaustible
resources…Can you think of a few?
• Air:
Some pollutants are inadvertent
byproducts of human activity.
Carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrous
oxides found in automobile exhaust.
Some are intentional and a direct result of
human invention. Why would humans pollute
on purpose?
• Soil and water
Pesticides used by the agricultural industry in an
attempt to keep nature at bay
• The natural process whereby the
last surviving individual of a species
dies and is gone forever.
• Nearly 2/3 of all animal species that
have existed on the Earth have
become extinct. How are humans
causing extinctions now?
• Hunting and poaching, destruction of habitat,
pollution, extermination, and through the
introduction of foreign species and diseases.
Poverty can cause people to use
resources in an unsustainable
manner which causes damage to
the environment.
Impoverished
peoples will be
more willing to
accept polluting
companies in
their regions for
economic gain.
There
often a weighted
environmentalthe
cost
of
We
alsois struggle
with misunderstanding
environmental
development,
the of
economic
of the
impact of our meaning
actions. that
The use
DDT asvalue
an insecticide
products
produced
on theflies
landto
is combat
far less than
the (an
in the 40s-70s,
and Phorid
fire ants
environmental
value are
of the
ecosystem
being destroyed for
introduced species)
perfect
illustrations.
our use.
Should our comfort come at the
expense of the environment?
•DDT and CFC’s
Environmental Science is
fairly new
• how humans interact with
their environments
• Focus on solving
environmental problems
Caused by humans, either
Anthropogenic purposefully, or not.
Caused by an uncontrollable series of
Natural environmental or geological events.
In NetSchool, open the reflection for today, and
tell me which of the Earth’s main concerns are
anthropogenic, and which are natural? Justify.