Download Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability

Unit 1: APES
Living in the Environment by Miller, 16th Edition
Chapter 1
Environmental Problems, Their
Causes, and Sustainability
Introduction

Environment


Ecology


External conditions that
affect living organisms
Study of relationships
between living orgasms
and their environment
Environmental Science

Interdisciplinary study
that examines the role of
humans on the earth
Sustainability

ability of the earth’s various
natural systems and human
cultural systems and
economies to survive and
adapt to changing
environmental conditions
INDEFINITELY
Sustainable Society

Manages economy and
population size without
exceeding all or part of the
planet’s ability to



Absorb environmental
insults
Replenish resources
Sustain human and other
forms of life over a
specified period (100’s1,000’s of years)
Sustainable Resource Harvest


Certain quantity of
that resource can be
harvested each year
and not be depleted
over a specified
period
Sustainable supply of
fish or timber
Sustainable Earth


Earth’s supplies of
resources
Processes that make
up earth capital are
used and maintained
over a specified
period
Natural Capital

Solar Capital



Natural resources


Energy from the sun
Provides 99% of the energy used on earthion
useful materials and energy
Natural services


purifications of air and water which support
life and human economics.
ecosystems provide these services at no cost
Economic Growth - Key Terms

Gross National Product



Measures economic growth in a country
Market value in current dollars of all goods and
services produced within and outside of a
country by the country’s businesses during one
year
Gross Domestic Product

Market value in current dollars of all goods and
services produced only within a country during
one year
Economic Growth - Key Terms
Per Capita GDP


Changes in a county’s economic growth per
person
the GDP divided by the total population at
midyear
Economics - Key Terms

Economic Development

has the goal of using economic growth to
improve living standards
Economic Growth - Key Terms
Developed Countries
 1.2 billion people




Highly industrialized
High per capita GDP PPP(Purchasing Power Parity)
Developing Countries


Middle income , moderately developed – China,
India, Brazil, Thailand, Mexico
Low income, least developed – Angola, Congo,
Belarus, Nigeria, Nicaragua
Wealth Gap
The gap between the
per capita GNP of the
rich, middle-income
and poor has widened
 More than 1 billion
people survive on less
than one dollar per day
 Situation has worsened
since 1980

Sustainable Development



Assumes the right to use the
earth’s resources and earth
capital to meet needs
Obligation exists to pass the
earth’s resources and
services to future
generations in as good or
better shape than condition
when passed to us
Intergenerational equity or
fairness
Resources
Renewable
Non-Renewable
Potentially
Renewable
Direct solar
energy
Winds, tides,
flowing water
Fossil fuels
Fresh air
Metallic minerals (iron,
copper, aluminum)
Fresh water
Nonmetallic minerals (clay,
sand, phosphates)
Fertile soil
Plants and
animals
(biodiversity)
Nonrenewable Resources

Nonrenewable/Exhaustible Resources


Mineral


Exist in a fixed quantity in the earth’s crust and can be
used up
Any hard, usually crystalline material that is formed
naturally
Reserves

Known deposits from which a usable mineral
can be profitably extracted at current prices
Biodiversity Depletion



Habitat destruction
Habitat degradation
Extinction
Pollution


Any addition to air,
water, soil, or food
that threatens the
health, survival, or
activities of humans
or other living
organisms
Solid, liquid, or
gaseous by-products
or wastes
Point Source Pollutants

From a single,
identifiable sources



Smokestack of a
power plant
Drainpipe of a meatpacking plant
Exhaust pipe of an
automobile
Nonpoint Source Pollutants

Dispersed and often difficult to identify sources


Runoff of fertilizers and pesticides
Storm Drains (#1 source of oil spills in oceans)
Solutions: Pollution Prevention

Input Pollution Control
or Throughput Solution

Slows or eliminates the
production of pollutants,
often by switching to
less harmful chemicals
or processes
Water Pollution








Sediment
Nutrient overload
Toxic chemicals
Infectious agents
Oxygen depletion
Pesticides
Oil spills
Excess heat
Air Pollution







Global climate
change
Stratospheric ozone
depletion
Urban air pollution
Acid deposition
Outdoor pollutants
Indoor pollutants
Noise
Solution: Four R’s of Resource
Management




Refuse (don’t use)
Reduce
Reuse
Recycle
Solution: Pollution cleanup

Output Pollution
Cleanup


Involves cleaning
up pollutants after
they have been
produced
Most expensive
and time
consuming
Environmental Degradation
Common Property Resources



Tragedy of the Commons
Resources owned by none, but
available to all users free of
charge
May convert potentially
renewable resources into
nonrenewable resources
Model of Environmental Impact


Number of People x Number of units of
resources used per person x Environmental
degradation and pollution per unit of
resource used = Environmental impact of
population
PxAxT=I
Four Scientific Principles of
sustainability




Reliance on solar energy
Biodiversity
Nutrient cycling
Population control
Chapter 2 – Science, Matter, Energy
and Systems

Endeavor to discover how nature works
and to use that knowledge to make
predictions about what is likely to happen
in nature.
Science. Models, systems
“Scientific knowledge is a body of
statements of varying degrees of
certainty – some most unsure, some
nearly sure, and none absolutely
certain” – Richard Feynman
Scientific method



HYPOTHESIS – proposed to
explain observed patterns
Critical experiments
Analysis and conclusions
Scientific Methods





What is the question to be answered?
What relevant facts and data are known?
What new data should be collected?
After collection, can it be used to make a
law?
What hypothesis can be invented to explain
this? How can it become a theory?
Experiments




Variables are what affect processes in the
experiment.
Controlled experiments have only one variable
Experimental group gets the variable
Control group does not have the variable


Placebo is a harmless pill that resembles the pill being
tested.
In double blind experiments, neither the patient nor the
doctors know who is the control or experiment group.
Inference
1.
2.
3.
To conclude from evidence or premises
To reason from circumstance; surmise: We
can infer that his motive in publishing the
diary was less than honorable
To lead to as a consequence or conclusion:
“Socrates argued that a statue inferred the
existence of a sculptor”
Theory and Law

Scientific Theory


A hypothesis that has been supported by
multiple scientists’ experiments in multiple
locations
A Scientific Law

a description of what we find happening in
nature over and over again in a certain way
Scientific Laws

Law of Conservation of Matter


Matter can be changed from one form to
another, but never created or destroyed.
Atomic Theory of Matter

All matter is made of atoms which cannot be
destroyed, created, or subdivided.
Reasoning

Inductive Reasoning



Uses observations and facts to arrive at
hypotheses
All mammals breathe oxygen.
Deductive Reasoning


Uses logic to arrive at a specific
conclusion based on a generalization
All birds have feathers, Eagles are birds,
therefore All eagles have feathers.
Frontier and Consensus Science

Frontier Science
 Scientific
“breakthroughs” and controversial
data that has not been widely tested or accepted
 String Theory

Consensus or Applied Science
 Consists
of data, theories, and laws that are
widely accepted by scientists considered experts
in the field involved
 Human Genome Project
Accuracy Vs
Precision
Accuracy – measurement agrees with the
accepted correct value
Precision – measure of reproducibility
Matter and Energy
Resources
Nature’s Building Blocks
anything that has mass and
takes up space
Definitions



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Atomic Number - number of protons
Isotopes - same atomic number, different
mass number
Ions - atoms can gain or lose one or more
electrons
Mass Number - protons + neutrons
Building Blocks



atoms - smallest units of matterprotons,neutrons,electrons
ion - electrically charged atoms
molecules - combinations of atoms of
the same or different elements
Isotope

Elements
with same
atomic
number but a
different
mass number
Forms of matter



elements – single type of atoms
110 elements – 92 natural +18
synthesized
compounds - 2 or more elements, held
together by chemical bonds
Law of Conservation of Matter


elements and compounds changed
from one form to another, can
never be destroyed
no “away” in “throw away”
Matter quality

Measure of how useful a matter is
for humans based on availability
and concentration
Some Important elements- composition by
weight – only 8 elements make up 98.5% of
the Earth’s crust
Organic Compounds


with carbon
sugar, vitamins, plastics, aspirin
Environmental Organic
Compounds



Hydrocarbons = methane gas
Chlorinated hydrocarbons =. DDT,
PCB
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC)Freon 12
Polymers




larger and more complex organic
compounds made up of monomers
complex carbohydrates
proteins - 20 amino acids
nucleic acids - nucleotides
Inorganic compounds



no carbon,not originating from a
living source
Earth’s crust – minerals,water
water, nitrous oxide, nitric oxide,
carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide,
sodium chloride, ammonia
Energy




capacity to do work and transfer heat
Kinetic Energy -energy in action
electromagnetic radiation, heat,
temperature
Potential energy - stored energy that is
potentially available
Energy sources



97% solar
without it earth’s temperature 240 C
1% - non commercial(wood, dung,
crops) + commercial ( burning
mineral resources)
Energy quality

Measure of
how useful an
energy source
is in terms of
concentration
and ability to
perform useful
work
Electromagnetic radiation

different wave lengths shorter – high
energy, disrupts cells with long term
exposure
Use….radioisotopes



Estimate age of rocks and fossils
Tracers in pollution detection and
medicine
Genetic control of insects
Half - Life


time needed for one-half of the nuclei in a
radioisotope to decay and emit their
radiation.
Goes through 10 half –lives before it
becomes a non-radioactive form
1st Law of Energy or 1st Law of
Thermodynamics


in all physical and chemical
changes energy is neither created
or destroyed
energy input always equal to
energy output
2nd Law of Energy or 2nd Law of
Thermodynamics

when energy is changed from one
form to another some of the useful
energy is always degraded to
lower quality, more dispersed, less
useful energy(heat)
Nuclear Changes



nuclei of certain isotopes spontaneously change
(radioisotopes) or made to change into one or
more different isotopes
Alpha particles – fast moving (2
protons+2neutrons); Beta particles – high speed
electrons ; Gamma particles - high energy
electromagnetic radiation
radioactive decay, nuclear fission, nuclear
fusion



certain isotopes
(uranium 235) split
apart into lighter
nuclei when struck
by neutrons
chain reaction
releases energy
needs critical mass
of fissionable
nuclei
Nuclear Fission
Nuclear fusion


two isotopes (hydrogen) forced together at
extremely high temperatures (100 million
C)
uncontrolled nuclear fusion thermonuclear
weapons
Environmental Science has
limitations……………….




Cannot prove anything absolutely
Cannot be totally free of bias
Use of statistical tools
Huge number of interacting variables
Feedback Loops
A
feedback loop
occurs when an output
of a system is fed back
as an input
Two kinds of feedback
loops
Positive
 Negative

Positive feedback loop

Exponential growth of population –
more individuals lead to increased
number of births
Negative feedback loop

Temperature regulation in humans –
increased temperature leads to decrease in
temperature by sweating
Complex systems




Time lags – change in a system leads to other
changes after a delay – lung cancer
Resistance to change – built in resistance –
political, economic
Synergy-when two or more processes interact
so that the combined effect is greater
Chaos – unpredictable behavior in a
system
Synergy and Chaos

Synergy occurs when two or more processes
interact so the combined effect is greater
than the sum of the separate effects


Grapefruit and Statins
Chaos occurs in a system when there is no
pattern and it never repeats itself

Noise versus Music
Implications for the environment –
High waste society
Implications for the environment –
Low waste society
Gaia Hypothesis (1970)

James Lovelock and Lynn
Marguilis