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Environmental Science Is a Study
of Connections in Nature
• Environment:
• Everything around us, living and non-living
• Environmental science: interdisciplinary science
connecting information and ideas from
• Natural sciences: (ex. biology, geology, chemistry)
• Social sciences: (ex. politics, economics)
• Humanities: ethics, philosophy
Environmental Science Is a Study
of Connections in Nature
• How nature works
• How the environment affects us
• How we affect the environment
• How to deal with environmental problems
• How to live more sustainably
Sustainability
• Sustainability: when the earth’s natural systems and
human cultural systems survive, flourish, and adapt
for future generations to survive
• My personal view as to how we should look at the
problems
• The earth has been around for 4.5 Billion years…the
earth will go on with or without us
• Sustainability is about what humans and societies will
look like
From Simple Cell to Homo Sapiens
Fig. 1-2, p. 7
Three Principles of Sustainability
1. Reliance on solar energy
•
The sun provides warmth and fuels photosynthesis
(root energy source for earth)
2. Biodiversity
•
Astounding variety and adaptability of natural
systems and species
3. Chemical cycling / Nutrient cycling
•
Circulation of chemicals from the environment to
organisms and then back to the environment
Three Principles of Sustainability
Sustainability Has Certain Key
Components
• Natural capital – The resources available to us
• Natural resources: useful materials and energy in the air, water
and earth
• Think about it like money in the bank earning interest
• Capital = Money we have available
• Sustainable = we spend money without losing capital (only use
the interest)
• Unsustainable = we spend more money and leave less capital
(leave less in the bank)
Natural Capital =
Natural Resources + Natural Services
Fig. 1-4, p. 9
We Are Living Unsustainably
• Environmental degradation: wasting, depleting, and
degrading the earth’s natural capital
• Happening at an accelerating rate
Natural Capital Degradation
Fig. 1-6, p. 10
Natural Capital Degradation
Fig. 1-9, p. 13
Some Sources Are Renewable and
Some Are Not (2)
• Renewable resource
• Several days to several hundred years to renew
• E.g., forests, grasslands, fresh air, fertile soil
• Sustainable yield
• Highest rate at which we can use a renewable
resource without reducing available supply
Some Sources Are Renewable and
Some Are Not (3)
• Nonrenewable resources
• Energy resources
• Metallic mineral resources
• Nonmetallic mineral resources
• Reuse
• Recycle
Countries Differ in Levels of
Unsustainability (1)
• Economic growth: increase in output of a nation’s
goods and services
• Gross domestic product (GDP): annual market value
of all goods and services produced by all businesses,
foreign and domestic, operating within a country
• Per capita GDP: one measure of economic
development
Countries Differ in Levels of
Unsustainability (2)
• Economic development: using economic growth to
raise living standards
• More-developed countries: North America,
Australia, New Zealand, Japan, most of Europe
• Less-developed countries: most countries in Africa,
Asia, Latin America
Countries by Gross National Income per Capita
Supplement 8, Fig 2
Pollution Comes from a Number of
Sources (1)
• Sources of pollution
• Point sources
• E.g., smokestack
• Nonpoint sources
• E.g., pesticides blown into the air
• Main type of pollutants
• Biodegradable
• Nondegradable
• Unwanted effects of pollution
Point-Source Air Pollution
Fig. 1-10, p. 14
Nonpoint Source Water Pollution
Fig. 1-11, p. 14
Overexploiting Shared Renewable
Resources: Tragedy of the Commons
• Three types of property or resource rights
• Private property
• Common property
• Open access renewable resources
• Tragedy of the commons
• Common property and open-access renewable
resources degraded from overuse
• Solutions
Ecological Footprints: A Model of
Unsustainable Use of Resources
• Ecological footprint: the amount of land and water
needed to provide you your current
Four Basic Causes of
Environmental Problems
1. Population growth
2. Wasteful and unsustainable resource use
3. Poverty
4. Harmful environmental costs of things we buy are
not included in their price
Prices Do Not Include the Value of
Natural Capital
• Companies do not pay the environmental cost of
resource use
• Goods and services do not include the harmful
environmental costs
• Companies receive tax breaks and subsidies
• Economy may be stimulated but there may be a
degradation of natural capital
IPAT is Another Environmental
Impact Model
I=PxAxT
•
•
•
•
I = Environmental impact
P = Population
A = Affluence
T = Technology
Exponential Growth of Human Population
Fig. 1-18, p. 21
Technology Increases Population
Fig. 1-16, p. 19
IPAT Illustrated
Fig. 1-14, p. 17