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Environmental Problems, Their
Causes, and Sustainability
G. Tyler Miller’s
Living in the Environment
14th Edition
Chapter 1
What’s the use of a house if
you don’t have a decent
planet to put it on?
HENRY DAVID THOREAU
Key Concepts
Growth and Sustainability
Resources and Resource Use
Pollution
Causes of Environmental Problems
Living More Sustainably 1-1
Ecology
Environment
Sustainable Society
Environmental Science
Environmental Science
… is an interdisciplinary field, drawing on many diverse
disciplines.
Ethics
Ecology
Economics
Chemistry
Engineering
Political
science
Biology
Environmental
science
Atmospheric
science
Oceanography
History
Sociology
Geology
Anthropology Archaeology
Environmental Science
… is NOT the
same as
environmentalism.
It is science, NOT
advocacy.
Environmental Science
… can help us avoid mistakes made by past civilizations.
On Easter Island, people annihilated their culture by
destroying their environment. (Chapter 3 Case Study)
What Keeps Us Alive? Capital
Solar
Natural
Fig. 1-2, p. 7
LE 2-SBS
Soil formation
Valuation of ecosystem
services
Genetic resources
Pollination
Habitat provision
Biological control
Erosion control
• Environmental
economists have assigned monetary
Climate regulation
values
to ecosystem services.
Raw materials
Recreation
• Robert Costanza
et al., 1997: $33.3 trillion per year!
Water regulation
Gas regulation
Food provision
Water supply
Disturbance regulation
Waste treatment
Cultural uses
Nutrient cycling
From The Science behind the Story
Population Growth 1-2
 Exponential
Growth
 Doubling Time/
Rule of 70
 Read 1st two
paragraphs of
1-2, p. 7
Fig. 1-4, p. 8
World Population
Population clock
Fig. 1-1 p. 5
Economic Growth
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
Per Capita GDP
Economic Development
 Developed Countries
 Developing Countries
 Positive Aspects
 Negative Aspects
Globalization
 Social
 Economic
 Environmental Effects
1-3 Resources
Perpetual
Renewable
Non-renewable
Fig. 1-6 p. 9
Renewable Resources
Sustainable Yield
Environmental Degradation
Tragedy of the Commons (video)
The “Ecological Footprint”
An ecological footprint is the area of land and water
needed to produce the resources a person or population
uses, plus the amount needed to dispose of their waste.
Ecological Footprint
It would take 1.15 planets to indefinitely support our
current use of renewable resources.
Fig. 1-7 p. 10
Non-Renewable Resources
Energy Resources
Metallic Resources
Non-Metallic
Resources
Reuse
Recycle
Economic Depletion
Fig. 1-8 p. 11
1-4 Pollution
What is pollution?
Effects of Pollution
Sources
Point
Nonpoint
Dealing With Pollution
Prevention (Input Control)
Cleanup (Output Control)
1-5 Environmental and Resource
Problems
Five Root
Causes
Major
Problems
(See Fig. 1-19 p. 12)
Environmental Impact
Fig. 1-13 p. 15
Environmental Interactions
Fig. 1-14 p. 15
1-6 Environmental Worldviews
(video)
Planetary Management
Stewardship (video)
Environmental Wisdom
What is Our Greatest
Environmental Problem?
 Disease
 Overpopulation
 Water Shortages
 Climate Changes
 Biodiversity Loss
 Poverty
 Malnutrition
Solutions
Current Emphasis
(Reactive)
Sustainability
Emphasis
(Proactive)
Fig. 1-16, p. 18