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AP Environmental Science Unit 1: Introduction to Environmental Science
(Sustainability, History, and the Global Environmental Picture)
Environment: French term meaning “to surround”. It refers to the circumstances or conditions
that surround an organism or group of organisms.
What is Environmental Science? The study of the natural sciences in an interdisciplinary
context that always includes consideration of people and how they have influenced the systems
under examination. It includes many aspects of biology, earth and atmospheric sciences,
fundamental principles of chemistry and physics, human population dynamics, and an
appreciation for biological and natural resources.
The goal is: How to achieve sustainability?
Sustainability/Sustainable: Refers to a system or process that can be continued indefinitely
without depleting any of the material or energy resources required to keep it running.
To ensure a sustainable future, we must understand:
1) How our world works?
2) What we are doing to it?
3) What we can do to protect and improve it?
*Remedies for the natural world are obvious, but the problem is to make them socially,
economically, and politically acceptable.
A key component of sustainability is Natural Capital which consists of Natural Resources
(materials and energy that are needed or wanted by humans) and Natural Services (the processes
of nature which support life such as the purification of water).
Solar capital (the energy from the sun) is the support for natural capital.
Sustainable Yield: how much of something can be utilized and yet keep the population stable.
Especially used in the fields of forestry and fisheries where the species tend to reproduce at rates
faster than required just to keep the populations stable. This allows a species to replace a
population after some natural disaster.
3 disciplines interested in sustainable development:
1) Economists: concerned mainly with growth, efficiency, and maximum use of resources. Often
think the densest countries are the most economically sound. Population growth increases
demand for investment.
2) Sociologists: focus on human needs and concepts like equity, empowerment, social cohesion,
and cultural identity.
3) Ecologists: concern for preserving integrity of natural systems, for living w/i the carrying
capacity of natural systems, and for dealing effectively with pollution.
*Sustainable solutions can be found only where 3 interests overlap.
4 major trends of particular concern to environmentalists:
1) Population growth and increasing consumption per person
2) Degradation of soils
3) Global atmospheric changes
4) Loss of biodiversity
What are the 5 basic causes of environmental problems? (1)population growth, (2) wasteful
and unsustainable resource use, (3) poverty, (4) not reflecting the value of natural capital in the
cost of items, and (5) a lack of knowledge of how nature works.
What are the 4 scientific Principles of Sustainability? (1) Reliance on solar energy, (2)
Biodiversity, (3) Nutrient cycling, and (4) Population control.
Economic Growth and Sustainability: Typically measured by GDP (Gross Domestic Product)
which looks at the value of the goods and service produced by a country. Countries are
separated into two major categories based on their level of economic development: (1) developed
nations and (2) developing nations. There are a set of characteristics that go along with these
categories.
*Developed countries - highly industrialized w/ high avg. per capita GNP’s.
21% of world’s pop
85% of wealth
88% of natural resources
75% of pollution and wastes
90% of hazardous waste
US/Japan/Germany have more than 1/2 the world’s economic output
*Developing Countries - low to moderate industrialization and per capita GNP’s. Most are in
Africa, Asia, and Latin America. 4.6 billion only have about 15% of wealth and about 12 - 16%
of natural resources.
*Development - change from a society that is largely rural, agricultural, illiterate, and poor w/ a
rapidly growing population to one that is mostly urban, industrial, educated, relatively wealthy
w/ slow growing pop. Very misleading.
*95% of projected population increase is expected in developing countries where 1 million are
added every 4 days. Key is large % under 15.
B/w 1950 and 1996 population doubled, demand for grain tripled, seafood consumption
increased by 4x, paper use increased by 6x, burning fossil fuels increased by 4x,and use of water
and firewood increased by 3x.
*Wealth Gap: B/w 1960 and 1980 gap b/w per capita GNP of rich and poor has widened. Rich
are richer and poor are poorer.
1 person in 5 lives in luxury, the next 3 get by and the 5th survives on less than $1/day. 1 in 6 is
malnourished or severely undernourished and lacks clean drinking water, decent housing, and
adequate health care. 1/3 lacks enough fuel to keep warm and cook food and more than half of
humanity lacks sanitary toilets.
How does Population Have an Impact on Environment?
*The amount of environmental degradation is equal to the number of people times the number of
units of resources used times the environmental degradation per unit of resource used
*The World Bank estimates that 1 billion people are living in acute poverty. Eliminating poverty
and protecting our environment are inextricably linked.
*The affluent life style of so few consumes an inordinate share of the world’s resources and
provides much of the pollution. United States (<5%) uses 25% of the world’s commodities and
produces 25% of the industrial waste.
*Some ecologists regard sustainable growth in any form is impossible b/c
1) There are limits to nonrenewable resources
2) There is limited capacity of biosphere to absorb our wastes
*Supporters of sustainable growth and development think there are ways to get around the above
problems:
1) technology and social reorganization
2) aim towards management that provides long term growth
3) use ecological knowledge in planning
What is an Ecological Footprint? The amount of biologically productive land and water
needed to supply the people in a particular country or area with resources and to absorb and
recycle the waste and pollution produced by the resource use.
*Resources: anything we get from the environment to meet our needs and desires. These are
classified as renewable, potentially renewable, or non-renewable.
Renewable - essentially inexhaustible resource
Potentially renewable - can be replenished rapidly. These can be depleted if not treated w/ care.
Environmental degradation - if the available supply begins to shrink.
Tragedy of the Commons - The degradation of common property. The idea of each user is “If I
don’t use this resource, someone else will.” This will work with small numbers of users, but with
large populations, the common property resource will be used up. B/c of uncertainties and
potential disaster, it is always best to use a potentially renewable resource at levels lower than
the sustainable yield. Another solution to this is to have privately owned resources with the
thought that the private owner will take care of his/her property. Not always practical.
Non-renewable - resources found in fixed quantities in the earth’s crust. They may be
reformed, but on the order of millions to billions of years. It is suggested that such materials be
recycled or reused. Fossil fuels cannot be recycled or reused and the reserves of these energy
sources are being rapidly depleted. Crude Oil estimates suggest we may run out b/w 2010 and
2050. The supply of coal is on the order of 200 years left.
*Pollution: any addition to air, water, soil, or food that threatens the health, survival, or
activities of humans or other living organisms
Pollutant - chemical or form of energy that causes pollution. Basically it is a chemical or form of
energy in the wrong place at the wrong concentration. Such as noise, heat, radiation. Example of
ozone as pollutant vs. critical part of atmosphere.
*Pollutants can enter the world naturally or as the result of human activities.
*Pollutants can come from single, identifiable sources (Point sources) such as a smoke stack or
automobile exhaust pipe; or from dispersed, difficult to identify sources (Non-point sources)
such as fertilizer or pesticide runoff. It is much easier to control point source pollution.
*Types of harm caused by pollutants?
1) Disruption of life support systems
2) Damage to wildlife
3) Damage to human health
4) Damage to property
5) Nuisances such as noise, unpleasant tastes, smells, sights
*3 factors determine harmful effects of a pollutant:
1) Chemical nature of pollutant - how active and harmful
2) Concentration - amount per unit of volume. Ex. ppt, ppm, ppb, ppt
3) Pollutant’s persistence a) degradable or non-persistent - broken down by natural conditions
b) slowly degradable or persistent - slowly break down
c) non-degradable - can’t be broken down like Pb or Hg.
*We have very little knowledge about chemical’s harm to environment.
*What can we do?
1) Pollution prevention or input pollution control. Prevent or reduce. Practice 3 R’s of resource
management: reduce, reuse, recycle.
2) Pollution cleanup or Output Pollution control
-only temporary bandage
-removes pollutant from one place to another
-$
*Both are needed, but currently 99% of $ spent on cleanup and only 1% on prevention
*Examples of former Soviet Union, Poland.
Brief History of Environmentalism:
Plato - 4th B.C. Greece
Steven Hales: 1764 Tobago. Was concerned w/ rainforests. Suggested that if you conserve plants, you
conserve rainfall. Made ruling that 20% of land had to be preserved.
George Perkins Marsh: 1864 United States. Started environmental movement in U.S. Through his efforts
started National Forest Reserves to protect timber and watersheds.
Closing of the Frontier: 1890 Census. Meant that no area of the country could be classified as totally
uninhabited. Several groups dedicated to conservation were formed around this time including National
Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, and the Sierra Club.
John Muir: 1st President of the Sierra Club. Said “Nature deserves to exist for its own sake, regardless of
its usefulness to us.” Popularized idea of wilderness.
Theodore Roosevelt: President during the “Golden Age of Conservation”. He was a resource
conservationist. Established the National Forest Service and the First National Wildlife Refuge at Pelican
Island to preserve endangered brown pelicans.
Civilian Conservation Corps: during Great Depression provided work for the unemployed who built trails
and made improvements in national parks.
Following WWII: New developments and economic expansion resulted in numerous environmental
problems. Such as the Minamata, Japan disaster in which toxic mercury was released into the bay
poisoning animals and people as well. The Nuclear Age began as well.
Modern Environmentalism: began in 1962 with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. She brought to light
modern problems such as DDT. This was the beginning of the modern environmental movement.
In the 1960s: the environmental movement gained popularity and joined forces with older organizations
such as the National Audubon Society which were dedicated to preserving wildlife. New organizations
were formed like Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, Greenpeace, and
Zero Population Growth. Paul Erlich wrote the Population Bomb (warning of the dangers of
overpopulation) and Garrett Hardin introduced us to the Tragedy of the Commons.
In the 1970s: the world celebrated the First Earth Day in 1970; the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) was established, laws such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and
Marine Mammal Protection Act were passed; there was a nuclear accident at Three Mile Island and the
toxic waste at Love Canal was discovered.
In the 1980s: There were disasters such as the chemical explosion at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal,
India, the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, and the oil spill from the Exxon Valdez in Alaska.