Upload
mitchell-sims
View
217
Download
0
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Living in the environmentLiving in the environment
Environmental ScienceEnvironmental Science• Interdisciplinary science –
ecology,geology,chemistry,
• politics,engineering,economics,ethics
• Connections and interactions between humans and the rest of nature
• Validity of data questioned – many variables
Environmental IssuesEnvironmental Issues
• Population growth• Increasing resource use• Destruction and degradation of habitat• Premature extinction• Poverty• Pollution
SustainabilitySustainability
• Ability of a specified system to survive and function over a period of time
Sustainable livingSustainable living
• Meeting present needs without preventing future generations from meeting theirs
Carrying capacityCarrying capacity
• Maximum number of organisms an environment can support over a specified period of time
GrowthGrowth
• Linear – quantity increases by constant amount per unit of time
• Exponential – quantity increases by a fixed percentage of the whole in a given time
Doubling timeDoubling time• 70 / percentage of growth rate =
doubling time in years
• Example – human population growth
• 1.28% per year
• 216,000 per day
• 9000 per hour
Economic growth – Gross Economic growth – Gross National Product-GNPNational Product-GNP
• Market value in current dollars of all goods and services produced by a country
• Per Capita GNP – GNP/Total population
Economic growth – Gross Economic growth – Gross Domestic Product-GDPDomestic Product-GDP
• Market value in current dollars of all goods and services produced WITHIN a country for use during a year
Developed nationDeveloped nation
• 1.2 billion (20%) - highly industrialized, 85% of world wealth and income, use 88% of world resources, generate 75% of waste
US,Canada,Japan,Australia,New Zealand ,most of Europe
DevelopingDeveloping
4.9 billion, (80%), low to moderate industrialized, 15% of world wealth and income, use 12% of world resources
Asia, Latin America, Africa
P (population) X A (affluence) X P (population) X A (affluence) X T (technological impact/unit of use) T (technological impact/unit of use)
= I (Environmental impact)= I (Environmental impact)
Ecological footprint or Ecological footprint or environmental impactenvironmental impact
Amount of land needed to produce the resources needed by an average person in a country
ResourcesResourcesEcological –
habitat, food,shelter
Economic-
Renewable
Non renewable
Potentially renewable
Tragedy of the Commons- Garrett Tragedy of the Commons- Garrett HardinHardin
• Over use of common property
• Clean air, open ocean and its fish,wild life species,publicly owned land, gases of lower atmosphere, space
GlobalizationGlobalization
• Social, economic and environmental change that leads to an increasingly integrated world
• economic, information and
communication,environmental effects
PollutionPollution
Threatens human health
Natural – volcanoes
Anthropogenic – human activities
SolutionsSolutions
Prevention – REFUSE, REDUCE,REUSE,RECYCLE
Clean up – temporary fix, removes from one part and adds to another,expensive to reduce to acceptable levels
Root causesRoot causesRapid population
growth
Wasteful use of resources
PovertyFailure to encourage
earth sustaining economic development
Failure to include overall economic cost
PLANETARY MANAGEMENT or ANTHROPOCENTRIC- “we are in charge of nature, always more to use, all economic growth is good” (ANTHROPOCENTRIC)
EARTH WISDOM –”nature for all of earth’s species, not always more to use,make a judgment call about economic growth
Environmental WorldviewEnvironmental Worldview
Information Revolution Information Revolution and globalizationand globalization
International trade of goods increased
Transnational corporations from
7,000 to 53,000Phones –from 89 to
850 millionPassenger kilometers –
from 28 million to 2.6 trillion
Infectious microbes transported
Cultural changesCultural changesHunter gatherers – 12,000 years ago
Agricultural revolution – 10,000-12,000-
Industrial revolution-275 years ago
Technological revolution – 50 years ago
Hunting and Gathering Hunting and Gathering SocietiesSocieties
• nomadic, living in small bands,
• population in balance with food supply
– high infant mortality,life expectancy 30-40 yr.
• 3 energy sources - sun, fire, muscle power
Agricultural SocietiesAgricultural Societies
• settled communities
• slash and burn cultivation to fertilize nutrient poor field by ashes
• shifting cultivation
• subsistence farming
Effects and Environmental Effects and Environmental ImpactImpact
• Urbanization and agricultural expansion, cut down forests, destroyed habitats, soil erosion and desertification
• birth rate faster than death- population increase
Early Industrial Early Industrial societies(mid 1700’ssocieties(mid 1700’s))
• wood used up - coal usage
• steam generation
• fossil fuel powered farm machinery- less farmers needed- moved to cities
Advanced Industrial Advanced Industrial societies (1914 ---)societies (1914 ---)
• increase in agricultural products
• lower infant mortality
• improved health
• increase in longevity
• net population increase
Resource Resource ConservationConservation
• 1903-Theodore Roosevelt, Pelican Island,Florida to save the Brown Pelican
• 1905- Gifford Pinchot - US Forest Service
• “resources should be saved to be used for the greatest good, for the greatest number, for the longest time”
Moral / Aesthetic Nature Moral / Aesthetic Nature ConservationConservation
• John Muir , Sierra Club
• “fundamental right of organisms to exist for it’s own sake”
US Environmental Movement - US Environmental Movement - 1960’s1960’s
• 1962- , Rachel Carson “Silent Spring”, threats of pollution and toxic chemicals
• David Brower and Barry Commoner,Paul Ehrlich,Garret Hardin -relationship between population growth, resource use,pollution
Events - Increased AwarenessEvents - Increased Awareness
• 1963 - air pollution in New York
• Laundry detergent in water
• 1969- Cuyahoga in Ohio
• Love Canal , New York
• pollution of Lake Erie
• Extinction -grizzly,bald eagle,whooping crane,falcon
Environmental events- 1970’sEnvironmental events- 1970’s• 1972-UN- Human development
• 1973 - OPEC oil embargo
• Roland and Molina - CFC’s cause ozone depletion
• Carter creates Superfund to clean hazardous waste sites(Love Canal)
• Three Mile Island
Environmental events - 1980’sEnvironmental events - 1980’s
• 1981 - Ronald Reagan - sagebrush philosophy
• 1986-Chernobyl disaster
• 1987-Montreal Protocol - fade out CFC’s
• Exxon Valdez disaster
Environmental Events - 1990Environmental Events - 1990• 1991-Persian Gulf war - protect oil
• 1992 - UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• 1994 - UN Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, Egypt.
• 1995- US Congress,reduce environmental spending - vetoed by Clinton
• 1997 - Kyoto- global warming
Environmental events - 2000Environmental events - 2000
• Clinton protects large areas in national forests from roads and logging - designated as national monuments
Sagebrush RevolutionSagebrush Revolution
• remove most lands from federal ownership and turn over to States
• great supporter - Ronald Reagan
Environmental Revolution ….shift Environmental Revolution ….shift fromfrom
•
• pollution cleanup to prevention
• waste disposal to waste reduction
• species protection to habitat protection
• increased resource use to conservation