Environmental Problems,
Their Causes, and
Sustainability
Chapter 1
Sustainability
What is sustainability?
• Sustainability is the capacity of the
earth’s natural systems and human
cultural systems to survive, flourish and
adapt to changing environmental
conditions into the very long-term future.
WHAT ARE THREE PRINCIPLES
OF SUSTAINABILITY?
Section 1-1
Environmental science is a
study of connections in nature
• Environment includes all living and nonliving
things with which an organism interacts.
• Ecology studies relationships between living
organisms, and their interaction with the
environment.
What is Environmental
Science?
• Opinions?
• Ideas?
topics
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Recycling
Global warming
Fuel shortages
Alternative energy
Invasive Species
Overfishing
Etc.
Relationship between Environmental
Science and Environmentalism
Environmental
Science
Environmentalism
• Environmental science studies how the
earth works, our interaction with the earth,
and ways to deal with environment
problems and live more sustainably.
• Environmentalism is a social movement
dedicated to protecting life support
systems for all species
Disclaimer
The purpose of this class is not to convert you
to environmentalism but to educate you in
environmental science and make you aware of
current environmental issues.
Back to Sustainability
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5NiT
N0chj0
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp3eo
oTJkY4
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnYH
FRq7-5s
Three principles of sustainability
1. Life depends on solar energy.
2. Biodiversity provides natural
services.
– Biodiversity – variety of different species,
genetic variability among individuals within
each species, variety of ecosystems
3. Chemical/nutrient cycling means that
there is little waste in nature.
Figure 1.4
Ecosystem
O2
O2
Sunlight
Heat
Producers
(such as
plants)
Consumers
(such as
animals)
Chemical energy
(food)
CO2
Water and minerals
taken up by tree roots
CO2
Cycling of
chemical nutrients
Decomposers
(in soil)
Three principles of sustainability
Sustainability has certain key
components
1. Life depends on natural capital = natural
resources and natural services.
2. Many human activities can degrade
natural capital.
3. Solutions are being found and
implemented.
4. Sustainability begins at personal and
local levels.
Solar
energy
Natural Capital
Natural Capital = Natural Resources + Natural Services
Air
Renewable
energy (sun,
wind, water
flows)
Air purification
Climate control
UV protection
(ozone layer)
Life
(biodiversity)
Population
control
Water
Water purification
Pest
control
Waste treatment
Soil
Nonrenewable
minerals
(iron, sand)
Soil renewal
Land
Food production
Nutrient
recycling
Nonrenewable
energy
(fossil fuels)
Natural resources
Natural services
Fig. 1-3, p. 9
Organic
matter in
animals
Dead
organic
matter
Organic
matter
in plants
Decomposition
Inorganic
matter in soil
Fig. 1-4, p. 10
Some resources are renewable
and some are not
• Humans depend on resources to meet our needs.
– Water
– Food
– Electricity
- Housing
- Etc.
Where can these resources
come from?
• Renewable vs. Nonrenewable
• Renewable resources are things which
cannot be used up
• Nonrenewable resources are usually
things which are dug out of the earth and
can be used up
Renewable Resources
• A renewal resource, also known as a
perpetual resource, is continuously renewed
and expected to last (e.g. solar energy).
• A renewable resource is replenished in days
to several hundred years through natural
processes.
Sustainable Yield
• Sustainable yield is the highest rate at
which a renewable and non-renewable
resource can be used indefinitely without
reducing its available supply. (harvestable
surplus)
– Forestry
– Fisheries
Some resources are renewable
and some are not
• Some resources are not renewable.
– Nonrenewable resources exist in fixed
quantities.
– Exhaustible energy (e.g. coal and oil).
– Metallic minerals (e.g. copper and aluminum).
– Nonmetallic minerals (e.g. salt and sand).
• Sustainable solutions: Reduce, reuse,
recycle.
HOW ARE OUR ECOLOGICAL
FOOTPRINTS AFFECTING THE
EARTH?
Section 1-2
We are living unsustainably
• Scientific evidence indicates that we are
living unsustainably.
• Environmental, or natural capital,
degradation is occurring.
• However, we have solutions to these
problems that can be implemented.
Natural Capital Degradation
Degradation of Normally Renewable Natural Resources
Climate
change
Shrinking
forests
Decreased
wildlife
habitats
Air pollution
Soil erosion
Species
extinction
Water
pollution
Aquifer
depletion
Declining
ocean fisheries
Fig. 1-5, p. 11
Pollution comes from a number
of sources
1. Point sources - are single, identifiable
sources (e.g., smokestack).
2. Nonpoint sources - are dispersed and
often difficult to identify (e.g., lawn runoff).
• We can clean up pollution or prevent it.
– Pollution cleanup is usually more expensive
and less effective.
– Pollution prevention reduces or eliminates the
production of pollutants.
Environmental degradation
• Environmental degradation is the
deterioration of the environment through
depletion of resources such
as air, water and soil; the destruction
ofecosystems and the extinction of wildlife.
It is defined as any change or disturbance
to the environment perceived to be
deleterious or undesirable.
The tragedy of the commons: overexploiting
shared renewable resources
• In 1968, the biologist Garrett Hardin called
the degradation of openly shared
resources the tragedy of the commons.
Tragedy of the Commons
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8gAM
FTAt2M
2 ways to prevent degradation:
1. Reduce use by government regulations.
•
Like regulating fishing for example.
2. Shift to private ownership – such as land.
The idea is that if you own it you are more
likely to take care of it.
Ecological footprints: our
environmental impacts
• Ecological footprint - the amount of biologically
productive land and water needed to supply a person or
country with renewable resources and to recycle the
waste and pollution produced by such resource use.
Per Capita Ecological Footprint
• Per capita ecological footprint - the
average ecological footprint of an
individual in a given country or area
Ecological footprints: our
environmental impacts
• Ecological deficit means the ecological
footprint is larger than the biological
capacity to replenish resources and
absorb wastes and pollution.
• Humanity is living unsustainably.
• Footprints can also be expressed as
number of Earths it would take to support
consumption.
Total Ecological Footprint (million
hectares) and Share of Global
Biological Capacity (%)
United
States
2,160 (19%) European Union
United States
2,810 (25%)
European Union
China
India
Japan
Per Capita Ecological
Footprint (hectares per
person)
China
2,050 (18%)
780 (7%)
India
9.7
4.7
1.6
0.8
Japan
540 (5%)
4.8
Number of Earths
2.5
Unsustainable living
2.0
1.5
Projected footprint
1.0
Ecological
footprint
0.5
0
1961
1970
1980
1990
2000
Sustainable living
2010
2020
2030
2040
2050
Year
Fig. 1-8, p. 14
How big is a hectare?
IPAT is another environmental
impact model
• In the early 1970s, scientists Paul Ehrlich
and John Holdren developed the IPAT
model.
• I (environmental impact) =
P (population size) x
A (affluence/person) x
T (technology’s beneficial and harmful effects).
I=PxAxT
Section 1-3
WHY DO WE HAVE
ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS?
Experts have identified four basic
causes of environmental problems
1.
2.
3.
4.
Population growth.
Unsustainable resource use.
Poverty.
Excluding environmental costs from
market prices.
The human population is growing
exponentially at a rapid rate
• Human population is increasing at a fixed
percentage so that we are experiencing
doubling of larger and larger populations.
• Human population in 2009 was about 6.8
billion.
• http://www.census.gov/popclock/
Human population growth
• Based on the current increase rate there
will be 9.6 billion people by 2050.
• We can slow population growth.
– Developing countries have the highest
population growth because of poverty and the
inability to pay for contraceptives.
Exponential growth
Affluence has harmful and
beneficial environmental effects
• Wealth results in high levels of consumption and
waste of resources.
• Average American consumes 30 times as much
as the average consumer in India.
• “Shop-until-you-drop” affluent consumers are
afflicted with a disorder called affluenza.
• Affluence has provided better education, scientific
research, and technological solutions, which
result in improvements in environmental quality
(e.g., safe drinking water).
Poverty has harmful environmental
and health effects
• Poverty occurs when the basic needs for
adequate food, water, shelter, health, and
education are not met.
• One in every five people live in extreme
poverty (<$1.25/day), and more are
susceptible.
Poverty has harmful environmental
and health effects
• Poverty causes harmful environmental and
health effects.
– Environmental degradation caused by need
for short-term survival.
– Malnutrition.
– Inadequate sanitation and lack of clean
drinking water.
– Severe respiratory disease.
– High rates of premature death for children
under the age of 5 years.
Harmful effects of poverty
Prices of goods and services do not include
harmful environmental and health costs
• A company’s goal is often to maximize the profit.
• Often consumers do not know the damage
caused by their consumption.
• Government subsidies may increase
environmental degradation – ie tax breaks.
• There are ways to include harmful costs of
goods and services.
1. Shift from environmentally harmful (clearing forests,
fishing, coal…) to beneficial government subsidies
(renewable energy).
2. Tax pollution and waste heavily while reducing taxes
on income and wealth.
People have different views about
environmental problems and their solutions
• Each individual has their own environmental
worldview—a set of assumptions and values
reflecting how you think the world works and
what your role should be.
Environmental Worldviews
Planetary Management
■ We are apart from the rest
of nature and can manage
nature to meet our increasing
needs and wants.
■ Because of our ingenuity and
technology, we will not run out
of resources.
■ The potential for economic
growth is essentially unlimited.
■ Our success depends on
how well we manage the
earth's life- support systems
mostly for our benefit.
Stewardship
■ We have an ethical
responsibility to be caring
managers, or stewards, of the
earth.
■ We will probably not run out
of resources, but they should
not be wasted.
■ We should encourage
environmentally beneficial forms
of economic growth and
discourage environmentally
harmful forms.
■ Our success depends on how
well we manage the earth's lifesupport systems for our benefit
and for the rest of nature.
Environmental Wisdom
■ We are a part of and totally
dependent on nature, and
nature exists for all species.
■ Resources are limited and
should not be wasted.
■ We should encourage earthsustaining forms of economic
growth and discourage earthdegrading forms.
■ Our success depends on
learning how nature sustains
itself and integrating such
lessons from nature into the
ways we think and act.
Stepped Art
Fig. 17-19, p. 455
Environmental Ethics
• Environmental ethics are beliefs about
what is right and wrong with how we treat
the environment.
- Why should we care about the environment?
- How do we promote sustainability?
- Are we the most important organisms on the
planet or are other organisms just as
important?
Section 1-4
WHAT IS AN ENVIRONMENTALLY
SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY?
What is an environmentally
sustainable society?
• Environmentally sustainable societies protect
natural capital and live off its income.
1. Increase reliance on renewable resources.
2. Protect earth’s natural capital.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8mXDsGiiu4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDM-swSM9T0
Eco villages
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilKaQj
HOIZY
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLQ75
ZBG2ng
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i1EC
Ca9u6g
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2RSF
9KNokc
Three Big Ideas
1. Rely more on renewable energy from the sun.
2. Protect biodiversity by preventing the
degradation of the earth’s species, ecosystems,
and natural processes, and by restoring areas
we have degraded.
3. Help sustain earth’s natural chemical
cycles by reducing waste and pollution,
not overloading natural systems with
chemicals, and don’t remove natural
chemicals faster than the cycles can
replace them.