CH 1
Understanding Our Environment
Outline
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Introduction
A. Historical Perspective
 1. Pragmatic Resource Conservation
 2. Moral and Aesthetic Nature Conservation
 3. Modern Environmentalism
 4. Global Conservation
B. Current Conditions
C. Divided World
D. Sustainable Development
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A. Humans have always inhabited both the natural world and the social world.
B. Environment:
 1. Circumstances or conditions that surround an organism or groups of
organisms.
 2. The complex of social or cultural conditions that affect an individual or
community.
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C. Environmental Science: Systematic study of our environment, and our
proper place in it.
 1. Interdisciplinary
 2. Integrative
- Natural Sciences
- Social Sciences
- Humanities
 3. Mission Oriented
Environmental Science
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
D. Four Distinct Stages
 1. Pragmatic Resource Conservation
 2. Moral and Aesthetic Nature Preservation
 3. Health and Ecological Damage Concerns
 4. Global Environmental Citizenship
E. Pragmatic Resource Conservation
• George Perkins Marsh - Man and Nature
- Influenced Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot.
1. Pragmatic Utilitarian Conservation
 “Greatest good for the greatest number for the longest time”
 Multiple Use Policies of USFS.
Moral and Aesthetic Nature Preservation
2. Nature deserves to exist for its own sake - regardless of degree of
usefulness to humans. (Biocentric Preservation) John Muir - President
Sierra Club
3. Modern Environmentalism
• Industrial explosion of WW II added new concerns to the
environmental agenda.
 Rachel Carson - Silent Spring (1962)
Environmental Agenda expanded in 1960’s and 70’s to include:
 Atomic Weapons Testing
 Fossil Fuel Issues
 Air and Water Pollution
 Wilderness Protection
4. Global Concerns
• Increased technology has greatly expanded international
communications.
 Daily events now reported worldwide instead of locally or
regionally.
- Global Environmentalism
F. CURRENT CONDITIONS
1. Human Population > 6 Billion.
 Food shortages and famines exist in many densely populated
areas.
 Water Quantity and Quality Issues
 Fossil Fuel Burning
- Air and Water Pollution
 Landscape Destruction
- Loss of Biodiversity
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G. Signs of Hope
1. Progress has been made on many fronts.
 Population has stabilized in many industrialized countries.
 Incidence of life-threatening diseases has been reduced in some
countries.
 Average life expectancy nearly doubled.
H. RICH / POOR: A DIVIDED WORLD
• Poor countries tend to be located in Southern Hemisphere.
World Bank estimates1.4 billion people live in acute poverty of < $1 (U.S.)
per day.
 Daily survival necessitates over-harvesting resources thus degrading
chances of long-term sustainability.
 Poor are often victims and agents of environmental
degradation.
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Wealthy countries tend to be located in the Northern Hemisphere.
About 1/5 of world population live in countries with per capita income
> $25,000.00 (U.S.).
 Poor people exist here as well.
Gap between rich and poor continues to increase.
 Wealthiest 200 people in the world have combined wealth of $1
trillion - more than total wealth of poorest half (3 billion) of the
world’s population.