Environmental Issues, Their Causes,
and Sustainability
G. Tyler Miller’s
Living in the Environment
13th Edition
Chapter 1
Key Concepts
Growth and Sustainability
Resources and Resource Use
Pollution
Causes of Environmental Problems
Living More Sustainably
Ecology
Environmental Science
Sustainable Society
Refer to Spotlight on p. 5
Population Growth
Exponential
Growth
Doubling Time/
Rule of 70
Fig. 1-2 p. 4
World Population
Fig. 1-1 p. 2
Economic Growth
Gross National Product (GNP)
 Market Value of goods in or outside a country in a
year + net income earned abroad by citizens
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
 Market value of goods within in a country in a year
Gross World Product (GWP)
 Market value of goods in the world during one year
Per Capita GNP
 GNI divided by population at mid-year
Economic Development
Developed Countries
Developing Countries
Positive Aspects
Negative Aspects
Globalization –increasingly integrated world
Economic
Information and Communication
Environmental Effects
Resources
Perpetual
Renewable
Non-renewable
Fig. 1-6 p. 9
Renewable Resources
Sustainable Yield
Environmental Degradation
Tragedy of the Commons
Refer to Connections, p. 12
Non-Renewable Resources
Energy Resources
Metallic Resources
Non-Metallic
Resources
Reuse
Recycle
Economic Depletion
Fig. 1-7 p. 10
Ecological Footprint
Fig. 1-8 p. 10
Calculate your footprint
http://www.footprint.org
Pollution
What is pollution?
Effects of Pollution
Sources
Point
Nonpoint
Dealing With Pollution
Prevention (Input Control)
Cleanup (Output Control)
Environmental and Resource
Problems
Major Problems
(See Fig. 1-9 p. 12)
Five Root Causes
Fig. 1-10 p. 12
Major Problems
Air Pollution
• Global climate change
• Stratospheric ozone
depletion
• Urban air pollution
• Acid deposition
• Outdoor pollutants
• Indoor pollutants
• Noise
Biodiversity Depletion
• Habitat destruction
• Habitat degradation
• Extinction
Major
Environmental
Problems
Water Pollution
• Sediment
• Nutrient overload
• Toxic chemicals
• Infectious agents
• Oxygen depletion
• Pesticides
• Oil spills
• Excess heat
Waste Production
• Solid waste
• Hazardous waste
Food Supply Problems
• Overgrazing
• Farmland loss
and degradation
• Wetlands loss
and degradation
• Overfishing
• Coastal pollution
• Soil erosion
• Soil salinization
• Soil waterlogging
• Water shortages
• Groundwater depletion
• Loss of biodiversity
• Poor nutrition
The Vanishing Frog Project
http://animal.discovery.com/tv/vanishingfrogs/video/video.html
Frogs are treated with anti-fungal medicine and anything else
that has contact with water during amphibian rescue is
treated with a bleach solution, from boots and clothing to
instruments and transport containers, to be sure researchers
are not spreading the fungus to new, uncontaminated areas.
When zoos and aquariums bring frogs into protective custody,
the enclosures also must be treated with a bleach solution
daily for the first few weeks to be sure they help control the
spread of fungus.
Environmental Impact
Fig. 1-11 p. 13
Environmental Interactions
Fig. 1-12 p. 14
Tragedy of the Commons
http://www.seed.slb.com/subc
ontent.aspx?id=4110&terms=
tragedy+of+the+commons
Environmental Worldviews
Planetary Management
 Human beings can and should manage the planet
for their own benefit. We are in charge of nature and there are always
more resources
Environmental Wisdom
 Nature does not exist for us and resources should be used sustainably
for us and other species
Environmentally-Sustainable
Economic Development
Social
Economic
Social
Economic
Sustainable
Solutions
Environmental
Environmental
Fig. 1-13 p. 17
Traditional
decision making
Decision making in a
sustainable society