AP ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
AP ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE - APES
Environmental Science is the study of how the
earth works, how we interact with and affect
the environment, and how to deal with
environmental problems.
Environmental Problems, Their Causes,
and Sustainability
Chapter 1
• 1-1 What Is an Environmentally
Sustainable Society?
• 1-2 How Can Environmentally
Sustainable Societies Grow
Economically?
• 1-3 How Are Our Ecological Footprints
Affecting the Earth?
• 1-4 What Is Pollution and What Can We
Do about It?
• 1-5 Why Do We Have Environmental
Problems?
• 1-6 What Are Four Scientific Principles
of Sustainability?
Each chapter begins with a
case study.
• Living in an Exponential Age
• Impact of human exponential growth
on
– Loss of animal and plant species
– Loss of resources
13
12
11
?
8
7
6
5
Billions of people
10
9
4
3
Industrial revolution
2
1
Black Death—the Plague
2–5 million
years
8000
Hunting and
gathering
6000
4000
0
2000 2100
2000
Time
B. C.
A. D.
Agricultural revolution
Industrial
revolution
Fig. 1-1, p. 5
1-1 What Is an Environmentally
Sustainable Society?
• Concept 1-1A Our lives and
economies depend on energy from the
sun (solar capital) and on natural
resources and natural services (natural
capital) provided by the earth.
• Concept 1-1B Living sustainability
means living off the earth’s natural
income without depleting or
degrading the natural capital that
supplies it.
Environmental Science Is a
Study of Connections in Nature
• Interdisciplinary science connecting
information and ideas from
– Natural sciences, with an emphasis
on ecology
– Social sciences
– Humanities
Environmental Science Is a Study
of Connections in Nature
• How nature works
• How the environment affects us
• How we affect the environment
• How to deal with environmental problems
• How to live more sustainably
Environmental Science:
the interdisciplinary study that examines the role
of humans on earth; includes the disciplines of
-chemistry
-economics
-politics
-ethics
-biology
-geology
Sustainability
• The Central Theme of our book
• Definition: the ability of a specified
system to survive and function over a
specified time
• Critical component Natural Capital
The untapped raw material and natural
resources that a country holds.
Natural Capital
Includes:
1) Natural Resources: Materials and energy
in nature….essential to humans.
A) Renewable: air, water, soil
B) Nonrenewable: copper, oil, and coal
2) Natural Services: functions of
nature…..support life and human
economies Ex. Nutrient cycles
We get both from our ecosystem for FREE!!!
Organic
matter in
animals
Dead
organic
matter
Organic
matter in
plants
Decomposition
Inorganic
matter in soil
Fig. 1-4, p. 9
Environmentally Sustainable Societies
Protect Natural Capital and Live off Its
Income
• Our lives and economies depend on
energy from the sun (solar capital) and
on natural resources and natural
services (natural capital) provided by
the earth.
• Living sustainability means living off
the earth’s natural income without
depleting or degrading the natural
capital that supplies it.
1-2 How Can Environmentally Sustainable
Societies Grow Economically?
• Concept 1-2 Societies can become more
environmentally sustainable through
economic development dedicated to
improving the quality of life for everyone
without degrading the earth's life
support systems.
There Is A Wide Economic Gap
Between Rich And Poor Countries
• Country’s economic growth: measured by
gross domestic product (GDP)
• Changes in economic growth: measured by
per capita GDP
• Purchasing power parity (PPP) plus GDP are
combined for per capita GDP PPP
• Compare developed with developing
countries
Economic Growth
• provides people with goods & services
needed
• GDP (Gross Domestic Product) a.k.a. Gross
National Income (GNI) – market value for
goods and services produced in a country
• Per Capita GDP – used to measure the
standard of living; GDP divided by the total
population at midyear
• Economic Development – improving the
standards of living in a country through
growth of economies.
Economic Development
Developed Countries- high industrialization;
high per capital GDP (Europe, US, Canada,
Japan)
Developing Countries- moderate to low
per capital GDP and levels of industrialization
(India, parts of Africa and South America);
represent 97% of the projected increase in
the world population.
Positive and Negative Aspects of
Economic Development
Positive:
Longer life expectancy
Decrease in infant
mortality
Greater food
production than actual
food needs
(abundance)
Decrease in air/water
pollution
Decrease in poverty
overall
Negative:
- high infant mortality
(8 x’s higher than
developed nation)
- High pollution levels
- Soil, water and forest
resources are rapidly
depleted
affects
future food production
- wages are very low with
poor working conditions
- shorter life expectancy
Percentage of
World's:
18%
Population
82%
Population 0.12%
growth
1.46%
77 years
Life
expectancy
Wealth and
income
Resource
use
Pollution
and waste
67 years
85%
15%
88%
12%
75%
25%
Developed countries
Developing
countries
Fig. 1-5, p. 11
The Gap Between These is Widening
Economically and Socially
• Developed
Countries
• 1.2 billion
people
• Us, Canada,
Japan, Australia,
New Zealand,
most European
countries
• Developing
Countries
• 5.4 billion
people
• Most in Africa,
Asia and Latin
America
• China, India,
Brazil, Mexico
WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER????
1. Name the 2 types of natural capital and 2
examples of each.
2. What is the central theme of the book?
3. Why is ES an interdisciplinary science?
4. Name 2 advantages and 2 disadvantages of
economic development.
5. Give 3 major differences between developing
and developed nations.
6. What does “per capita” mean?
1-3 How Are Our Ecological
Footprints Affecting the Earth?
• Concept 1-3 As our ecological
footprints grow, we are depleting
and degrading more of the earth’s
natural capital.
Resources
• Resource- anything obtained from the
environment to meet our needs.
– Directly available for use like air, wind,
water and wild edible plants
– Not directly available for use would be
petroleum, copper, groundwater and
modern crops.
• Perpetual resource
– Solar energy
Some Sources Are Renewable
Renewable resource- resources that can be
renewed through natural processes.
Examples are forests, grasslands, fresh air,
fertile soil.
Sustainable yield -the highest rate at which a
renewable resource can be used indefinitely
without reducing its available supply
Environmental degradation – when the supply
of a resource is reduced because we have
exceeded the replacement rate.
Some Resources Are Not Renewable
• Nonrenewable resources – exist in fixed
quantities
– Energy resources – oil, coal
– Metallic mineral resources – Al, Cu
– Nonmetallic mineral resources- sand, salt
•
•
•
•
Reduce
Reuse
Recycle
Refuse
Resources
Perpetual
Direct
solar
energy
Nonrenewable
Winds,
tides,
flowing
water
Fossil
fuels
Metallic
minerals
Nonmetallic
minerals
(iron,
copper,
aluminum)
(clay,
sand,
phosphates)
Renewable
Fresh
air
Fresh
water
Fertile
soil
Plants and
animals
(biodiversity)
Common Resources- think about it!
• What are some common resources that must
be shared?
• Are resources distributed equally around the
world?
• Are resources shared equally?
• Do resource-rich countries have
an obligation to share with
resource-poor countries?
Overexploiting Shared Renewable
Resources: Tragedy of the Commons
• Three types of property or resource rights
– Private property
– Common property (1/3 of all land in US is owned
by the people and managed by the government)
– Open access renewable resources- use is regulated
by government (open oceans /fish and clean air)
Garrett Hardin and the Tragedy of
the Commons
 Overuse of common property resources, which are
owned by no one but available to everyone free of
charge.
 Examples are clean air, oceans, fish, Antarctica.
 This leads to exploitation and then no one can use the
resource.
 “ If I don’t use this resource then someone else will,
the little bit I pollute is not enough to matter”
Footprints
• What is an ecological footprint?
• Is the world’s footprint growing or shrinking?
• What happens to the resources as the
footprint changes?
What Is An Ecological Footprint?
• Amount of productive land and water needed
to supply the people in an area with
resources to live and the community’s ability
to absorb and recycle the wastes and
pollution they produce by using resources.
• Per capita ecological footprint - the average
ecological footprint of an individual in a given
area.
How Is The Planet’s Ecological
Footprint?
• In 2003, the World Wildlife Fund and Global
Footprint Network estimated that the global
ecological footprint exceeded the earth’s
biological capacity by about 25% but it was
88% in the world’s high-income countries.
• American’s are the second largest consumers
of resources, and if everyone could use
resources the way we do, the Earth could
only support 1.3 billion people.
Ecological Footprints
• Currently, each person’s ecological footprint is 20%
greater than can be sustained indefinitely.
• The consumption of the U.S. alone would require 4
more planet Earths just to sustain the current
population! This does not account for the future
population!
HUGE FOOTPRINT = OVERCONSUMPTION!
Case Study: China’s New Affluent Consumers
• Affluence- the rapid unsustainable consumption of resources
associated with lifestyles of citizens in developed countries.
• Leading consumer of various foods
and goods
– Wheat, rice, and meat
– Coal, fertilizers, steel, and cement
• Second largest consumer of oil (after the US)
As of June, 2011, the current population of China was
1,336,391,137 and they are adding 44,000 people every day!
(In 1950, the population in China was 562,579,779)
(population #s found at geohive.com)
Case Study: China’s New Affluent
Consumers- what happens?
• Two-thirds of the most polluted cities are in China
• Projections, by 2020
– Largest consumer and producer
of cars
– World’s leading economy in terms
of GDP PPP
China’s population is expected to reach 1.5 billion by 2033.
If it reaches this number, then China will need two-thirds of
the world’s current grain harvest, twice the world’s current
paper consumption, and more than the current global
production of oil. Could these needs be met?
Cultural Changes Have Increased
Our Ecological Footprints
• 12,000 years ago: hunters and gatherers
• Three major cultural events
– Agricultural revolution- 10-12,000 y.a.
– Industrial-medical revolution- 275 y.a. – fossil fuels
– Information-globalization revolution- 50 y.a.
Homework for tonight
Calculate your ecological footprint!
Do you think you have a large or small footprint? If
everyone lived your lifestyle, how many earths
would we need?
Find out by going to the following website:
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GF
N/page/personal_footprint/ complete the quiz, and
print out the last page where you learn how many
earths you would need, and then answer the
questions under assignments on my website.
1-4 What Is Pollution and What
Can We Do about It?
• Concept 1-4 Preventing pollution is more
effective and less costly than cleaning up
pollution.
Sources of Pollution
• Point – single, identifiable source (cars/industrial
plants); easy to identify and control
• Non- point- dispersed and hard to pinpoint the
source (pesticides sprayed into the air or in the
water through run off)
•
This picture is an example of
_____ pollution.
Types of Pollutants
• Biodegradable Pollutants: materials that
decompose through the actions of bacteria, fungi,
and other living organisms. (Natural Processes)
• Nondegradable Pollutants: material that is not
broken down by natural processes. Some, like the
heavy metals, create problems because they are
toxic and persistent in the environment. Others, like
synthetic plastics, are a problem because of their
sheer volume.
We Can Clean Up Pollution or Prevent It
• Pollution cleanup (output pollution
control)
• Pollution prevention (input pollution
control)
What Do You Remember???
1. To what does “sustainable yield” refer?
2. Give 2 examples of “commons.”
3. What can we learn from the Tragedy of the
Commons?
4. Compare the ecological footprint of an average
American to that of a person in India.
5. What 3 cultural events that led to an increase in
our ecological footprint.
6. Give an example of both point and nonpoint
pollution.
1-5 Why Do We Have Environmental
Problems?
1. Population growth
2. Wasteful and unsustainable resource use
3. Poverty
4. Failure to include the harmful environmental
costs of goods and services in their market
prices
5. Insufficient knowledge of how nature works
Causes of Environmental Problems
Population
growth
Unsustainable
resource use
Poverty
Excluding
Trying to manage nature
environmental costs without knowing enough
from market prices
about it
Fig. 1-12, p. 18
Poverty Has Harmful Environmental
and Health Effects
• Population growth affected – have more children to
support the family
• Malnutrition – lack of protein and other nutrients
• Premature death – 7 million die each day, with 2/3
being children under the age of 5
• Limited access to adequate sanitation facilities and
clean water (38% lack access)
Lack of
access to
Number of people
(% of world's population)
Adequate
sanitation facilities
Enough fuel for
heating and cooking
Electricity
2.6 billion (38%)
2 billion (29%)
2 billion (29%)
Clean drinking
water
1.1 billion (16%)
Adequate
health care
1.1 billion (16%)
Adequate
housing
Enough food
for good health
1 billion (15%)
0.86 billion (13%)
Fig. 1-13, p. 18
Affluence Has Harmful and Beneficial
Environmental Effects
• Harmful environmental impact due to
– High levels of consumption
– Unnecessary waste of resources
• Affluence can provide funding for
– Developing technologies to reduce
• Pollution
• Environmental degradation
• Resource waste
Prices Do Not Include the Value of
Natural Capital
• Companies do not pay the environmental cost of
resource use
• Goods and services do not include the harmful
environmental costs
• Companies receive tax breaks and subsidies
• Economy may be stimulated but there may be a
degradation of natural capital
Different Environmental Worldviews
• Planetary Management Worldview: we are apart
from the rest of nature, We are the most important,
Because of our technology we will never run out
of resources, Economic growth is unlimited and
we should use earth’s resources for our benefit
• Stewardship Worldview: can and should manage
Earth for our benefit...we should be stewards to
the earth, Manage earth’s life support system, We
most likely will not run out of resources but they
should not be wasted
• Environmental Wisdom Worldview: we are part of
and dependent on nature, nature exists for all
species (not just humans), We are dependent on
nature, Don’t waste resources, Success depends
on how well we learn how nature sustains itself
We Can Learn to Make Informed
Environmental Decisions
• Scientific research
• Identify problem and multiple solutions
• Consider human values
Identify an environmental problem
Gather scientific information
Propose one or more solutions
Project the short- and long-term
environmental and economic advantages
and disadvantages of each solution
Decide on and implement a solution
Evaluate the consequences
Revise decision as needed
Fig. 1-15, p. 21
Connection Between Consumption And
Environmental Problems
• Affluenza- unsustainable addiction to overconsumption and
materialism (US and other developed countries)
• However, not all affluent countries have to degrade the
environment. These countries have more money to create
new technologies that can help improve environmental
quality.
• Environmental impact (I) can be calculated based on 3 main
factors:
P= population of people
A= affluence (average resource use per person)
T= impact of technologies per unit of resource consumption
I= P x A x T
Environmental Impact
I=PxAxT
Case Study: The Environmental
Transformation of Chattanooga, TN
• Environmental success story: example of
building their social capital
• 1960: most polluted city in the U.S.
• 1984: Vision 2000
• 1995: most goals met
• 1993: Revision 2000
Individuals Matter: Margaret Mead
• Anthropologist (1901-1978)the study of the biological,
cultural, social and origin of
humanity.
• 5–10% of the population can
bring about major social change
“A small group of thoughtful people could change the
world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”
Individuals Matter: Aldo Leopold
Aldo Leopold: (1887-1948) environmental
ethics
– A leader of the conservation and environmental
movements of the 20th century
• Land ethic
• Father of wildlife management
– Wrote: A Sand County Almanac
– "We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging
to us. When we see land as a community to which
we belong, we may begin to use it with love and
respect. ~Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac"
INDIVIDUALS MATTER: Rachel Carson
• Biologist
• Silent Spring – 1962
• Brought attention to the wide use
of pesticides and their potential
harm to people and the environment.
1-6 What Are Four Scientific Principles
of Sustainability?
• Concept 1- 6 Nature has sustained
itself for billions of years by using
solar energy, biodiversity, population
control, and nutrient cycling—lessons
from nature that we can apply to our
lifestyles and economies.
Reliance on
Solar Energy
Nutrient Cycling
Biodiversity
Population Control
Fig. 1-17, p. 23
Current Emphasis
Sustainability Emphasis
Pollution cleanup
Pollution prevention
Waste disposal
(bury or burn)
Waste prevention
Protecting species
Protecting habitat
Environmental
degradation
Environmental restoration
Increasing resource use
Less resource waste
Population growth
Population stabilization
Depleting and degrading
natural capital
Protecting natural capital
Fig. 1-18, p. 24
It is estimated that we have 50-100 years to
make changes in our lifestyles and
economies in order to maintain
sustainability.
What changes do you think are necessary?
Are we obligated to make these changes?
What’s the use of a house if you don’t have a
decent planet to put it on?
-HENRY DAVID THOREAU
-