Environmental Problems: An Introduction and Overview
PART I
HUMANS AND SUSTAINABILITY: AN OVERVIEW
CHAPTER 1
ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS: AN INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
Summary
1.
All life depends on energy from the Sun (solar capital) and the resources and ecological services
of the Earth (natural capital) to survive. An environmentally sustainable society provides for the
current needs of its people without undermining the ability of future generations to do the
same.
2.
Living sustainably means living off natural income that can be replenished. Degrading the
Earth’s natural capital is the same as living off an investment’s capital, rather than just the
interest.
3.
The world’s population is growing about 1.17% per year, which adds about 80 million people
per year. Economic growth increases a country’s capacity to provide goods and services to its
people. Economic development uses economic growth to improve standards of living.
Globalization is a process of increasingly interconnecting people through social, economic, and
environmental global changes. There are many benefits and drawbacks to the increase in global
economic development
4.
Developed countries are highly industrialized, have a high average per capita GDP, use most of
the world’s resources, and produce most of the world’s pollution and waste. About 5.6 billion
people live in developing countries with low incomes and high population growth rates.
5.
The Earth’s main resources are perpetual resources like solar energy, renewable resources like
forests and fresh water, and nonrenewable resources like oil and gas. The resources can be
depleted or degraded by overuse, waste, pollution, and man’s increasing “ecological footprint.”
6.
A sustainable yield is one that can be used indefinitely without limiting future supplies.
Environmental degradation occurs when the natural replacement rate of a renewable resource
is exceeded. In the tragedy of the commons, common property is overused, and no one
individual takes responsibility for the resulting environmental degradation.
7.
The principle types of pollution are air, water, soil, and food pollutants. Pollution prevention is
preferable to cleaning up pollution because the latter often causes additional pollutants in
another part of the environment.
8.
The basic causes of today’s environmental problems are population growth, wasteful use of
resources, the tragedy of the commons, poverty, poor environment accounting, and ecological
ignorance. They are interconnected because of political and economic practices that are not
equitable for various populations, in resource consumption and in technological applications.
9.
The world’s current course is not sustainable. Environmentally sustainable development
encourages environmentally beneficial forms of economic growth and discourages
environmentally harmful growth.
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Key Questions and Concepts
1-1 What keeps us alive? What is an environmentally sustainable society?
A. Environmental science is a study of how the Earth works, how we interact with the Earth,
and how to deal with environmental problems.
1. Everything that affects a living organism is its environment.
2. Ecology studies the relationships between living organisms and their environment.
3. Environmental science is interdisciplinary and applies knowledge from physics, biology,
medical science, psychology, geography, and engineering to human society. Problems
are solved by integrating ideas and information from the biosphere and our
culturesphere.
a. The biosphere is the natural world: plants, animals, soils, air, and water.
b. The culturesphere is defined by technological, economic, cultural, and political
aspects of our world.
4. Environmentalism is a social movement that strives to protect Earth’s life-support
systems for us and other people.
5. David Suzuki has made many contributions to the field of environmental science in
Canada.
a. He is a well-known as a scientist, a writer, a broadcaster, an environmentalist and a
humanitarian.
b. He founded the David Suzuki Foundation in 1990.
B. Life and economies depend on solar capital (energy from the Sun) and natural capital
(Earth’s resources and ecological services).
1. Capital is wealth; solar capital creates renewable energy such as wind power,
hydropower from flowing water, and biomass that is solar energy that has been
changed to chemical energy and stored, in a biological form, such as wood.
2. Natural capital includes natural resources such as air, water, soil, wildlife, minerals, etc.,
and ecological services.
a. Biological income from fish, grasslands, and underground water can be sustained, IF
we don’t deplete it.
C. Carrying capacity refers to the maximum number of organisms that can be maintained in an
area without degrading the environment.
1. Used in the management of wild species such as deer or salmon, or to refer to the
maximum numbers of people who can live in an area, at a very basic level of existence.
2. Sustainability refers to the ability of a system to survive for an extended period of time.
3. A sustainable population would not overwhelm the carrying capacity of the
environment that supports it.
D. Man must protect our solar and natural capital and live off the resources they provide.
1. For an environmentally sustainable society we must not compromise the needs of
future generations.
2. One view is that man must live sustainably by eliminating waste and discontinuing the
depletion and degradation of resources.
3. A different view is that man can overcome these problems with ingenuity, economic
growth, and technology.
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Environmental Problems: An Introduction and Overview
1-2 How fast is the human population increasing? What are economic growth, economic
development, and globalization?
A. Human population growth continues to be more rapid than the Earth can support at about
218,000 people per day (2009).
B. Economic growth provides people with the goods and services needed.
1. Gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value for goods and services produced
within a country.
2. Standard of living is the GDP divided by the total population at midyear.
3. Economic development is improving living standards through growth.
4. Most developed countries have high industrialization and high per capita income.
5. Developing countries have moderate to low income, and they represent about 97% of
the projected increase in world population.
6. Economic developments reflect good and bad economic news.
a. Global life expectancies have doubled since 1950, but life expectancy is11 years less
in developing countries.
b. Infant mortality rates have halved since 1955, but they are 8 times higher in
developing countries than in developed countries.
c. Food production is still ahead of population growth, but future food production may
become limited by harmful agricultural effects.
d. In most developed countries pollution levels have decreased, but they are high in
developing countries.
e. The number of people living in poverty has decreased but half of the world’s
population is living on less than $4 a day.
C. Globalization leads to a world socially, economically, and environmentally more
interconnected.
1. Technology, international trade, and human mobility allow people to interact with
others.
2. Environmentally sustainable development rewards sustainable activities and
discourages harmful activities.
1-3 What are the Earth’s main types of resources? How can they be depleted or degraded?
A. A resource is anything obtained from the environment to meet our needs.
1. Food, water, and manufactured goods are examples of resources.
2. Natural resources are classified as perpetual, renewable, or nonrenewable.
B. To be sustainable, we must not use resources faster than they are replenished.
1. A perpetual resource is renewed continuously, like solar energy.
2. Renewable resources such as forests and grasslands can be replenished through natural
processes. They remain renewable as long as we do not use them faster than they are
being replaced
3. Sustainable yield is the highest rate of use on an indefinite scale without degradation or
depletion.
4. Environmental degradation occurs when the use of resources exceeds the rate of
replacement.
C. The Tragedy of the Commons describes the overuse or degradation of freely available
resources (e.g., ocean pollution, abuse of national parks, air pollution, etc.). No one
individual owns these free-access resources.
1. Limiting access to these resources is one possible way to protect them.
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2.
Reducing the population might also allow these resources to be used below estimated
sustainable yields.
3. Converting free-access resources to private ownership is another possible means to
protect them, but:
a. private owners may not actually protect the resources,
b. global resources such as oceans, air, and migratory birds cannot be divided up and
made private property, and
c. access to the resources is eliminated or reduced for many people.
4. Governments have laws and treaties that regulate access to commonly owned
resources. International cooperation is essential.
5. The Canada-Spain turbot war is an example of the tragedy of the commons.
a. Canada and Spain (1995) were on the verge of war, because of differing view about
declining fish stocks in international waters.
b. Spain continued to fish after a turbot moratorium had been declared.
D. What is our ecological footprint, our impact on the environment?
1. The per capita ecological footprint is the biologically productive land and water needed
to supply renewable resources and absorb waste for each individual.
2. This concept was first coined in 1996 by Dr. Lees and a Ph.D. student at the University
of British Columbia.
3. Currently, each person’s ecological footprint was in 2005, 30% greater than can be
sustained indefinitely, and 50% in 2009. As a result, we have polluted air and water,
waste overload, poorer health, less biodiversity, etc.
4. We need four more planet Earths to meet the consumption levels of North America.
1-4 What are the principal types of pollution? What can we do about pollution?
A. Pollutants are chemicals at high enough levels in the environment to harm people or other
living organisms.
1. Pollutants may enter the environment naturally (e.g., volcanic eruptions) or through
human activities such as burning coal; pollution tends to occur in or near urban and
industrial areas.
2. Point sources of pollutants are single, identifiable sources, such as automobiles or
industrial plants. They are easier to identify and control than nonpoint sources.
3. Nonpoint sources are dispersed, such as pesticides in the air and water runoff. They are
difficult to identify.
a. Pesticides sprayed into the air may be carried from their source.
b. Fertilizer runoff enters streams away from the source.
4. Three unwanted effects of pollutants:
a. They can disrupt or degrade life-support systems of any organism.
b. They damage human health, wildlife, and property.
c. They can produce nuisances in noise, smells, tastes, and sights.
B. We can try to clean up pollutants or prevent them from entering the environment.
1. Pollution prevention or input pollution-control reduces or eliminates the production of
pollutants.
2. Pollution cleanup or output pollution-control cleans up or dilutes pollutants after they
have been produced.
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Environmental Problems: An Introduction and Overview
3.
There are problems with pollution cleanup.
a. It is a temporary bandage without long-term pollution control technology (like the
catalytic converter).
b. The pollutant is removed but may cause pollution in another place (e.g., burning
garbage or burying it).
c. It is expensive to reduce pollution to an acceptable level. Prevention is less
expensive in the long run.
1-5 What are the basic causes of today’s environmental problems? How are these causes
connected?
A. The major causes of environmental problems are population growth, wasteful resource use,
poverty, poor environmental accounting, and ecological ignorance.
B. Poverty poses a large threat to human health and the environment.
1. The focus of the poor is on survival, at the expense of forests, soil, grasslands, and
wildlife.
2. People live in areas with high levels of air and water pollution.
3. People live in areas with a greater risk of natural disasters.
4. People often work in unsafe and unhealthy conditions for low wages.
5. Life expectancy is reduced.
6. There are no social assistance programs, no government-sponsored health plans, or
retirement plans.
7. People die from preventable causes (malnutrition, normally nonfatal infectious
diseases, lack of clean drinking water, and respiratory problems).
C. Affluenza is the term used to describe an addiction to over-consumption of material goods.
1. Symptoms include high debt level, declining health, increased stress, and more
bankruptcies.
2. Solutions include admitting the problem, shopping less, and avoiding malls and other
shopping addicts.
3. Toynbee’s law of progressive simplification: transfer energy and attention to the
nonmaterial side of life.
D. Affluent countries have more money available for improvements in environmental quality.
1. Money is available for technological improvements.
2. Compared to 1970, air and water are cleaner, and food is more abundant and safer in
Canada and the U.S.
3. Money has been spent on environmental improvements in many affluent countries.
E. Environmental quality is affected by interactions between population size, resource
consumption, and technology.
1. Environmental impact (I) depends on the number of people (P), average resource
use/person (affluence), and the beneficial and harmful effects of technologies (T) used
to provide/consume each unit of resource.
2. Developing countries have large populations that result in degradation of renewable
resources.
3. Developed countries have high per capita consumption (the average North American
citizen uses 35 to 100 times more than other countries).
4. Some forms of technology are environmentally harmful, others are environmentally
beneficial.
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1-6 Is our current course sustainable? What is environmentally sustainable development?
A. There is good and bad environmental news.
1. Some analysts feel that environmental problems are exaggerated, and progress in
quality of life is not appreciated.
2. Environmentalists agree that there has been progress in some areas (life expectancy,
infant mortality, etc.), but Earth’s life-support systems are being increasingly disrupted
and degraded.
3. We must balance the evidence from technological optimists who tell us not to worry,
and environmental pessimists who view our problems as hopeless.
B. Our environmental worldview determines how we view, and solve, environmental
problems.
1. Our environmental ethics tells us whether environmental behaviour is right or wrong.
2. A planetary management worldview believes the following.
a. We are the world’s most important species,
b. We will not run out of resources as we will develop and find new ones.
c. Economic growth potential is “unlimited”.
d. Our success depends on how well we manage our life-support systems (for our own
benefit).
3. A stewardship worldview has the following beliefs.
a. We are the most important species but we have an ethical responsibility to look
after nature.
b. We should not waste resources, even though they probably will not run out.
c. We need to encourage environmentally beneficial economic growth and discourage
the opposite.
d. Success depends on how well we manage our life-support systems (for our own
benefit and for the rest of nature).
4. An environmental wisdom worldview has four main beliefs.
a. Nature is for all species.
b. The Earth’s resources are limited.
c. Earth-sustaining economic growth should be encouraged, and Earth-degrading
forms should be discouraged.
d. Success depends on integrating lessons learned from the sustainability of nature,
and then acting on them.
C. The information needed to design sustainable human systems, and to live within the
capacities of the Earth’s life-support system can be found in four fundamental principles
that underlie nature
1. Natural systems are primarily based on various forms of solar energy
2. Matter is continuously recycled in natural systems
3. Biodiversity is a thriving consequence of organisms responding to ecological
opportunities
4. Natural processes of population regulation adjust populations to the carrying capacity
of the environment that supports them
5. Lack of attention to these principles is often at the root of our environmental problems
D. We need to put a much greater emphasis on environmentally sustainable economic
development.
1. Encourage environmentally beneficial behaviour with economic rewards.
2. Discourage environmentally harmful behaviour with economic penalties.
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Environmental Problems: An Introduction and Overview
3.
4.
Change comes from dedicated, committed people. Some scientists suggest that 5
to10% of a population can bring about major social change.
Sustainability needs to emphasize:
a. pollution prevention,
b. waste prevention and reduction,
c. species and habitat protection,
d. environmental restoration,
e. more efficient resource use,
f. decreased birth rates, and
g. the protection of natural capital.
Teaching Tips
Large Lecture Courses:
Ask students what are the greatest environmental problems facing the world today. List these on
the board, and ask them to suggest what the consequences of these problems might be for them
and their families. Then perform the same brainstorming activity focusing on the local region only.
Ask the students to suggest reasons for any discrepancies between the two lists, such as local
industries or activities. Use this exercise as an opportunity to highlight the main themes that will be
touched on during the rest of the course and textbook, and to show the students the ways in which
environmental issues permeate their own lives.
Small Lecture Courses:
Ask students to get in small groups of three to six students each. Have each group rank what they
perceive to be the three greatest environmental crises facing their generation. For each they should
list the reasons why that issue is so important. Then, have the groups place their original list on the
board, and facilitate a debate between groups over which issue is most pressing and why. Use this
exercise to illustrate the complexity of environmental issues, insofar as the public is generally not in
agreement as to cause, severity, or potential solution.
Key Terms
exponential growth (p. 1)
biodiversity (p. 1)
population growth (p. 1)
resource use (p. 1)
poverty (p. 1)
loss of biological diversity (p. 1)
global climate change (p. 1)
environment (p. 2)
ecology (p. 2)
environmental science (p. 2)
natural world (biosphere) (p. 2)
cultural world (culturesphere) (p. 2)
environmentalism (p. 2)
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ecologists (p. 2)
environmental scientists (p. 2)
conservation biologists (p. 2)
preservationists (p. 2)
restorationists (p. 2)
environmentalists (p. 2)
capital (p. 2)
solar capital (p. 2)
solar energy (p. 2)
wind power (p. 2)
hydropower (p. 2)
biomass (p. 2)
natural resources (p. 3)
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natural capital (p. 3)
resources (p. 3)
ecological services (p. 3)
biological income (p. 3)
carrying capacity (p. 3)
cultural carrying capacity (p. 4)
sustainability (p. 4)
environmentally sustainable society (p. 4)
living sustainably (p. 4)
economic growth (p. 4)
gross domestic product (GDP) (p. 4)
per capita GDP (p. 4)
economic development (p. 5)
developed countries (p. 5)
developing countries (p. 5)
middle-income (p. 5)
moderately developed countries (p. 5)
low-income countries (p. 5)
globalization (p. 6)
democratization of learning and
communication (p. 6)
resource (p. 6)
nonrenewable resource (p. 6)
perpetual resource (p. 6)
renewable resource (p. 6)
sustainable yield (p. 7)
environmental degradation (p. 7)
common-property (p. 7)
free access resources (p. 7)
tragedy of the commons (p. 7)
per capita ecological footprint (p. 7)
pollution (p. 9)
point sources (p. 9)
nonpoint sources (p. 9)
pollution prevention (p. 9)
input pollution control (p. 9)
pollution cleanup (p. 9)
output pollution control (p. 9)
malnutrition (p. 11)
affluenza (p. 11)
shop-till-you-drop virus (p. 11)
law of progressive simplification (p. 11)
technological optimists (p. 13)
environmental pessimists (p. 13)
environmental worldview (p. 14)
environmental ethics (p. 14)
planetary management worldview (p. 14)
stewardship worldview (p. 14)
environmental wisdom worldview (p. 14)
environmentally sustainable economic
development (p. 15)
Term Paper Research Topics
1.
What is quality of life?
2.
What is the history of conflict among pollution control, environmental degradation, and
employment in Canada? Possible cases of interest include the automobile industry and fuel
efficiency standards, and the spotted owl and the logging industry.
3.
Is bigger better or is small beautiful? Explore Schumacher’s philosophy.
4.
Which environmental worldview: Earth-wisdom or planetary management?
5.
Evaluate the size of the human population in relationship to the Earth’s carrying capacity. Is the
world overpopulated? Have you experienced countries that you felt to be overpopulated? Have
you seen videos of countries that you felt to be overpopulated?
6.
Is the country in which you live overpopulated? What factors contribute to your feelings?
7.
Is your local community overpopulated? What do you feel are the costs and benefits of the
population size of your community?
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Environmental Problems: An Introduction and Overview
8.
Do you favour reducing the population size of the world?
9.
Do you favour reducing the population size of the country in which you live?
10. Do you favour growth-management of the community in which you live?
11. Do you feel that the size of the human population is one of the top environmental issues?
12. How many children do you plan to have?
13. Do you believe that people should be able to have as many children as they want?
14. Does your country consume too many resources? Do you consume too many resources?
15. Do you think it is important to change your consumption patterns?
16. What kinds of changes do you think would improve the quality of life on Earth?
17. What kinds of changes are you willing to make to improve your own quality of life?
18. What kinds of changes do you think industrialized countries might make to improve the quality
of life?
19. What kinds of changes do you think developing countries might make to improve the quality of
life?
Activities and Projects
1.
As a class project, “adopt” a developing country. Assign teams of students to investigate various
aspects of the nation’s physical, population, economic, social, political, and other characteristics
as well as lifestyle and life quality. Allocate class time for periodic brief reports and discussions
of research results.
2.
As a class project or extra-credit exercise, contact the local authority and find out if they offer
an Adopt-A-Highway program. Adopt a stretch of highway and have students pick up litter.
Students can keep tallies of the different types of litter collected (metal cans, snack food
wrappers, etc.) and prepare a pie chart and report to submit to the Department of
Transportation.
3.
As a class exercise, compute the cost of a hamburger, a movie ticket, a single-family home,
and/or other commodities 30 years in the future, assuming the current inflation rate.
4.
As a class exercise, compile a list of resources that are considered important today but were not
recognized as resources 100 years ago. What are some things that have ceased to be significant
resources during the last 50 years? What resources of the present will probably be of little
value 50 years from now?
5.
Have the class make a list of changes in your community's environment that have occurred over
the last 10 years. Have them vote on which changes they consider desirable and which
undesirable. Discuss the changes on which there is least consensus about desirability. Clarify
the differences in values that underlie differences in students' responses.
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6.
Have students assume roles as futurists and predict life as it will be in the year 2020.
7.
Have your students write scenarios describing what everyday life would be like in Canada after
a transition is made to an earth-wise society. Identify areas of consensus and disagreement.
8.
As a class exercise, have each student write out and hand in anonymously a list of the essential
components of "the good life." Read some or all of the lists aloud to the class. Write a
composite list on the blackboard and discuss each component in terms of sustainable-earth
values and guidelines.
Video Resources
Planet Earth: The Future Living Together (Documentary, 2007)
The final episode of the Planet Earth series explores the intricacies of conservation and sustainability
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/planetearth/
Indigenous Peoples: Humane and Environmental Sustainability (Documentary, 2005)
A 45-minute documentary highlighting the thoughts and proposals of indigenous people
http://greenplanetfilms.org/product_info.php?cPath=103&products_id=178&osCsid=vj3q4lsjachb5
olkbb4augq114
Reinventing the World (Documentary, 2000)
Explores some of the biggest challenges facing us today, including urban sustainability
http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/rtw.html
Web Resources
Redefining Progress – Ecological Footprint Quiz
http://www.rprogress.org/index.htm
Environmental and Sustainability Resources
http://earth911.org/
Online Community for the Environment – Many Resources
http://www.envirolink.org/
Suggested Answers to End of Chapter Questions
Critical Thinking Questions
1.
10
Yes, exponential population growth is a major cause of environmental problems, so efforts
to reduce growth not only can reduce environmental degradation but also improve quality
of life for many.
a. Reduce poverty, especially among women.
b. Improve health care as well as birth control and family planning programs.
c. Financial incentives, such as no child tax benefits, beyond a certain number of children.
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Environmental Problems: An Introduction and Overview
2.
3.
4.
a. economic growth that uses cleanup for pollution control, nonrenewable resources, and
inefficient, high waste production
b. economic growth that favours use of renewable resources, pollution prevention, and
efficient, low waste production
a. Littering
b. pouring household substances down the drain that should be disposed of in another
way
c. collecting rare plants from a state or federal park
f. I want to do something about this problem.
5.
feelings that might perpetuate the problems: a, b, c, d, e
feelings that may help alleviate these problems: f, g, possibly c, e
6.
Answers will vary. The results of affluenza on the environment include environmental
degradation as well as increased pollution and waste. The results of affluenza on an
individual include feelings of emptiness, stress and anxiety, high levels of debt and
bankruptcy, and declining health.
7.
Answers will vary.
8.
Answers will vary, but should include how the student thinks the world works, what he/she
thinks his/her role is, and what he/she believes is right and wrong environmental
behaviour. A student’s worldview could include pieces from the planetary management
worldview, the stewardship worldview, and the environmental wisdom worldview.
Ecological Footprint Analysis
1.
U.S.(-4.4) and Japan (-4.3)
2.
Canada (+12.9), Russia (+4.4), and Brazil (+3.9)
3.
U.S. (9.4), Canada (7.1), U.K. (5.3), Japan (4.9), Germany (4.2), Russia (3.7), Mexico (3.4), Brazil
(2.4), China (2.1), India (0.9)
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