Environmental Sciences: Towards a
Sustainable Future Chapter 1
Introduction: Sustainability,
Stewardship and Sound Science
The Course Introduction


Global environmental concerns
Three unifying themes




Sustainability
Stewardship
Sound science
The process of science
Association Between People and the
Land

Developing Nations:


Closely tied to land because survival
depends on it.
Developed Nations:

Totally isolated from the natural
world.
What Happened to Easter Island
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v 
=gfbQA-Krx9Q


Society fails to
care for the
environment and
sustain it.
Population
increase beyond
carrying capacity.
Disparity between
rich and poor
widens.
How To Prevent a Global Version of
the Easter Island Disaster




Understand how the natural world works
Understand how human and natural
systems interact
Accurately assess the status and trends of
crucial natural ecosystems
Establish long-term sustainable
relationships with the natural world
The Global Environmental Picture




Rapid human population growth and
increasing consumption per person
Decline of vital life-support
ecosystems
Global atmospheric changes
Loss of biodiversity
Rapid Human Population Growth
Indicators of Decline of Vital
Ecosystems




Depleted water
supplies
Agricultural soils
degraded
Oceans over fished
Forests cut faster
than they can grow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=l02JYsTIWNI
Global Atmospheric Changes
Contributors to Loss of Biodiversity



Habitat
alteration
Exploitation
Pollution
Three Unifying Themes



Sustainability
Stewardship
Sound science
Four Dimensions to Sustainable
Development




Environmental
Social
Economic
Political
How Stewardship Is Demonstrated



Recognition that a trust has been
given.
Responsible care for something not
owned.
Desire to pass something on to future
generations.
Environmental Justice or Racism?

Placement of waste sites and
hazardous facilities in nonwhite
communities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=vomW-G2P5gE
The Environmental Movement


Rachel Carson:
Silent Spring
Effect of DDT in
the food chain
Successes of the Environmental
Movement




Environmental protection agency
(EPA)
Environmental laws
Pollution abatement
Species saved from extinction
Assumptions of the Process of
Science


We perceive reality with our five basic
senses
Objective reality functions according
to certain basic principles and laws
Assumptions of the Process of
Science


Causes and effects are explainable
We have tools and capabilities to
understand basic principles and
natural laws
How the Process of Science Works
True or False Concerning the
Process of Science




There are no controversies or
arguments among scientists.
Progress in science can be slow.
We are continually confronted by new
observations.
Some observed phenomena may not
lend themselves to simple
experiments.
True or False Concerning the
Process of Science

Science is incapable of providing
absolute proof for any theory.

The process of science can be used to
test value judgments.

The validity of science is based on the
ability to do experiments.
Junk Science



Presentations of selective results
Public distortions of scientific works
Publication in quasi-scientific journals