Living in the environment Environmental Science Interdisciplinary science

Living in the environment

Environmental Science Interdisciplinary science – ecology, geology, chemistry, politics, engineering, economics, ethics Connections and interactions between humans and the rest of nature Validity of data questioned – many variables

Sustainability Ability of a specified system to survive and function over a period of time Our research leads us to believe that in the face of drastic environmental changes, there are three overachiving themes relating to the long-term sustainability of life on this planet.

Sustainable living Meeting present needs without preventing future generations from meeting theirs

Three Principals of Sustanability Reliance on Solar Energy Biodiversity Chemical (Nutrient) Cycling

Subthemes of Sustainability Natural Capital= Natural Resources + Natural Services Natural resources- materials and energy in nature that are essential or useful to humans Natural Services- process in nature, such as purification of air, water and renewal of topsoil. Degrading of Natural Capital Solutions

Resource Resource- Anything that we can obtain from the environment to meet our needs and wants. Perpetual Resource- The Sun Renewable- A resource that takes anywhere from several days to several hundred years to be replenished, through natural processes. As long as we don’t consume if faster than nature can renew it. Forest, grasslands, fish populations, freshwater, etc.

Resource Non-Renewable- A resource that exist in a fixed quantity, or stock, in the earths curst. Ex: Coal, oil, salt, sand

Resources Ecological – Renewable Non renewable Potentially renewable

Depleting Resources Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

Depleting Resources Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

Economic growth Economic Growth- An increase in a nation’s output of goods and services.

Economic growth – Gross National Product-GNP Gross National Productive. Market value in current dollars of all goods and services produced by a country Per Capita GNP – GNP/Total population

Economic growth – Gross Domestic Product-GDP Gross Domestic Product- (GDP)Market value in current dollars of all goods and services produced WITHIN a country for use during a year

Developed Nations 1. 2 billion (19%) Highly industrialized 85% of world wealth and income Use 88% of world resources Generate 75% of waste US, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand , most of Europe

Developing Nations 4. 9 billion (81%) Low to moderate industrialized 15% of world wealth and income Use 12% of world resources Asia, Latin America, Africa

Pollution- any presence within the environment of a chemical or other agent such as noise or heat at a level that is harmful to the health, survival, or activities of humans or other organisms. Natural – volcanoes Anthropogenic – human activities (burning of coal or dumping of chemicals into rivers and oceans.

Pollution Point Source Pollution- pollutants that are single, identifiable source. Ex: smokestack from a coal burning powerplant, drainpipe of a factory, exhaust from an automobile. Non-point Source Pollution- are dispersed and often difficult to identify. Ex: Pesticides blown from the land into the air, runoff of fertilizers, pesticides, and trash from the land into streams and lakes.

Pollution Clean Up We have tried to deal with pollution in two very different ways Pollution Cleanup- involves cleaning up or diluting pollutants AFTER we have produced them. Pollution Prevention- reduces or eliminates the production of pollution

Tragedy of the Commons- Garrett Hardin Three types of property Private Common Property (right to certain resources are held by a large group of individuals. 1/3 of land in US is owned by all US Citizens and run by the government. (Parks) Open-Access Renewable- owned by no one and available for use for cheap or mostly free. Clean air, open ocean and its fish & , wildlife species,

Tragedy of the Commons- Garrett Hardin Many common-property and open access and renewable resources have been degraded. 1968, Biologist Garrett Hardin (1915 -2003) called this degradation Tragedy of the Commons Solving Environmental Problems is result of struggle between: Short term welfare Long term environmental stability and societal welfare

Tragedy of the Commons- Garrett Hardin

Ecological Footprint In less developed countries , the individual use of resources and the resulting environmental impact is low, where as in more developed countries individuals are more affluent (wealthy) and consume resources far beyond their basic needs.

Ecological Footprint The average amount of land, water and ocean required to provide that person with all the resources they consume. Earth’s Productive Land Water 28. 2 billion acres Amount Each Person is Allotted (divide 4. 7 acres Productive Land Water by Human Population) Current Global Ecological Footprint of 5. 7 acres each person

Ecological Footprint Comparison

IPAT Ehrlich and Holdren (Scientist in the 1970’s) developed a simple model showing how population size, affluence, beneficial and harmful effect help to determine environmental impact I= Px. Ax. T I (Impact)= P (population) x A (affluence) x T (technology)

IPAT

IPAT

Environmental Issues Pollution Environmental Degradation Population growth Wasteful and unsustainable resource use Poverty Pollution

Population Growth Exponential Growth– quantity increases by a fixed percentage of the whole in a given time. (ex 2%) This starts of slow but doubles again and grow to enormous numbers.

Population Growth Doubling Time Rule of 70: 70/ percentage of growth rate= Doubling Time Ex: If the growth rate is 3 % what is the doubling time? 70/3%= 23. 3 yrs, it will take that population 23. 3 years to double its population At the current rates of exponential growth, the human population will reach 8 billion by 2025.

Population Growth

Rapid population growth Wasteful use of resources Poverty Failure to encourage earth sustaining economic development Failure to include overall economic cost Root causes

Carrying capacity Maximum number of organisms an environment can support over a specified period of time

Carrying capacity

Globalization Social, economic and environmental change that leads to an increasingly integrated world economic, information and communication, environmental effects

Poverty is defined as people who are unable to fulfill their basic needs for adequate food, water, shelter, health, and education. 2008 Study- 1/5 people on this planet live in extreme poverty. (Live on less than $1. 25 a day)

Poverty Those that live in poverty do degrade potentially renewable forests, soils, grasslands, etc…they do not have the luxury of worrying about long term. But many time the converse is true. Pollution and environmental degradation have a severe impact on the poor and can increase their poverty.

Poverty

Poverty Most of the world's desperately poor die prematurely from 4 preventable disease. All of which are made worse by degrading environmental issues. Malnutrition Increased susceptibility to normally nonfatal infectious diseases (diarrhea and measles. ) Lace of clean drinking water Severe Respiratory disease. (breathing smoke from open fires, poorly vented stoves, etc)

Environmental Worldview Planetary Management or (ANTHROPOCENTRIC-) “we are in charge of nature, always more to use, all economic growth is good” The Stewardship Worldview- holds that we should manage the earth for our benefits, but that we have an ethical responsibility to be caring and responsible managers, or stawards of the earth. Earth Wisdom –”nature for all of earth’s species, not always more to use, make a judgment call about economic growth

International trade of Information Revolution goods increased and globalization Transnational corporations from 7, 000 to 53, 000 Phones –from 89 to 850 million Passenger kilometers – from 28 million to 2. 6 trillion Infectious microbes transported

Hunter gatherers – 12, 000 years ago Agricultural revolution – 10, 000 -12, 000 Industrial revolution -275 years ago Technological revolution – 50 years ago Cultural changes

Hunting and Gathering Societies nomadic, living in small bands, population in balance with food supply high infant mortality, life expectancy 30 -40 yr. 3 energy sources - sun, fire, muscle power

Agricultural Societies settled communities slash and burn cultivation to fertilize nutrient poor field by ashes shifting cultivation subsistence farming

Effects and Environmental Impact Urbanization and agricultural expansion, cut down forests, destroyed habitats, soil erosion and desertification birth rate faster than deathpopulation increase

Early Industrial societies(mid 1700’s) wood used up - coal usage steam generation fossil fuel powered farm machineryless farmers needed- moved to cities The Industrial Societies began many of the environmental problems we still see today.

Advanced Industrial societies (1914 ---) increase in agricultural products lower infant mortality improved health increase in longevity net population increase

Resource Conservation 1903 -Theodore Roosevelt, Pelican Island, Florida to save the Brown Pelican 1905 - Gifford Pinchot - US Forest Service “resources should be saved to be used for the greatest good, for the greatest number, for the longest

Moral / Aesthetic Nature Conservation John Muir , Sierra Club “fundamental right of organisms to exist for it’s own sake”

US Environmental Movement 1960’s 1962 - , Rachel Carson “Silent Spring”, threats of pollution and toxic chemicals David Brower and Barry Commoner, Paul Ehrlich, Garret Hardin -relationship between population growth, resource use, pollution

Events - Increased Awareness 1963 - air pollution in New York Laundry detergent in water 1969 - Cuyahoga in Ohio Love Canal , New York pollution of Lake Erie Extinction -grizzly, bald eagle, whooping crane, falcon

Environmental events- 1970’s 1972 -UN- Human development 1973 - OPEC oil embargo Roland Molina - CFC’s cause ozone depletion Carter creates Superfund to clean hazardous waste sites(Love Canal) Three Mile Island

Environmental events - 1980’s 1981 - Ronald Reagan sagebrush philosophy 1986 -Chernobyl disaster 1987 -Montreal Protocol - fade out CFC’s Exxon Valdez disaster

Environmental Events - 1990 1991 -Persian Gulf war - protect oil 1992 - UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1994 - UN Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, Egypt. 1995 - US Congress, reduce environmental spending - vetoed by Clinton 1997 - Kyoto- global warming

Environmental events - 2000 Clinton protects large areas in national forests from roads and logging - designated as national monuments

Sagebrush Revolution remove most lands from federal ownership and turn over to States great supporter - Ronald Reagan

Environmental Revolution …. shift from pollution cleanup to prevention waste disposal to waste reduction species protection to habitat protection increased resource use to conservation