Environment

The Environment and Sustainability

What is an Environment?

u Biotic factors u (e.g. plants, animals, farms,

forests) u Abiotic factors u (include sunlight, air, water,

earth) u Four spheres- life support

systems

Environmental Science u Environmental science studies

connections in nature u How the earth works and has survived and

thrived u How humans interact with the environment u How we can live more sustainably

u Ecology u Branch of biology focusing on interaction of

living things with their environment u Ecosystem

Three Scientific Principles of Sustainability

u Dependence on solar energy

u Biodiversity

u Chemical (nutrient) cycling

Key Components of Sustainability

u Natural capital keeps humans and other species alive and supports economies

u Natural resources: useful materials and energy in nature u May be inexhaustible, renewable, or nonrenewable

(exhaustible) u Ecosystem services

u Processes provided by healthy ecosystems

Key Components of Sustainability

u Natural resource examples u Inexhaustible:

u A resource that never runs out or gets depleted.

u Renewable: u A resource that can be used

repeatedly and is replaced naturally.

u Nonrenewable: u A resource that is not replenished with

the speed at which it is consumed.

Key Components of Sustainability

u Nutrient cycling is a vital ecosystem service

u Human activities can degrade natural capital u Using renewable resources too

fast

u Overloading air, water, and soil with wastes and pollutants

u Humans must provide solutions to environmental problems

Three Additional Principles of Sustainability u Full-cost pricing

u Win-win solutions

u A responsibility to future generations

Countries Differ in Their Resource Use and Environmental Impact

u More-developed countries u Industrialized nations with high

average income per person u 17% of the world’s population u Use 70% of world’s natural resources

u Less-developed countries u 83% of the world’s population u Use about 30% of world’s natural

resources

Humans Protecting the Environment

u Many people have a better quality of life u Have developed useful materials and products u Life spans have increased u Food supply is more abundant u Exposure to toxic chemicals is more avoidable

u Humans have protected some endangered species and ecosystems: u Taken steps to restore cleared lands u Businesses and governments work toward improving

environmental quality

We Are Living Unsustainably

u Environmental degradation u Wasting, depleting, and degrading

u Human activities directly affect 83% of earth’s land surface u Urban development, crop and

energy production, mining, timber cutting, and more

u Species are becoming extinct 100 times faster than in prehuman times

Degrading Commonly Shared Renewable Resources: The Tragedy of the Commons

u Open-access resources u Atmosphere, ocean and its fishes,

grasslands, forests, streams, and aquifers u Cumulative effect of many people

exploiting a shared resource can degrade, exhaust, or ruin it

u Solution: use resource at a rate well below its sustainable yield u Mutual agreement, or access regulation

Our Growing Ecological Footprints

u Ecological footprint u The impact a person or community has on the environment u Sustainability measure that relates to the Earth’s biocapacity u The largest components: air pollution, climate change, and

ocean acidification due to burning fossil fuels for energy

u Ecological deficit u Footprint is larger than biological capacity for replenishment

Our Growing Ecological Footprints

IPAT – Another Environmental Impact Model

u Simple environmental impact model developed in the 1970s

u I = P x A x T u I = Environmental impact u P = Population u A = Affluence u T = Technology

u Some technologies are beneficial, some harmful

Cultural Changes Can Increase or Shrink Our Ecological Footprints

u Humans were hunter gatherers 10,000 years ago

u Three major cultural events u Agricultural revolution

u Industrial–medical revolution

u Information–globalization revolution

u Current need for a sustainability revolution

What Causes Environmental Problems?

u Basic causes of environmental problems u Population growth u Unsustainable resource use u Omission of harmful environmental costs in market

pricing of goods and services u Increasing isolation from nature u Competing environmental worldviews

Human Population is Growing at a Rapid Rate

u Human population has grown exponentially u Current population: 7.9 billion

people

u By 2050, population could reach 9.8 billion

u We don’t know how many people the earth can support indefinitely

Affluence and Unstainable Resource Use

u Affluence results in increased resource consumption per person u Increases environmental degradation, wastes, and

pollution u Positive aspects of affluence

u Better and widespread education uIncreased awareness of environmental issues

u Money available to develop technologies with beneficial environmental impacts

Exclusion of Harmful Environmental and Health Costs

u Companies do not pay the environmental cost of resource use

u Goods and services do not include the harmful environmental costs u Consumers lack information

u Companies receive tax breaks and subsidies u Some subsidies encourage depletion of natural

capital

Isolation from Nature

u Increasing populations in urban areas u Lack of contact with nature

u Benefits of outdoor activities u Better health u Reduced stress u Improved mental capabilities u Increased imagination and creativity u Sense of connection with the earth

Differing Environmental Views

Environmental worldview Set of assumptions and values

Environmental ethics Why should we care about the

environment? Do we have an obligation to protect

other species against extinction caused by human actions?

Should every person be entitled to equal protection from environmental hazards?

Differing Environmental Views

Human-centered environmental

worldview Life-centered Earth-centered

What Is an Environmentally Sustainable Society?

u Living sustainably u Live off the Earth’s

natural income without depleting or degrading the natural capital that supplies it

We Can Live More Sustainably

Learn from nature Protect natural capital Do not waste resources

Recycle and reuse nonrenewable resources

Use renewable resources at a rate slower than nature can replenish them

We Can Live More Sustainably

INCORPORATE HARMFUL HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS IN

MARKET PRICES

PREVENT FUTURE ECOLOGICAL DAMAGE AND REPAIR PAST

DAMAGE

FIND WIN–WIN SOLUTIONS TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY TO PASS THE EARTH ON TO FUTURE

GENERATIONS IN A CONDITION AS GOOD AS OR BETTER THAN WHAT

WE INHERITED