Their Causes and Sustainability Environmental Problems:

Their Causes and Sustainability

Environmental Problems:

Biologists estimate that human activities are causing premature extinction of the

earth’s species at an exponential rate of 0.1% to

1% a year.

EXPONENTIAL GROWTH

A quantity increases at a constant rate per unit of

time.

Exponential growth plays a key role in:* population growth* resource use and waste* poverty* loss of biological diversity* global climate change

www.otherwise.com/population/exponent.html

Environment

Everything that affects a living organism.

Environmental Science

An interdisciplinary study that uses information from the

physical sciences and social sciences to learn how the earth works, how we interact with the

earth, and how to deal with environmental problems.

Environmentalism

A social movement dedicated to protecting the earth’s life

support systems for us and other species.

Solar CapitalEnergy from the sun.

Solar EnergyIncludes direct sunlight and indirect forms of renewable solar energy such as wind power, hydropower, and

biomass.

Natural Resourcesa.k.a. Natural CapitalDef. – The planet’s air, water, soil, wildlife, forest, rangeland, fishery, mineral, and energy resources, and the processes of natural purification, recycling, and pest control.

What is an Environmental Sustainable Society?

A society that meets the needs of its people for food, clean water, clean air,

shelter, and other basic resources without compromising the ability of

future generations to meet their needs.

Living sustainably means living off natural income replenished by soils, plants, air,

and water and not depleting or degrading the earth’s natural capital that supplies this biological income.

How rapidly is the human population growing?

1.25% a year

Economic GrowthAn increase in the capacity of a country to provide people with

goods and services. Measured by the change in a country’s GDP.

Economic DevelopmentThe improvement of living standards by economic growth. Measured by

per capita GDP.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)The annual market value of all goods

and services produced by all firms and organizations in operation within

a country.

Per capita GDPThe GDP divided by the total

population at midyear.

Developed Countries• Highly industrialized.• High average per capita GDP.• Examples: US, Canada, Japan , Australia, Iceland.

Developing CountriesMiddle to low income.High poverty rates.Life expectancy lower than developed countries.

Examples: Yemen, Ethiopia, Samoa

Globalization

The process of social, economic, and environmental global changes that lead to an increasingly interconnected world. It involves increasing exchanges of people, products, services, capital, and ideas across international borders.

ResourceAnything obtained in the

environment to meet our needs and wants. Ex.- food, water,

shelter.

Perpetual ResourceRenewed continuously. Ex.- solar

energy, winds, tides, flowing water.

Renewable ResourceCan be replenished fairly rapidly through

natural processes. Ex.- forests, grasslands, wild animals, soil, fresh water,

fresh air.

Sustainable YieldThe highest rate at which a renewable

resource can be used indefinitely without reducing its available supply.

Environmental DegradationExceeding a renewable resources natural

replacement rate.

Common-Propertya.k.a. free-access resources.

Not owned by anyone. Available to users at little or no cost. Ex.-

clean air, open ocean, fish, birds, wildlife, and publicly

owned land.

Tragedy of the Commons

The degradation of renewable free-access resources.

Per Capita Ecological Footprint

A measure of how much of the earth’s natural capital and biological income each

of us uses.

Humanity’s ecological footprint per person exceeds the earth’s biological capacity to replenish renewable resources and absorb

waste by about 15%.

Ecological Footprint is larger in developed than in developing countries.

What’s your ecological footprint?www.earthday.net

Nonrenewable ResourcesCan be depleted faster than they are

formed.Examples include:• Energy resources (coal, oil, natural

gas)• Metallic mineral resources (iron,

copper, aluminum)• Nonmetallic mineral resources (clay,

sand, phosphates)

A resource becomes economically depleted when

the costs of extracting and using what is left exceed

its economic value.

At that point, what are our options?• Try to find more• Recycle or reuse existing supplies• Waste less• Use less• Try to develop a substitute• Wait millions of years for more to be

produced

PollutionThe presence of substances at high enough levels

in the air, water, and soil, or food to threaten the health, survival, or activities of humans or other organisms.

Point sources – single, identifiable sources.

Nonpoint sources – dispersed, difficult to pinpoint.

Input pollution control – Prevention

Output pollution control – Cleanup

The Big Five – Key Environmental ProblemsPopulation GrowthWasteful Resource UsePovertyPoor Environmental Accounting

Ecological Ignorance

Environmental WorldviewHow you think the world works.

Three types:Planetary Management Worldview

Stewardship WorldviewEnvironmental Wisdom Worldview

Guidelines for Working With the Earth

Never leave the earth worse than you found it.

Take only what you need.Do no harm.Sustain diverse living organisms.Maintain earth’s capacity for self-repair

and adaptation.Do not waste; do not pollute.Decrease population; reduce poverty.