Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability
Chapter 1 Part 1 Tragedy of the Commons
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Environment: study of everything around us
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Environmental Science: Interdisciplinary Study
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Our Goals 1.Learn how nature works 2.Learn how the environment
affects us 3.Learn how we affect the environment 4.Learn how to
deal with environmental problems and live more sustainably
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Consumption and Conservation Resource anything obtained from
the environment to meet our needs and wants Renewable Air, water,
trees, etc. Nonrenewable Coal, oil, etc.
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Money doesnt grow on trees Natural capital: keeps us and other
forms of life alive and supports our economies Natural resources
materials; air, water, soil, etc. Natural services functions;
nutrient cycling
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Major Natural Service: Nutrient Cycling
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Fig. 1-3, p. 8 Air Air purification Climate control Water Water
purification Waste treatment Nonrenewable minerals iron, sand)
Natural gas Oil Soil Soil renewal Nonrenewable energy (fossil
fuels) Solar capital Land Food production Nutrient recycling Coal
seam Life (biodiversity) Population control Pest control Renewable
energy (sun, wind, water flows) UV protection (ozone layer) Natural
resources Natural services NATURAL CAPITAL Natural Capital =
Natural Resources + Natural Services Fig. 1-3, p. 8 Solar
Capitalcan we survive without it???
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Human Degradation: To Sushi or Not? Human activities degrade
natural capital Using normally renewable resources faster than
nature can renew them Forestry Fishing
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Pollution Comes from a Number of Sources Sources of pollution
Point E.g., smokestack Nonpoint E.g., pesticides blown into the air
Main type of pollutants Biodegradable Nondegradable
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a- x0AJQ5zHQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-
x0AJQ5zHQ&feature=related
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Environmentally Sustainable Societies Protect Natural Capital
and Live off Its Income You just won $1,000,000! How long can you
make it last if you earn 10% interest each year? Spending
$200,000/year = 7 years Spending $110,000/year = 18 years Spending
$100,000/year = lifetime
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Environmentally Sustainable Societies Protect Natural Capital
and Live off Its Income Living sustainably means living off natural
income Preserve the Earths natural capital
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Overexploiting Shared Renewable Resources: Tragedy of the
Commons Three types of property or resource rights Private property
Common property Open access renewable resources
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Different Views about Environmental Problems and Their
Solutions Environmental Worldview including environmental ethics
Planetary management worldview Stewardship worldview Environmental
wisdom worldview
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Your Turn! Lorax Values and Beliefs
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Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability
Chapter 1 Part 2 Human Population Growth
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Video Tragedy of the Commons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZFkUeleHPY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZFkUeleHPY Activity: Goldfish
Tragedy of the Commons
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Interview: Garrett Hardin on Tragedy of the Commons and
Resources http://www.youtube.com/w atch?v=L8gAMFTAt2M
http://www.youtube.com/w atch?v=L8gAMFTAt2M HW Review:
#2,5,6,8,9,11
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Experts Have Identified Five Basic Causes of Environmental
Problems Population growth Wasteful and unsustainable resource use
Poverty Failure to include the harmful environmental costs of goods
and services in their market prices Insufficient knowledge of how
nature works
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Only a few grains of wheat Problem?
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Exponential Growth: a quantity increases at a fixed rate per
unit of time Each doubling is more than the total of all earlier
growth!
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Cultural Changes Have Increased Our Ecological Footprints
12,000 years ago: hunters and gatherers Three major cultural events
Agricultural revolution Industrial-medical revolution Information-
globalization revolution
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Exponential Growth: a quantity increases at a fixed rate per
unit of time Human numbers through time:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/global- population-growth.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/global-
population-growth.html
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Whats the problem? Add 225,000 people per day! Thats the
equivalent of adding the United States population to the world
every 4 years
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Whats the problem? Add 225,000 people per day! By 2100 of words
plants and animals may vanish
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Are There Too Many of Us? Will growing populations cause
increased environmental stresses? Infectious diseases Biodiversity
losses Water shortages Traffic congestion Pollution of the seas
Climate change
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There Is a Wide Economic Gap between Rich and Poor Countries
Gross domestic product (GDP) annual market value of all goods and
services produced within a country Per capita GDP changes in
economic growth per person Per capita GDP PPP - Purchasing power
parity (PPP) plus GDP are combined for more accurate comparison of
different countries Used to identify developed with developing
countries
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There Is a Wide Economic Gap between Rich and Poor
Countries
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Extreme Poverty in a Developing Country More than people in
world live on less than $2 a day!
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Consumption of Natural Resources: Mali
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Consumption of Natural Resources: China
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Consumption of Natural Resources: USA
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Comparison of Developed and Developing Countries, 2008 Why is
the growth rate so high in developing countries?
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Some Harmful Results of Poverty
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UN World Population Projections by 2050
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Natural Capital Use and Degradation
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Affluence Has Harmful and Beneficial Environmental Effects
Harmful environmental impact due to Mass advertising buying things
brings happiness High levels of consumption Unnecessary waste of
resources
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Affluence Has Harmful and Beneficial Environmental Effects
Affluence can provide funding for Developing technologies to reduce
Pollution Environmental degradation Resource waste
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Video: China Revs Up (NOVA) 21:00 26:00
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Extreme Poverty in a Developing Country HW: The $2
Challenge!
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Calculating population growth Rule of 70 Doubling time =
70/annual growth rate (in %) Example: If a population is growing at
a rate of 4%, how long will it take for the population to double?
Doubling time = 70/4 = 17.5 years
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Calculating population growthGrowth Rate Population Growth in
given period of time = Initial Population Size * Growth Rate
Example: If a population of 2000 is growing at a rate of.1 during
any 10 year period, what will the population be after 10 years?
After 20 years? Population Growth = 2000 *.1 = 200 people
Population size after 10 years = 2200 people Population Growth =
2020 *.1 = 202 people Population size after 20 years = 2402
people
