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Welcome to B102 Environmental Science
• Caroline Young, M.S.
• Office: Fisher 105
• Phone 252-1116
• www.twcnet.edu/cyoung
About Me
• Master’s Degree in Physiology from Univ. of Louisville (So please call me Mrs. rather than Dr.)
• Also worked at Univ. of Louisville doing research for Dept of Neurology
• In addition to Environmental Science I teach Anatomy and Physiology 1 and 2, Fundamentals of Biology, Microbiology, and various other Biology and Chemistry labs
• Before coming to TWC I taught at Brown Mackie College• I am married with 2 children
About You
• On top left of index card write Last name, first name
• Cell #; email address• Year in school• Major • Sports played at TWC (if applicable)• Interests/hobbies• Do you work while in school/where/how much?• Do you have children/ what are their ages?
What is the Lifestyle Project?4
• Challenges students to learn about environmental alternatives by modifying their own lifestyles
• The idea of the project is to make changes in your lifestyle that will have a beneficial effect on the environment
• The changes aren’t difficult but will require planning and thinking about your actions
Lifestyle Project continued…5
• Week 1/Baseline: You will collect and analyze baseline data relating to your residential energy consumption, water consumption, food consumption, and/or garbage production
• Weeks 2 and 3: The project will involve 2 weeks of lifestyle changes for you
How it works6
• You will pick 2 categories from the choices given (garbage, electricity, water, or food)
• Week 2: 2 project days (example: if you chose garbage and electricity you would have 2 days where you produced no garbage and reduced your electricity usage; can be the same or different days)
• Week 3: same but 3 project days
Journals7
• Week 2 and Week 3 journals should include what you did each day that you worked on the project
• Write what you did, what worked, what didn’t, what surprised you, how this affected your roommates, and so on
• Be aware of the Honor Code and avoid Plagiarism!
Project Assignments and Grading
8
• Baseline Data (20 pts) + Baseline Data Calculation (20 pts) = 40 pts
• Week 2 journals (20pts) + Week 3 Journal (20pts) + Project Summary (20 pts) = 60 pts
• 100 pts for total project
Community Service Project
• Will partner either with YMCA or City of Athens for Fall 2011 project
• Combined with Lifestyle Project will complete 10 hours of service
• Will write a reflection on the service
• 100 points
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE 13e
CHAPTER 1:Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability
• I will post power points to my website as soon as that is set up
• For exams you are responsible to know the material in the power points as well as all material we go over in class (even if it was not in the ppt) as well as material I assign as homework or in class assignments.
• I do expect you to buy and read your textbook
Core Case Study: It’s All About Sustainability (1)
• Sustainability= “The ability of the earth’s various natural systems and human cultural systems and economies to survive and adapt to changing environmental conditions indefinitely.”
Sustainability explained through animation
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5NiTN0chj0
Why should we care about sustainability?
• Wall E
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzkmguvs0Wc&feature=related
Core Case Study: It’s All About Sustainability (1)
• United Nations Millennium Ecosystem Assessment:– Human actions of put long-term sustainability in doubt
• Life on earth for 3.5 billion years– Survived many catastrophes– Humans have caused major changes in the last 500
years– Humans are smart, but are they wise?
Core Case Study: It’s All About Sustainability (2)
• Sustainability depends on three key principles
• 1. Solar energy– Warms earth– Provides energy for plants to make food for
other organisms– Powers winds– Powers the hydrologic cycle – which
includes flowing water– Provides energy: wind and moving water can
be turned into electricity
Core Case Study: It’s All About Sustainability (3)
• 2. Biodiversity (biological diversity)– Large variety of species
– Many ecosystems• Deserts• Forests• Oceans• Grasslands
– Species and systems renew soil and purify air and water.
Core Case Study: It’s All About Sustainability (4)
• 3. Chemical Cycling – Natural processes recycle nutrients– Recycling is necessary because there is
a fixed supply of these nutrients on earth– Nutrients cycle from living organisms to
the nonliving environment and back– Chemical cycles are necessary to
sustain life
Fig. 1-1, p. 5
Solar Energy
BiodiversityChemical Cycling
Solutions
• Understand our environment
• Practice sustainability
1-1 What Is an Environmentally Sustainable Society?
• Concept 1-1A Our lives and economies depend on energy from the sun and natural resources and natural services (natural capital) provided by the earth.
• Concept 1-1B Living sustainably means living off earth’s natural income without depleting or degrading the natural capital that supplies it.
Studying Connections in NatureBe sure to know these terms
• Environment- everything around us, includes living and non-living things that affect living organisms or other specified systems
• Environmental Science: interdisciplinary study of how humans interact with living and non-living parts of their environment
• Ecology: the biological science that studies how organisms interact with one another and with their environment
• Organism- any form of life• Species- a group of organisms that have distinctive traits and
for sexually reproducing organisms, can mate and produce fertile offspring
• Ecosystem- a set of organisms within a defined area or volume interacting with one another and with their environment and nonliving matter and energy
• Environmentalism- a social movement dedicated to protecting the earth’s life support systems for all form of life
Living More Sustainably
• Sustainability – central theme of book
• Natural capital: Natural resources and natural services that keep us and other forms of life alive and support our economies– Natural resources: Materials and energy
in nature that are essential or useful to humans
Capital: any form of wealth employed or capable of being employed in the production of more wealth
Resources: the collective wealth of a country or its means of producing wealthMoney, or any property that can be converted into money
– Natural capital is supported by power from the sun
• Photosynthesis- complex chemical process that plants use to provide food for themselves and for us and most other animals
• Second component of sustainability, many human activities degrade natural capital
Natural Resources
• Materials– Renewable:
Air, water, soil, plants
– Nonrenewable:
• Minerals, oil, coal
Natural Services
• Functions of nature–Purification of air, water
–Nutrient cycling• From the environment to organisms and back to the environment
Fig. 1-2, p. 7
Deadorganicmatter
Organicmatter inanimals
Organicmatter in
plants
Inorganicmatter in soil
Decomposition
Fig. 1-3, p. 8
Nutrient Cycling
Environmental Sustainability
• 3rd component sustainability: Solutions
• Search for solutions often leads to conflicts
• Dealing with conflicts leads to– Trade-offs (compromises)
• Sustainability should be based on sound science• Individuals matter
Sustainable Living from Natural Capital
• Ultimate goal: environmentally sustainable society
• Living sustainably: living on natural income only
Know definitions
• Environmentally sustainable society- one that meets the current and future basic resource needs of its people in a just a basic equitable manner without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their basic needs
• Natural capital= Natural resources + Natural services
• Natural income- the renewable resources such as plants, animals, and soil provided by the earth’s natural capital
1-2 How Are Our Ecological Footprints Affecting the Earth?
• Concept 1-2 As our ecological footprints grow, we deplete and degrade more of the earth’s natural capital.
Natural Resources (1)
• Perpetual resource – renewed continuously– Solar energy
• Renewable resource – replenished in days to several hundred years as long as not used up faster than renewed
-Water -Soils
– Air -Fish populations– Grasslands– Forest
Natural Resources (2)
• Sustainable yield – Highest rate at which a renewable resource
can be used indefinitely without reducing its available supply
• Environmental degradation– Use of a renewable resource exceeds
natural replacement rate (available supply begins to shrink)
Fig. 1-4, p. 10
Tragedy of the Commons1968 Biologist Garrett Hardin
• Environmental degradation of openly shared renewable resources
• Users focus on their own selfish, short-term gain
• Works when only a small number of users
• Big part of why humans now live unsustainably
Ecological Footprint (1)
• Ecological footprint– The amount of biologically productive land and
water needed to indefinitely supply the people in a given area with renewable resources
– Also includes the land and water necessary to absorb and recycle wastes and pollution
• Per capita ecological footprint– Average ecological footprint of an individual in
a given area
Ecological Footprint (2)
• Ecological deficit– Total ecological footprint greater than
biological capacity for resource renewal and absorption of wastes and pollution
– 2008 study: at least 30% global excess
– 88% for high-income countries
– Humans currently need 1.3 earths
Fig. 1-5, p. 11
Stepped Art
Nonrenewable Resources
• Nonrenewable – exist in fixed quantities
– Energy (fossil fuels)
– Metallic minerals
– Nonmetallic minerals
• Recycling- extends supply of some nonrenewables
• Reuse-using resource over and over in same form
3 R’s of more sustainable use of nonrenewable resources
Listed in Priority Order
• Reduce (Use less)
• Reuse
• Recycle
Developed Countries Have Higher Impacts
• Developed countries–United States, Japan, New
Zealand, most of Europe, some others
–19% world population
–Use 88% of world’s resources
–Create 75% of world’s pollution
IPAT Environmental Impact Model
Determines impact of a country or region
• I = P x A x T
• I = environmental impact
• P = population size
• A = affluence of population
• T = technology influence
Fig. 1-7, p. 13
Environmentalimpact of population
(I)
Developing Countries
Population (P)
Developed Countries
Consumptionper person
(affluence, A)
Technological impact per unit of
consumption (T)
Developing Countries
• 81% world population
• Middle income: Brazil, China, India
• Least developed: Haiti, Nigeria, Nicaragua
• Use far fewer resources per capita than developed countries
• Smaller per capita ecological footprint
1-3 What Is Pollution and What Can We Do about It?
• Concept 1-3 Preventing pollution is more effective and less costly than cleaning up pollution.
Pollution p. 14
Pollution: Contamination of the environment
by a chemical or other agent such as noise or heat that is harmful to health, survival, or activities of humans or other organisms
• Point sources- single, identifiable sources of pollutants
• Nonpoint sources- dispersed and often difficult to identify
•Which is harder to control?
Fig. 1-8, p. 14
Solutions to Pollution
• Pollution prevention– Prevent pollutants from entering the
environment
• Pollution cleanup – After pollutants released into environment
– Temporary fix only– Often results in different pollution: ex. burning
garbage– Dispersed pollutants usually too costly to clean up
effectively
1-4 Why Do We Have Environmental Problems?
• 4 major causes of environmental problems
Causes of Environmental Problems
• Exponential population growth
• Wasteful and unsustainable resource use
• Poverty
• Failure to include environmental costs of goods and services in market prices
Fig. 1-9, p. 15
Populationgrowth
Unsustainableresource use
Poverty Excludingenvironmental costs from market prices
Causes of Environmental Problems
Fig. 1-1, p. 1
Hunting and gathering
Agricultural revolution
Industrial revolution
Black Death—the Plague
Industrial revolution
Fig. 1-10, p. 16
?
2-5 millionyears
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
8000 6000 4000 2000 2000 2100B.C. A.D.
Fig. 1-11, p. 16
Fig. 1-12, p. 17
Number of people(% of world's population)
0.93 billion (14%)
1 billion (15%)
1 billion (15%)
1.1 billion (16%)
2 billion (29%)
2 billion (29%)
2.5 billion (37%)
Enough foodfor good health
Adequatehousing
Adequatehealth care
Clean drinkingwater
Electricity
Enough fuel forheating and cooking
Adequatesanitation facilities
Lack ofaccess to
Fig. 1-13, p. 17
Environmental Effects of Affluence
• Harmful effects– High per-capita consumption and waste of
resources – large ecological footprints– Advertising – more makes you happy– Affluenza
• Beneficial effects– Concern for environmental quality– Provide money for environmental causes– Reduced population growth
Different Environmental Views p18
• Environmental worldview- set of assumptions and values reflecting how you think the world works
• Environmental ethics- beliefs about what is right and wrong
• Planetary management worldview- we are separate from and in charge of nature
• Stewardship worldview- we can and should manage the earth for our benefit
• Environmental wisdom worldview- we are part or, and dependent on, nature and that nature exists for all species, not just for us
1-5 How Can we Live More Sustainably? Three Big Ideas
• We can live more sustainably by relying more on solar energy, preserving biodiversity, and not disrupting the earth’s natural chemical recycling processes.
Thinking About: The Poor, the Affluent, and Exponentially Increasing Population Growth
In Class Assignment
Students may work in small groups: take about 5 minutes to come up with an answer to the question in the Thinking About box on p. 18
If your group does not all agree on one answer, why not?
