Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability

Environmental Problems,
Their Causes, and Sustainability
Chapter 1


Core Case Study: Exponential Growth (1)
 Slow start, rapid increase
 Human population
• 2007 ~ 6.7 billion people

 Projections
• 225,000 people per day
• Add population of U.S. < 4 years
• 2050 ~ 9.2 billion people


Core Case Study: Exponential Growth (2)
 Resource consumption, degradation,
depletion
 Possible results
•
•
•
•
•

Huge amount of pollution and wastes
Disrupt economies
Loss of species, farm land, water supplies
Climate change
Political fallout

Living in an Exponential Age


Industrial revolution
Black Death—the Plague

Hunting
and gathering

Agricultural revolution

Industrial
revolution
Fig.Fig.
1-1,
1-1,p.
p. 15


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 (solar

capital) 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 Nature
 Environment
 Environmental science
 Ecology
 Environmentalism


Environmental Science


Philosophy
Ethics
and
religion
Political
science

Biology

Ecology

Economics

Chemistry

Demography

Physics

Anthropology

Geology

Geography
Fig. 1-2, p. 7


Living More Sustainably
 Sustainability – central theme
 Natural capital
• Natural resources
• Natural services


Natural Resources
 Materials
• Renewable
• Nonrenewable

 Energy
• Solar capital

• Photosynthesis


Natural Services
 Functions of nature
• Purification of air, water
• Nutrient cycling


Key Natural Resources and Services

Fig. 1-3, p. 8


Nutrient Cycling


Organic
matter in
animals

Dead
organic
matter
Organic
matter in
plants
Decomposition

Inorganic

matter in soil

Fig. 1-4, p. 9


Environmental Sustainability
 Trade-offs (compromises)
 Sound science
 Individuals matter
•
•
•
•

Ideas
Technology
Political pressure
Economic pressure


Sustainable Living from Natural Capital
 Environmentally sustainable society
 Financial capital and financial income
 Natural capital and natural income
 Bad news: signs of natural capital depletion
at exponential rates


1-2 How Can Environmentally Sustainable
Societies Grow Economically?

 Concept 1-2 Societies can become more
environmentally sustainable through
economic development dedicated to
improving the quality of life for everyone
without degrading the earth’s life-support
systems.


Economics
 Economic growth
 Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
 Per capita GDP – PPP
 Economic development
 Developed countries
 Developing countries


Global Outlook


Percentage of
World's:

Population

18%
82%

Population 0.1%
growth

1.5%
Life
expectancy
Wealth and
income
Resource
use
Pollution
and waste

77 years
66 years
85%
15%
88%
12%
75%
25%

Fig. 1-5, p. 10


1-3 How Are Our Ecological Footprints
Affecting the Earth?
 Concept 1-3 As our ecological footprints
grow, we are depleting and degrading more
of the earth’s natural capital.


Natural Resources (1)

 Perpetual – renewed continuously
• Solar energy

 Renewable – hours to decades
• Water, air
• Forest, grasslands


Natural Resources (2)
 Sustainable yield
• Highest use while maintaining supply

 Environmental degradation
• Exceed natural replacement rate