Environmental Science: Toward a Sustainable Future Richard T' Wright

1
Environmental Science Toward a Sustainable
Future Richard T. Wright
Chapter 1

• Introduction Toward a Sustainable Future
• PPT by Clark E. Adams

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The Chapter Introduction

• The global environmental picture
• Three strategic themes
• Sustainability
• Stewardship
• Sound science

3
The Chapter Introduction

• Three integrative themes
• Ecosystem capital
• Policy/politics
• Globalization
• The environment in the 21st century

4
The Lessons of Easter Island

• Society fails to care for the environment and
  sustain it.
• Population increases beyond carrying capacity.
• Disparity between rich and poor widens.

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How to Prevent a Global Version of the Easter
Island Disaster

• Understand how the natural world works
• Understand how human and natural systems interact
• Accurately assess the status and trends of
  crucial natural ecosystems
• Establish long-term sustainable relationships
  with the natural world

6
The Global Environmental Picture

• Rapid human population growth and increasing
  consumption per person
• Decline of ecosystems
• Global atmospheric changes
• Loss of biodiversity

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Ecological Footprint

• Lower Fraser Valley Canadians require an area 19
  times larger than their home region to provide
  food, clothing, energy, and shelter.

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Indicators of Decline of Vital Ecosystems

• Depleted water supplies
• Agricultural soils degraded
• Oceans overfished
• Forests cut faster than they can grow

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Contributors to Loss of Biodiversity

• Habitat alteration
• Exploitation
• Pollution

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Three Strategic Themes

• Sustainability interactions with the natural
  world that we should be working toward
• Stewardship the ethical and moral framework of
  our actions
• Sound science the basis for our understanding of
  how the world works

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How Stewardship Is Demonstrated

• Recognition that a trust has been given
• Responsible care for something not owned
• Desire to pass something on to future generations

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Environmental Justice or Racism?

• Placement of waste sites and hazardous facilities
  in nonwhite communities

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Components to the Structure of Sound Science

• Data measurable
• Theories explanations
• Shaping principles uniformity of nature,
  quantifiability

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Assumptions of the Process of Science

• Causes and effects are explainable.
• We have tools and capabilities to understand
  basic principles and natural laws.

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Junk Science

• Presentations of selective results
• Public distortions of scientific works
• Publication in quasi-scientific journals

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Policy and Politics

• Human decisions that determine what happens to
  the natural world and the political processes
  that lead to those decisions.
• Purpose of public policy is to promote the common
  good.

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Globalization

• The accelerating interconnectedness of human
  activities, ideas, and cultures.
• Health improvements
• Global markets
• Improved crop yields
• Dilution or destruction of cultural and religious
  ideals.

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Globalization

• Environmentally friendly consumer goods
• Economic reorganization of the world
• Worldwide spread of emerging diseases
• Dispersion of exotic species
• Trade in hazardous wastes
• Spread of persistent organic pollutants

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The Environment in the 21st Century

• The big issues
• Corporate accountability
• Globalization and WTO
• Trade and subsidies
• Climate and energy
• Development priorities and aid

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The Environment in the 21st Century

• If we do not change direction, we will end up
  where we are heading.

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End of Chapter 1