Environment, Food and Society AGR 3001

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Environment, Food and Society AGR 3001

• Dr. Lori Unruh Snyder, Lecturer
• Format-lecturers, preceded by announcements,
  news and comment and review
• Grading
• -15 point quiz every two weeks
• -participation assignments
• -review questions
• -class participation

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What is needed for course?

• Textbook
• Notebook and writing instruments
• Handheld calculator
• Computer access and Internet know how
• Regular attendance and class participation

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Understanding Our Environment
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Outline

• Introduction
• Historical Perspective
• Pragmatic Resource Conservation
• Moral and Aesthetic Nature Conservation
• Modern Environmentalism
• Global Conservation
• Current Conditions
• A Divided World
• Sustainable Development

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Introduction

• Humans have always inhabited both the natural
  world and the social world.
• Environment
• Circumstances or conditions that surround an
  organism or groups of organisms.
• The complex of social or cultural conditions that
  affect an individual or community.

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Introduction

• Environmental Science Systematic study of our
  environment, and our proper place in it.
• Interdisciplinary
• Integrative
• Natural Sciences
• Social Sciences
• Humanities
• Mission Oriented

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Environmental Science
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

• Four Distinct Stages
• Pragmatic Resource Conservation
• Moral and Aesthetic Nature Preservation
• Health and Ecological Damage Concerns
• Global Environmental Citizenship

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Pragmatic Resource Conservation

• George Perkins Marsh - Man and Nature
• Influenced Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford
  Pinchot.
• Pragmatic Utilitarian Conservation
• Greatest good for the greatest number for the
  longest time
• Multiple Use Policies of USFS.

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Moral and Aesthetic Nature Preservation

• John Muir - President Sierra Club
• Nature deserves to exist for its own sake -
  regardless of degree of usefulness to humans.
  (Biocentric Preservation)

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Modern Environmentalism

• Industrial explosion of WW II added new concerns
  to the environmental agenda.
• Rachel Carson - Silent Spring (1962)
• Environmental Agenda expanded in 1960s and 70s
  to include
• Atomic Weapons Testing
• Fossil Fuel Issues
• Air and Water Pollution
• Wilderness Protection

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Global Concerns

• Increased technology has greatly expanded
  international communications.
• Daily events now reported worldwide instead of
  locally or regionally.
• Global Environmentalism

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CURRENT CONDITIONS

• Human Population gt 6 Billion.
• Adding 85 million people to Earth yearly
• (211,000 per day!)
• Food shortages and famines exist in many densely
  populated areas.
• Water Quantity and Quality Issues
• While 71 of Earth surface is water, only 3 is
  fresh
• Crops require- 900 tons of water to produce 1 ton
  grain
• Several major rivers no longer reach the sea
• Water quality affected by salts in many areas
• Aquifers are being depleted-e.g., Ogalala in
  southwestern Great Plains
• Fossil Fuel Burning
• Air and Water Pollution
• Particulate matter, carbon dioxide, nitrous
  oxides, methane, CFCs and more
• Heavy metals
• Landscape Destruction
• Loss of Biodiversity
• Frequent mention of species going extinct
• Probably most serious- species going extinct
  before being identified and studied

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Signs of Hope

• Progress has been made on many fronts.
• Population has stabilized in many industrialized
  countries.
• Incidence of life-threatening diseases has been
  reduced in some countries.
• Average life expectancy nearly doubled.

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RICH / POOR A DIVIDED WORLD

• Poor countries tend to be located in Southern
  Hemisphere.
• World Bank estimates1.4 billion people live in
  extreme poverty of lt 1 (U.S.) per day.
• Daily survival necessitates over-harvesting
  resources thus degrading chances of long-term
  sustainability.
• Poor are often victims and agents of
  environmental degradation.

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RICH / POOR A DIVIDED WORLD

• Wealthy countries tend to be located in the
  Northern Hemisphere.
• About 1/5 of world population live in countries
  with per capita income gt 25,000.00 (U.S.).
• Poor people exist here as well.
• Gap between rich and poor continues to increase.
• Wealthiest 200 people in the world have combined
  wealth of 1 trillion - more than total wealth of
  poorest half (3 billion) of the worlds
  population.

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Human Development

• United Nations releases Human Development Index
  (HDI). Based on social factors - ranges from 0.0
  -1.0.
• Aggregate numbers hide many important inequity
  issues
• Gender
• Race

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A Fair Share of Resources

• Affluent lifestyles of richer countries consume
  inordinate share of natural resources and
  produces high proportion of pollutants.
• Takes approximately 450 kg to get an average
  American through the day.
• US annually throws away 160 million tons of
  garbage.

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Economic Progress

• Over the past 50 years, the worlds Gross
  Domestic Product (GDP)increased from 2 Trillion
  to 22 Trillion.
• Since WW II, average real income in developing
  countries has doubled.
• BUT
• General welfare has increased.
• Worldwide gap between rich and poor has widened.

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Sustainable Development

• Meeting the needs of the present without
  compromising the ability of future generations to
  meet their own needs.
• Benefits must be available to all humans, not
  just sub-set of privileged group.

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Sustainable Development

• Many economists see continual economic growth as
  essential in providing more resources to more
  people.
• Most ecologists view continual growth as
  impossible in the long-run due to non-renewable
  resources and limited ecological waste-disposal
  capabilities.

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20 20 Compact

• 1995 United Nations Summit for Social Development
  called all nations to ensure basic needs for
  everyone.
• 2020 Compact
• Wealthy countries contribute 20 of aid to
  humanitarian concerns and social development.
• Developing countries contribute 20 of budget to
  human primary concerns.

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Indigenous People

• Indigenous (native) people are often least
  powerful, most neglected people in the world.
• At least half the worlds 6,000 distinct
  languages are dying.
• Indigenous homelands may harbor vast percentage
  of worlds biodiversity.
• Recognizing native land rights and political
  rights may often be a solid ecological safeguard.

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Summary

• Introduction
• Historical Perspective
• Pragmatic Resource Conservation
• Moral and Aesthetic Nature Conservation
• Modern Environmentalism
• Global Conservation
• Current Conditions
• A Divided World
• Sustainable Development

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Questions for Review

• Please answer questions for Review 1-8
• And
• Question 1 from Critical Thinking
• Bring in your results from your ecological
  footprint to be turned during class.
• http//www.redefiningprogress.org