Chapter 1 The Environmental Challenges We Face

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Chapter 1 The Environmental Challenges We Face
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A World In Crisis

• How long have humans been on the planet?
• Humans increasingly impact the environment how?
• We cant ignore environmental problems

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Human Population

• Overpopulation how many people live on Earth?
• Nearly 1 in 4 live in
• extreme poverty
• How big will our
  population get?
• How big can our
• population get?
• Consumption economic growth

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Rich Poor

• Highly developed countries 20 of worlds
  population
• Poor countries
• Moderately developed
• Less developed (LDCs)

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Characteristics of LDCs

• Cheap, unskilled labor
• Economy agriculturally based
• Hunger, disease, illiteracy common

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Rich vs. Poor

• Developing countries
• Rapid population growth is overwhelming
• Natural resource depletion
• Developed countries
• Slower population growth
• Higher rate of consumption

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Types of Resources

• Nonrenewable
• Limited supply
• Once theyre gone, theyre gone
• Examples?
• Renewable
• Virtually unlimited
• Replenished over relatively short periods
• Examples?
• Easy to overexploit ? nonrenewable

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Population Resources

• Economic growth tied to exploiting natural
  resources
• Developed countries have utilized many of their
  resources
• Use of natural resources tied to poverty

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Population Consumption

• People overpopulation
• Environment getting worse
• Too many people
• Consumption overpopulation
• Environment getting worse
• Use far more than necessary why?

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Too Much Stuff!

• Highly developed countries
• 20 worlds population consume
• 86 aluminum
• 76 harvested timber
• 68 energy
• 61 meat eaten
• 42 fresh water
• Developing countries are starting to consume
  more why?

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Ecological Footprints

• Productive land and ocean needed to supply person
  with her/his needs
• What if we all had the same footprint?

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Population, Consumption, Environmental Impact

• I P x A x T
• I Environmental impact
• P Population
• A Affluence per person
• T Technology used
• Interpret results with care!
• Ultimate goal make consumption sustainable

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Environmental Sustainability

• Sustainability environment will function
  indefinitely
• Based on
• Effects of our actions on the environment
• Earths resources are finite
• Understanding impact of consumption
• Shared responsibility

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Does This Sound Sustainable?

• Nonrenewable resources being rapidly depleted
• Many renewable resources being used in a
  nonrenewable way

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Does This Sound Sustainable?

• Environment is being polluted
• Human population is increasing

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Global Environmental Issues

• Global Warming Deforestation

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Global Environmental Issues

• Threatened Oceans Ozone depletion

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What is Environmental Science?

• Interdisciplinary
• Broad field
• Ecology is a basic tool
• Goals
• Establish general principles about how the
  natural world functions
• Identifying, understanding, and solving problems

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What is Science?

• Not just a body of knowledge
• Dynamic process
• Requires collection of data
• An ongoing enterprise
• Requires reevaluation

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The Scientific Method
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The Process of Science

• A good hypothesis makes a prediction
• Experiment
• Variable factor that influences a process
• Control group variable isnt altered
• Theory
• Integrated explanation of numerous hypotheses
• Solid ground of science
• Accepted as true

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Handling Environmental Problems

• Five stages
• Scientific assessment
• Risk analysis
• Public education involvement
• Political action
• Evaluation

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Handling Environmental Problems
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NIMBY NIMTOO

• Not in my backyard
• Not in my term of office
• What situations cause people to say these?
• How practical are these?

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Case Study Hurricane Katrina

• New Orleans ideal for industry, sea and river
  commerce
• Humans altered geography and geology
• 80 of New Orleans flooded
• How could the
• devastation been
• reduced?