Introducing Environmental Science and Sustainability

1
Introducing Environmental Science and
Sustainability
Chapter 1
What are these? How do they relate to issues of
globalization and sustainability?
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Human Impacts on the Environment

• Increasing Human Numbers

What does this picture show?
3
Human Impacts on the Environment

• Most populous countries
• 1) China 1,374,853,000
• 2) India 1,155,011,000
• 3) United States 309,163,000
• 4) Indonesia 258,825,000
• 5) Brazil 195,580,000

In what types of countries is most of the growth
occurring? Of the 400 cities with a
population of at least 1 million, 234 are in
developing countries.
Source US Census Bureau, Global Population
Profile 2002
What is a Highly Developed Country? A Moderately
Developed Country? A Less Developed Country?
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Human Impacts on the Environment
At what type of rate is the population growing?
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How Fast Is the Human Population Growing?

• At an exponential rate!
• Human death rates have dropped because of an
  increase in food supplies and better health and
  sanitation.
• Doubling Time - A measure of population growth
  where the number of years it takes for a
  population growing at a specified rate to double
  its size.
• To calculate Doubling Time, use the Rule of 70.
  

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Human Impacts on the Environment

• Poverty
• per capita income of less than 1 a day
• 1.2 billion worldwide currently live at this
  level

Inadequate health care Unsanitary water Poor
nutrition Lower life expectancy
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Relationship Betwen Population Growth, Use of
Natural Resources, and Environmental Degradation

• The resources essential to survival are small,
  but individuals in developing countries deplete
  these resources because of their increasing
  population.
• In developed nations, resource demands are large
  (extravagent consumers), and resources are
  exhausted.

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What is a Resource?

• Resource -- Anything obtained from the
  environment to meet human needs and wants.
• Renewable Resource - Can be replenished rapidly
  through natural processes as long as it is not
  used up faster than it is replaced
• Examples?
• What is a resources sustainable yield?
• When does Environmental Degradation occur?
• Nonrenewable Resource - resources that exist in a
  fixed quantity or stock in the earths crust
• Examples?

9
Population, Resources, and the Environment

• Types of resources

• What does sustainable mean?
• What is the sustainable yield of a resource?

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Population, Resources, and the Environment
Resource Consumption

• Because of our greater consumption
  rates, 1 US child has the environmental impact
  of 12 children in less developed countries.

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Population, Resources, and the Environment
What is the difference between people
overpopulation and consumption overpopulation?

• People Overpopulation when excess of people
  cause environmental damage.

• Consumption Overpopulation when people consume
  enormous amounts of natural resources.

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Population, Resources, and the Environment

• Ecological footprint

Ecological Footprint -- the amount of land needed
to produce the resources needed by an average
person in a country.
13
Population, Resources, and the Environment

• IPAT Model

Why is this a good model? Why is this NOT a good
model?
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Environmental Sustainability

• Sustainability and the Tragedy of the Commons

What is the Tragedy of the Commons?
Garrett Hardin
15
Environmental Science

• The Process of Science

Problem recognition or question
Make predictions
Hypothesis supported?
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Environmental Science
Controls and Variables in Experimental Design
Variable

• factors influencing processes being examined.
• hypothesis examines ONE variable, holding others
  constant. This one variable is called the
  independent variable. What this change affects is
  the dependent variable.

• Control group
• examined variable is left unaltered

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Environmental Science

• Inductive and Deductive Reasoning
• Inductive - examines a series of facts for
  commonalities that can be concluded.
• Example
• Fact an ant has six legs
• Fact a wasp has six legs
• Fact a beetle has six legs
• Conclusion all insects have six legs
• Deductive - examines for relationships among data
  moving from generalities to specifics.
• Example
• General rule all insects have six legs
• Specific example a grasshopper is an insect
• Therefore a grasshopper has six legs

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Addressing Environmental Problems
Scientific Assessment
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Addressing Environmental Problems

• Case in Point Lake Washington

• Scientific assessment
• Public education and involvement
• Political action

20
Addressing Environmental Problems

• Case in Point Lake Washington

Evaluation
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Addressing Environmental Problems

• Case in Point Lake Washington

Evaluation