Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability

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Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and
Sustainability

• Chapter 1

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Social
Economic
Sustainable Solutions
Environmental
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Environmentally sustainable development

• encourages sustainable forms of economic growth
• Meets the basic needs of the current generations
  of humans without preventing future generations
  and other species from meeting their basic needs
• discourages environmentally harmful and
  unsustainable forms of economic growth
• it requires that governments, businesses and
  individuals integrate environmental goals into
  their decision making process

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The relationship protects Natural Capital
Natural resources and services that sustain all
life and our economic systems!
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Natural Capital
Stepped Art
Fig. 1-3, p. 7
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The source of all energy needs supplies our
Earths Capital
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Question 1What are the 5 major themes of this
book? And What supports them?
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The five steps to sustainability

• Understand the components of natural capital (as
  seen above) and the income it provides
• Recognize how humans deplete and degrade
  renewable resources faster than can be renewed
• Search for solutions to depletion and degradation
• Recognize conflicts in the search and make
  Trade-offs
• Allow individuals to work within their field to
  help solve the problems
• Supported by Sound Science

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Path to Sustainability Supported by Sound Science
A Pa t h t o S u s t a i n a b i l i t y
Natural Capital
Natural Capital Degradation
Solutions
Trade-Offs
Individuals Matter
S o u n d S c i e n c e
Fig. 1-2, p. 7
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Question 2What is an environmentally
sustainable society?
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Environmentally Sustainable Society

• Satisfies the basic needs of the people without
  depleting or degrading its natural resources and
  therefore preventing current and future
  generations from meeting their basic needs.
• .

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It is all connected
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How do we treat Natural Capital?

• Earths natural capital wealth.
• Invested capital provides financial income.
  Replant, recycle, reuse,repurpose, force
  remanufacture
• Vote with your wallet!
• Natural Capital provides Biological income for us
  to live off of.
• Degrading capital using natural capital beyond
  replenishment

Fig. 1-3, p. 7
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The Lesson Protect your capital and Learn to
Live Off Earths Capital Sustainably

• Do Not eat the goose that lays the golden egg
• If you have one million in the bank at 10
  interest, you earn 100,000 year. If you spend
  just 110,000 per year you will be bankrupt in 18
  years
• Natural cycles will provide for us if we
• do not destroy our natural capital
• Reinvest the Natural Capital!

Dont Eat me
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Environmental Degradation in not sustainable
occurs when the resources natural replacement
rate is exceeded.

• deforestation
• water logging or salinization of soil
• pollution
• reduction in biodiversity
• groundwater depletion
• Wetlands destruction
• Urbanization - erosion

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Sustainable Yield

• Environmentally sustainable society does use a
  resource beyond its sustainable yield
• The highest rate at which a renewable resource
  can be used indefinitely without depleting its
  available supply

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Question 3What are the earths main types of
resources? How can they be depleted or degraded?
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Resources

• Perpetual
• Renewed continuously
• Renewable
• Replenished rapidly
• Non-renewable
• Exist in a fixed quantity during lifetime

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Perpetual and Renewable Resources and
relationship to yield and degradation

• Sustainable yield highest rate _at_ which we can
  use a resource indefinitely w/o reducing its
  availability
• Environmental degradation using a resource
  faster than it can be replaced naturally
• Causes supply to shrink
• Examples urbanizing productive land, excessive
  topsoil erosion, pollution, deforestation,
  overgrazing, loss of biodiversity by habitat loss
• Economic depletion
• Resource can be depleted to the point where it
  costs too much to obtain whats left

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Tragedy of the Commons If I dont use it
someone else will mentalityThe little bit I
use or pollute is not enough to matter

• When a resource is ruined, no one can benefit
  from it . This is the tragedy!
• Free Access Resource or Common Property Resource
  Solutions
• Charge people to use it
• Convert it to private ownership
• Whats your idea?

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Ecological Footprint

• Per Capita Ecological Footprint
• The amount of biologically productive land
  water needed to supply each person w/ the
  resources he or she uses, to absorb the waste
  from this resource use
• We are using renewable resources 21 faster than
  the Earth can replace them
• It would take 1.21 planet Earths to support our
  current production consumption rates forever

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Ecological Footprint
Fig. 1-7, p. 11
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Per Capita EcologicalFootprints by Country
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Question 4What is the difference between
economic growth and economic development?

• Does economic growth and development lend itself
  to sustainability?

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Economics

• Economic growth increase in the capacity of a
  country to provide people with goods and
  services.
• Requires population growth /
  increased production consumption
• Economic Development The improvement of human
  living standards by economic growth. Defines
  developed and developing countries based on
  degree of industrialization and GDP. Calculated
  annually.
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) the annual market
  value of all goods and services produced by all
  firms and organizations in a country.

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Economics, The Environment, and Countries

• Economic system social institution through which
  goods and services are produced, distributed and
  consumed to satisfy peoples needs and wants.
• Environmental system raw materials are taken to
  produce goods for market
• countries are classified as either developing or
  developed based on their per capita GDP (Gross
  Domestic Product) motivated by their level of
  industrialization

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Economics and Ethics

• Affluenza addiction to consumption
• globalization and global advertising encourage
  affluenza?
• Makes you feel as though you need it to be
  successful.
• Law of Progressive Simplification transfer of
  energy from material to nonmaterial things, a
  true measure of a civilizations growth. Extinct
  civilizations proved affluenza causes their
  extinction.
• What are the positive environmental effects of
  affluenza? More money available for environmental
  quality, recycling,cleaner air/water,more food,

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Economic Development Trade Offs Show the
advantages and disadvantages to better economic
development
Trade-Offs
M
Economic Development
Good News
Bad News
Global life expectancy doubled since
1950 Infant mortality cut in half since
1955 Food production ahead of population growth
since 1978 Air and water pollution down in most
developed countries since 1970 Number of people
living in poverty dropped 6 since 1990
Life expectancy 13 years less in developing
countries than in developed Countries Infant
mortality rate in developing countries over
9 times higher than in developed countries Harmfu
l environmental effects of agriculture may limit
future food production Air and water pollution
levels in most developing countries too
high Half of world's workers trying to live on
less than 2 (U.S.) per day
Fig. 1-6, p. 10
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Economic development Which figure does the UN
use to classify nations as developed or
developing?
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Developed Countries

• Highly industrialized
• High per capita GDP
• 20 of worlds population
• 85 of worlds wealth and income
• Use 88 of its natural resources
• Waste 75 of worlds total waste!
• developed countries U.S., Canada, Japan,
  Australia, New Zealand, and all of western
  Europe.

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Developing Countries

• Low to moderate industrialization
• Low per capita GDP
• Most are in Africa, Asia, and Latin America
• Have 80 of the worlds population
• Have 15 of its wealth and income
• Use only 12 of its natural resources
• Waste25

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Human Population Growth
World total
Developing countries
Population (billions)
Developed countries
Year
97 of worlds population growth expected in
developing nations.
Fig. 1-5, p. 9
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Whats the Blue developed or developing?
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Global Outlook
Percentage of World's
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Population
81
0.1
Population growth
1.5
Wealth and income
85
15
88
Resource use
12
75
Pollution and waste
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Developed countries
Developing countries
Fig. 1-4, p. 9
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Question 5What are the main types of
pollution, and what can you do about pollution?
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Pollution

• What is pollution?
• Any addition to air, water soil or food that
  threatens health, survival, or activities, of
  humans or other organisms.
• Point Source single identifiable source
• Exhaust pipe of car / smokestack of coal burning
  plant / drain pipe of factory
• Nonpoint sources dispersed and hard to identify
• Pesticides sprayed into air / runoff of
  fertilizers into water

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Point-source Air Pollution
Fig. 1-8, p. 13
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Affects Everything
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Solutions to Pollution

• Pollution prevention (input control)
• Reduces or eliminates production of pollutants
• Works better is cheaper
• Pollution cleanup (output control)
• Cleaning up or diluting pollutants after theyre
  produced.
• Disadvantages of output control
• Temporary fix- is never completed
• Clean up of one area pollutes another
• Costs too much after the fact

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Be a Part of The Sustainability Revolution
Current Emphasis
Sustainability Emphasis
Pollution cleanup Waste disposal(bury or
burn) Protecting species Environmentaldegrada
tion Increased resourceuse Population
growth Depleting anddegrading naturalcapital)
Pollution prevention(cleaner production) Waste
prevention reduction Protecting wherespecies
live (habitat protection) Environmentalrestorati
on Less wasteful (more efficient)resource
use Population stabilization bydecreasing birth
rates Protecting natural capitaland living off
the biological interest it provides
Fig. 1-14, p. 18
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Question 6

• How can we live more sustainably? (p.433-4)
• Meet the basic needs of all people, consider the
  environment, realize peop leconomics is related
  to resource use and populations

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Living Sustainably

• Improve environmental education of citizens
  leaders
• Know how the earth works apply these ideas to
  how we live
• Go out experience nature directly
• Foster a sense of stewardship for the Earth
• Develop respect reverence for all life
• Foster a desire to make the world a better place
  act on that desire
• Learn to live more simply CONSUME LESS
• Be aware of what we do to damage our surroundings
  and what we can do to improve our surroundings

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4 Basic Questions of Environmental Literacy

• Where do the things I consume come from?
• What do I know about the place where I live?
• How am I connected to the earth and other living
  things?
• What is my purpose and responsibility as a human
  being?

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Environmentally Sustainable Societies
Solutions
Developing Environmentally Sustainable Societies
Guidelines
Strategies
Leave world in as good a shape asor better
thanwe found it Do not degrade or deplete the
earth's natural capital, and live off the natural
income it provides Copy nature Take no more
than we need Do not reduce biodiversity Try not
to harm life, air, water, soil Do not change the
world's climate Help maintain the earth's
capacity for self-repair Do not overshoot the
earth's carrying capacity Repair past ecological
damage
Sustain biodiversity Eliminate poverty Develop
eco-economies Build sustainable communities Do
not use renewable resources faster than nature
can replace them Use sustainable
agriculture Depend more on locally available
renewable energy from the sun, wind, flowing
water, and sustainable biomass Emphasize
pollution prevention and waste reduction Do not
waste matter and energy resources Recycle,
reuse, and compost 6080 of matter
resources Maintain a human population size such
that needs are met without threatening
life-support systems Emphasize
ecological restoration
Fig. 18-23, p. 434
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Question 7What are the harmful environmental
effects of poverty and affluence?
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5 Major Causes of Environmental Problems in
affluent societies

• Population Growth
• Wasteful Resource Use
• Poverty
• Poor Environmental Accounting not including
  costs of resource that is free it is not
  replenished and perhaps degraded
• Ecological Ignorance simplifying nature without
  knowledge of how it works

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Causes of Environmental Problems
Causes of Environmental Problems
Population growth
Unsustainable resource use
Poverty
Not including the environmental costs of economic
goods and services in their market prices
Trying to manage and simplify nature with
too little knowledge about how it works
Fig. 1-10, p. 14
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Environmental Problems Causes and Connections

• Poverty and population growth
• Desperate for survival, the worlds poor deplete
  degrade their environment for short term
  survival
• Dont have the luxury to think about
  sustainability
• Need children to help them when they age
• No insurance or retirement

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Some Harmful Results of Poverty
Lack of access to
Number of people ( of world's population)
Adequate sanitation
2.4 billion (37)
Enough fuel for heating and cooking
2 billion (31)
Electricity
1.6 billion (25)
Clean drinkingwater
1.1 billion (17)
Adequate health care
1.1 billion (17)
Enough food for good health
1.1 billion (17)
Fig. 1-11, p. 14
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Poverty Premature Death
Malnutrition Susceptibility to Disease Lack of
Clean Drinking Water Respiratory Disease from bad
air Soil is depleted nutrients poor
Fig. 1-12, p. 15
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Question 8What are the basic causes of
todays environmental problems, and how are these
causes connected?
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Natural Capital Use, Depletion and Degradation
SOLAR CAPITAL
EARTH
Goods and services
Heat
Human Economic and Cultural Systems
Human Capital
Depletion of nonrenewable resources
Degradation of renewable resources
Natural Capital
Pollution and waste
Recycling and reuse
Fig. 1-9, p. 13
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Environmental Impact formula P x A x T I
Developing Countries
X
X

Consumption per person (affluence, A)
Technological impact per unit of consumption (T)
Environmental impact of population (I)
X
X

Population (P)
X
X

Developed Countries
Fig. 1-13, p. 16
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Connections to Environmental Impact (I)

• P x A x T I
• P Population
• A Affluence
• T Technology use and disposal
• I Impact (Environmental)

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Environmental Interactions
Fig. 1-12 p. 14
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Historical Cultural Changes in Human progress

• Hunter-gatherers only 12,000 years ago. Moved as
  needed
• Agricultural revolution12,000ya
• Industrial-medical revolution 275 years ago
• Information-globalization revolution 50 years
  ago
• Allowed more energy technology to meet needs
• Allowed larger population used more food /
  longer life span
• Increased resource use, pollution environmental
  degradation

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Eras of US Environmental History

• Tribal era
• Frontier era
• European settlement
• Early conservation era
• Alarm at resource use Demand for preservation
• Environmentalism

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Question 10Is our current course sustainable?
What is environmentally sustainable
development?What is your environmental Worldview?
Whats a house if we havent a decent planet to
put it on?
Henry David Thoreau
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What you Dont Know Will Hurt You

• Unknowingly, Americans pay
• 2,500 per year in harmful subsidies
• Another 1,000 in environmental degradation
• Additional health costs
• One of the first totally sustainable green
  corporation
• Reduced solid waste 63
• Reduced gas emission 46
• Lowered energy consumption 28
• Saved gt100 million

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Environmental Extreme Views

• Technological optimists overstate the situation
  by reminding us that technological advances will
  save us all.
• Environmental pessimists overstate the problem
  by stating that our environmental situation is
  hopeless.
• How Would You Vote?

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Environmental LiteracyAvoid the Mental Traps

• Gloom-and-doom pessimism
• Blind technological optimism
• Paralysis by analysis
• Faith in simple, easy answers

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Sustainable Course?Depends on many variables

• Yes and no. Some things are getting better and
  some worse. Dont allow yourself to get trapped
  by technological optimists or environmental
  pessimists
• I have no hope for a conservation based on
  fear Leopold
• Be aware we have made immense progress

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Environmentally-Sustainable Economic Development
Environmental
Fig. 1-13 p. 17
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Be a part of the New Revolution
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Economic Revolution encourage sustainable forms
of economic growth

• Rewards encourage
• Government subsidies
• Tax breaks

• Economic Penalties discourage
• Taxes
• Regulations

Never doubt that a small group of committed
citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the
only thing that ever has!
- Margaret Mead
Accept your ethical responsibility of stewardship
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Components of Environmentally Sustainable
Economic Development
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The Sustainability Dozen
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Unsustainable Practices
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Environmental Change in U.S.

• Public Opinion
• 80 of US public strongly supports environmental
  laws regulations
• Less than 10 view the environment as one of the
  nations most pressing problems
• Public awareness of environmental issues in the
  U. S. has increased since the 1970s, but it has
  slowed recently
• Easy to see problems arent as common
• Sewage leaks / toxic waste
• Complex problems (climate change) are big
  challenge
• Hard to explain complex issues to public gain
  support for long-range solutions

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Groups Against Change

• 3 Major Groups Opposed to Environmental Laws
• Some Corporations Individuals
• See them as a threat to wealth economic growth
• Some Individuals
• See them as a threat to private property rights
  jobs
• Some State Local Govt Officials
• Tired of having to implement Federal Laws w/o
  Federal funding

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Groups for Change

• Most Government Change has been lead by over
  100,000 NGOs (non-government organizations
• Small Grassroots Organizations
• Large International Groups
• Green Peace / Nature Conservancy

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Groups for Change

• NGOs (non-government organizations)
• Monitor environmental activities
• Work to pass strengthen environmental laws
  (lobbying)
• Work with corporations to find solutions to
  environmental problems
• Ex McDonalds Environmental Defense

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Global Sustainability Movement

• The internet is informing connecting a global
  citizenry as people begin collaborating to bring
  about environmental, social, economic change
  from the bottom up
• Nonviolent vs. Militant

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Student Action

• Student groups have had success such as at
  Georgia Tech and Emory with innovative bathrooms
  and lighting

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Environmental Literacy is the keyStudents and
corporations Learn from Nature

• Kindle a sense of awe, wonder, mystery, and
  humility
• Develop a sense of place
• Choose to live more simply and sustainably
• Gandhis principle of enoughness
• Reduce environmental footprint

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Environmentally Literacy Students and
Corporations Can Play Important Environmental
Roles

• Student environmental awareness increasing
• Environmental audits change on campuses
• Capitalism thrives on change and innovation to
  drive technology and profits
• Vote with your wallet!!!
• CEOs and investors see profits by selling green
  products and services

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Environmental Literacy and Problem Solving

• Insist on eco-labeling
• Include harmful eco-costs in price of goods and
  services
• Subsidize environmentally beneficial products and
  activities
• Tax pollution and waste instead of wages and
  profits
• Have GDP include environmental degradation by
  products made
• Sell Services instead of things
• Eco-lease Dont purchase lease

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Remember This
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Companies that are
Friendly http//www.bcorporation.net/community/f
ind-a-b-corp Unfriendly http//www.thedailybeas
t.com/newsweek/galleries/2012/10/22/newsweek-green
-rankings-2012-least-green-companies-with-worst-co
nsumer-perception-photos.htmlintroSlide Both
http//www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/21/n
ewsweek-green-rankings-2011-america-s-10-greenest-
companies.html You will research
two one of each and report
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Whats Your Environmental Worldview?

• Ingenuity and technology will enable us to live
  beyond the sustainable yield, so long as we
  manage it.
• Sustainable practices will help us mangage
  earths systems and we will probably not run out
  of resources if managed
• Resources are limited . We must copy nature and
  learn to use all parts of the resource
  ,encouraging sustainability while discouraging
  unsustainable forms of resource use.

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Comparison of Three Major Environmental
Worldviews or How People Think
Fig. 17-16, p. 424
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Could you possibly be interested in an
Environmental Career?
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Question 10How fast is the human population
increasing?

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World Population

• Exponential growth (1.2)
• Growth has slowed, but still increasing
• 80 million people added annually
• about 7 billion exist currently
• Creates Poverty
• Extinction and biodiversity
• Deforestation / land clearing for crops
  settlement / topsoil erosion / wetland
  destruction
• Climate changes
• Burning fossil fuels clearing forests

Fig. 1-1, p. 1
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Exponential Growth

• A quantity increases by a constant rate of
  increase per unit of time
• Also called Geometric Growth
• Follows a geometric pattern of increase
• 2,4,8,16,32, etc.

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World Population
J curve
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POPULATION GROWTH,ECONOMIC GROWTH, AND ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT (p8) Population growth is slowed but
still growing exponentially
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Rule of 70
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Doubling Time (in years)

Percent growth rate ()
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Lets See If the Rule of 70 Works!

• 10 fixed growth rate.what is doubling time?
• 70/10 7 year doubling time (every 7 years
  population doubles)
• 100 people to start..
• (.10)(100) 10 10 growth
• 110 total of people at end
  of year 1
• (.10)(110) 11
• 121 end of year 2
• (.10)(121) 12
• 133 end of year 3
• (.10)(133) 13
• 146 end of year 4
• (.10)(146) 14
• 160 end of year 5
• (.10)(160) 16
• 176 end of year 6
• (.10)(176) 17
• 193 end of year 7almost
  doubled!

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The earths population is currently 7.1 billion
people. The rate of population growth is 1.2
percent. What is the doubling time? How large
will the earths population be after the doubling
time?

1. 10.2 billion people
2. 13.2 billion people
3. 12.6 billion people

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So What is The Carrying Capacity?

• THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF ORGANISMS A
  LOCAL,REGIONAL,OR GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT CAN SUPPORT
  OVER A SPECIFIED PERIOD.

We do not know earths specific carrying capacity
for humans We do know resources are depleted
and degraded.
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Nonrenewable resources

1. Are fixed in quantity
2. Include solar energy
3. Degrade quickly once they have been extracted
   from the earth
4. Can be exhausted completely

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What is the tragedy of the commons?

1. The depletion of non-renewable resources
2. The degradation of renewable free-access
   resources
3. The seizing of natural resources by government
4. The underuse of resources that could benefit
   needy people

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Which of the following countries has the highest
ecological footprint per capita?

1. India
2. The Netherlands
3. The United States
4. All are about the same

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Because developing nations make up 81 of the
worlds population, they generate most of the
pollution and waste as well as using most of the
worlds resources.

1. True
2. False

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How many people live on the earth?

1. About 7 billion
2. About 2 billion
3. Over 6 billion
4. Over 10 billion

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Most population growth is projected to occur in

1. Developed countries
2. Developing countries