Environmental Interrelationships

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Environmental Interrelationships

• Chapter 1

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The Field of Environmental Science

• Environmental Science is interdisciplinary, and
  includes applied and theoretical aspects of human
  impacts on the world.
• A mixture of traditional science, individual and
  societal values, and political awareness.

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Interrelated Nature Environmental Problems

• Environment is everything that affects an
  organism during its lifetime.

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Interrelated Nature Environmental Problems

• Most social and political decisions are made with
  respect to political jurisdictions.
• Environmental problems do not necessarily
  coincide with artificial boundaries.
• 1998 - Forest fires in Mexico affecting air
  quality in Texas.
• Air pollutants from U.S. causing acid rain in
  Canada.

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Interrelated Nature Environmental Problems

• International agencies such as the International
  Joint Commission have major bearing on
  environmental quality over broad regions.
• For Instance
• Boundary Waters Treaty (1909) Established in
  1909, in part, to protect boundary waters between
  the U.S. and Canada.

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Interrelated Nature Environmental Problems

• Agenda 21 - First worldwide meeting of 178 heads
  of state directed towards the environment. It
  took place at the Earth Summit (United Nations
  Conference on Environment and Development) in Rio
  de Janeiro in 1992.
• Most countries have also signed agreements on
  sustainable development and biodiversity.

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Interrelated Nature Environmental Problems

• Kyoto Summit in 1997, representatives from 125
  nations met in Kyoto, Japan for the Third
  Conference of the United Nations Framework
  Convention on Climate Change.
• Kyoto protocol is viewed as one of the most
  important steps to date in environmental
  protection and diplomatic diplomacy.

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• Its important to add that the scientific
  community can advise governments that are
  involved in these summits however they cannot
  insist that the policies be adopted.

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An Ecosystem Approach

• Ecosystem - Region in which the organisms and the
  physical environment form an interacting unit.

The task of an Environmental Scientist is to
recognize and understand natural interactions
that take place, and then integrate these with
the uses humans must make of the natural world.
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A.G. Tansley

• In 1935 he became one of
• the first individuals to provide a formalized,
• contemporary description of ecosystems.
• He emphasized the importance of flows of energy
  and nutrients through communities.

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Regional Environmental Concerns

• Unfortunately, most regions tend to focus on
  specific, local issues that apply directly to
  them.

However many Environmental issues are global, not
regional.
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• Biodiversity is fundamental to human welfare and
  economic development and plays a critical role in
  meeting human needs by maintaining the ecological
  processes upon which our survival depends

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Regions of North America
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Wilderness North

• Much of Alaska and Northern Canada can be
  characterized as wilderness - areas with
  minimal human influence.

Much of this land is owned by governments, thus
governmental policies have a large effect.
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Wilderness North

• These areas have important economic values in
  their trees, animals, scenery, and other natural
  resources.

Resource exploitation involves significant trade
offs as these ecosystems are sensitive to insults
and take a long time to repair damage caused by
exploitation.
Many short-term political and economic decisions
have failed to look at long-term environmental
implications.
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Wilderness North

• Native peoples in this area are sensitive to
  changes in land use or government policy that
  would force changes in traditional ways of life.
• Increasingly sophisticated in negotiations.

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Agricultural Middle

• Middle of North America is dominated by intensive
  agriculture.
• Original, natural ecosystems have been replaced
  by managed agriculture.

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Agricultural Middle

• Tremendous economic value.
• Mostly private land - large economic risks.
• Major non-point pollution source.
• Soil erosion and groundwater contamination.
• Fertilizers and Pesticides

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Dry West

• Characterized by areas where rainfall is
  inadequate for agriculture, but adequate enough
  to allow livestock production.
• Because much of western U.S. is of low economic
  value, most is still
• controlled by the
• U.S. government.
• Encourages use by
• providing cheap
• water for livestock and irrigation, cheap
  grazing fees, and access for industrial
  development.

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Dry West

• As cities grow, conflict arises between urban
  dwellers and ranchers and farmers.
• Increased demand will result in shortages and
  resulting trade-off decisions.
• Low population density areas tend towards
  wilderness character.
• Economic livestock vs. wilderness preservation.

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Forested West

• Coastal and mountainous regions of western United
  States and Canada receive sufficient rainfall to
  allow coniferous forests to dominate the
  landscape.
• Government and commercial timber companies own
  large sections of land.
• Historically, much of this timber has been sold
  at a loss.

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Forested West

• In 1993, USFS was directed to stop below-cost
  timber sales.
• Timber officials claim access to public land is
  necessary to remain in business and support the
  economy conservationists argue ecological and
  intangible values outweigh economic values.
• Northern Spotted Owl has become a symbol of
  conflict between logging and preservation.

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Great Lakes and Industrial Northeast

• Great Lakes and Northeast are dominated by large
  metropolitan complexes with large, complex
  resource demands.
• Many older cities have declined, leaving behind
  abandoned sites and environmental problems.

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Great Lakes and Industrial Northeast

• One of the greatest problems is water
  contamination from toxic materials.
• Bioaccumulation in food chain.
• Fish Advisories

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The Diverse South

• Microcosm of all other regions.
• Extremely rapid population growth in some areas
  such as coastal regions.
• Pockets of extreme poverty.

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