Environmental Problems,Their Causes, and Sustainability

 Concept 1-1B Living sustainably means living off earth’s natural income without depleting or degrading the natural capital that supplies it... Sustainable Living from Natural Capital

Environmental Problems,

Their Causes, and Sustainability

Chapter 1

Core Case Study: Exponential Growth (1)

 Slow start, rapid increase

 Human population

• 2007 ~ 6.7 billion people

 Projections

• 225,000 people per day

• Add population of U.S < 4 years

• 2050 ~ 9.2 billion people

Core Case Study: Exponential Growth (2)

 Resource consumption, degradation,

Living in an Exponential Age

Industrial revolution

Fig 1-1, p 5

 Understand our environment

 Practice sustainability

1-1 What Is an Environmentally

Sustainable Society?

 Concept 1-1A Our lives and economies

depend on energy from the sun (solar

capital) and natural resources and natural services (natural capital) provided by the earth.

 Concept 1-1B Living sustainably means

living off earth’s natural income without depleting or degrading the natural capital that supplies it.

Studying Connections in Nature

 Environment

 Environmental science

 Ecology

 Environmentalism

Environmental Science

Philosophy and religion Biology

Ethics

Chemistry Ecology

Physics

Geology Geography

Living More Sustainably

 Sustainability – central theme

 Natural capital

• Natural resources

• Natural services

Natural Services

 Functions of nature

• Purification of air, water

• Nutrient cycling

Key Natural Resources and Services

Fig 1-3, p 8

Nutrient Cycling

Dead organic matter

Decomposition

Fig 1-4, p 9

Sustainable Living from Natural Capital

 Environmentally sustainable society

 Financial capital and financial income

 Natural capital and natural income

 Bad news: signs of natural capital depletion

at exponential rates

1-2 How Can Environmentally Sustainable Societies Grow Economically?

 Concept 1-2 Societies can become more

environmentally sustainable through

economic development dedicated to

improving the quality of life for everyone

without degrading the earth’s life-support

systems.

Global Outlook

1.5%

66 years

1-3 How Are Our Ecological Footprints Affecting the Earth?

 Concept 1-3 As our ecological footprints

grow, we are depleting and degrading more

of the earth’s natural capital.

Natural Resources (3)

 Nonrenewable – fixed quantities

• Energy (fossil fuels)

• Metallic minerals

• Nonmetallic minerals

 Recycling

 Reuse

Natural Capital Degradation

Fig 1-6, p 12

Reuse and Recycling

Fig 1-7, p 12

Measuring Environmental Impact

 Ecological footprint

• Biological capacity to replenish resources and adsorb waste and pollution

 Per capita ecological footprint

• Renewable resource use per individual

Ecological Footprint

Fig 1-8, p 13

Total Ecological Footprint (million hectares)

and share of Global Ecological Capacity (%)

Per Capita Ecological Footprint (hectares per person)

Case Study: China

 Rapidly developing country

• Middle-class affluent lifestyles

 World’s leading consumer in:

• Wheat, rice, meat, coal, fertilizers, steel, cement

• Televisions, cell phones, refrigerators

 Future consumption

• 2/3 world grain harvest

• Twice world’s current paper production

• Exceed current global oil production

1-4 What Is Pollution and What Can We

Do about It?

 Concept 1-4 Preventing pollution is more

effective and less costly than cleaning up pollution.

Point Source Air Pollution

Fig 1-9, p 15

Disadvantages of Output Control

1-5 Why Do We Have Environmental

Problems?

 Concept 1-5A Major causes of environmental

problems are population growth, wasteful

and unsustainable resource use, poverty,

excluding the environmental costs of

resource use from the market prices of goods and services, and trying to manage nature

with insufficient knowledge.

 Concept 1-5B People with different

environmental worldviews often disagree

about the seriousness of environmental

problems and what we should do about them.

Causes of Environmental Problems

 Population growth

 Wasteful and unsustainable resource use

 Poverty

 Failure to include environmental costs of

goods and services in market prices

 Too little knowledge of how nature works

Five Basic Causes of Environmental

Problems

Fig 1-10, p 16

Fig 1-10, p 16

Trying to manage nature without knowing enough about it

Population

growth Unsustainable resource use Poverty Excluding environmental

costs from market prices

Fig 1-10, p 16

Stepped Art

Causes of Environmental Problems

Trying to manage nature without knowing enough about it

Excluding environmental costs from market prices

Poverty Unsustainable

resource use Population

growth

Some Harmful Results of Poverty

Fig 1-11, p 16

Number of people (% of world's population)

0.84 billion (13%)

1 billion (15%) 1.1 billion (16%) 1.1 billion (16%)

Adequate health care

Clean drinking

water Electricity

Enough fuel for

heating and cooking

Adequate sanitation facilities

Lack of

access to

Global Connections

Fig 1-12, p 16

Environmental Effects of Affluence

 Harmful effects

• High consumption and waste of resources

• Advertising – more makes you happy

 Beneficial effects

• Concern for environmental quality

• Provide money for environmental causes

• Reduced population growth

Evaluating Full Cost of Resources Use

 Examples

• Clear-cutting + habitat loss

• Commercial fishing + depletion of fish stocks

 Tax breaks

 Subsidies

Case Study: Chattanooga, Tennessee (1)

 1960s

• Dirtiest air in the United States

• Toxic waste in Tennessee River

• High unemployment, crime

 1984

• Vision 2000 – grassroots consensus

Case Study: Chattanooga, Tennessee (2)

 1995

• Zero emission industries, buses

• Low-income renovations, downtown renewal

 Individuals matter!

1-6 What Are Four Scientific Principles

of Sustainability?

 Concept 1-6 Nature has sustained itself for

billions of years by using solar energy,

biodiversity, population regulation, and

nutrient cycling – lessons from nature that

we can apply to our lifestyles and

economies.

Four Scientific Principles of Sustainability

Learning to Live More Sustainably

Fig 1-14, p 20

Increasing resource

use

Sustainability Emphasis Current Emphasis

Pollution prevention

Waste prevention

Protecting habitat

Environmental restoration

Less resource waste

Population stabilization

Protecting natural capital

Animation: Levels of organization

Animation: Two views of economics

Animation: Resources depletion and degradation interaction

Animation: Exponential growth

Animation: Capture-recapture method

Animation: Life history patterns

Video: Cahuachi Excavation

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Video: Easter Island

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