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Environmental Science, Environment, and Society:

An Introduction

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Environment: the total of our surroundings

All the things around us with which we interact:

Living things

Animals, plants, forests, fungi, etc.

Nonliving things

Continents, oceans, clouds, soil, rocks

Our built environment

Buildings, human-created living centers

Social relationships and institutions

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Built Environment

refers to the totality of all that humans have changed or rearranged within the natural environment. (Bartuska and Young, 1996)

refers to the man-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging from the large-scale civic surroundings to the personal places.

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Environment

A general term referring to man's surroundings. It includes the air, water, land and socio-economic conditions in which man or society lives.

The term may also be defined as the sum of all external conditions and influences affecting the life, development and ultimately, the survival of an organism, including man himself.

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Humans exist within the environment

Humans exist within the environment and are part of nature.

Our survival depends on a healthy, functioning planet.

We are part of the natural world.

Our interactions with its other parts matter a great deal.

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Humans and the world around us

Humans change the environment, often in ways not fully understood

Humans depend completely on the environment for survival.

Enriched and longer lives, increased wealth, health, mobility, leisure time

But natural systems have been degraded

Pollution, erosion, and species extinction

Environmental changes threaten long-term health and survival.

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Humans and the world around us

Environmental science is the study of:

How the natural world works

How the environment affects humans and vice versa

With environmental problems come opportunities for solutions.

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Global Human Population Growth

More than 7 billion humans

Why so many humans?

Agricultural Revolution

Stable food supplies

Industrial Revolution

Urbanized society powered by fossil fuels

Sanitation and medicines

More food

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Thomas Malthus and human population:An Essay on the Principle of Population (1789)

Thomas Malthus

Population growth must be restricted, or it will outstrip food production

Starvation, war, disease

Neo-Malthusians

Population growth has disastrous effects

Paul and Anne Ehrlich, The Population Bomb (1968)

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Resource consumption exerts impacts

Garrett Hardins Tragedy of the Commons (1968)

Unregulated exploitation leads to resource depletion

Soil, air, water

Resource users are tempted to increase use until the resource is gone

Solution?

Private ownership?

Voluntary organization to enforce responsible use?

Governmental regulations?

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

The Ecological Footprint

The environmental impact of a person or population

Amount of biologically productive land + water

for raw materials and to dispose/recycle waste

Overshoot: humans have surpassed the Earths capacity

We are using 30% more of the planets resources than are available on a sustainable basis!

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Environmental science: how does the natural world work?

Environment impacts Humans

It has an applied goal: developing solutions to environmental problems

An interdisciplinary fieldNatural sciences: information about the worldSocial sciences: values and human behavior

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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

From Industrial Revolution to Environmental Revolution

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Industrial Revolution

Started in England in 18th century

Substituted machine power for human labor

Industrial - where the central element is technology or invention, as applied to the manufacturing industry

transformation from agricultural to industrial economy

primary concern was simply making production more efficient

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Environmental Revolution in Industry

Three phases:

First phase: Up to the 1960s

voluntary effort to protect the environment from degradation

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Environmental Revolution in Industry

Three phases:

Second phase: 1960s 1980s

characterized by the nearly exponential increase in environmental laws and regulations resulting in companies addressing contamination problems but not preventing the problems from occurring

so-called end-of-pipe method

compliance with the law

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Environmental Revolution in Industry

Three phases:

Sustainable development phase

Sustainable manufacturing via more proactive approaches instead of end-of-pipe treatment

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Brundtland Report

The Brundtland Commission, formally the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), known by the name of its Chair Gro Harlem Brundtland, was convened by the United Nations in 1983.

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Brundtland Report

The Report of the Brundtland Commission, Our Common Future, was published by Oxford University Press in 1987. The Report was welcomed by the General Assembly in its resolution 42/187

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Brundtland Report

The report deals with sustainable development and the change of politics needed for achieving that. The definition of this term in the report is quite well known and often cited:

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Brundtland Report

"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Brundtland Report

It contains within it two key concepts:

the concept of 'needs', in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and

the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs."

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Sustainability

A guiding principle of environmental science

Living within our planets means

The Earth can sustain humans AND other organisms for the future

Leaving our descendants with a rich, full world

Developing solutions that work in the long term

Requires keeping fully functioning ecological systems

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Sustainability

We are increasing our burden on the planet each year.

Population growth, affluence, consumption

Natural capital: the accumulated wealth of Earth

We are withdrawing our planets natural capital 30% faster than it is being produced

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The most prolific evidence of the Industrial Revolutions impact on the modern world can be seen in the worldwide human population growth

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The developed nations are demanding environmental sustainability while the developing nations are arguing that they should be given the chance to catch up socially and economically with the developed world.

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Human prosperity and environmental integrity are closely intertwined because the fulfillment of basic human needsfood, clothing, materials, energyultimately depends upon the availability of natural resources.

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Sustainability is measured by the use or misuse of resources, both material and energy

The central idea is that we should use resources (anything that is useful for creating wealth or improving lives) in ways that do not diminish them.

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In the last fifty years, we gradually rediscovered the importance of protecting vital resources, such as soil, air, water, trees, and other organisms.

What began as a fringe movement in the 1960s has evolved into a mainstream concern, as economists and politicians have gradually recognized that we are depleting fossil fuel resources and pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at an alarming rate.

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The good news is that we are no longer in denial, but the bad news is that we cant seem to break our old habits.

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Early 2000s two authoritative reports appeared, involving hundreds of scientists around the world, which left little doubt about the urgency of the situation.

The International Panel on Climate Change confirmed the rapid increase in global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions, and Al Gore wisely used the cinematic medium to sound a public alarm about the inconvenient truth of climate change.

Less well publicized, but equally significant was the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which confirmed the rapid degradation in ecosystems due to industrialization

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

The most comprehensive scientific assessment of the condition of the worlds ecological systems

Major findings:

Humans have drastically altered ecosystems

These changes have contributed to human well-being and economic development, but at a cost

Environmental degradation could get much worse

Degradation can be reversed, but it requires work

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CURRENT ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

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Population & Consumption

Human population growth exacerbates all environmental problems

The growth rate has slowedbut we still add more than 200,000 people to the planet each day

Our consumption of resources has risen even faster than our population growth.

Life has become more pleasant for us so far

However, rising consumption amplifies the demands we make on our environment.

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Ecological footprints are not all equal

The ecological footprints of countries vary greatly

The U.S. footprint is almost 5 times greater than the worlds average

Developing countries have much smaller footprints than developed countries

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We face challenges in agriculture

Expanded food production led to increased population and consumption

Its one of humanitys greatest achievements, but at an enormous environmental costNearly half of the planets land surface is used for

agricultureChemical fertilizers Pesticides ErosionChanged natural systems

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We face challenges in pollution Waste products and artificial chemicals used

in farms, industries, and households

Each year, millions of people die from pollution

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We face challenges in climate

Scientists have firmly concluded that humans are changing the composition of the atmosphere The Earths surface is warming

Melting glaciers Rising sea levels Impacted wildlife and crops Increasingly destructive weather

Since the Industrial Revolution, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have risen by 37%, to the highest level in 650,000 years

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Global warming is only one of many disturbing trends identified by the scientific community

sea level is rising, fresh water growing scarce, running out of arable land, our disappearing forests, and loss of biodiversity due to changes in natural habitats.

Meanwhile, global population continues to increase.

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

We face challenges in biodiversityHuman actions have driven many species extinct,

and biodiversity is declining dramatically

Biodiversity loss may be our biggest environmental

problem; once a species is extinct, it is gone forever

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PRINCIPLES OF MATTER AND ENERGY

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

MATTER

the material of which things are made

exists in interchangeable physical forms: gases, liquid and solid

neither created nor destroyed but recycled over and over again (under ordinary circumstances) but is recycled over and over again

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The elements in the body have been recycled through many other organisms, over millions of years.

Matter is transformed and combined in different ways but doesnt disappear; everything goes somewhere.

Law of Conservation of Matter

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Matter is recycled endlessly through living things, but this recycling is made possible by something that cannot be recycled: ENERGY

ENERGY is reused but it is degraded from higher quality to lower quality forms as it moves through living systems

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

ENERGY

Energy takes many different forms (heat, light, electricity, chemical energy, etc.)

Energy as the capacity to do work:

Kinetic Energy: energy contained in moving objects

Potential Energy: energy stored that is latent and available for use

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Thermodynamic and Energy Transfers

Thermodynamics

the study of how energy is transferred, its rates of flow and transformation from one form or quality to another

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Thermodynamic and Energy Transfers

FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS: Energy is conserved: it is neither created nor destroyed under normal conditions. It may be transferred or transformed, but the total amount of energy remains the same.

Law of Conservation of Energy

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Thermodynamic and Energy Transfers

SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS - The tendency of all natural systems to go from a state of order toward a state of increasing disorder

Law of Entropy

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There is no loss of total energy, but there is a loss of useful energy.

Example: coal burned in a power plant to produce electrical energy; however, large amounts of useless heat energy are also produced (combustion)

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

All organisms including humans are in the process of converting high quality energy into low-quality energy

Waste heat is produced when chemical bond energy in food is converted into energy needed to move, grow, or respond.

PROCESS IS CALLED RESPIRATION (CELLULAR RESPIRATION)

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An unfortunate consequence of energy conversion is pollution

The heat from energy conversion is a pollutant, the emissions from power plants pollute

Therefore, if we use less energy, there would be less waste (heat) energy, hence less pollution

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Our energy choices will affect our future

The lives we live today are due to fossil fuelsMachines Chemicals Transportation Products

Fossil fuels are a one-time bonanza; supplies will certainly decline

We have used up of the worlds oil supplies; how will we handle this imminent fossil fuel shortage?

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Natural resources: vital to human survival

Renewable resources: Available: sunlight, wind, wave energy Renew themselves over short periods: timber, water, soil

These can be destroyed Nonrenewable resources: can be depleted

Oil, coal, minerals

Natural resources = substances and energy sources needed for survival

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Resources and natural amenities, including wildlife and natural beauty and open space, should be preserved so that future generations can still enjoy them.

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Types of Resources

Nonrenewable resources exist in finite amounts: minerals, iron, fossil fuels, and also groundwater that recharges extremely slowly are all fixed at least on a human time scale

Renewable resources are naturally replenished and recycled at a fairly steady rate: fresh water, living organisms, air, food resources are all renewable

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Types of Resources

Nonrenewable resources can be extended through more efficient use (cars use less steel now, precious metals like gold are mixed with other metals to form alloys to extend their use).

Substitution of materials (renewable in place of the nonrenewable) also reduces the demand for certain resources

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Recycling also extends supplies of nonrenewable resources

The only limit to recycling is the relative costs of extracting new resources compared with collecting used materials

New technology or methods also expand the sources of nonrenewable resources

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Renewable resources can become exhausted if managed badly.

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[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

Will we develop in a sustainable way?

The triple bottom line: sustainable solutions that meetEnvironmental goalsEconomic goalsSocial goals

Requires that humans apply knowledge from the sciences toLimit environmental impacts Maintain functioning ecological systems