What is environmental science?

What is environmental science?

Environment

social science

we are altering our environment

Our solar capital is unlimited-perpetual resource.

Our natural capital is limited-some is renewable and some is nonrenewable.

How governments use their capital affects growth; how peoples use their capital affects growth.

sustainable: to use resources in such a way as to meet needs now and provide for needs in the future

sustainable society: meets basic needs-food, clean water, air, soil, and shelter

(you should KNOW this)

Way to estimate population growth

Doubling time is years for population to double its size

Rule of 70: 70/percentage growth rate = doubling time in years

US: 70/0.92 (2005 est.) = 76 years

India: 70/1.4= 50 years

Sweden: 70/.17 = 412 years

Economic growth

Increase in capacity to provide people with goods and services

Population growth (more consumers and producers)

More consumption per capita

Economic growth indices

GNI: gross national income (was GNP: gross national product)

GNI PPP: gross national income in purchasing power parity

GDP: gross domestic product

GWP: gross world product

Per capita GNI (calculated at midyear)

Per capita GNI PPP

Developed countries

US, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, all countries in Europe

Highly industrialized

Per capita GNI PPP > $10,750/year

19% of world population

85% of world’s wealth

Use 88% of world’s resources

Generate 75% of pollution and waste of world

Developing countries

Africa, Asia and Latin American countries

Middle income per capita GNI PPP ~$3-11K

Low income per capita GNI PPP <$3K

81% of population

15% of world wealth

12% of world resources

25% of world pollution and wastes

Increase by 1 million people every 5 days-why?

Anthropogenic changes contribute to global change

73% of habitable land has been disturbed

Gases emitted into atmosphere largely from burning fossil fuels also from other anthropogenic sources have altered climate: global warming at in increased rate

Alterations in climate include shifting arable areas or reduction in arable land

Alteration of precipitation by amount, location, and phase

Alteration of community structure

Sea level rise

globalization

Integrated world view and environmental world change as a function of social and economic forces

Environmental Effects

Global transmission of infectious diseases

Invasive aliens

Global transport of natural and chemical pollutants-air and water

Resources

Anything from environment to meet our needs

Food, water, air, soil, shelter, good, transportation, communication and recreation

3 categories: perpetual, renewable, nonrenewable

Renewable Resources

Replenished within our life time (less than decades, less than 100 years)

Not sustainable if used more rapidly

Forests, grasslands, wild animals, fresh water, fresh air, arable soil

Depletion vs degradation

Highest rate at which it can be used INDEFINITELY without depleting or degrading resource is sustainable yield

Environmental degradation

Urbanization of productive land

Waterlogging or salinization

Deforestation

Aquifer depletion/contamination

Overgrazing grasslands

Reduction of biodiversity

pollution

NONrenewable resources

Fixed quantity

Energy resources: coal, oil, natural gas

Metallic and nonmetallic minerals

What are alternatives once a nonrenewable resource becomes economically depleted?

Costs of extraction and using what is left exceed its economic value.

Find more

Recycle or reuse existing supplies

Waste less; use less

Try to develop substitute

Wait millions of years for more to be made

1. refuse to buy

2. reduce what you buy

3. reuse what you bought

4. recycle what you bought after you have reused it

5. once it hits landfill, recover nonrenewable resources

(Covanta)

Ecological footprint

Amount of land needed to produce resources needed by an average person in a country

It is a way to express environmental impact

Hectare metric = 100 acres

pollution

Any addition to air, water, soil, or food that threatens the health, survival or activities of living organisms

Point sources of pollution emanate pollution from a single, identifiable source

Nonpoint pollution emanates from many possible sources and are dispersed over a large area land or in water or air

Most regulations apply to point pollution sources

Pollution Prevention

Once pollutants have entered water, soil, or air in harmful levels, it is usually too costly to reduce the pollutants to an acceptable level (superfund sites)

The best solutions would be to prevent pollutants from reaching environment or to reduce the amount of pollutants

kAn ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Tragedy of the commons

Degradation of common property or free access resources

Air, water, migratory birds, wildlife species, publicly owned lands, space

Everyone contributes to degradation and no one feels responsible for conservation or restoration

Major Environmental Problems

Air pollution

Water pollution

Food supply problems

Waste production

Loss of biodiversity

Main Causes of Environmental Problems

Rapid 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

Environmental Wisdom Worldview

Nature does not exist for use and we are not in charge.

There is not always more.

Some forms of technology and economic growth are environmentally beneficial. Those that are not should be discouraged.

Our success depends on learning how the earth sustains itself and adapting to that pattern.

Environmentally Sustainable Economic Development

Economic rewards (gov. subsidies, tax incentives, emissions trading) to encourage environmentally beneficial and sustainable forms of economic development

Economic penalties to discourage env harmful economic growth

Shifting the dominant paradigm

From pollution clean up to prevention

From waste disposal to waste prevention

From protecting species to protecting places

From env degradation to env restoration

From increased resource use to more efficient resource use

From population growth to population stabilization by decreasing birth rates

subvert the dominant paradigm

risk

soil

Air

http://i.treehugger.com/images/2007/10/24/india_sewage.jpg

water

http://www.phschool.com/science/planetdiary/archive05/heal1052105.html

http://www.desertaura.com/events/singingwind/plowed1.JPG

populations

global change

http://www.caslab.com/Drinking-Water-Testing/

http://www.sdinet.org/reports/india_crowd.jpg

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/global-warming-ch.jpg

Environment is abiotic and biotic factors that affect a living organism.

ecology

geology

chemistry

http://freethoughts.org/archives/images/voting-thumb.jpg

http://www.janaweb.narod.ru/ecology/ecology_of_russia.jpg

http://www.frankstehno.com/sagemesa/guide/nature/ccgeology/ccgimg/geology.jpg

http://www.naturallycurly.com/images/articles/chemistry.jpg

capitol

http://www.oilism.com/oil/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/oil_rig.jpg

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/worlds/images/sun.jpeg

http://www.physics.mq.edu.au/~lmoore/Hawaii/Rainforest.jpg

protect capital while supporting growth

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Climate_Change_Could_Amplify_Drought_In_East_Indian_Ocean_And_Australasia_999.html

Rule of 70

http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/photos/new_zealand_II/pages/Waitangi%20River%20rapids.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/uk_news/wales/611400.stm

http://www.nfcrc.uci.edu/EnergyTutorial/coal.html

5 r's of waste

http://www.earthday.net/footprint/flash.html