Environmental Issues, Their Causes, and Sustainability

1. Environmental Issues, Their Causes, and Sustainability G. Tyler Miller’s Living in the Environment 13th Edition Chapter 1 Dr. Richard Clements Chattanooga State Technical Community College Modified by Charlotte Kirkpatrick 2005

2. Key Concepts • Growth and Sustainability • Resources and Resource Use • Pollution • Causes of Environmental Problems

3. Living More Sustainably • Ecology: Studies relationships between living organisms and their environment. • Environmental Science: interdisciplinary science that helps us to understand how the earth works, how we affect the earth, and how to deal with environmental problems. Refer to Spotlight on p. 3

4. Sustainability Sustainable Society: satisfies the basic needs of its people for food, clean water, clean air, and shelter into the indefinite future without depleting natural resources. Living sustainably: Living off the earth’s natural income and not depleting the earth’s natural capital.

5. Solar and Earth Capital

6. Warm Up #1 1.What does it mean to live sustainably? 2. Are we living off of earth capital or income? 3. Is the human population still growing exponentially? 4. With a growth rate of 2.5% what is the doubling time?

7. Population Growth Fig. 1-2 p. 4 • Linear Growth • ExponentialGrowth • Doubling Time/Rule of 70 Doubling time (years) = 70/% growth rate Ex. 70/1.28=54.7 years See spotlight p. 5

8. World Population Fig. 1-1 p. 2

9. Economic Growth Indicators • Gross National Product (GNP) [also referred to as Gross National Income (GNI)] • Gross Domestic Product (GDP) • Gross World Product (GWP) • Per Capita GNP (also referred as per capita GNI)

10. GNP vs GDP GNP(GNI): Market value in current $ of all goods and services produced by an economy, inside and outside that country, for final use during a year. GDP: Same as GNP except it only includes goods and services produced within a country

11. Purchasing Power Parity PPP:Purchasing Power Parity is another economic measure that more accurately compares standards among countries. GNI PPP: The market value of a countries GNI in terms of what it would buy in the U.S.

12. Per Capita GNI (GNP) Per capita GNI: total GNI divided by the total population at midyear. Provides the average slice of the economic pie per person. Per capita GNI PPP: the GNI PPP divided by the total population midyear. Again a better way to compare people’s econmic welfare among countries.

13. Wealth Gap

14. Economic Development • Economic Development: Improvement of living standards by economic growth • Developed Countries: Highly industrialized with a high GNI PPP (over $10,750 per year in most cases) • Developing Countries: some middle income, moderately developed countries with GNI PPP of $2701- $10750. Others are low income with GNI PPP of <$2701/year [ See fig. 1-3 p. 5]

15. Developed vs. Developing Countries Developed Countries : total population of 1.2 billion people have 85% of world’s wealth and income use 88% of worlds resources and generate 75% of its pollution and waste Developing Countries: total population of 5 billion people have 15% world’s wealth and income use 12% of its resources generate 255 of its pollution and waste

16. MDC’s(developed)vs. LDC’s(developing)

17. Globalization Globalization: global social, economic, and environmental change leading to increasingly integrated world.

18. Indicators of Globalization Economic: Increase in global economy Increase in international trade of goods and services Increase in the number of transnational corporations operating in 3 or more countries Information and Communication Increase innumber of people with internet access (1 in 11 world wide as of 2002)

19. Indicators of Globalization (cont.) Environmental Effects increase in the number of infectious organisms transported across international borders increase in pollutants transferred around the globe leading to widespread ocean pollution, ozone depletion, and climate change

20. Warm Up #2 What is the difference between GNP and GDP? Why is per capita GNP a better economic measure than GNP alone? What is the impact seen on the world by Developed Countries vs. Developing Countries. In your opinion, is globalization a good thing?

21. Resources • Perpetual On a human timescale is continuously renewed • Renewable: (potentially renewable) Replenished on a human time scale if not used up faster than replaced • Non-renewable: On a human timescale they are not renewable, fixed amounts Fig. 1-6 p. 9

22. Renewable Resources • Sustainable Yield: the highest rate at Which a renewable resource can be used indefinitely Without reducing its available supply • Environmental Degradation: When we exceed a resource’s natural replacement rate, the available supply begins to shrink • Tragedy of the Commons: overuse of common property or free-access resources Refer to Connections, p. 11

23. Non-Renewable Resources Economic Depletion Fig. 1-7 p. 10 • Energy Resources • Metallic Resources • Non-MetallicResources

24. Extending nonrenewable supplies Reuse:Using a product in the same form over and over again • Recycle: collecting and reprocessing a product

25. Ecological Footprint: amount of land needed to produce the resources needed by an average person in a country www.redefiningprogress.org www.myfootprint.org Fig. 1-8 p. 10

26. Pollution • What is pollution? Any addition to air, water, soil, or food that threatens the health, survival, or activities of humans or other living organisms • Effects of Pollution Disruption of life-support systems for humans and other species. Damage to wildlife, human health and property. Nuisances such as noise and unpleasant smells, tastes, and sights.

27. Sources of Pollution Point: Where pollutants come from single, identifiable sources • Nonpoint: Where pollutants come from dispersed and difficult to identify sources Which would be easier to control and clean up after?

29. Dealing With Pollution • Prevention (Input Control) Reduces or eliminates the production of the pollutants • Cleanup (Output Control) Cleaning up of pollutants after they have been produced. 3 problems with cleanup: 1. It is only a bandage 2. Often removes pollutant from one part of the environment and cause pollution in another. 3. Too costly

30. Environmental and Resource Problems Fig. 1-10 p. 12 • Major Problems(See Fig. 1-9 p. 12) • Five Root Causes

31. Environmental Impact Fig. 1-11 p. 13

32. Environmental Interactions Fig. 1-12 p. 14

33. Environmental Worldviews • Planetary Management: Humans manage the earth mostly for their needs We are in charge of nature There is always more All economic growth is good Success is determined on how well we understand, manage and control the earth’slife support systems for our benefit • Environmental Wisdom: Complete opposition of planetary management

34. Environmentally-Sustainable Economic Development Social Economic Social Economic Sustainable Solutions Environmental Environmental Decision making in a sustainable society Traditional decision making Fig. 1-13 p. 17