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Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability. Chapter 1. Core Case Study: Living in an Exponential Age. Impact of human exponential growth on Loss of animal and plant species Loss of resources. Exponential Growth.
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Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability Chapter 1
Core Case Study: Living in an Exponential Age • Impact of human exponential growth on • Loss of animal and plant species • Loss of resources
Exponential Growth 1. When you put $100 in an account that earns 6% interest, at the end of the year you will have $106. During that year the $100 is called capital and the $6 in interest is the income. If you keep the money in the same account, after the 2nd year you will have $112.36. After the 3rd year, $119.10. Then $126.25. yeartotalincome(growth) start 100 1st 106 6.00 2nd 112.36 6.36 3rd 119.10 6.74 4th 126.25 7.15
Exponential Growth Notice that even though the interest rate (6%) stays the same, the yearly income of money in the account (growth) increases. Even if the interest rate was .1% the same effect would occur. The income each year would be a little greater than the year before. This increase of income is called exponential growth. Exponential growth happens whenever any quantity increases by a fixed percentage each year. Examples of quantities that are or have grown exponentially are the world’s use of oil, cod harvest in New Foundland, world population and sales of computers.
Rule of 70 Exponential growth usually starts slowly but increases rapidly over time. (See income table.) The amount of time it takes to double the amount of a certain quantity is given by the “rule of 70”: 70/percentage growth rate = doubling time in years. e.g. to double the amount of money in the above account, it would take 70/6 = 11.7 years.
13 12 11 10 9 ? 8 7 Billions of people 6 5 4 3 Industrial revolution 2 Black Death—the Plague 1 0 2–5 million years 8000 6000 4000 2000 2000 2100 Time B. C. A. D. Hunting and gathering Agricultural revolution Industrial revolution Fig. 1-1, p. 5
Environmental Science Is a Study of Connections in Nature (1) • Interdisciplinary science connecting information and ideas from • Natural sciences, with an emphasis on ecology • Social sciences • Humanities
Sustainability Is the Central Theme of This Book • People (and all living things) on earth depend on solar capital and earth capital for life. Solar capital is energy from the sun . Earth capital issoil, water, air and all other natural resourceson earth. • Natural capital: supported by solar capital • Natural resources • Natural services • E.g., nutrient cycling • A sustainable society is one where the community can flourish without hurting future generations by using up too much earth capital.
NATURAL CAPITAL Natural Capital = Natural Resources + Natural Services Solar capital Air Air purification Renewable energy (sun, wind, water flows) Climate control UV protection (ozone layer) Life (biodiversity) Water Population control Water purification Waste treatment Pest control Nonrenewable minerals iron, sand) Land Soil Food production Soil renewal Natural gas Nutrient recycling Oil Coal seam Nonrenewable energy (fossil fuels) Natural resources Natural services Fig. 1-3, p. 8 Fig. 1-3, p. 8
Economic Growth 1. In order to increase a country’s income, a country must increase the amount of goods and services that it provides. Traditionally, to increase goods and services a country must increase the amount of matter and energy it consumes. The flow of matter and energy that is consumed in producing goods and services is called throughput.
GNP vs GDP 2. gross national product is the market value of the goods and services produced by a country inside and outside of it’s borders. The rise and fall of the GNP is a good indicator of economic growth. 3. gross domestic product is the market value of the goods and services produced by a country only within it’s borders.
per capita GNP , PPP 4. per capita GNP is the GNP divided by the population. It’s a good indicator of the wealth of a country and in most cases it is also a measure of the amount of resources consumed and waste produced. 5. Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) a) the cost of a bag of groceries 6. per capita GDP PPP a) how many groceries an average person could buy
Percentage of World's: 18% Population 82% 0.12% Population growth 1.46% 77 years Life expectancy 67 years 85% Wealth and income 15% Resource use 88% 12% 75% Pollution and waste 25% Developed countries Developing countries Fig. 1-5, p. 11
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. • Ecological footprint is the amount of land and water required to provide resources for a country • Per capita ecological footprint leads to a different ranking (compare Switzerland and India)
Resources Resources are classified as perpetual, renewable, and nonrenewable. a) perpetual resources will never run out. e.g. sun, wind, flowing water b) renewable resource can be restored in a short amount of time through natural processes. e.g. trees, fertile soil, animals, groundwater, clean air, clean water c) nonrenewable resources are in a fixed amount e.g. fossil fuels, metals
Renewable Resources • Sustainable yield is the maximum amount of a resource that can be extracted without reducing the supply of that resource. • Environmental degradation occurs if extraction is greater that a resource’s ability to replace itself.
Tragedy of the Commons • Common property resources are either owned by no one or by a group. e.g. grazing land, ocean fish, clean water and clean air, m + m’s
Tragedy of the Commons • The Tragedy of the Commons can occur to a common property resource. If many people share a resource then no one is definitely responsible for its care. If someone lessens their use of it chances are someone else will increase their use. The tragedy is that there is no payoff in limiting one’s use, so most people tend to overuse and the resource is degraded.
Tragedy of the Commons Boston Commons Federal Grazing land and ranchers Solutions
Hegel said ,200 years ago, that tragedy is not the conflict between right and wrong, it is the conflict between right and right,
Degradation of Normally Renewable Natural Resources and Services
Some Resources Are Not Renewable • Nonrenewable resources • Energy resources • Metallic mineral resources • Nonmetallic mineral resources • Reuse • Recycle
Our Ecological Footprints Are Growing • Ecological footprint concept • Biological capacity • Ability of ecosystem to replenish resource and absorb waste • Ecological footprint
Total Ecological Footprint (million hectares) and Share of Global Ecological Capacity (%) Per Capita Ecological Footprint (hectares per person) 2,810 (25%) 9.7 United States United States European Union European Union 4.7 2,160 (19%) China China 1.6 2,050 (18%) India India 780 (7%) 0.8 Japan Japan 4.8 540 (5%) Projected footprint Earth's ecological capacity Number of Earths Ecological footprint Stepped Art Fig. 1-10, p. 15
Case Study: China’s New Affluent Consumers (1) • Leading consumer of various foods and goods • Wheat, rice, and meat • Coal, fertilizers, steel, and cement • Second largest consumer of oil
Case Study: China’s New Affluent Consumers (2) Two-thirds of the most polluted cities are in China Projections, by 2020 Largest consumer and producer of cars World’s leading economy in terms of GDP PPP
Cultural Changes Have Increased Our Ecological Footprints • 12,000 years ago: hunters and gatherers • Three major cultural events • Agricultural revolution • Industrial-medical revolution • Information-globalization revolution
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.
Pollution Comes from a Number of Sources • Sources of pollution • Point • E.g., smokestack • Nonpoint • E.g., pesticides blown into the air, fertilizer runoff • Main type of pollutants • Biodegradable • Nondegradable • Unwanted effects of pollution
We Can Clean Up Pollution or Prevent It • Pollution cleanup (output pollution control) • Pollution prevention (input pollution control)
1-5 Why Do We Have Environmental Problems? (2) • 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 Unsustainable resource use Poverty Excluding environmental costs from market prices Trying to manage nature without knowing enough about it Stepped Art Fig. 1-12, p. 18
Affluence Has Harmful and Beneficial Environmental Effects • Harmful environmental impact due to • High levels of consumption • Unnecessary waste of resources • Affluence can provide funding for • Developing technologies to reduce • Pollution • Environmental degradation • Resource waste
Prices Do Not Include the Value of Natural Capital • Companies do not pay the environmental cost of resource use • Goods and services do not include the harmful environmental costs • Companies receive tax breaks and subsidies • Economy may be stimulated but there may be a degradation of natural capital
Worldviews of the environment 1. Planetary management worldview a. The earth and all other species on earth are here to serve humans b. There is an unlimited supply of resources c. All economic growth is good. 2. Stewardship worldview a. We should manage the earth, responsibly b. Some forms of economic growth are not good. 3. Earth wisdom worldview a. The earth is here to serve all species. b. Earth’s resources are limited.
Case Study: The Environmental Transformation of Chattanooga, TN • Environmental success story: example of building their social capital • 1960: most polluted air in the U.S. • 1984: Vision 2000 • 1995: most goals met • 1993: Revision 2000
