Environmental Studies - Introduction PDF

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Professor: Rob Milne...

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ES101: Environmental Studies - Introduction (ch 1+2) Environment: Everything that affects a living organism ● us and the environment ● animal environment ● the things around you ● natural environment ● biotics ● Diseases ● living and nonliving Ecology: ● the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings. Environmental Studies: ● multidisciplinary academic field which systematically studies human interaction with the environment in the interests of solving complex problems. Environmental science: ● is the science of the interactions between the physical, chemical, and biological components of the environment Environmentalism: Is a social movement dedicated to protecting the earth’s life support systems for us and other species. ● attitude ● Activism ● Beliefs in preserving the environment ● Tree hugging Natural Capital: ● defined as the world's stocks of natural assets which include geology, soil, air, water and all living things. ● Sun, solar energy ● Air, atmosphere ● Land, lithosphere ● Animals, plants - biosphere ● RESOURCES

Environmental goods (sun, air, land, water, living organisms)

Environmental services: refer to qualitative functions of natural non—produced assets of land, water and air (including related ecosystem) and their biota. Consumer or consumption services which provide for physiological as well as recreational and related needs of human beings. (tree circulating air) Services examples provisioning: ● Food ● Fuel ● Fibre ● Fresh water ● Genetic resources Regulating: ● Air quality ● Climate regulation ● Erosion control ● Regulation of human diseases ● Water purification Cultural: ● Spiritual enrichment ● Cognitive development ● Reflection ● Recreation ● Aesthetic experiences The human population is growing rapidly WORLD’S POPULATION!!! Population is growing exponentially at a rate of 1.2% a year ● Economic growth - increase of capacity of a country to provide people with goods & services ● Gross domestic product (GDP) - annual market value of all goods and services within a country ● Per capita GDP - the GDP divided by the total population at midyear ● Economic development ● Developed countries (Canada, US, Japan) ● Developing countries (Africa, Asia, Latin america)

I =P+A+T I - environmental impact

A - affluence (average resource use per person) T - technology (harmful effects of technologies) Globalization: the process of social, economic, and environmental global changes that leads to an increasingly interconnected world. TYPES OF RESOURCES → we obtain resources from the environment to meet our needs and wants ★ Food ★ Water ★ Shelter ★ Manufactured goods ★ Transportation ★ Communication ★ Recreation → renewable, perpetual, or nonrenewable Renewable examples: (renewed continuously) ● Forests ● Animals ● Water ● Soil ● Air Nonrenewable examples: (use exceeds) ● Oil ● Iron ● Groundwater Perpetual resource example: (renewed continuously) ● Solar energy (on the human timescale it is renewed continuously) ● Wind ● Tides

Tragedy of the commons: overuse of common-property or free-access resources clean air, ocean, wildlife, gases, space → upset the balance as one member uses more resources → everyone uses more - collapse of system Carrying capacity - refers to the maximum number of organisms that can be maintained in an area without degrading the environment. ● People ● Animals Sustainability is ability of a system to survive for an extended period of time. Managing our food and forests well will make it last a very long time. Carrying capacity and sustainability are related. A sustainable population of wildlife, or humans, would not overwhelm the carrying capacity of the environment that supports it. Ecological footprint Ecological footprint: amount of biologically productive land and water needed ● To supply each person in a population with renewable resources they use ● Absorb or dispose of wastes from resource use Per capita ecological footprint is the amount of biologically productive land and water needed to supply each person in a population with the renewable resources they use and to absorb or dispose of the wastes from such resource use. Biocapacity: area of land that is available to produce renewable resources and to

absorb wastes. ● Overconsumption ● Pollution ● Overpopulation ● GTA ● Urban and industrial areas ● Point sources: single, identifiable sources (smokestack of coal-burning) ● Nonpoint sources: difficult to identify (pesticides) ● Prevent pollution

The Big 5: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Rapid population growth Unsustainable resource use Poverty Not including the environmental costs of economic goods and services in their market prices 5. Trying to manage and simplify nature with too little knowledge about how it works

→ Being poor is bad for people and the earth.

→ Poverty is a major threat to human health and the environment. → relationship between poverty and environmental problems ● Hurricanes ● Earthquakes ● Volcanic eruptions ● Floods → poor people often have many children as a form of economic security ● Malnutrition ● Health problems ● Lack of access of clean water ● Disease from inhaling pollution Affluenza: unsustainable addiction, overconsumption, “shop till you drop” Affluent countries have more money for improving environmental quality.

➔ Natural systems are primarily based on various forms of solar energy, such as the energy captured by plants during photosynthesis and passed along food

chains ➔ Matter is continuously recycled in natural systems; the wastes of one organism become the resources of another organism ➔ Biodiversity is a thriving consequence of organisms responding to ecological opportunities provided by abundant resources and suitable environments in which to live ➔ Yet natural populations do not rise without limit; there are natural processes of population regulation that adjust populations to the carrying capacity of the environment that supports them...