Environmental Problems,Their Causes, and Sustainability

Chapter 1

Core Case Study: Exponential Growth (1)

� Slow start, rapid increase

� Human population

• 2007 ~ 6.7 billion people

� Projections

• 225,000 people per day

• Add population of U.S. < 4 years

• 2050 ~ 9.2 billion people

Core Case Study: Exponential Growth (2)

� Resource consumption, degradation, depletion

� Possible results

• Huge amount of pollution and wastes

• Disrupt economies

• Loss of species, farm land, water supplies

• Climate change

• Political fallout

Living in an Exponential Age

Fig. 1-1, p. 1

Hunting and gathering

Agricultural revolution

Industrial revolution

Black Death—the Plague

Industrial revolution

Fig. 1-1, p. 5

Solutions

� Understand our environment

� Practice sustainability

1-1 What Is an Environmentally Sustainable Society?

� Concept 1-1A Our lives and economies

depend on energy from the sun (solar capital)

and natural resources and natural services

(natural capital) provided by the earth.

� Concept 1-1B Living sustainably means living

off earth’s natural income without depleting or

degrading the natural capital that supplies it.

Studying Connections in Nature

� Environment

� Environmental science

� Ecology

� Environmentalism

Environmental Science

Philosophyand

religion Biology

Ethics

Chemistry

Ecology

Economics

Politicalscience

Physics

Geology

Geography

Anthropology

Demography

Fig. 1-2, p. 7

Living More Sustainably

� Sustainability – central theme

� Natural capital

• Natural resources

• Natural services

Natural Resources

� Materials

• Perpetual

• Renewable

• Nonrenewable

� Energy

• Solar capital

• Photosynthesis

Natural Services

� Functions of nature

• Purification of air, water

• Nutrient cycling

Key Natural Resources and Services

Fig. 1-3, p. 8

Nutrient Cycling

Deadorganic

Organicmatter inanimals

organicmatter

Organicmatter in

plants

Inorganicmatter in soil

Decomposition

Fig. 1-4, p. 9

Environmental Sustainability

� Trade-offs (compromises)

� Sound science

� Individuals matter

• Ideas

• Technology

• Political pressure

• Economic pressure

Sustainable Living from Natural Capital

� Environmentally sustainable society

� Financial capital and financial income

� Natural capital and natural income

� Bad news: signs of natural capital depletion at

exponential rates

1-2 How Can Environmentally Sustainable Societies Grow Economically?

� Concept 1-2 Societies can become more

environmentally sustainable through economic

development dedicated to improving the quality

of life for everyone without degrading the earth’s

life-support systems.life-support systems.

Economics

� Economic growth

� Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

� Per capita GDP – PPP� Per capita GDP – PPP

� Economic development

� Developed countries

� Developing countries

Global Outlook

Percentage of

World's:

Population

Populationgrowth

18%

77 years

0.1%

Life expectancy

82%

1.5%

66 years

Fig. 1-5, p. 10

Wealth andincome

Resourceuse

Pollutionand waste

85%

15%

88%

12%

75%

25%

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.

Natural Resources (1)

� Perpetual – renewed continuously

• Solar energy

� Renewable – hours to decades

• Water, air

• Forest, grasslands

Natural Resources (2)

� Sustainable yield

• Highest use while maintaining supply

� Environmental degradation

• Exceed natural replacement rate

Natural Resources (3)

� Nonrenewable – fixed quantities

• Energy (fossil fuels)

• Metallic minerals

• Nonmetallic minerals

� Recycling

� Reuse

Natural Capital Degradation

Fig. 1-6, p. 12

Reuse and Recycling

Fig. 1-7, p. 12

Measuring Environmental Impact

� Ecological footprint

• Biological capacity to replenish resources and adsorb waste and pollution

� Per capita ecological footprint� Per capita ecological footprint

• Renewable resource use per individual

Ecological Footprint

Fig. 1-8, p. 13

Projected footprint

Total Ecological Footprint (million hectares) and share of Global Ecological Capacity (%)

Per Capita Ecological Footprint (hectares per person)

Fig. 1-8, p. 13

Stepped Art

Projected footprint

Ecological footprint

Earth’s ecological capacity

Case Study: China

� Rapidly developing country

• Middle-class affluent lifestyles

� World’s leading consumer in:

• Wheat, rice, meat, coal, fertilizers, steel, cement• Wheat, rice, meat, coal, fertilizers, steel, cement

• Televisions, cell phones, refrigerators

� Future consumption

• 2/3 world grain harvest

• Twice world’s current paper production

• Exceed current global oil production

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

� What is pollution?

� Point sources

� Nonpoint sources

� Unwanted effects of pollution

Point Source Air Pollution

Fig. 1-9, p. 15

Solutions to Pollution

� Pollution prevention (input control)

• Front-of-the-pipe

� Pollution cleanup (output control)

• End-of-the-pipe

Disadvantages of Output Control

� Temporary

• Growth in consumption may offset technology

� Moves pollutant from one place to another

• Burial

• Incineration

� Dispersed pollutants costly to clean up

1-5 Why Do We Have Environmental Problems?

� Concept 1-5A Major causes of environmental problems are population growth, wasteful and unsustainable resource use, poverty, excluding the environmental costs of resource use from the market prices of goods and services, and trying to manage nature with insufficient trying to manage nature with insufficient knowledge.

� 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

� Wasteful and unsustainable resource use

� Poverty

� Failure to include environmental costs of goods

and services in market prices

� Too little knowledge of how nature works

Five Basic Causes of Environmental Problems

Fig. 1-10, p. 16

Fig. 1-10, p. 16

Trying to manage nature without knowing enoughabout it

Populationgrowth

Unsustainableresource use

Poverty Excludingenvironmental costs from market prices

Causes of Environmental Problems

Fig. 1-10, p. 16

Stepped Art

Trying to manage nature without knowing enoughabout it

Excludingenvironmental costs from market prices

PovertyUnsustainableresource use

Populationgrowth

Some Harmful Results of Poverty

Number of people(% of world's population)

2 billion (30%)

2 billion (30%)

2.6 billion (39%)

Clean drinking

Electricity

Enough fuel forheating and cooking

Adequatesanitation facilities

Lack ofaccess to

Fig. 1-11, p. 16

0.84 billion (13%)

1 billion (15%)

1.1 billion (16%)

1.1 billion (16%)

Enough foodfor good health

Adequatehousing

Adequatehealth care

Clean drinkingwater

Global Connections

Fig. 1-12, p. 16

Environmental Effects of Affluence

� Harmful effects

• High consumption and waste of resources

• Advertising – more makes you happy

� Beneficial effects

• Concern for environmental quality

• Provide money for environmental causes

• Reduced population growth

Evaluating Full Cost of Resources Use

� Examples

• Clear-cutting + habitat loss

• Commercial fishing + depletion of fish stocks

� Tax breaks

� Subsidies

Environmental Viewpoints

� Environmental worldview

� Environmental ethics

� Planetary management worldview� Planetary management worldview

� Stewardship worldview

� Environmental wisdom worldview

� Social capital

Case Study: Chattanooga, Tennessee (1)

� 1960s

• Dirtiest air in the United States

• Toxic waste in Tennessee River

• High unemployment, crime

� 1984

• Vision 2000 – grassroots consensus

Case Study: Chattanooga, Tennessee (2)

� 1995

• Zero emission industries, buses

• Low-income renovations, downtown renewal

� Individuals matter!

1-6 What Are Four Scientific Principles of Sustainability?

� Concept 1-6 Nature has sustained itself for

billions of years by using solar energy,

biodiversity, population regulation, and nutrient

cycling – lessons from nature that we can apply

to our lifestyles and economies.to our lifestyles and economies.

Four Scientific Principles of Sustainability

Reliance onSolar Energy

Biodiversity

Fig. 1-13, p. 20

Population ControlNutrient Cycling

Learning to Live More Sustainably

Sustainability EmphasisCurrent Emphasis

Pollution prevention

Waste prevention

Protecting habitat

Environmental

Waste disposal(bury or burn)

Pollution cleanup

Protecting species

Environmental

Fig. 1-14, p. 20

Increasing resource use

Environmental restoration

Less resource waste

Population stabilization

Protecting natural capital

Environmentaldegradation

Depleting and degrading natural capital

Population growth

Animation: Levels of organization

Animation: Two views of economics

Animation: Resources depletion and degradation interaction

Animation: Exponential growth

Animation: Capture-recapture method

Animation: Life history patterns

Video: Cahuachi Excavation

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VIDEO

Video: Easter Island

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