Introduction to Environmental Problems

(Unit 1: Chapter 1)

“No economy based on consumption of physical resources (alone) can grow

indefinitely” – Paul Hawkens

Advanced Environmental Science© by Carol Matthews and N. Kathryn Weatherhead published by Teaching Point

The foundations of the course are built around these themes:

1. Science is a constantly changing process

used to learn about the world.

2. All ecosystems are built around energy

conversions.

3. All life is interconnected.

4. Technology and human population growth

has affected natural systems.

5. Environmental problems have social,

cultural, political, economic and ethical

implications.

6. Human survival depends on building

sustainable systems in which resources are

not used faster than they can be renewed.

3

We live in a world that is increasingly

interconnected through the

globalization of technology, trade,

commerce, culture, resources and

political systems.

Sustainability is living off of

resources without depleting the

Earth’s capital and jeopardizing

future generations.

Resources

Perpetual Nonrenewable

Renewable

Fresh

air

Fresh

water

Forests Biodiversity

Direct

solar

energy

Winds,

tides Fossil

fuels

Metallic

minerals

Non -metallic

minerals

(Fe, Cu, Al)

(clay, sand,

phosphates)

Sustainable yield = highest rate at which renewable resource can be used indefinitely without reducing its available supply

Natural Capital: Natural resources

Ecosystem Services:

nutrient recycling,

climate control,

water purification,

pollution absorption

etc.

How Humans Degrade the environment:

HIPPCO (acronym for factors that can decrease biodiversity)

• Habitat destruction/ fragmentation

• Invasive species

• Pop. growth

• Pollution

• Climate change

• Overexploitation: overharvesting & poaching

Ex. ANWR

Ex. Zebra mussel, kudzu, lionfish

DDT, Lead, Mercury, PCBs

China #1 in population growth, India #2

Global temperature has increased by 1°F

Ex. Bush meat, Rhinos

Tragedy of the Commons

1968 Essay by Garrett Hardin

– Notes that shared resources will inevitably get exploited

▫ “What is common to the greatest number gets the least amount of care”- Aristotle (circa 350)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLirNeu-A8I

Developing Countries Low industrialization, per capita income, standard of living, life expectancy, literacy, & environmental protection Mostly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, Some are moderately developed (middle-income): China, India, Brazil

≈80% of world’s population, Only use ≈12% of the world’s resources

Developed Countries High industrialization, per capita income, standard of living, life expectancy, & literacy US, Canada, Japan, Australia, and most of Europe

≈20% of world’s pop, Use 88% of the world’s resources, Produce 75% of world’s pollution & waste

Countries differ

in their env.

impact

Impact of Affluenza & Poverty

• Affluenza = addiction to overconsumption & materialism

• More money more stuff more waste

*Short & long term harmful costs to health & environment are not factored into price tag

• More money = more technological achievements = improved living & environmental conditions

• ex. LED & CF light bulbs, energy efficient cars & buildings

• “Poverty is the worst polluter.” (Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India)

• 13 of the 15 most polluted metropolitan areas worldwide are in the poorest (developing)

countries of Asia.

Ecological footprint = amount of land & water

needed to provide people with resources and to

absorb & recycle their wastes and pollution

According to some, it would take the land area of ~5 more planet Earths for the rest of

the world to reach current U.S. levels of renewable resource consumption

Environmental Impact Model: IPAT

Deep ecology Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2gZ6FRhc3w

Planetary Management Worldview

• Nature exists to meet our needs • Will not run out of resources because of our ingenuity &

technology

Stewardship Worldview

• Resources should not be wasted

• We should encourage environmentally beneficial forms of economic growth and discourage environmentally harmful growth

Environmental Wisdom Worldview

• Earth’s resources are limited and should not be wasted

• Our success depends on learning how the earth sustains itself and encourage earth-sustaining forms of economic growth and discourage earth-degrading forms

Humans are Living Unsustainably as seen by…

• Air & Water Pollution: Point = single identifiable source, Ex: drainpipe

dumping into river Non-Point = source is dispersed Ex: Nitrate runoff from fields

Human overpopulation world growth rate is 1.18%

Loss of biodiversity (HIPPCO)

Neglecting to include environmental costs of economic goods and services in their market prices

Isolation from nature (*nature deficit disorder = artificial urban

environment + increasing use of personal devices)

Production of immense amounts of waste

Global Warming (alteration of atmospheric gases)

Poor farming techniques (soil erosion, overuse of pesticides, livestock wastes, etc.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eTCZ9L834s

5 Human Impacts on the Environment: Crash Course Ecology #10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdDSRRCKMiI

Pollution: Crash Course Ecology #11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kaeyr5-O2eU

Conservation and Restoration Ecology: Crash Course Ecology #12

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE9KTG9PFho&feature=youtu.be

Bozeman

Ultimate goal Sustainable Society

• Meeting the basic needs of people indefinitely without degrading or depleting the natural capital that supplies the resources.

Maybe we are

heading to a

Sustainability

Revolution

Hunter-gatherer

Agricultural

Industrial/medical

Information- globalization

Sustainability??

Sustainability Strategies/ Environmental Ethics 1. Rely more on renewable energy forms

2. Protect Biodiversity

3. Sustain natural chemical cycles by reducing waste & pollution

4. Don't release pollutants faster than Earth's natural processes can dilute or degrade them

5. Shift to environmentally beneficial government subsidies; tax pollution & waste

6. Slow the rate of population growth by reducing poverty through economic development, elevating the status of women, & encouraging family palnning

7. Priorities for more sustainable use of nonrenewable resources should be: 1.Refuse (least energy intensive), 2.Reduce, 3.Reuse, 4.Recycle (most energy intensive)

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can

change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

– Margaret Mead, Anthropologist

Environmental History- Learning from the Past Hunter-Gatherers

Agricultural Revolution (10,000–12,000 ya)

Frontier Era 1607-1890

Industrial-Medical Revolution (about 275 ya; 1700s)

Globalization Revolution (~50 ya)

Sustainability Revolution next???

Environmental History of the United States Early Conservation Era

– Henry David Thoreau wrote the environmental classic Life

in the Woods (1854)

“In wildness is the preservation of the world.. from the forest

and wilderness come the tonics and barks which brace mankind”.

• George Perkins Marsh published Man and Nature (1864) – presented

studies to show resources must be conserved

• A German biologist, Ernst Haeckel, coined the word ecology – from two Greek words: oikos, meaning "house“ refers to a habitat and logos, meaning word but referring to study.

Invasive Report: 1868 Gypsy Moth (NE U.S.)- released in NE U.S., initially for silk industry,

destroy hardwood trees;

1872 Indian mongoose (Hawaii)- released to control rat population, opportunistic feeders,

believed to eat endangered birds & sea turtles;

1876 Kudzu Vine (SE U.S.) intended to be used for erosion control; outcompetes other species

1935 Cane Toad (Australia)- introduced in an attempt to control the native grey-backed cane

beetle; did not prey on cane beetle, out competed native species

•John Muir: Geologist and naturalist; founded Sierra Club (1892),

Lobbied for a National Park system and helped est. Yosemite

National Park (1872)

• The Lacey Act (1900) law that bans trafficking of illegal wildlife

•Pelican Island, FL 1st wildlife refuge (1902)

•Audobon Society founded to protect birds

•Theodore Roosevelt: (1905) U.S. Forest Service created

with Gifford Pinchot as first chief; (1906) Antiquities Act

protection of areas as national monuments;

Considered to be the best environmental president

•Aldo Leopold founded game management (1920)

ENSO- ”ElNinoSouthernOscillation” irregularly periodical variation in winds and sea

surface temperatures over the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean, affecting much of the

tropics and subtropics. The warming phase is known as El Niño and the cooling phase

as La Niña;results in fishery deterioration off the coast of S. America as well as many

other events (coined in 1920)

President Franklin D. Roosevelt est. Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) –

put 2 million people to work restoring degraded environment; Soil

Conservation Act (1935)

“A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs

of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.”

Ogallala Aquifer (high plains area of the U.S.) over pumped since

the 1940s, down more than 300 feet (90 m) in some areas; Once

depleted, it will take over 6,000 years to replenish naturally

through rainfall.

Green Revolution (1940’s-) food yields increased due to increased

use of fertilizer, better irrigation, & faster growing crops

1962 Rachel

Carson

researched the

effects

of pesticides especially the chlorinated

hydrocarbon DDT

(Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane)

and wrote Silent Spring

1963 Clean Air Act designed to control air pollution on

a national level

The 1970 became known as the Environmental Decade with the 1st major U.S.

environmental legislation establishing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

requires studies & reports on the environmental impact of federally funded projects

Other significant legislation/events in the 1970’s

–Earth Day -Environmental Protection Agency - Endangered Species Act

–Integrated Pest Management- aims to decrease dependence on large inputs of pesticides

–Clean Water Act (CWA) aims to prevent point and nonpoint pollution sources, improve

wastewater treatment, and maintain the integrity of wetlands.

–The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) protects public drinking water supplies throughout the

nation, EPA sets standards for drinking water quality

–CITES (convention on international trade of endangered species) restricts trade in products

manufactured from endangered species

–CAFÉ (corporate average fuel economy) aims to improve the fuel efficiency of automobiles in

the U.S.

–RCRA (resource conservation & recovery act) aims to prevent unsafe disposal of hazardous

wastes

–Creation of Department of Energy task is to reduce the heavy dependence on imported oil

–Love Canal, NY protests occurred when it was discovered a neighborhood & school were built

on a toxic chemical waste site, became a superfund site, cleaned up by 2004

–CERCLA (comprehensive environmental response, compensation, & liability act) & Superfund

Required government to clean up hazardous waste sites like Love Canal in Niagara Falls, NY

–3 Mile Island, PA nuclear reactor partially melted down *most serious accident in the U.S.

The second half of the 20th century also had major

anthropogenic environmental disasters with chemical

releases into the air and water.

•Bhopal India- methyl isocyanate gas leak from Union carbide killed

3,787 people

•Chernobyl, Ukraine catastrophic nuclear accident

•Minimata, Japan- mercury pollution released into the bay that left many

residents with debilitating nervous condition

•Killer Smog in London England due to unregulated coal

fireplaces & smokestacks and a temperature inversion, smog

couldn't rise, finally a breeze blew it away, an estimated 4000

people died (mostly children, elderly, and those w/respiratory illnesses)

•Exxon Valdez Prince William Sound, Alaska spilled 11 to 38 million

US gallons of oil; killed 250,000 seabirds, at least 2,800 sea otters,

300 harbor seals, 247 bald eagles, and 22 orcas

1980’s NIMBY- not in my backyard; resistance for a new development

1983 Chesapeake Bay, Maryland- 1st estuary targeted for restoration &

protection due to rapid loss of wildlife & high levels of nitrogen &

phosphorous

1989 Montreal Protocol treaty designed to phase out ozone depleting

substances

1990 Cape & Trade- allows polluters to buy & sell the right to pollute

1995 Gray wolf reintroduced to Yellowstone; keystone species

1997 Kyoto Protocol treaty that commits to reduce ghg emissions, b/c

(a) global warming exists and (b) man-madeCO2 have caused it.

2010- BP Oil Spill Gulf of Mexico released 200 million barrels of oil

2011 - Fukishima Nuclear Power Plant nuclear meltdown triggered

a tsunami; leaked deadly radiation into the surrounding area

2014 Aral Sea eastern basin dried up due to feeder rivers being diverted for

irrigation

2016 Paris Agreement an

agreement dealing with

greenhouse gases