SUSTAINABILITY AS Environmental Management

WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT?

research and opinions on use and conservation of natural resources, protection of habitats and control of hazards,  without regard to traditional

disciplinary boundaries.

Sustainability- capacity of the earth’s natural systems and human cultural systems to survive, flourish, and adapt to changing environmental conditions into the very long-term future.

GOALS of environmental science AND this class: 1. Learn how nature works 2. Understand how we interact with the environment 3. Find ways to deal with environmental problems and live

more sustainably

Do you think we as (the world, country, individual)

are living sustainably?

3 Principles of Sustainability:

1. Solar Energy 2. Biodiversity 3. Nutrient Cycling (chemical cycling, biogeochemical cycles)

What does it mean to be sustainable?

• Natural Capital- natural resources and services that keep us and other forms of life alive & support our human economies

• Natural Resources- materials & Energy in nature that are essential or useful to humans • Renewable- air, water, soil, wind, plants • Nonrenewable- copper, oil, coal

• Natural Services- processes in nature, such as purification of air & water and renewal of topsoil, which support life & human resources

Natural CAPITAL= Natural RESOURCES + Natural SERVICES

Sustainable yield- highest rate at which we can use a renewable resource indefinitely without reducing it’s available supply.

Reuse & Recycle: 2 ways to live more sustainably

Levels of Sustainability: (average income per person)

MEDC◦More-Economically Developed Country

◦USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Most European Countries

◦19% of the world

LEDC ◦Less-Economically Developed Country

◦Africa, Asia, Latin America mainly ◦Moderate, Middle-income:

China, India, Brazil, Turkey, Thailand, Mexico

◦Least, Low-Income: Congo, Haiti, Nigeria, & Nicaragua

◦88% of the world

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT• The amount of biologically

productive land and water needed

• to provide the people in a particular country or area with an indefinite supply of renewable resources

• And to absorb & recycle the wastes & pollution produced by such resource use.

per capita ecological footprint:

Average ecological footprint of an individual in a given

country or area

1- Calculate your ecological foot print using the worksheet printed from home. 2- fill out your footprint (rough draft) 3- Recreate on colored paper your footprint reduction pledge and tape it outside.

WHAT’S YOUR ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT?