2. Environmental History
In the US – frontier ethic dominates during
1700’s &1800’s
In 1800’s naturalists begin to voice concern
John James Audubon – painted birds and
sparked interest
Henry David Thoreau – writer and naturalist who
lived on Walden pond for 2 years
George Perkins Marsh (1801-1882) – wrote Man
and Nature 1st discussion of humans as agents of
environmental change
3. Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) – 17.4 million acres
of land protected
1872 – Yellowstone NP established world’s first NP
John Muir (1838-1914) est. Yosemite, Sequoia NPs and
Sierra Club
Aldo Leopold (1886-1948) – Naturalist – A sand county
almanac
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) – Silent Spring
Garrett Hardin (1968) – Tragedy of the Commons
Paul Ehrlich (1968) – Population Bomb
6. Top 10: Anthropogenic
Environmental Disasters
1. Bhopal: the Union Carbide gas leak
2. Chernobyl: Russian nuclear power plant explosion
3. Seveso: Italian dioxin crisis
4. The 1952 London smog disaster
5. Major oil spills of the 20th and 21st century
6. The Love Canal chemical waste dump
7. The Baia Mare cyanide spill
8. The European BSE crisis
9. Spanish waste water spill
10. The Three Mile Island near nuclear disaster
http://www.lenntech.com/environmental-disasters.htm
7.
8. Mercury and Minamata
1950’s Japan
Suddenly people develop
acute mercury poisoning –
numbness, muscle
weakness, coma death
Minamata disease – 2,300
officially recognized victims
Chisso corporation
dumping methyl mercury
into local bay
Biomagnification of Hg
through food chain into
people
9. Bhopal disaster (1984, India)
Union Carbide pesticide plant released 42 tonnes
of toxic methyl isocyanate gas 500,000
exposed, 8,000 dead within a week, >16,000
dead since
10. Chernobyl Meltdown
(1986 Ukraine)
Reactor tests conducted
Required shutdown of
safety systems
Cooling system failure
Leading to meltdown
Explosion releasing
radioactive cloud
Permanent evacuation in 30
km radius
Eventual deaths 8,000-
400,000
12. Whaling
Historically hunted for
blubber, whale oil
Now hunted for meat
International Whaling
commission forms in
1946 – moratorium in
1986
Now whaling by Inuits &
Norway & Iceland
(legitimate?) & Japan
(Scientific?)
13. Once we’re awake (aware)
Growth of environmental pressure groups – Greenpeace,
Sea Sheppard
Function locally and globally
Development of Environmental Stewardship
Increased media coverage increased awareness of
issues
14.
15. These events
Help us to establish our environmental
value systems
This is a world view or set of paradigms
that shapes the way an individual or group
perceives and evaluates environmental
issues
Influenced by cultural, religious, economic
and socio-political factors
17. Environmental Values as a system
Input – education, cultural dogma,
religious doctrines, media
Transfers and Transformations –
Processing of information, thinking,
discussion, regurgitation
Outputs – decisions, perspectives, courses
of action
18. Environmental Value Systems
Significant historical influences on the development of the
environmental movement have come from literature, the media,
major environmental disasters, international agreements and
technological developments.
An EVS is a worldview or paradigm that shapes the way an
individual, or group of people, perceives and evaluates
environmental issues, influenced by cultural, religious, economic
and socio-political contexts.
An EVS might be considered as a system in the sense that it may
be influenced by education, experience, culture and media (inputs),
and involves a set of interrelated premises, values and arguments
that can generate consistent decisions and evaluations (outputs).
19. Ecocentric
An ecocentric viewpoint integrates social,
spiritual and environmental dimensions into a
holistic ideal. It puts ecology and nature as
central to humanity and emphasizes a less
materialistic approach to life with greater self-
sufficiency of societies. An ecocentric
viewpoint prioritizes biorights, emphasizes the
importance of education and encourages self-
restraint in human behavior.
20.
21.
22. Anthropocentric
An anthropocentric viewpoint argues
that humans must sustainably manage
the global system. This might be
through the use of taxes, environmental
regulation and legislation. Debate would
be encouraged to reach a consensual,
pragmatic approach to solving
environmental problems.
23. Technocentric
A technocentric viewpoint argues that technological
developments can provide solutions to environmental
problems. This is a consequence of a largely
optimistic view of the role humans can play in
improving the lot of humanity. Scientific research is
encouraged in order to form policies and to
understand how systems can be controlled,
manipulated or changed to solve resource depletion.
A pro-growth agenda is deemed necessary for
society’s improvement.
24.
25.
26. There are extremes at either end
of this spectrum (for example,
deep ecologists–ecocentric to
cornucopian–technocentric), but
in practice, EVSs vary greatly
depending on cultures and time
periods, and they rarely fit simply
or perfectly into any classification.
29. Pick a world view and from that standpoint describe what you see
30. The influence of these philosophies
We will look back to this as we move forward in the
course
Some examples look at US presidents
Carter progressive environmental policy to get us off of
oil
Reagan crushes solar energy industry
Bush 1 reauthorized clean air act but Gulf war was one
of the worst environmental disasters in history
Clinton good – increased preserve area, pollution
standards; bad – NAFTA, subsidizing SUV era of US
automakers
Bush 2 Works to weaken environmental regulations on
businesses – loosening scrubber requ.
Obama Blocks mountain top coal mining
31. Historical Clashes of World views
Native Americans (first nation Americans)
vs. European Pioneers
Buddhist vs. Judeo-christian Societies
Communist vs. capitalist societies
32.
33. Native Americans
Deep respect for the natural world
Thought of themselves as part of it not as lords
over it.
Much of their religion was tied to nature so
spiritual connection as well
Only when the last tree has died
and the last river been poisoned and the last fish
been caught
will we realize we cannot eat money.
~ Cree Indian Proverb ~
34. European Pioneers
Frontier economics
Exploitation of seemingly unlimited resources
Becomes Manifest destiny – expansion not only good
but obvious and certain
How does Chinese Expansion to the west Differ?
35.
36. Justify your personal viewpoint on
environmental issues
Where do you stand on the continuum of
philosophies?
Does it change with the specific issue
For example does your stance on
population control put you in the same
area as your stance on resource
exploitation or sustainable development
We will answer this question again at the
end of the course as well
37. A way of systematically figuring out how
things interact.
1.2
38. What is a system?
“A system is an assemblage of parts and their relationship
forming a functioning unit”*
A system can be made up of living things, non-living
things or mixes of both.
It can be a whole variety of sizes, from cells to cities to
biospheres.
Big systems can be made up of many little systems.
eg. organisms, organ systems, organs, tissues, cells,
organelles……
39. Some examples of systems:
A motorbike
Sydney Cityscape
A Eukaryote cell
Human anatomy
40. Types of System
An open system – exchanges energy and matter with
what is around it. e.g
A closed system – exchanges energy but not matter
with its surroundings e.g.
A isolated system – exchanges neither energy nor
matter with its surroundings.
45. Biosphere 2
Was Biosphere 2 open, closed or isolated? Explain
why?
Why was NASA so interested in what went on at
Biosphere 2?
Have a look for Biosphere 2 what went wrong… what
do you think?
47. Models
• To help understand how systems work we create
models.
• Models are simplified versions of reality that allow us
to understand the impacts of inputs and processes
with a system.
• Allows us to make predictions
49. To make a system diagram there are
some conventions:
All systems have They are represented as:
Storages (of matter or energy) Boxes
Flows (in, thru’ and out) Arrows
- Inputs - Arrow in to the system
- Outputs - Arrow out of the system
Boundaries --------------------------
Processes (transfers or transformations) Label on the arrows eg - Respiration
50.
51.
52.
53. Transfer or transformation?
Predator eating prey
Rain falling and becoming a river
Sun’s heat warming up a person
In a plant sunlight joining with CO2 and water to
become glucose
57. Model Strengths
• Easier to work with than complex reality
• can predict changes by changing inputs without waiting
for real world changes
• can be applied to similar situations
• can help discover patterns
• can visualize very large and very small things
• can experiment without disrupting natural systems
58. Model limitations
• Accuracy lost due to simplifying
• If assumptions are wrong conclusions are wrong
• Predictions may be inaccurate
• May be too simple
• Can be interpreted in different ways
59.
60. The Laws of Thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is about the flow of energy (Thermo
– heat Dynamics - movement.)
The 1st law states:
Energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can
however change from one form to another.
So, the total energy in a system is constant.
Ecosystem : sunlight (photosynthesis) biomass eaten
heat
61. The 2nd law states:
Energy goes from a concentrated form to a dispersed
form e.g. from the sun to dispersed heat
Amount of energy doesn’t change but the amount
available does
Energy holds molecules together so as there is less
energy, there is more disorder
This is called entropy
62.
63. Equilibria - balances
Equilibrium is the tendency of a system to return to an
original state after it gets disturbed.
1. Steady state –
Your body temperature – get ill, recover
64. Equilibria - balances
2. Static – nothing goes in; nothing comes out; the
amount of stuff in the system stays the same.
e.g. a chair…
NB: No ecosystem or living thing.
65. Stable and unstable equilibria
• Stable: even quite a large
disturbance will return to the
‘status quo’.
• Unstable: even a small
disturbance will upset the
balance.
66. • Some stable systems resist change:
• Sometimes the change is so great it moves to a NEW
stable position:
67. Feedback Loops
Feedback is often responsible for keeping or upsetting
balances:
There are 2 types of feedback;
Positive (+ve) feedback
Tends to destabilize equilibrium; pushing a system to a
new state.
Negative (-ve) feedback
Tends to stabilize systems and resist change. It allows self
regulation.
68. Positive feedback
A runaway cycle – often called vicious cycles
A change in a certain direction provides output that further
increases that change
Change leads to increasing change – it accelerates deviation
Example: Global warming
1. Temperature increases Ice caps melt
2. Less Ice cap surface area Less sunlight is reflected away
from earth (albedo)
3. More light hits dark ocean and heat is trapped
4. Further temperature increase Further melting of the ice
69. Negative feedback
One change leads to a result that lessens the original
change
Self regulating method of control leading to the
maintenance of a steady state equilibrium
Predator Prey is a classic Example
Snowshoe hare population increases
More food for Lynx Lynx population increases
Increased predation on hares hare population declines
Less food for Lynx Lynx population declines
Less predation Increase in hare population
73. Complexity and Stability
• As complexity in an ecosystem increases so does the stability in the
system.
• Complex ecosystems have many routes for energy and matter to
travel, changes in one area tend to cause only a small disturbance
(e.g. Tropical Rainforest).
• Simple ecosystems tend to have large disturbances with small
changes (e.g. Tundra).
74. Resilience of Systems
Resilience = The ability of a system to return to its initial
state after a disturbance
• The greater genetic diversity in a population the more
resilient it tends to be
• species able to shift geographical ranges are often more
resilient
• climate influences resilience - cold dry areas are slower
to recover than warm wet areas
• Species with high reproduction rates tend to be more
resilient
• Control over the environment can increase resilience
75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
80. Natural Capital
includes the core and
crust of the earth, the
biosphere itself, the
atmosphere and all
water resources.
81. • Natural Capital is the term used for ‘natural
resources’ which can be exploited to
produce natural income of goods and
services.
• The Natural Income is any sustainable
yield or rate of harvest from the stocks of
resources.
• e.g. trees as timber that can be harvested
and sold for money.
NATURAL CAPITAL and
INCOME
82. 3 categories of Natural Capital
1. Renewable - living species and ecosystems
which can be replaced by natural
productivity (photosynthesis!) as fast as
they are used (e.g. food crops, timber).
2. Replenishable - non-living resources which
are can be continuously restored by
natural processes as fast as they are used
(e.g stratospheric ozone layer,
groundwater).
83. 3. Non-renewable - Resources which cannot
be replenished at the same rate at which
they were used.
Any use of these resources implies
depletion of the stock.
e.g. fossil fuels, minerals.
If these resources are being depleted
we must:
1) improve efficiency of use
2) develop substitutes or
3) recycle
84. • Sustainability is the extent to which a given
interaction with the environment exploits and uses
the NATURAL INCOME without causing long
term deterioration of NATURAL CAPITAL.
• Harvesting renewable or replenishable resources
at a rate that will be replaced by natural growth.
• Long term harvest (or pollution or destruction)
rate must not exceed rate of natural capital
renewal.
• “Living within the means of nature”
• The depletion of essential forms of natural capital
is unsustainable.
91. Environmental Impact
Assessments
Purpose:
To establish the impact of a project on the environment before
implementation
To predict impacts on species, habitats and ecosystems
(model!)
To guide the decision making process
To inform policy
To promote sustainable development
EIAs may be ignored depending on the environmental
values of the government involved. Do the benefits
outweigh the risks? There is also high uncertainty and
speculation in EIAs.
92. Environmental Impact
Assessments
Steps:
Baseline Study – measures environmental factors prior to the
beginning of a proposed project
Habitat type
Species number, diversity, endangered list
Soil quality, pH
Land use – residential, industrial, agricultural
Human population
A poor quality baseline study is
detrimental to the value of the EIA
93. Environmental Impact
Assessments
EIA Components:
Identify impacts
Predict the scale of potential impacts
Limit the effect of potential impacts to acceptable limits
Often a technical (scientific paper) and a non-technical paper
available for the general public to understand
94. EIA Limitations
Bias – source of funding
Data – lack of available, relevant data
Vested Interests – who is the developer? The
person conducting the baseline study?
Uniformity – there are no worldwide standards to
follow
Model – predictions may not always be
correct…other disadvantages of models from Topic
1
95. Ecological footprint
Our impact on the
environment can be
measured using
ecological footprint.
The theoretical
measurement of the
amount of land and water
a population requires to
produce the resources it
consumes and to absorb
its waste under prevailing
technology.
96. Ecological Footprint
Population
More people consume more resources. High growth rates in lower income
countries is the main factor increasing the Ecological Footprint in those areas.
Consumption per Person
Continued economic growth means ever larger economies producing more and
increasingly affluent people consuming more, using more resources and
producing more waste leading to increasing Ecological Footprint.
Resource and Waste Intensity
How efficiently are resources used? Our ability to extract a greater amount of
wealth from the resources we use. (new technologies, energy efficiencies,
renewable energy, reusing and recycling, green design)
97. Biocapacity
Biocapacity is the amount of productive land and sea (measured in hectares
100mx100m) which is available for use.
Two factors affect biocapacity.
1 – The AREA of land/sea available. How much is there?
The land area cultivated by humans is increasing leaving less land in its natural
state. eg rainforests being cut down for palm oil cultivation. This leaves less forest
to absorb our carbon emissions.
2 – The BIOPRODUCTIVITY of that land/sea. Yield?
With careful management land can be cultivated without it being degraded.
Technology can be used to increase yields. High Yield Varieties of crops, GM,
mechanisation, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation.
But it must be noted that tech inputs can increase the ecological footprint due to
increased energy consumption.
98. Ecological Footprint Formula
Amount of
productive land and
sea available in an
area.
This is also known
as biocapacity
Ecological Footprint
Amount of
human
consumption
and waste
production
99. The question is, are we using up resources faster
than the Earth can regenerate them?
Weekly food shop for an
average German family.
$500
102. Ecological Footprint per Country as a Proportion of Global Total
USA high due to high consumption levels, China and India high mainly due to
high populations.
103.
104.
105.
106.
107.
108. Nef 2009
But how are we
doing as a global
population overall?
If we all lived like
the average person
form the USA we
would need 5
Earths.
111. Pollution
• The addition of a substance to the environment by
human activity or through natural means at a greater
rate than it can be rendered harmless by the
environment
• which has an appreciable effect on organisms
Pollution disrupts normal environmental processes and
are considered disagreeable, toxic and/or objectionable
112. Many forms of pollution
• matter - organic or inorganic
• energy - sound, light, heat
• living organisms - invasive species
113. • Primary Pollution - active on emission, can
immediately cause harm.
• Secondary Pollution - primary production that
undergoes a physical or chemical changes after
emission
114.
115.
116. Point source pollution (PS)
vs
Non-point source pollution (NPS)
• Point Source comes from a single clearly identifiable
site
• Non-point source comes from numerous widely
dispersed origins, difficult to detect exact origin.
117.
118. Persistent Organic Pollutants
(POP)
• Often pesticides or industrial products - large
molecules that are fat soluble
• Remain active in the environment for a long time
• Bioaccumulate
• Biomagnify in food chains
119.
120.
121.
122. Monitoring Pollution
• Measured Directly or Indirectly
Direct
• records amount of pollutant in water, air or soil
• e.g. acidity of rain water, nitrates in soil, have metal
concentrations, etc
Indirect
• records changes in abiotic or biotic factors
• e.g. oxygen content of the water, presence or absence of
indicator species
