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APES Ch. 1, part 1
This document discusses the fragility and importance of Earth as humanity's home. It describes Earth as alone in space, sustaining life through delicate systems powered by immense energies. Though wayward and unpredictable, Earth nourishes, enlivens and enriches us greatly. The authors argue that given Earth's precious role in supporting all life, it is worth protecting with love and care.
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APES Ch. 1, part 1
- 1. "Alone in space,alone in its life-supporting systems, powered by inconceivable energies, mediating them to us through the most delicate adjustments, wayward, unlikely, unpredictable, but nourishing, enlivening, and enriching in the largest degree -- is this not a precious home for all of us? Is it not worth our love?” Barbara Ward and Rene Dubos
- 2. Class Business Absent students Popsiclestick File folder tab Please get ready for first lecture
- 3. Environmental Problems, Their Causes,and Sustainability Ch. 1 Miller and Spoolman 16th ed.
- 4. Earth, our islandin space, as seen from Apollo 17 in 1972. This image portrayed Earth as a small, fragile, lonely rock in space and helped galvanize many people to care for Earth's environment.
- 5. E is forthe environment
- 6. To aid inyour note taking 1. Your notebook should be interesting to look at Feel free to paste in and color the picture, if you so choose :) Vocabulary is in red Super-important-don’t-miss-this concepts are underlined
- 7. General Overview There are fourmajor themes of your book: Sustainability Human impact Solutions Trade offs The questions we will ask are: How can we maintain or improve the environment and our society? What are we doing to damage these two? What are some ways we can repair and prevent problems? What will we have to sacrifice for the greatest good?
- 8. Sustainability This is thecentral theme of the book and of this course Definition: the ability of the earth’s systems and of human society to survive and adapt to the changing world indefinitely.
- 9. Human Impact Many humanactivities, from farming to fossil fuel use to over-fishing are negatively impacting the planet and are not sustainable at current levels of practice
- 10. Solutions Environmental scientists look forsolutions to these issues, but it is politicians who put them into practice (or not) Complex decisions involving social, economic, moral, ethical, and philosophical views
- 11. Trade-offs Scientists might sayhalt all fishing of tuna or else it will go extinct Economics and culture may demand continued fishing Every decision involves compromises It is important to understand the PROS and CONS of every issue
- 12. The Ultimate Goal Environmental scientists striveto find ways to achieve an environmentally sustainable society Meets the current and future needs of its people Distributes resources in a just manner Does not compromise the ability of future generations to do the same
- 13. Like a bankaccount I have $1 million I invest it in a bank that gives me 10% interest I can live off the interest only - $100,000 I can do this indefinitely If I spend more than this, I will eventually go broke
- 14. The interest islike renewable resources in the environment Carefully manage our resources to live off the renewable resources like plants, water, soil without overspending
- 15. What is theenvironment? Environment - everything that surrounds us Both biotic and abiotic What are the biotic and abiotic components of this environment?
- 16. We are totally dependenton the environment for: Air Water Food Shelter Energy Nutrient cycling We are a part of the environment, not separate from it
- 17. What are we tryingto sustain? Natural capital The resources and services that nature provides to all living things Capital includes: Resources such as water, plants, soil Services such as water purification and nutrient cycling
- 18. It all comesback to the source The ultimate source of all our planet’s resources and the driving force of natural services is THE SUN Provides the energy for water cycle Allows plants to make food Drive wind and ocean currents
- 19. Examples of naturalcapital Resources provided by nature are classified in three ways: Perpetual Renewable Nonrenewable
- 20. Resources A resource isanything we get from the environment to satisfy our needs and desires
- 22. Perpetual resources Renewed continuously Notaffected by human use of them Examples: Sun Wind
- 23. Renewable resources Replenished fairlyquickly through natural processes We must be careful not to use it faster than it can renew itself Examples: Forests (wood) Grasslands (food production) Fisheries (food) Freshwater Fresh air Fertile soil
- 24. Renewable resources Using a resource whilestill giving it enough time to naturally renew itself = sustainable yield When we take too much too quickly, we cause a degradation of the environment Switchgrass grown for biodiesel fuel
- 25. Nonrenewable resources Exist ina limited amount in the Earth Cannot be replenished on a human time scale Examples: Coal, oil, natural gas (energy) Copper, aluminum (metals) Salt, sand
- 26. Think-Pair-Share Think about yourday so far… What resources have you used… What category are they in Perpetual Renewable Nonrenewable
- 27. Reduce, reuse, recycle Peoplehave come up with ways to extend our use of renewable and nonrenewable resources
- 28. Reduce Limit, by lawor societal shift, the amount of resource used Limiting freshwater use Fisheries management
- 29. Reuse Using the sameresource over and over in the same form Glass bottles cleaned and reused Grocery bags good for more than one use
- 30. Recycle Processing waste materials intonew materials Aluminum cans melted and reformed into new products Wetting paper back to pulp and making new products Recycling metals uses much less energy and much less environmental damage than harvesting virgin metals
- 32. Ecological Footprints This isthe amount of productive land and water needed to support your lifestyle and deal with your waste
- 33. If a country’saverage ecological footprint (or the world’s) is greater than the ability of the environment to replenish natural resources, then we move into ecological debt (ecological deficit)
- 34. If all humans livedan average American lifestyle…
- 35. China & Indiaare…a concern Over 1.5 billion people in China Over 1.1 billion people in India Together they have over 700 million middle class - 2x the size of the entire US population
- 36. The middle classgoal - to live better (more like an average American) China is the leading consumer of: Wheat Rice Meat Coal Fertilizer Steel Cement TVs Cell phones Refrigerators Personal computers Oil (2nd after US)
- 37. China is alsoleading in… World’s most polluted cities (66% of them in China)
- 38. Food for Thought… ShouldChina and India be forced (through UN sanctions) to reduce their environmental impact? USA developed…lives the richest lifestyle…was not hampered by any restrictions… USA doesn’t want to restrict itself if China and India won’t…
- 39. Balancing Economic Growthwith Environmental Sustainability Economic growth = an increase in the output of goods and services of a country
- 41. Some vocab Gross domestic product(GDP) - a measurement of economic growth - the market value of all the goods and services produced in a country Per capita GDP = the GDP divided by the population size US GDP by major societal function, 2000
- 42. Money (currency) valuesare different in different countries A certain amount of money in one country may buy more of something than a similar amount of money in another country This is the purchasing power of that currency
- 43. Economic Development Using economic growthto improve the standard of living
- 44. Developed vs. Developing Nations Developed US Canada Japan Australia Italy England France Highlyindustrialized High GDP Developing Most of Africa Most of Asia Most of Latin America China India Brazil Turkey Thailand Mexico Highly agricultural Low GDP What is the difference between these two groups?
- 45. Developing nations 97% ofthe population growth from now to 2050 will occur in these countries More than 1/2 the people in the world live in extreme poverty (less than $2/day; 17% of those on less than $1/day)
Editor's Notes
- #14 $2 million/year you will last 7 years, even with the interest $110,000/year, you will last 18 years, even with the interest