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Environmental problems and there cause
- 1. Environmental Problems and TheirCauses Population, Resources, Environmental Degradation, and Pollution
- 2. What is The “Environment”? Environment - all external conditions and factors (living and non-living) that affects all organisms
- 3. What is The “Environment”? Two Major Components of the Environment – Biotic - living organisms – Abiotic - non-living (chemicals, energy)
- 4. What is “Environmental Science”? Environmental Science - the study of how we and other species interact with one another and with the abiotic environment of matter and energy
- 5. Sustainable Living Alllife on earth depends on two forms of capital: – Solar Capital - energy from sun – Earth Capital - air, water, soil wildlife, minerals, natural recycling
- 6. Sustainable Living The“Environment” is comprised of solar and earth capital Sustainability - the ability of a system to survive for some specified (finite) time
- 7. Sustainable Living SustainableSociety - a society that manages its economy and population size without depleting earth capital and thereby jeopardizing the prospects of current and future generations of humans and other species
- 8. Sustainable Living SustainableLiving - living off the income without depleting the capital that supplies the income – $1 million capital @ 10% annual interest = $100,000 annual income
- 9. Growth and WealthGap Linear (Arithmetic) Growth - growth in which a quantity increases by a constant amount per unit of time – Example: an automobile accelerates by 1 mph every second
- 10. Growth and WealthGap Exponential (Geometric) Growth - growth in which a quantity increases by a fixed percentage of the whole per unit of time – Example: an automobile doubles its speed very second (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, …)
- 11. Growth and WealthGap Formula for Exponential (Geometric) Growth 2n where n = time
- 12. Growth and WealthGap Doubling Time - the time it takes for a quantity growing exponentially to double – Rule of 70 – Doubling Time = 70 ÷ percentage growth rate
- 13. Growth and WealthGap Example of Doubling Time – Annual global population growth rate = 1.47% – 70/1.47 = 48 years – Population will double in 48 years
- 14. Growth and WealthGap Human Population Growth Global Population Time (yrs) 1 billion 1 million 2 billion 130 3 billion 30 4 billion 15 5 billion 12
- 15. Growth and WealthGap Environmental Impacts of Exponential Human Population Growth – 73% of the habitable area of the earth has been altered by human activities
- 16. Growth and WealthGap Economic Growth – An increase in the ability of an economy to provide goods and services – The increase in the real value of all final goods and services produced by an economy
- 17. Growth and WealthGap Gross National Product - market value in current dollars of all goods and services produced by an economy for final use during a year – Increasing GNP indicates economic growth
- 18. Growth and WealthGap Economic growth achieved by increasing throughput of matter and energy resources used to produced goods and services Increased throughput achieved through population growth and/or increased consumption per person
- 19. Growth and WealthGap Per Capita GNP - GNP divided by total population United Nations Classification of World’s Countries – Developed (MDCs) – Developing (LDCs)
- 20. Growth and WealthGap MDCs – 20% world’s population – Highly industrialized – High per capita GNP (>$4,000) – 85% of world’s wealth – Consume 88% of world’s natural resources
- 21. Growth and WealthGap MDCs – Generate 75% of world’s pollution – U.S., Germany, Japan account for > 50% of world’s economic output
- 22. Growth and WealthGap LDCs – 80% world’s population – Low to moderately industrialized – Low to moderate per capita GNP – 15 to 20% of world’s wealth – Consume 12% of world’s natural resources
- 23. Growth and WealthGap LDCs – Account for 9 of every 10 babies born – Account for 98% of all infant and childhood deaths – 1 million people added every 4 days – 35% of population is under age 15
- 24. Growth and WealthGap Development - change from a society that is rural, agricultural, illiterate, and poor with a rapidly growing urban population to one that is mostly urban, industrial, educated, and wealthy
- 25. Growth and WealthGap The Wealth Gap – Widening gap since 1960 – Environmental Impacts High population growth rates Widespread urbanization Resource depletion Famine (~20 million people annually)
- 26. Resources and Environmental Degradation Resource - anything we get from our environment to meet our needs and wants Classification of Resources – Renewable – Potentially Renewable – Nonrenewable
- 27. Resources and Environmental Degradation Renewable Resource - a resource that is virtually inexhaustible on a human time scale
- 28. Resources and Environmental Degradation Potentially Renewable Resource - a resource that can be replenished fairly rapidly (hours to decades) through natural processes – Sustainable Yield - the highest rate at which a potentially renewable resource can be used without reducing its available supply
- 29. Resources and Environmental Degradation Potentially Renewable Resource - a resource that can be replenished fairly rapidly (hours to decades) through natural processes – Environmental Degradation - depletion or destruction of a potentially renewable resource by using it faster than it is naturally replenished
- 30. Use Renewal Sustainable Yield The Sustainable Yield “Teeter- Totter”
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- 32. Resources and Environmental Degradation Nonrenewable Resource - a resource that exists in a fixed amount in various places in the earth’s crust and has the potential for renewal only by geological, physical, and chemical processes taking place over hundreds of millions to billions of years
- 33. Resources and Environmental Degradation Nonrenewable Resource – Economical Depletion - occurs when the cost of exploiting the resource exceeds it economic value
- 34. Resources and Environmental Degradation Nonrenewable Resource – Options to deal with economical depletion Recycling Reuse Waste less Use less Develop a substitute
- 35. Resources and Environmental Degradation Nonrenewable Resource – Recycling - collecting and processing a resource into new products – Reuse - using a resource over and over in the same form
- 36. Pollution Pollution -an undesirable change in the characteristics of air, water, soil, food that can adversely affect health, survival, and activities of living organisms
- 37. Pollution Sources ofPollution – Point Sources – Non-point Sources
- 38. Pollution Factors Determiningthe Harmfulness of Pollutants – Chemical Nature – Concentration – Persistence
- 39. Pollution Solutions toPollution – Input Pollution Control Pollution prevention strategy based on: – Reduce – Reuse – Recycle
- 40. Pollution Solutions toPollution – Output Pollution Control Pollution cleanup strategy Problems: – Often a temporary bandage – Removes pollutant from one area and transfers it to another area – Often too expensive to reduce pollutants to acceptable levels