Chapter 1 Lecture
What is Environmental Science
• We live in both a natural and artificial world
• The artificial are all the things we create to aid us in the natural world
• Where these intersect is often where problems exist
• Pollution, deforestation, wars over oil, etc.
• The environment is made up to two parts:
• The conditions that surround the organism (including humans)
• Social and cultural conditions that affect us
• This is the part that we can manipulate
What is Environmental Science
• Environmental Science is the study of the environment. However, is
includes many disciplines such as:
• Chemistry and Biology
• Engineering
• Sociology and Urban Planning
• Political Science
• The black and white portion of environmental
problems is often simple.
What is • We know how to curb pollution or increase
Environme access to clean drinking water
ntal • The difficult part is changing political, corporate,
and individual behavior
Science • There is the notion of what we should do, what
we can do, and what we actually do
Sustainable Development
• We currently need 1.7 Earths to support us.
• How do we harness and use energy in a way that
mitigates environmental impact?
Major Climate Change
Themes in • CO2 concentrations have gone up 35% over the last
Environmen 200 years
tal Science • By 2100, temperatures could increase 3.5-12
degrees compared to 1900.
• What are the affects of this?
• Things like pollution are improving in this country,
but we have also been deindustrializing at the same
time. What about countries like India?
Population and Resource Consumption
Major • We are approaching 8 billion people.
Topics in • Not all countries grow at the same rate
• Some countries consume far fewer resources (even with
Environme high populations)
ntal • We could stabilize the world’s population
• But there is still the matter of increased resource use
Science
Hunger
• Worldwide, fewer people are hungry today than anytime
in the past
• There are still wide disparities between poor and rich
countries
• Biotech and intensive farming increase yields but also
pollute, etc.
Biodiversity Loss
Major • Many of our actions are decreasing diversity.
Topics in • Some scientists compare this rate of loss to other
major extinction periods
Environme
ntal Energy
Science • Energy use is essential for our survival
• The industrialized world is currently generating
about 80% of energy from fossil fuels
• Cleaner fuels show promise
• China manufactures a lot of solar and other
renewable energy components
• Some countries can eliminate fossil fuels in our
lifetime
Pollution and Environmental Health
Major • Pollution has dramatically increased in countries like
Topics in India and China in recent years
• This is a result of increase in prosperity
Environme • On some days, 75% of smog in California can be
ntal traced to Asia
Science
Water Resources
• Climate change is affecting access to irrigation in
some areas
• 40% of the world’s population live in areas where
demand exceeds supply
• Decreased water availability decreases farming
• This increases migration
From Where Do We Get Notions of the
Environment?
• Although there has been many discussions of resource management in history, the
industrial revolution produced four approaches to the problem:
• Pragmatic Conservation- The 1864 book Man and Nature by George Marsh was
the first book addressing environmental protection in North America
• Influenced by his book, National Forests were established to protect timber
supplies
• This was utilitarian conservation
• It is done because it provides materials and jobs for us.
• How do we get the most benefit from these materials?
From Where Do We Get
Notions of the Environment?
• Ethical and Aesthetic Concerns
• John Muir argued for Biocentric Preservation. Organisms have rights. These values are more important than
utility.
• In 1935 Aldo Leopard wrote about the stewardship of the land because it is the right thing to do.
• Rising Pollution Levels Led to the Modern Environmental Movement
• In the post WWII boom, Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring. The silence was the from the birds and insects
who were affected by the pesticide DDT. This influential book was considered the foundation of Modern
Environmentalism
From Where Do We Get Notions of the
Environment?
• Environmental Quality Tied to Social Progress
• This is the recognition that environmental issues tended to be the domain of
more affluent people who could afford to devote time to this
• However, a clean environment is not just for the rich
• Wangari Maathi’s Green Belt Movement began in Kenya
• This grassroots movement organized mainly rural women
• Among other tasks, they planted over 30 million trees
Sustainable Development
• The world’s poor can be the means of environmental degradation but also it’s victims
• Sustainable Development is meeting our needs without compromising future generations
• There is a large disparity in Quality-of-Life Indicators in the least versus the most developed
countries. For example:
• Gross Domestic Product
• Life Expectancy
• Access to Electricity
• Mortality Rates
Affluence is Both a Goal and
Liability
To be at the top sixth richest, we need to
consume a larger share of resources Apply something like this to China
comparatively.
• The US is about 4.6 of the world’s • On one hand, hundreds of millions of
population people have been lifted out of poverty
• Yet we use 20% of the world’s oil and • Chronic hunger is now uncommon. Life
produce 50% of its toxic waste expectance went from 42 to 76
• Their GDP went from $200 to over
$12,000
• Yet there is not an increased demand to
spend that money on cars, beef, etc
• Coal use has doubled in the last decade.
Is Sustainable Growth Possible?
We should, therefore,
Herman Daly put forth
change our definition
two basic principles of
of prosperity and even
human development:
happiness.
Instead of basing it on
We can’t consume consumerism, we can base
resources faster than they it on an increase in arts,
are produced education, entertainment,
and experiences.
We can’t produce waste
faster than nature can
recycle it
Millennium Development Goals
These were set around 2000 and measured in 2015
They were goals such as improving literacy, health, access to clean water,
etc.
• Many goals were met
• Extreme poverty dropped from close to 50% to 14%
• Primary School enrollment rose from 83% to 91%
• Many goals were NOT met
• There was only a small decrease in the number of people living in slums
• 40% of the world’s population does not have piped water
Core Concepts in
Sustainable Development
• How do we describe Resource Use?
• Throughput- the amount of resources that flow through a system. For example,
lower household consumption equals lower waste
• Ecosystem Services- services or resources provided by environmental systems.
• Production of food by land, purification of water by geology, carbon capturing
etc.
• We don’t consider these because the earth does not charge us for them
In Summary
• You can see that a lot of this chapter did not discuss science directly. It seemed more like
a social science chapter
• Things like access to education and piped water are strongly related to the environment
which is why they receive attention
• For example, if you don’t have access to water for farming you might clear more land
• Staying undeveloped only means that you will burn trees or coal for fuel. We need to
survive first
