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1.1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

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1. Environmental Science is the study of ecosystems interacting with human systems.

2. It is a broad, interdisciplinary science that includes science, math and social studies.

3. Environmental science recognizes that very few ecosystems are not impacted by humans. We share the same resources, use energy, and undergo changes as the environment changes.

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4. ENVIRONMENTAL INTRODUCTION

• These symbols represent aspects of society. Sustainable societies seek to manage growth of the economy, population and resources.

• Sustainability is living off of resources without depleting the Earth’s capital and jeopardizing future generations.

• Exponential human population growth is at the center of all environmental concerns.

• Sustainable yield is the highest rate that a resource can be used indefinitely without reducing its available supply.

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The foundations of the course are built around these themes:

1. Science is a constantly changing process used to learn about the world.

2. All ecosystems are built around energy conversions.

3. All life is interconnected. 4. Technology and human

population growth has affected natural systems.

5. Environmental problems have social, cultural, political, economic and ethical implications.

6. Human survival depends on building sustainable systems.

1. The Wealth Gap is the distance between the GNP of developed and developing countries.

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1.2 WEALTH GAP

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3. The U.S., Japan, and Germany produce more than half of the world’s economic wealth.

2. Developed nation status is based on a per capita GNP of $3,500.

4. GNP - gross national product is the value of all goods and services produced by a country in one year from all national and international business; per capita means divided by population.

5. GDP - gross domestic product measures only what is produced with the country.

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6. Per capita, the U.S., Luxembourg and Switzerland are the richest nations. Cambodia and Mozambique are the poorest, per capita.

7. Developed countries have 1.2 billion people. This is 21% of world’s population, but they use 88% of all natural resources and generate 75% of the pollution.

8. World Growth Rate• is 1.55%, producing

10,250 babies / hr.• In one year, enough

babies are born to fill a city the size of Los Angeles.

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9. Out of 6 billion people, 1/5 live in luxury, 3/5 have a meager existence, and 1/5 are starving.

11.Developing countries • add 1 million people every 4 days - but 27,400

die each day from malnutrition. • use minimal amounts of resources per person,

but their total populations are huge. • do less environmental protection.

10.At least 100 million are permanently homeless.

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12. Earth’s capital is grouped into:

• Renewable resources, such as energy from the sun, wind, tides, trees, grasslands, animals, soil and water can be replenished naturally.

• Nonrenewable resources, such as fossil fuels and minerals, can’t be replaced by natural processes.

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13.Some minerals can be recycled – after melting, shredding, etc.

14.A material is considered reusable if it can be put to another use without altering the product.

15.Sustainability is a relative term. “Every civilization that has ever existed has ultimately collapsed.” – Dr. Henry KissingerDr. Henry Kissinger

USMA

1.3 POLLUTION OVERVIEW

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1. Pollution • is the wasteful use of

resources - Earth’s capital• Unevenly distributed

population and resources increase it.

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• Concentration• Amount• Toxicity• Ability to degrade • Speed at which it is

added.

2. The severity of pollution depends on its:

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3. Biomagnification • is a process that increases the effects of pollution

as it is passed through organisms in the food chain.

• Small amounts of toxic materials are magnified as they are passed along the food web, poisoning larger and larger organisms.

• As biomass increases so does toxicity. • They are directly proportional.

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4. Regulators and legislators at all levels must choose how to get the desired behavior.

6. Regulatory legislators and other officials at all levels basically have 4 choices:

Reward the behaviorPunish the behaviorIgnore the rules orChange the rules

5. All behaviors are maintained, changed or shaped by the consequences of that behavior.

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7. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) • was first established in 1970.• It’s purpose is to monitor and eliminate air and

water pollution, noise pollution, pollution from radiation, pesticides and other toxic chemicals –

• basically to set the rules of environmental behavior.

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8. Carrot vs. the Stick• Carrot Approach - Positive consequences

offering incentives to do the right thing .• Stick Approach - involves regulation and

enforcement.9. About 99% of the money spent on pollution is

for cleanup, but prevention is MUCH cheaper, which means we are not applying either.

10.Best Management Practices (BMP) are a set of strategies for industry, business, agriculture, and the government to act smarter and operate more efficiently.

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11.Pollution in Poland • is one of the most

polluted countries.• Air pollution is 50 times

the legal limit.• The Soviet Union used

Poland as their “backyard dumpsite” and as a resource bank for many years without any thought for its protection.

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1.4 Tragedy of the Commons

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1. Garrett Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons” (1968).

2. In his famous essay, he reviews the tragedy of “fouling our nest.” The problem is not new:

Boston Commons

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3. Aristotle Politics, BookII, Chapter 3 (circa 350 B.C.) “What is common to the greatest number gets the least amount of care. Men pay the most attention to what is their own; they care less for what is common.”

4. H. Scott Gordon (1954) “Everybody’s property is nobody’s property. Wealth that is free for all is valued by none because he who is foolhardy enough to wait for its proper time of use will only find that it has been taken by another.”

1.5 HISTORY OF THE

CONSERVATION MOVEMENT

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1. Land impact increased as hunter-gathering peoples became agricultural societies and then industrialized countries.

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2. Thoreau & The Environment• In the mid 1800s, Thoreau urged

preservation and became a father of the environmental movement.

• “In wildness is the preservation of the world.. from the forest and wilderness come the tonics and barks which brace mankind”

• Epidemics from overcrowding, hazardous working conditions, and water-related infections such as cholera, typhoid fever killed thousands.

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3. President Theodore Roosevelt’s term of office (1901-1909) became the “Golden Age of Conservation”.

4. 1872 Yellowstone National Park established

5. 1892 Sierra Club founded by John Muir, who is also considered a father of environmentalism

6. 1902 Pelican Island, FL - first federal wildlife refuge

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7. 1905 - U.S. Forest Service under Gifford Pinchot

8. 1905 - Audubon Society founded to protect birds

9. 1920 - Aldo Leopold founded game management, later wrote

Sand County Almanac

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10.1962 - Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring”began the modern environmental movement.• Her book told the story of spring

arriving without any insects from overuse of pesticides.

• The other creatures had nothing to eat and died as well as the food chain collapsed.

• The pesticide industry mounted a huge campaign to discredit her. She died of cancer before her book was released without knowing the tremendous impact she would have.

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11. In New York, 300 people died from an air inversion; foam began to appear in rivers from detergents.

12.The Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio caught fire and burned for 8 days!

13.Lake Erie was officially closed to fishing and swimming.

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14.DDT was killing birds and a half dozen other species were near extinction.

15.April 20, 1970 was the first Earth Day, founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson

16.The 1970’s became known as the Environmental Decade.

17.Hundred of environmental laws have been passed, but too many are not enforced

Sen. Gaylord Nelson (right) with William K. Reilly, Earth Day 1990