Chapter 1 Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability

Summary and Objectives

(Note: *This is a concept-centered book, with each major chapter section built around one or two key concepts derived from the natural or social sciences. Key questions and concepts are summarized at the beginning of each chapter. You can use this overview as a preview and as a review of the key ideas in each chapter. You may also use the performance objectives as activities to assess student learning.) 1.1 What are the three principles of sustainability? Environmental science is an interdisciplinary study of how humans interact with the living and nonliving parts of their environment. CONCEPT 1-1 Nature has sustained itself for billions of years by relying on solar energy, biodiversity, and nutrient cyclinglessons from nature that we can apply to our lifestyles and economies. The concept of sustainability relies on recognizing the value of natural capital, recognizing that many human activities degrade natural capital, and using scientific information to inform solutions to environmental problems. An environmentally sustainable society is one that meets the needs of its people without compromising the resources available for future generations or the earths health. 1. What are the three principles of sustainability that are key to long-term sustainability of life on this planet? 2. Explain the key components of sustainability. 3. Distinguish between renewable and nonrenewable resources. 4. Distinguish between developed countries and developing countries. 1-2 How are our ecological footprints affecting the earth? Economic growth and development policies must be implemented that will sustain the earths human population and provide for an environmentally sustainable society. Pollution is a fundamental environmental problem resulting from human activities. Commonly shared resources are often overexploited, and it is difficult to find ways to manage these resources. CONCEPT 1-2 As our ecological footprints grow, we are depleting and degrading more of the earth's natural capital. 5. What is environmental degradation? Give specific examples. 6. Explain and give examples of point source pollution and non-point source pollution. 7. What is the Tragedy of the Commons? Give examples of how shared resources are being degraded. 8. Explain the concept of ecological footprints. How does this model demonstrate we are living an unsustainable lifestyle? What does the role of culture play in ecological footprints? 1-3 Why do we have environmental problems? CONCEPT 1-3 Major causes of environmental problems are population growth, wasteful and unsustainable resource use, poverty, and exclusion of environmental costs of resource use from the market prices of goods and services. The lifestyles of many people in developed nations and some emerging nations (China, India) are built upon affluence wealth that results in high levels of consumption and wasted resources. 8. Explain the four major causes of environmental problems. 9. Define exponential population growth. Describe the connection between exponential growth and environmental problems. 10. How does affluence impact the environment? 11. Distinguish among different environmental worldviews. How do environmental ethics contribute to decision making?

Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability

1-4 What is an environmentally sustainable society? Environmentally sustainable societies protect natural capital and live of the resources and services it provides. CONCEPT 1-4 Living sustainably means living off the earth's natural income without depleting or degrading the natural capital that supplies it. Individuals can make a difference in helping their communities become more sustainable. 12. Explain the concept of living sustainably. 13. Why is it critical that we shift to a more sustainable lifestyle?

Key Terms
environment (p. 6) environmental science (p. 6) ecology (p. 6) organisms (p. 6) species (p. 6) ecosystem (p. 6) environmentalism (p. 6) principles of sustainability (p. 6) natural resources (p. 8) natural services (p. 8) resource (p. 9) perpetual resource (p. 9) renewable resource (p. 9) sustainable yield (p. 9) nonrenewable resources (p. 9) reuse (p. 10) recycling (p. 10) economic growth (p. 10) gross domestic product (GDP) (p. 10) per capita GDP (p. 10) economic development (p. 10) more-developed countries (p. 10) less-developed countries (p. 10) environmental degradation (p. 10) natural capital degradation (p. 10) pollution (p.11) point sources (p. 11) nonpoint sources (p. 11) biodegradable pollutants (p. 11) nondegradable pollutants (p. 11) pollution cleanup (p. 11) output pollution control (p. 11) pollution prevention (p. 11) input pollution control (p. 11) ecological footprint (p. 12) per capita ecological footprint (p. 12) ecological tipping point (p. 14) culture (p. 14) sustainability revolution (p. 15) exponential growth (p. 15) affluence (p. 16) poverty (p. 16) environmental worldview (p. 17) environmental ethics (p. 17) Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability planetary management worldview (p. 18) stewardship worldview (p. 18) environmental wisdom worldview (p. 18) environmentally sustainable society (p. 18) natural income (p. 18)

Outline
1-1 What are three principles of sustainability? A. Environmental science examines the complex relationships that connect us to the living and nonliving parts of our environment. It integrates natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Three goals of environmental science: 1. To learn how nature works 2. To understand how we interact with the environment 3. To find ways to deal with environmental problems and live more sustainably. B. Three themes related to the long-term sustainability of life on earth (and central to this book) 1. Reliance on solar energy 2. Biodiversity (biological diversity) 3. Chemical cycling (nutrient cycling) C. Components of Sustainability 1. Natural capital (resources and ecological services) is critical for sustaining life on earth and human economies 2. Many human activities degrade natural capital 3. Environmental scientists seek scientific solutions to environmental problems 4. Searching for solutions often leads to conflicts which result in trade-offs 5. Individuals matter personal choices and local actions have a significant impact D. Understanding Resources 1. Perpetual resources have an essentially continuous supply the sun, for example. 2. Renewable resources can be replenished anywhere from several days to hundreds of years forests, fish populations, etc. 3. Nonrenewable resources exist in a fixed quantity on the earth (or at least are not renewed on human time scales) energy resources, metallic minerals, and nonmetallic minerals. 4. Reusing and recycling nonrenewable resources extends their supplies E. Measuring Economic Growth and Development 1. As the world's population increases, many countries are expanding their economies, which can lead to environmental problems. 2. The UN classifies nations according to GDP (the per capita market value of goods/services produced by businesses operating within the country). The more-developed countries have 20% of the worlds population, while consuming 88% of the world's resources and generating 75% of world's pollution and waste. 1-2 How are our ecological footprints affecting the earth? A. Rising population and increased resource use is resulting in environmental degradation (natural capital degradation). The 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment from the UN reported that human activities have degraded about 60% of the earth's ecosystem services in the past 50 years. B. Pollutants are chemicals at high enough levels in the environment to harm people or other living organisms. 1. Point sources of pollutants are single, identifiable sources; such as automobiles or industrial plants. 2. Nonpoint sources are dispersed, such as pesticides in the air and water run-off; these are difficult to control. 3. Three effects of pollutants are: a. Disrupt or degrade life-support systems of any organism. b. Damage human health, wildlife, and property c. Produce nuisances in noise, smells, tastes, and sights. C. Managing pollution 1. Pollution cleanup (output pollution control): cleaning up pollutants after they have been produced 2. Pollution prevention (input pollution control): reduces or eliminates pollutant production 3. Environmental scientists emphasize prevention more effective, cheaper in the long run D. The Tragedy of the Commons describes the overuse or degradation of common property and open access Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability 3

E.

F.

G.

H.

resources. Most users of an open access resource believe their actions have little impact. Eventually the cumulative effect of a large number of users exhausts the resource. Two major approaches to preserving these resources: 1. Use the shared resource at a rate below sustainable yield (use less, regulate access) 2. Converting the free-access resources to private ownership. Practical for some approaches, but not for resources like the atmosphere and ocean. Ecological footprints are way to model resource consumption and environmental impact of human activity 1. Ecological footprint is the amount of biologically productive land and water needed to provide people in that area with an indefinite supply of renewable resources and to absorb and recycle the wastes and pollution produced by the resource use. 2. Ecological deficits occur when the ecological footprint exceeds the biological capacity of that area to replenish its renewable resources and absorb the resulting waste/pollution 3. The WWF estimates we need 1.3 earths to support the resources currently consumed by the human population. 4. A per capita ecological footprint is an estimate of the earth's renewable resources an individual consumes. It would take five more planet earths for the rest of the world to reach the current US levels of renewable resource consumption. Case Study: China's New Affluent Consumers 1. More than half a billion people are joining the world's middle-class consumers in 20 countries, including China, India, and Brazil. By 2030, the number of middle-class consumers living in lessdeveloped nations will be 1.2 billion. 2. China is rapidly becoming one of the world's leading consumer countries, with a growing ecological footprint to match. China now contains two-thirds of the world's most polluted cities. 3. As China's economy and population continues to grow, they will need a significant portion of or even exceed the world's current food, material, and energy resources to support the population. Tipping Points 1. One significant challenge in dealing with environmental degradation is the time delay between unsustainable use of renewable resources and the resulting harmful effects. Often, an ecological tipping point is reached, causing an irreversible shift in the natural system 2. The three ecological tipping points we now face are: a. collapse of certain fish populations due to overfishing b. premature extinction of many species from overhunting or habitat destruction c. long-term climate disruption due to emissions from the burning of fossil fuels Cultural Changes Have Increased Our Ecological Footprints 1. In the course of human existence (about 200,000 years), three cultural revolutions have significantly changed the way of life for people. Each improved the livelihood of people, allowing them to live longer. However, each revolution also increased resource use, pollution, and environmental degradation. 2. Agricultural revolution occurred 10,000-12,000 years ago: humans learned to grow and breed plants and animals for food, clothing, and other purposes. 3. Industrial-Medical revolution occurred 275 years ago: people invented machines for large-scale production, learned to extract energy from fossil fuels, and grow food in large quantities. Medical advances also allowed people to live longer. 4. Information-Globalization revolution began about 50 years ago, when information and resources began to be shared on a global level. 5. Environmental scientists are calling for a fourth revolution: a Sustainability Revolution to transform our society into one that uses resources more sustainably.

1-3 Why do we have environmental problems? A. Four major causes of environmental problems are: population growth, wasteful and unsustainable resource use, poverty, and failure to include environmental costs in the market prices of goods and services. B. Population Growth 1. Exponential growth in the human population means that we add 80 million people each year to the earth's population. World's population is currently about 6.9 billion; by 2050 there could be 9.3 billion people on the planet. 2. The population growth rate can be slowed by reducing poverty through economic development, Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability 4

promoting family planning, and elevating the status of women. C. Affluence 1. The lifestyles of many consumers are built on affluence growing wealth that results in high consumption and unnecessary waste of resources. 2. Americans are significant contributors to the environmental problems resulting from wealth: According to some ecological footprint calculators, it takes 27 tractor-trailer loads of resources per year to support one American. Some estimates indicate that the US is responsible for almost half the global ecological footprint. 3. Benefits of affluence include: education, as well as technology development to reduce pollution, environmental degradation and resource waste. We also benefit from an abundant, safe food supply and reduction in disease resulting in a longer life-span. D. Poverty 1. 1.4 billion people (1 out of every 5 people on the planet) are unable to fulfill their basic needs for adequate food, water, shelter, health, and education. 2. Decisions made for short-term survival often result in environmental degradation and pollution. 3. Health problems related to pollution and environmental degradation include malnutrition, lack of access to clean water and sanitation, and severe respiratory disease from breathing smoke of open fires or poorly vented stoves. E. Prices 1. Prices of goods and services do not include the environmental costs of their production. F. Environmental Worldviews 1. Your environmental worldview is a set of assumptions and values that reflect how you think the world works and what your role should be. People differ in these values, adding to the difficulty in solving environmental problems. 2. Environmental ethics form an important part of these worldviews: Why should we care about the environment? Should every person be entitled to equal protection from environmental hazards, and others? 3. Planetary Management Worldview sees nature as existing to meet human needs. 4. Stewardship Worldview enlists humans to be responsible stewards of the Earth while seeking its benefits. 5. Environmental Wisdom Worldview holds that humans are part of and dependent on nature and that nature exists for all species. 1-4 What is an environmentally sustainable society? A. Our goal: environmentally sustainable society 1. An environmentally sustainable society meets the current and future basic resource needs of people in a just and equitable manner without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their basic needs 2. To do this, we need to protect our natural capital from depletion or degradation and live on its income the resources (food, clean air/water, etc.) provided by the earth's systems. B. Individuals Matter: What can I do? 1. Scientific evidence that we have between 50-100 years to make a new cultural shift to a more sustainable living. The good news is that it takes 5-10% of a population of a community to make a major change, often in a shorter time than many people think. 2. Rely more on renewable energy from the sun to meet most of our heating and electricity needs. 3. Protect biodiversity and restore areas that have been degraded 4. Sustain chemical cycles by reducing wastes and pollution, not overloading systems with harmful chemicals, and not removing natural chemicals faster than they can be replenished.

Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability

Video Resources
Affluenza. (56 min) 1997 DVD ISBN: 1-59458-132-0 A television special that explores the high social and environmental costs of materialism and overconsumption

http://www.pbs.org/kcts/affluenza/home.html
What's the Economy for, Anyway? (40 min) 2009 DVD ISBN: 1-59458-918-6 Produced by John de Graaf (Affluenza), this film examines compares the U.S. economy with other industrial nations in areas such as fairness, ecological sustainability, and quality of life.

http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/wefa.html
Reinventing the World II A two-part series DVD ISBN: 1-59458-284-X Economics (50 min) 2001 Cultivating Change (50 minutes) 2001 These two films explore issues facing our nation and the world. Economics explores the relationship between our lifestyles and social change. Cultivating Change showcases garden projects that are a catalyst for social change.

http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/rtw2.html
Life series (30 programs; 24 minutes each) 2000 DVD ISBN: 1-59458-633-0 This series of thirty 24-minute programs tackles the issue of globalization and its effect on ordinary people in countries throughout the world.

http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/ls.html
Note: there are now 6 different Life series, exploring quality of life, economics, education, environmental issues and related global issues.

http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/cklife.html
The following News Videos (with accompanying worksheets) are available through Cengage Learning. These videos are great ways to introduce a particular topic, challenge students' assumptions, or spark conversation. Most videos are between 2 and 4 minutes long. Contact your sales representative to obtain a free copy. ABC News Videos Environmental Science in the Headlines, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-495-38543-3 (Edited by Hallie Gardner) Stuff That We Leave Behind A Closer Look: Alaska Adventure Planet Earth 2007 Environmental Science in the Headlines, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-495-56190-3 (Edited by David Perault) A Green Revolution at Wal-Mart? Making the World Greener in San Francisco? BBC News Videos The Brooks/Cole Environmental Science Video Library with Workbook, featuring BBC Motion Gallery Video Clips, 2011. ISBN: 978-0-538-73355-7 (Prepared by David Perault) Jean Suppliers Pollution Plastic Bag Charge Debated Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability 6

Website Resources
Worldometers World statistics updated in real time

http://www.worldometers.info
A fun website to use throughout the course that shows real-time counters based on algorithms and the most current data available from nations and non-governmental organizations around the world. Includes counters for World Population (and the related birth rates, death rates, etc.), as well as Government & Economics (number of cars produced this year), Society & Media (number of cellular phones sold today), Environment, Food, Water, Energy, and other interesting topics. Note: this website is available in a large number of languages. Center for Sustainable Economy: Ecological Footprint Quiz Determine how much nature your lifestyle requires by taking this online Ecological Footprint Quiz. Results can be shared on Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites.

http://www.myfootprint.org/en/ Suggested Answers for Critical Thinking Questions

1. Student answers will vary, depending on their awareness of resource use or the environmental costs of their lifestyle. Environmentally unsustainable components of their lifestyle may include: type of vehicle they drive, wasting electricity (leaving lights on, etc.), wasting water, purchasing bottled water, frequent shopping, not recycling. Applying principles of sustainability: purchasing organic or sustainably generated products could fit in several areas below. Many products now have labels (some as a result of certifications from supervisory agencies, some are made up!) that make identifying these products somewhat easier (but occasionally misleading). Solar Energy: rely less on air conditioners open windows and use fans instead of running air conditioning on milder days; rely less on heater put on a sweater and keep thermostat a few degrees cooler on moderately cool days. Minimize use of materials derived from petroleum Biodiversity: use fewer plastic bags carry your own instead; support efforts to reduce pollution, promote protection of wild lands Chemical Cycling: reduce pollution, purchase organic produce, start your own garden 2. Principles of sustainability involved in the following actions: (a) recycling aluminum cans: solar, chemical cycling (b) using a rake instead of a leaf blower: solar (c) walking or bicycling to class instead of driving: solar, chemical cycling (d) taking your own reusable bags to the grocery store to carry your purchases home: solar, biodiversity, chemical cycling (e) volunteering to help restore a prairie: biodiversity, chemical cycling Student answers will vary. Student answers will vary this is a good question to get them thinking about these issues on a personal level. Feelings of skepticism almost always lead away from habit change if my actions aren't causing the problem, then why stop doing the things I like? Feelings of indifference or helplessness can perpetuate the problems of affluenza if you feel your individual or your community's local actions won't have a positive impact, then why change? Guilt can go either way for some it is paralyzing; for others, motivating. Concern or outrage usually leads to action, whether on the personal, local, or regional level. Some people are outraged enough to pursue environmental science as a career! 7

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Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability

5.

Students' familiarity with these challenges may vary significantly many may be just beginning to grasp the scope of the problem through this course. If they are familiar with an organization supporting these causes, their answers may reflect opportunities for volunteering. Donations, club/campus projects to support communities in developing countries may come to mind. Student answers will vary; encourage them to be as specific as possible about their thinking (or highlighting areas where they are unsure what influences their opinions). Having students articulate their opinions and explain the reasoning behind them is a good exercise at the beginning of the course. What are the basic believes within your environmental worldview? While students' answers will vary, this is a good question to ask at the beginning and again at the end of the course have students' ideas changed or evolved? Have they improved their ability to articulate what they think and offer specific examples to support it? Asking students to reflect if their actions reflect their worldview is a critical component to analyzing individual actions and promoting change in our habits.

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Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability