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1-2 How Are Our Ecological

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE 13e Footprints Affecting the Earth?

Concept 1-2 As our ecological

LECTURE 1B : footprints grow, we deplete and
Environmental Problems, degrade more of the earth’s natural
Their Causes, and capital.
Sustainability

Natural Resources Natural Resources

• Perpetual – renewed continuously • Sustainable yield
– Solar energy
–Highest use while maintaining
• Renewable – days to centuries
supply
– Water
– Air • Environmental degradation
– Grasslands –Use exceeds natural replacement
– Forest rate
– Soils
– Fish populations

Tragedy of the Commons

• Environmental degradation of openly
shared renewable resources
• Users focus on their own selfish, short-
term gain
• Works when only a small number of users
• Big part of why humans now live
unsustainably

Fig. 1-4, p. 10

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Ecological Footprint Ecological Footprint (2)

• Ecological footprint
– The amount of biologically productive land
and water needed to indefinitely supply the
people in a given area with renewable
resources
• Per capita ecological footprint
– Average ecological footprint of an individual in
a given area
• Ecological deficit
– Total ecological footprint greater than
biological capacity for resource renewal
and absorption of wastes and pollution
– 2008 study: at least 30% global excess
– 88% for high-income countries
– Humans currently need 1.3 earths

Stepped Art
Fig. 1-5, p. 11 Fig. 1-5, p. 11

Nonrenewable Resources
• Nonrenewable – fixed quantities
–Energy (fossil fuels)
–Metallic minerals
–Nonmetallic minerals
• Recycling
• Reuse

Fig. 1-5, p. 11

2

What Are Our Main
Environmental Problems?
• While there are many environmental
problems, most of them fall into 3 main
categories. They are:
1. Resource Depletion
2. Pollution
3. Extinction
Pollution
• Pollution is the introduction of
something harmful or unwanted into an
ecosystem
• Pollution can wipeout entire ecosystems
and can harm human health.
• Even if the pollution is emitted in areas
where most humans do not go, it can
still harm humans because we eat
plants and animals that are often
affected by pollution.
A Global Perspective
• Because the entire Earth is
connected, what happens in one
part of the planet affects all other
parts of the planet.
– All life on Earth resides in the
biosphere, which is covers
about 8 km above the ground
and 8 km below the ground.
• Consequently, most
environmental problems are
global problems.
• And, most solutions to
environmental problems require
global cooperation.
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Resource Depletion
• A natural resource is anything that
living things use.
• Resources can either be renewable or
nonrenewable.
– Renewable resources are replaced
by nature in a relatively short
period of time.
– Nonrenewable resources are not
replaced by nature in a fast manner
• Examples include oil, coal, gold.
• Presently, humans are using almost all
resources faster than they can be
replaced—even if they are renewable!
Extinction
• Every year, thousands of species are
going extinct.
• Although extinction does happen
naturally, scientists estimate that
extinction is happening about 1000
times faster than normal.
• Most species are becoming extinct
because the areas in which they live
are being destroyed.
The Biosphere
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Developed and Developing Population and Consumption

Countries
• Developed countries are those
countries where the people have
high incomes and high standards
of living.
– Examples include the United
States, England, Sweden and
Canada.
• Developing countries are those
countries where the people have
low incomes and low standards
of living.
– Examples include China,
Ethiopia, Romania and
Mexico.
• The population crisis results from
the fact that the human
population is growing in many
regions faster than the region can
support.
– The population crisis is most severe
in developing countries, which is why
many developing countries often
have major famines.
• This leads to the consumption
crisis which is that humans are
consuming resources faster than
they can be replaced by nature.
– The consumption crisis is the worst
in the developed countries because
they are consuming far more
resources than the larger populations
in the developing countries.

1-3 What Is Pollution and What

Can We Do about It?
• Concept 1-3 Preventing pollution is
more effective and less costly than
cleaning up pollution.

Fig. 1-8, p. 14

1-4 Why Do We Have

Solutions to Pollution
Environmental Problems?
• Pollution prevention • Major causes of environmental
– Prevent pollutants from entering the problems are population growth,
environment
wasteful and unsustainable resource
• Pollution cleanup use, and exclusion of harmful
– After pollutants released into environment
environmental costs from the market
– Temporary fix only
prices of goods and services.
– Often results in different pollution: burning
garbage
– Dispersed pollutants usually too costly to
clean up effectively

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Causes of Environmental
Problems
• Exponential population growth Causes of Environmental Problems
• Wasteful and unsustainable resource
use
• Poverty Population
growth
Unsustainable
resource use
Poverty Excluding
environmental
costs from
• Failure to include environmental costs market prices

of goods and services in market

prices

Fig. 1-9, p. 15

13
12
11
10
9
? 8
Causes of Environmental Problems
7
6
5
4
Population Unsustainable Poverty Excluding
growth resource use environmental 3
costs from Industrial revolution
market prices 2
Black Death—the Plague 1
0
2-5 million 8000 6000 4000 2000 2000 2100
years B.C. A.D.
Hunting Agricultural revolution Industrial
Stepped Art and gathering revolution
Fig. 1-9, p. 15 Fig. 1-1,
Fig. 1-10,p. 1
p. 16

Lack of Number of people

access to (% of world's population)

Adequate 2.5 billion (37%)

sanitation facilities

Enough fuel for

2 billion (29%)
heating and cooking

Electricity 2 billion (29%)

Clean drinking
1.1 billion (16%)
water

Adequate
health care 1 billion (15%)

Adequate 1 billion (15%)

housing

Enough food
0.93 billion (14%)
for good health
Fig. 1-11, p. 16 Fig. 1-12, p. 17

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1-5 How Can we Live More

Sustainably? Three Big Ideas
• We can live more sustainably by
relying more on solar energy,
preserving biodiversity, and not
disrupting the earth’s natural chemical
recycling processes.

Fig. 1-13, p. 17

Three Big Ideas for

TAKE HOME TASK
Sustainability
Objective: At the end of the activity. You should be able to find out the number of
• Rely more on renewable energy from hectares of natural resources in land and sea which you need to sustain your
lifestyle.
the sun
Material:Computer and Internet Connection
• Protect biodiversity Procedure:
- Log on to www.myfootprint.org

• Do not disrupt earth’s natural - Answer the ecological footprint quiz

Kindly print the result of your quiz (ecological foot print quiz , both graph and table view)

chemical cycles and pass it together with the activity sheet. (use short bond paper)

• Answer the question below:

– What is your ecological footprint?

– How many planets does your “footprint” need? Why did you get such results?
– The earth’s biocapacity or total available resources is only about 1.8 hectares per
person. How does your footprint compare with this?