Environmental Science,

Environment, and Society:

An Introduction
Engr. Ruselle Andrew Manalang
Industrial
Industrial Engineering
Engineering Program
Program Faculty
Faculty

1
2
 Environment
• A general term referring to man's
surroundings. It includes the air, water,
land and socio-economic conditions in
which man or society lives.

• The term may also be defined as the sum

of all external conditions and influences
affecting the life, development and
ultimately, the survival of an organism,
including man himself.
[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 3
 Environment: the total of our
surroundings
• All the things around us with which we
interact:
• Living things
• Animals, plants, forests, fungi, etc.
• Nonliving things
• Continents, oceans, clouds, soil, rocks
• Our built environment
• Buildings, human-created living centers
• Social relationships and institutions

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 4

 Built Environment
• refers to the totality of all that humans
have changed or rearranged within the
natural environment. (Bartuska and
Young, 1996)

• refers to the man-made surroundings

that provide the setting for human
activity, ranging from the large-scale
civic surroundings to the personal
places.
[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction
 Humans exist within the
environment
• Humans exist within the environment and are part
of nature.
– Our survival depends on a healthy, functioning planet.

• We are part of the natural world.

– Our interactions with its other parts matter a great deal.

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 6

 Humans and the world around us
• Humans change the environment, often in
ways not fully understood
– Humans depend completely on the environment for
survival.
• Enriched and longer lives, increased wealth, health, mobility,
leisure time
• But natural systems have been degraded
– Pollution, erosion, and species extinction
– Environmental changes threaten long-term health and
survival.

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 7

 Humans and the world around us
• Environmental science is the study of:
–how the natural world works
–how the environment affects
humans and vice versa

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 8

 Environmental science: how does
the natural world work?
Environment  impacts  Humans

• An interdisciplinary
field
–Natural sciences:
information about
the world
–Social sciences:
values and human
behavior

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 9

 Environmental science: how does
the natural world work?
• It has an applied goal: developing solutions
to environmental problems
• To accomplish this goal, two main types of
interactions between humans and their
environment must be taken in
consideration:
– How our actions alter our environment.
– The use of natural resources.

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 10

11
12
 Global Human Population Growth
• More than 7.5 billion humans
- If recent human population
growth rates continue, our
numbers could reach 9.4 billion
by 2050.
• Why so many humans?
– Agricultural Revolution
(18th and early 19th century Europe)
• Stable food supplies
– Industrial Revolution
• Urbanized society powered by
fossil fuels
• Sanitation and medicines
• More food
[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 13
 Thomas Malthus and human population:
“An Essay on the Principle of Population” (1789)

• Thomas Malthus
• reasoned that it would be impossible to
maintain a rapidly multiplying human
population on a finite resource base
• population growth must be restricted, or it will
outstrip food production
• starvation, war, disease

• Neo-Malthusians
• Population growth has disastrous effects
• Paul and Anne Ehrlich, The Population Bomb
(1968)
[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 14
15
 Resource consumption exerts impacts
• Garrett Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons” (1968)
• a problem that occurs when individuals exploit a shared
resource to the extent that demand overwhelms supply
and the resource becomes unavailable to some or all
• Unregulated exploitation leads to resource
depletion
• Soil, air, water
• Resource users are tempted to increase use until
the resource is gone
• Solution?
• Private ownership?
• Voluntary organization to enforce responsible use?
• Governmental regulations?
[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 16
17
 The “Ecological Footprint”
• The environmental impact of a person or
population
– the impact of human activities measured in terms of the
area of biologically productive land and water required
to produce the goods consumed and to assimilate the
wastes generated
• Overshoot: humans have
surpassed the Earth’s
capacity

We are using 30% more of

the planet’s resources
than are available on a
sustainable basis!
[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 18
19
From Industrial Revolution to Environmental Revolution

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

20
 Industrial Revolution
– Started in England in 18th century
– Substituted machine power for human
labor
– “Industrial” - where the central element is
technology or invention, as applied to the
manufacturing industry
– transformation from agricultural to
industrial economy
– primary concern was simply making
production more efficient

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 21

 Environmental Revolution in Industry
• Three phases:
• First phase: Up to the 1960s
– voluntary effort to protect the
environment from degradation

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 22

 Environmental Revolution in Industry
• Three phases:
• Second phase: 1960s – 1980s
– characterized by the nearly exponential
increase in environmental laws and
regulations resulting in companies
addressing contamination problems but
not preventing the problems from
occurring
– so-called end-of-pipe method
– compliance with the law
[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 23
 Environmental Revolution in Industry
• Three phases:
• Sustainable development phase
– Sustainable manufacturing via more
proactive approaches instead of end-of-
pipe treatment

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 24

 Brundtland Report
• The Brundtland Commission, formally
the World Commission on
Environment and Development
(WCED), known by the name of its
Chair Gro Harlem Brundtland, was
convened by the United Nations in
1983.

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 25

 Brundtland Report
• The Report of the Brundtland
Commission, Our Common Future,
was published by Oxford University
Press in 1987. The Report was
welcomed by the General Assembly in
its resolution 42/187

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 26

 Brundtland Report
• The report deals with 
sustainable development and the
change of politics needed for
achieving that. The definition of this
term in the report is quite well known
and often cited:

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 27

 Brundtland Report

"Sustainable development is
development that meets the
needs of the present without
compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their
own needs."

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 28

29
 Brundtland Report
• It contains within it two key concepts:
– the concept of 'needs', in particular the
essential needs of the world's poor, to
which overriding priority should be given;
and
– the idea of limitations imposed by the state
of technology and social organization on
the environment's ability to meet present
and future needs."

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 30

 Sustainability
• A guiding principle of environmental science
• Living within our planet’s means
– The Earth can sustain humans AND other organisms for
the future
– Leaving our descendants with a rich, full world
– Developing solutions that work in the long term
– Requires keeping fully functioning ecological systems

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

 Sustainability
• We are increasing our burden on the planet each
year.
– Population growth, affluence, consumption
• Natural capital: the accumulated wealth of Earth
– We are withdrawing our planet’s natural capital 30%
faster than it is being produced

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

 • The most prolific evidence of the
Industrial Revolution’s impact on the
modern world can be seen in the
worldwide human population growth
– Producing enough food for large
populations has environmental
consequences such as habitat destruction
and pesticide pollution.

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 33

 • The developed nations are demanding
environmental sustainability while the
developing nations are arguing that
they should be given the chance to
catch up socially and economically
with the developed world.

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 34

 • Human prosperity and environmental
integrity are closely intertwined
because the fulfillment of basic human
needs—food, clothing, materials,
energy—ultimately depends upon the
availability of natural resources.

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 35

 • Sustainability is measured by the use
or misuse of resources, both material
and energy
• The central idea is that we should use
resources (anything that is useful for
creating wealth or improving lives) in
ways that do not diminish them.

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 36

 • Early 2000s two authoritative reports appeared,
involving hundreds of scientists around the world,
which left little doubt about the urgency of the
situation.

• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

confirmed the rapid increase in global warming
due to greenhouse gas emissions, and Al Gore
wisely used the cinematic medium to sound a
public alarm about the “inconvenient truth” of
climate change.

• Less well publicized, but equally significant was

the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which
confirmed the rapid degradation in ecosystems
due to industrialization

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 37

 The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
• The most comprehensive scientific assessment
of the condition of the world’s ecological
systems
• Major findings:
• Humans have drastically altered ecosystems
• These changes have contributed to human well-
being and economic development, but at a cost
• Environmental degradation could get much worse
• Degradation can be reversed, but it requires work

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction 38

 Will we develop in a sustainable way?
• The triple bottom line: sustainable solutions that meet
– Environmental goals
– Economic goals
– Social goals

• Requires that humans apply knowledge from the

sciences to
– Limit environmental impacts
– Maintain functioning ecological systems

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

CURRENT ENVIRONMENTAL
ISSUES
 Population & Consumption
• Human population growth exacerbates all
environmental problems
– The growth rate has slowed…but we still add more than
200,000 people to the planet each day
• Our consumption of resources has risen even faster
than our population growth.
– Life has become more pleasant for us so far
– However, rising consumption amplifies the demands we
make on our environment.

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

 Ecological footprints are not all equal
• The ecological footprints of
countries vary greatly
– The U.S. footprint is almost 5
times greater than the world’s
average
– Developing countries have much
smaller footprints than developed
countries

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

 We face challenges in agriculture
• Expanded food production led to increased population
and consumption

• It’s one of humanity’s greatest achievements, but at

an enormous environmental cost
• Nearly half of the planet’s land surface is used for
agriculture
• Chemical fertilizers
• Pesticides
• Erosion
• Changed natural systems

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

 We face challenges in pollution
• Waste products and artificial chemicals used in farms,
industries, and households

Each year, millions of people die from pollution

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

 We face challenges in climate
• Scientists have firmly concluded that humans
are changing the composition of the
atmosphere
• The Earth’s surface is warming
• Melting glaciers
• Rising sea levels
• Impacted wildlife and crops
• Increasingly destructive weather

Since the Industrial Revolution, atmospheric

carbon dioxide concentrations have risen by
37%, to the highest level in 650,000 years
[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction
 • Global warming is only one of many
disturbing trends identified by the scientific
community—
– sea level is rising, fresh water growing
scarce, running out of arable land, our
disappearing forests, and loss of
biodiversity due to changes in natural
habitats.
• Meanwhile, global population continues to
increase.

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

47
48
 We face challenges in biodiversity
• Human actions have driven many species extinct, and
biodiversity is declining dramatically

Biodiversity loss may be our biggest

environmental problem; once a species is extinct,
it is gone forever
[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction
50
PRINCIPLES OF MATTER
AND ENERGY
 MATTER
• the material of which things are made

• exists in interchangeable physical forms:

gases, liquid and solid

• neither created nor destroyed but

recycled over and over again (under
ordinary circumstances) but is recycled
over and over again

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

 • The elements in the body have been
recycled through many other organisms,
over millions of years.
• Matter is transformed and combined in
different ways but doesn’t disappear;
everything goes somewhere.
Law of Conservation of Matter

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

 • Matter is recycled endlessly through
living things, but this recycling is made
possible by something that cannot be
recycled: ENERGY

• ENERGY is reused but it is degraded

from higher quality to lower quality
forms as it moves through living
systems

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

 ENERGY
• Energy takes many different forms (heat,
light, electricity, chemical energy, etc.)

• Energy as the capacity to do work:

– Kinetic Energy: energy contained in moving
objects
– Potential Energy: energy stored that is latent
and available for use

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

 Thermodynamic and Energy Transfers

• Thermodynamics
– the study of how energy is transferred, its
rates of flow and transformation from one
form or quality to another

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

 Thermodynamic and Energy Transfers
• FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS:
Energy is conserved: it is neither
created nor destroyed under normal
conditions. It may be transferred or
transformed, but the total amount of
energy remains the same.

Law of Conservation of Energy

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

 Thermodynamic and Energy Transfers
• SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS -
The tendency of all natural systems to go
from a state of order toward a state of
increasing disorder

Law of Entropy

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

 Thermodynamic and Energy Transfers
• Entropy
• a measurement of the degree of
randomness of energy in a system
• the lower the entropy, the more
ordered and less random it is
• Our enjoyment of life (reduction of
local entropy) comes directly at the
expense of polluting the
environment(increase of total global
entropy).
[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction
 • There is no loss of total energy, but there
is a loss of useful energy.
– Example: coal burned in a power plant to
produce electrical energy; however, large
amounts of useless heat energy are also
produced (combustion)

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

 • All organisms including humans are in
the process of converting high quality
energy into low-quality energy
• Waste heat is produced when chemical
bond energy in food is converted into
energy needed to move, grow, or
respond.
– PROCESS IS CALLED RESPIRATION
(CELLULAR RESPIRATION)

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

 • An unfortunate consequence of energy
conversion is pollution
• The heat from energy conversion is a
pollutant, the emissions from power
plants pollute
• Therefore, if we use less energy, there
would be less waste (heat) energy,
hence less pollution

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

 Our energy choices will
affect our future
• The lives we live today are due to fossil fuels
• Machines
• Chemicals
• Transportation
• Products

• Fossil fuels are a one-time bonanza; supplies will certainly

decline

We have used up ½ of the world’s oil supplies; how will we

handle this imminent fossil fuel shortage?

[1] Environmental Science, Environment, and Society: An Introduction

 /

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!