APES UNIT ONE

natural capital

natural resources and natural services

natural reasources

natural products you can obtain through an ecosystem (trees, cut, lumber in store)

natural services

functions of that nature (photosynthesis)

• water production

• air purification

• nutrient cycling

• food production

3 types of natural services

regulating services

supporting services

cultural services

regulating services

the benefits that human populations receive from the processes that ecosystems use to regulate their own functions

• pollination of plants

• trees preventing erosion of soil and cleaning air and water

• nutrient cycling by bacteria and fungi

supporting services

how animals help themselves to survive

• photosynthesis

• genetic diversity

cultural services

pleasure/ humans mental benefit/ enjoyment from being in nature

• spiritual enrichment

• recreation

• aesthetic

non-renewable resources

exists in limited amounts in the earth’s crust (geological process is 200 yrs.)

• oil and coal

• metallic minerals (copper & iron)

• non metallic minerals (salt)

recycle prolongs their use

renewable resources

replenished quickly (hours-100s of years)

• perpetual, sustainable yield, environmental degradation

• sun, wind, water flows

perpetual reasources

renewed continuously for as long as humans live

• sun

sustainable yield

rate resources can be used without reducing supply

• cutting trees→replanting

environmental degradation

exceed the rate of use over rate of replacement

• cut trees and don’t replant enough

air: natural services

air purification

climate control

UV protection (ozone layer)

water: natural services

water purification

waste treatment

soil: natural services

soil renewal

life (biodiversity): natural services

population control

pest control

land: natural services

food production

nutrient recycling

private property

individual and company owns land and resources

common property

land owned by large groups of people

• US citizens own 1/3 of USA

• ex. national parks

open access renewable resources

land not owned by anyone but everyone uses

• air, underground aquifers, fishing in open ocean

tragedy of the commons

open access renewable resources: “if i don’t use, someone else will” ex. fishing

pollution: “if i only pollute a little bit, it’s no big deal” ex. gum wrapper*population of earth

systems

set components that function or interact in some way

• human body, river, earth

has inputs from the environment, flow, throughputs & energy, and outputs

• eat→body takes in nutrients→poop & heat

feedback

process that increases or decreases change in a system

feedback loops

output as matter, energy, or info fed back into system as input

• human input harmful and input is economic based

negative feedback loop

opposite direction

• like equilibrium for environment

• thermostat example

• corrects things

positive feedback loop

causes a system to change further in the same direction

• output amplified and fed back into system

• global warming

• population growth

EX. of nutrient loss in soil

Hubbard-Brook experiment

1963 Dr. Bormann and Dr. Likens compared loss of nutrients and water in soil between in-tact and clear cut forest

• clear cut lost 30-40% more water & 6-8x loss of nutrients than in-tact

• removed vegetation→soil erosion & loss of nutrients→vegetation to die off→more erosion

time delays

may take decades for the effect to be felt between the input into a system and its eventual response

tipping point/ threshold level

when the shift in how the environment behaves becomes apparent

• time delay is over

tipping point examples

population growth

toxic spills

climate change

synergistic interaction/ synergy

two process interact and combined effect greater than each process on their own

• ex. smoking 10x and asbestos 5x= 50x chance of lung cancer

humans ecological footprint

negative impact

• destructions of habitats that clean water (swamps)

• pollution mining, industry, and use of materials

• over-harvesting of fish or trees faster than they can replenish

ecological footprint

• measurement of human demand on nature

• measures land and sea area needed to produce the resources people consume and to absorb their waste

per capita ecological footprint

average footprint of particular area

• throw away society

• China’s ecological footprint is x2 of the US’s

• US’s per capita ecological footprint is x2 China’s

ecological deficit

footprint is bigger than ability to replenish renewable resources

175% of resources= taking from the future

US ecological footprint

4x

• if everyone had our ecological footprint size then the world could only support 1 billion people (we have 8.3)

China and India

growing middle class

China: leading consumer in meat, wheat, rice, fertilizer, coal, steel, cement

India: overtook China as most populous country in not 2025 but 2023

as they try to be like the US how will the world’s consumption and pollution change?

3 major cultural revolutions

agricultural revolution

industrial/ medical revolution

information/ globalization revolution

agricultural revolution

10,000-12,000 years we learned to breed animals for our needs

• food and clothing

industrial/ medical revolution

1760-1840/ 260 years ago

began large scale production and transport= more energy from fossil fuels

medical breakthroughs in Edward Jenner’s smallpox vaccine= extends lifespan

information/ globalization revolution

75 years ago

developed tech to gather and utilize info and resources rapidly on a global scale

• allows people to control environment and increase population

• grows ecological footprint

environmental problems because…

1- population growth

2- wasteful and unsustainable resource use

3- poverty

4- failure to include environmental cost (ex. paying for gas not paying for damage done to environment and peoples health)

5- insufficient knowledge of how nature works

population growth

quantity increased by a fixed % over time

increase starts off slowly but grow rapidly in size…… J curve→S curve and K (carrying capacity)

population causes the WIPP: more people needed, more resources and energy needed

already in ecological deficit and population keeps growing

wasteful and unsustainable resource use

over-using resources because affluent

lifestyle of consumption and wasting resources

Americans consume 30x more than India and 100x more than poor countries

affluence can also provide tech to reduce pollution and spark interest in conservation

poverty

only focused on survival not environment

• depleting forests for firewood on Haiti

• impoverished families have more members to do work which increases resources

• environmental degradation increases poverty and health risk, malnutrition, disease, pollution

environmental cost of goods and services

pay for resource but not for the negative health effects, air pollution, or mercury pollution

• gov need to take steps to hold corps/ industries responsible for environmental cost

• take away funding for corps that damage environments such as farm-conglomerates and oil companies

insufficient knowledge of natural processes

not understanding environmental processes means ill informed decisions

different environmental worldwide views

Planetary Management Worldview

Stewardship Worldview

Environmental Wisdom Worldview

Planetary Management Worldview

We are separate from nature and nature is here to meet our wants and desires

Stewardship Worldview

We can and should manage nature for our benefit but do so in a responsible way without damaging the environment

Environmental Wisdom Worldview

We are part of and dependent on nature and that nature exists for all species, not just human.

-Many of the Environmental Wisdom Worldviews come from Aldo Leopold's writings

solutions to human caused problems

good scientific ideas instead of political implementation (ex. marine reserves)

reducing→ reusing→ recycling

reclamation of land used by mining

conservation

management of natural resources with the goal of sustaining supplies and minimizing waste

resource

anything removed from environment to meet human needs

• don’t forget services

sustainable

living off resources without drastically altering surrounding environment

• continue to provide for future people

environmentally sustainable society

meets the resource needs of the current generation without compromising future generations

• past generations and current haven’t done this

2005 United Nation’s Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

human activity putting so much strain on resources that the ability of ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted

• can’t say water can just cleanse itself

• air can’t just purify itself

religious impact (pope)

2015 the Pope said it’s a moral and religious obligation= applies to everyone

4 principles of sustainability

1- reliance on solar energy

2- biodiversity

3- population control

4- nutrient cycling

• look to nature on how to survive environmental changes

reliance on solar energy

sun main source of energy (it’s perpetual)

biodiversity

genetic, habitat, functional, specie

• differences of organisms and ability to change

• more habitats= more species

• different functions of a species

• - mushrooms→ decomposition , river→ erosion, leaves→ replenish soil

population control

increased competition for resources leads to less resources for all other species so at some point we run out

normally disease and famine lessen pop. but tech. prevents these from having great effect

nutrient cycling

recycling chemicals through physical, chemical, and biological processes of nature

• one’s trash→ another’s treasure

• ex. compost

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