UPPP8 Terms and Definitions

Frontier Economics

-Progress = economic growth
-Key Threats: hunger, poverty, disease

Environmental Protection

-Trade-offs in environmental vs economic growth
-Key threats: health impacts from pollution, endangered species

Resource Management

-Sustainability and green growth
-Key threats: resources degradation, population growth

Eco-development

-Codeveloping humans and nature
-Key threats: ecological uncertainty, global change

Deep Ecology

-Antigrowth, harmony with nature
-Key threats: ecosystem collapse

Ecofeminism

-Dismantling hierarchy to achieve sustainability
-Key threats: patriarchy, oppression

Anthropocentrism

The belief that human beings are the most important entity on earth

Humans have greater value than other species

Human centered

Biocentrism

The belief that all living beings have an inherent value

Humans do not have a more inherent value than other species

Centered on all living organisms

Ecocentrism

The belief that ecosystems (including living and nonliving components) have inherent value

Humans do not have a more inherent value than other things

Nature or ecosystem centered

Instrumental value

Nature has value to the extent that it serves a specific function (especially for humans)

Intrinsic value

Nature has values that exist independently from humans, without serving a greater function

Individualism

individual persons, animals, plants, etc. are valuable in their own right; the value of the larger wholes that these individuals comprise (humanity, species, etc) is derivative of the value of the individual constituents

Holism

wholes are the primary bearers of value; the value of individuals to depend on the contribution that those individuals make to the good of the wholes

Livelihood in a Rural setting

More people work directly in agriculture, livestock, forestry, fishing. Better ability to produce things directly.

Livelihood in an Urban setting

More people work in making/selling goods and services. Need to rely on cash food, water, etc.

Evidence-based health benefits of nature contact

-Reduced stress
-Better sleep
-Reduced depression
-Reduced anxiety
-Great happiness, wellbeing, life satisfaction
-Reduced aggression
-Reduced ADHD symptoms
-Increased prosocial behavior
-Lower blood pressure
-Reduced obesity
-Reduced diabetes
-Better eyesight
-Improved immune function
-Reduced mortality
-Improved postoperative recovery
-Improved birth outcomes
-Improved congestive heart failure
-Improved child development (cognitive and motor)
-Improved pain control

Why might being in nature have these effects?

-Physical activity
-Reduced stress
-Social connections
-Immune function

Environmental burden of disease

The fraction of a disease causes by the environment

Burden of disease

the impact of a health problem, often measured in DALYs

Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALYs)

an indicator representing the years of life lost to a disease or negatively impacted by ill health

Hazard

a dangerous situation that poses a threat to human life

Disaster

an event that causes damage to human life and property

Hazard exposure

-Where does the hazard occur?
-How strong is it?
-How long does it last?
-How often does this type of hazard occur?

Physical vulnerability

What buildings, infrastructure, and environmental features are "in the hazard's way"?

Social vulnerability

What types of people are impacted by the hazard, and what is their ability to cope with and recover from a hazards impacts?

Categories
-Household structure
-Socioeconomic status
-Gender
-Race and ethnicity
-Age (older adults and children)
-Housing tenure
-Urban vs. rural
-Special needs populations
-Employment status

Ecosystem services

The benefits people obtain from ecosystems

Different types of ecosystem services
-Provisioning services
-Regulating services
-Cultural services
-Supporting services

Provisioning services

Materials products provided by the ecosystem

Examples:
-Food
-Fiber
-Genetic resources
-Biochemicals, pharmaceuticals, medicines
-Fresh water
-Energy

Regulating services

Services that regulate our environment

Example:
-Air quality
-Climate
-Water
-Erosion
-Disease and pests
-Pollination
-Natural hazards
-Waste decomposition

Cultural services

Non-material benefits provided by nature that enrich human lives

Examples:
-Spiritual and religious values
-Aesthetic values
-Recreation
-Science and education
-Therapeutic

Supporting services

services that enable other types of ecosystem services to function

Examples:
-Nutrient recycling
-Soil formation
-Primary production
-Habitat provision

IPAT

Impacts=Population x Affluence x Technology

-Population: How many people are there?
-Affluence: How much stuff do they use?
-Technology: How efficient are we at producing that stuff?

Population growth rate

Balance between births and deaths

Carrying capacity

Maximum number of organisms (of a given species) that can be supported in an area

Ecological footprint

The amount of productive land and water a given population requires to produce all the resources they consume and take in all the waste they make using prevailing technology

Biocapacity

The capacity of a given biologically productive area to generate an on-going supply of renewable resources and to absorb its spillover wastes

Water footprint

Amount of water to produce various materials

Carbon footprint

Amount of carbon dioxide equivalent to produce various materials

Air pollution

Chemicals added to the atmosphere by natural events or human activities in high enough concentrations to be harmful

Particulate matter (PM)

Small solid or liquid particles suspended in the air (e.g., dust, soot, asbestos, sulfuric acid)

Sources: Numerous

Health effects: May be toxic/carcinogenic (depends on the type of particulate); lung disease

Environmental effects: visibility, waste acidity, nutrient depletion

Acid Deposition

Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions react with water vapor in the atmosphere and form acids that return to the surface as either dry or wet deposition

Indoor air pollution

Pollutants can be 5-100x greater than outdoors

Most common: radon, cigarette smoke, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde pesticides, lead, cleaning solvents, ozone, and asbestos

Water pollution

Presence of toxic chemicals or biological agents in water bodies that exceed what is naturally found in the water and in high enough concentrations to be harmful to human health or the environment

Climate change

Gradual changes in all the interconnected weather elements on our planet over approximately 30 years

Weather

The state of the atmosphere at a given time and place:
-temperature
-air pressure
-humidity
-cloudiness
-wind speed and direction

Climate

average weather over a long period of time (30 years or more)

Anthropogenic climate change

A gradual warming of the earth caused by a human-induced increase of the greenhouse effects, as concentrations of greenhouse gases increase primarily from the burning of fossil fuels

Greenhouse gases (GHGs)

Gases that absorb and emit radiant energy in the thermal infrared range

Examples:
-water vapor
-carbon dioxide
-methane
-nitrous oxide
-ozone

Greenhouse effect

Gases in the atmosphere trap heat reflected off the Earth's surface

Climate mitigation

Measures to reduce the amount and speed of future climate change by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) or by increasing their removal from the atmosphere

Options:
-Conservation: reducing our demand for goods and services (consume less)
-Efficiency: reducing the amount of energy needed by our goods and services
-Carbon free energy: generating electricity from renewable sources rather than fossil fuels
-Carbon capture and storage: capture the CO2 and store it underground in depleted oil/gas reserves

Climate adaption

Actions taken at the individual, local, regional, and national levels to reduce risks from even today's changed climate conditions and to prepare for impacts from additional changes projected for the future

Types of adaptions:
-Behavioral: migration, planting new crop types, moving indoors on hot days
-Technological: building irrigation infrastructure, insulating buildings
-Ecosystem based: restoration, intercropping or mulching
-Institutional: new insurance program,
laws, plans, regulations

Geoengineering

Deliberately altering the climate system

Solar radiation management

Counteract global warming by reflecting sunlight back into space

Carbon dioxide removal

Removing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it for a long time

Anthropocene

The concept that Earth has moved into a new epoch characterized by human domination of the planetary system

Characteristics:
-Ozone hole
-Changes in carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, hydrological cycles
-Major extinctions

Capitalocene

Dominant role of the capitalist economy

Technocene

Dominant role of technological systems

Manthropocene

Dominant role of men in resources exploitation

Anglocene

Dominant role of English-speeking world in environmental problems

Environmental movement: Romantic Era

Key idea: the wilderness was struggling to survive with the increase of industrialism and the settling of more and more land by Americans; humans needed to leave nature alone

Birth of "wilderness" as an idea

Transcendentalism combined religion and spirituality with an interest in nature

Preservation of wilderness

Preservation: Nature should be protected without human disturbances.
Key advocate: John Muir (founder of Sierra Club)

Conservation: Nature should be used for the greatest number of people for the longest time.
Key advocate: Gifford Pinchot (1st Chief US Forester)

Both deal with protection of land; the difference is in the allowable degree of "use" or "consumption" by humans

1960s: "Modern" environmentalism

-1962: Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring, documenting adverse environmental effects from pesticides.
-Events that caused awareness: 1969 Oil Spill in Santa Barbara, 1969 Cuyahoga River catches fire

Earth Day

On April 22, 1970, millions of people nationwide joined in marches for the first Earth Day

1960s & 70s "foundational" environmental laws

-1963: Clean Air Act
-1966: Endangered Species Act
-1968: Wild & Scenic Rivers Act
-1970: Creation of Environmental Protection Agency & National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration
1972: Clean Water Act

1980s-90s: Birth of environment justice movement

1982: a landfill for toxic waste opens in Warren Country, NC, a poor, rural, black community

21st century Environmental trends

-Shifts from US to Europe
-Balancing tradeoffs between environmental goals
-Building equity into mainstream environmentalism
-Green New Deal: economic growth via environmental objectives
-Land Back Movement

Multiple framing of environmental justice

-Distributive
-Procedural
-Recognition
-Restorative

Distributive justice

equitable distribution of environmental harms or benefits

environmental harms and hazards are disproportionately located in low-income and/or minority communities and distributive justice seeks to rectify this

Procedural justice

the ability to engage fully in processes that affect one's life

Procedures used to make decisions should be
-Fair
-Consistent across persons and over time
-Free from bias
-Correctible

Recognition justice

requires acknowledgement of the harms caused by mis-, non-, or mal- recognition of people and of the processes, systems, and social structures that create inequitable distribution

-Recognize and respect different stakeholder's worldviews, identities, values and practices
-Draw on locally meaningful social categories in assessing justice
-Recognize that institutions may limit equal sharing of power

Restorative justice

demands not only recognition of past injustices but actions or compensation to make reparations

RJ contains:
-victim reparation
-communities of care reconciliation
-offender responsibility

Sustainable development

Balances social, environmental, and economic goals

"Three Ps" or "triple bottom line"

People, planet, profit