ESS - Unit 1

Ecologist

believe that the planet has limited resources and that people should not use them for personal gain. Believes humans have to adapt and find a way to live in harmony with the Earth.

Cornucopians

believe the complete opposite of an Ecologist. They think the planet has endless resources that should be manipulated to benefit humankind.

inputs

Everything around us affects our opinions, the decisions we make and how we live our lives.

• culture, education, science, media, etc.

  
  

Processes

Once we have the inputs we can start processing them. assimilation of knowledge, thinking and evaluating.

output

Once the inputs are there and the information has been processed the answers are available, the choices and decisions can be made, and perspectives and viewpoints can be formed

Preservationists

An individual who advocates for the preservation of land, and its resources in pristine untouched conditions.

John Muir

founded the Sierra Club. A major preservation organization that focused on reducing pollution and protecting natural beautiful spaces, by creating National Parks.

Henry David Thoreau

published the book Walden, which was based on his experience of a simplistic lifestyle. He was living “intimately with nature”

Conservationists

They weren’t conserving the environment for its intrinsic value, rather they worked on the value of the goods and services it could provide.

• Emphasized the sustainable use of the environment and the management of its resources to allow further development

Intrinsic value

the idea that something can be of value in and of itself and not because it is of any use to humanity.

Instrumental value:

Something is valued because it is a means to an end, it gives you something tangible.

Ecocentric

Propose self-reliance, self-restraint and minimal disturbance of the natural processes to achieve sustainability for the whole earth. (Nature-Centered)

Deep ecologist

someone who is a deep ecologist is Ecocentric and believes that nature has intrinsic values in and of itself. (No development)

Self-reliance soft ecologist

Small-scale development Community identity that keeps development in check. (mostly ecocentric but has some anthropocentric aspects)

Anthropocentric

approach in which people manage their environment and themselves with the help of independent regulatory authorities.

Environmental managers

Natural resources and human population need to be managed. (mostly anthropocentric but has some technocentric aspects)

Technocentric

Science will find alternative resources and the market economy can continue unheeded. Therefore, they believe that they can use, and destroy the environment.

Cornucopians

believe that they can carry on with development because technology will solve any problems that arise.

Holistic worldview

there should be minimal disturbances of natural processes, and that bio-rights (of animals or the environment) should be respected

Ecocentric society

is where humans are part of nature rather than in control of it. Form global citizenship where there is sustainability for the whole earth

Systems

Set of interrelated parts and the connection between them that unites them to form a complex whole and produces emergent properties

Ecological systems

Biological community consisting of all living organisms, with non-living components interacting with each other

Social systems:

Man-maid systems

what are the 2 types of systems

open, closed and isolated

Open System

exchanges matter and energy with its surroundings

Closed systems

Exchanges energy but doesn’t exchange matter with its surroundings

Isolated Systems

exchanges neither energy nor matter with its surroundings (imaginary construct since nothing in nature is completely isolated)

Store of matter

Plants, and animals—> store energy and matter

Store of Energy

Carbon bonds = energy storage

Transfer

moves energy or matter from one place to another with 0 change 

Transformations

moves energy and matter causing change in the process

Model

a simplified version of reality that tells a story about what happens in the natural world

Simulations

shows a model in action and provides information about how something will respond over time

Advatages of model

• Can study things that are either too small or too large for researchers to deal with

• A simplified version of the real-world example

• Helps illustrate complex concepts and formulates hypotheses

Disadvantages of a model

• Maybe misleading and affect our understanding

• Lack of detail → predicts may not be accurate

• maybe oversimplified

Thermodynamics

Branch of physics that studies heat and temperature and how that relates to energy and work

first law of thermodynamics

States that energy can’t be created or destroyed

second law of thermodynamics

the total entropy of a system either increases or remains constant in any spontaneous process; it never decreases.

Bioaccumulation

process of collecting chemicals in an organism that happens if the rate of intake exceeds the rate of excretion

Trophic levels

 levels that a species occupies in the food web 

Entropy

a measure of the disorder of a system which describes how much energy is not available to do work.

negative feedback

promotes stability in a system. It reverses the change and returns the system to its original state

positive feedback

amplifies change in system + keeps it going in the same direction

Equilibria

if everything is in balance (equilibrium)

Static state

 system remains constant over a long period of time

Steady state

has many small changes over a shorter period of time

Stability

the ability of an ecosystem to remain balanced

Resistance

An ecosystem continues to function during disturbance

Resilience

the ability to recover after a disturbance

Renewable

replaced as fast as it's used

Natural capital

natural resources that produce natural income of goods and services

Goods

marketable commodities that can be exploited by humans

Services

natural processes that provide benefits for humans