Module1

GE ES – ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

Module 1 – Introduction to Environmental Science

LESSON

1.1

What is Environmental Science

Environmental Science is the study of the interaction of humans with the natural environment.

It is an interdisciplinary study of how humans interact with the living and nonliving parts

of their environment.

It integrates information and ideas from the natural sciences such as biology, chemistry,

geology; the social sciences such as geography, economics and political science; and the

humanities such as philosophy and ethics.

Environmental science and the issues that it studies are complex and interdisciplinary. It

includes concepts and ideas from multiple fields of study. Decisions have impacts in all these

fields of study.

Source: Principles of Environmental Science, Cunningham, 2005.

Example:

A community decides to use coal for electricity, as it is the cheapest source available.

(Economics)

The coal must be mined from under the soil. (Geology)

The coal must be transported to the population center by road or rail. (Engineering)

When it is burned at a power plant, air pollution is released. Some of that pollution is converted

to acid in the atmosphere. (Chemistry)

This falls as acid rain somewhere downwind. (Meteorology)

The acid stresses plants by affecting their nutrient absorption. (Ecology)

Laws are passed requiring the plant to install pollution scrubbers. (Politics)

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The environment includes all conditions that surround living organisms:

1. Climate

2. Air and water quality

3. Soil and landforms

4. Presence of other living organisms

5. Energy

Goals of Environmental Science:

1. To learn how life on Earth has survived and thrived;

2. To understand how we interact with the environment; and

3. To find ways to deal with environmental problems and live more sustainably.

Ecology – the biological science that studies how organisms, or living things, interact with one

another and with their environment.

Every organism is a member of a certain species, a group of organisms that have a unique set

of characteristics that distinguish them from other organisms.

An Ecosystem is a set of organisms within a defined area or volume that interact with one

another and with their environment of nonliving matter and energy.

Example: a forest ecosystem consists of plants, animals, and tiny micro-organisms that

decompose organic materials and recycle their chemicals, all interacting with one another with

one another and with solar energy and the chemicals in the forest’s air, water, and soil

Three Principles of Sustainability:

1. Reliance on solar energy: The sun warms the planet and provides energy that plants

use to produce nutrients, the chemicals necessary for life. The energy contained in the

sun’s radiation is called solar energy. Without the sun, life would not exist. It also powers

indirect forms of solar energy such as wind and flowing water.

2. Biodiversity: Biodiversity (biological diversity) is the astounding variety of different

organisms, the natural systems in which they exist and interact (such as deserts,

grasslands, forests and oceans), the natural services that these organisms and living

systems provide free of charge (such as renewal of the topsoil that makes up the top layer

of the earth’s crust, pest control, and air and water purification).

Biodiversity also provides countless ways for life to adapt to changing environmental

conditions. With-out it, most life forms would have been wiped out long ago.

3. Chemical cycling: Nutrient or chemical cycling is the circulation of chemicals from the

environment (mostly from soil and water) through organisms and back to the environment

is necessary for life. Natural processes keep the cycle going, and the earth receives no

new supplies of chemicals. Thus, for life to sustain itself, these chemicals must cycle in

this way indefinitely. Without chemical cycling, there would be no air, no water, no soil,

no food, and no life.

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Major Environmental Problems:

1. Resource Depletion

Natural capital – the natural resources and natural services that keep us and other forms

of life alive and support human economies.

A great deal of natural resources are needed to support the human population (~7

billion).

Renewable resources can be replenished within a human lifetime.

Ex. Timber, water, air, soil, plants and wind.

The supply of nonrenewable resources is replenished extremely slowly, if at all. These

can be used up.

Ex. Coal, oil, minerals.

Natural services are processes in nature such as purification of air and water and

renewal of topsoil, which support life and human economies.

Nutrient cycling an important natural service recycles chemicals needed by organisms

from the environment (mostly from soil and water) through those organisms and back to

the environment.

Ex.

2. Pollution

Pollution is a degradation or an undesired change in air, water, or soil that affects the

health of living things.

Biodegradable pollution will break down naturally over time.

Nondegradable pollution does not break down.

3. Loss of Biodiversity

The number of species on the Earth is unknown, but estimated to be in the tens of millions.

Biodiversity is the number of different species present in one specific ecosystem.

Extinction, or the complete loss of a species, is a natural event that can be accelerated by human

actions.

Dead organic

matter

Decomposition

Inorganic matter

in the soil

Organic matter

in plants

Organic matter

in animals

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LESSON

1.2 Environmental Ethics

Environmental ethics is the discipline that studies the moral relationship of human beings to

the environment.

What is the value of the environment?

What moral responsibility do we have in dealing with the major environmental problems that

result from our resource consumption?

Which needs should be given the highest priority in our decision making?

Two main categories of ethics have emerged in human culture in modern history.

1. Anthropocentrism literally means “human-centered”.

This set of ethics protects and promotes of human interests or well-being at the

expense of all other factors.

Often places an emphasis on short-term benefits while disregarding long-term

consequences.

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2. Ecocentrists believe that nature deserves to exist for its own sake regardless of degree

of usefulness to humans.

The preservation of ecosystems or other living things takes priority over human

needs.

Example: Hetch Hetchy Debate

The debate about whether to build a dam in the Hetch Hetchy valley was one of the first big

debates between these two philosophies.

 Anthropocentrists argued that San Francisco needed the water, and this was by far the

most viable option.

 Ecocentrists argued that this violated the very purpose of the Federal Parks were to be

preserved ecosystems – untouched by human hands.

 The dam was eventually constructed.

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 The justification for building it was best stated by Gifford Pinochet, the first man in charge

of the U.S. Forest Service.

"Where conflicting interests must be reconciled, the question shall always be

answered from the standpoint of the greatest good of the greatest number in

the long run.“

 This philosophy, called resource conservationism, was also advocated by Teddy

Roosevelt.

The Tragedy of the Commons

A great deal of progress has been made since the birth of modern environmentalism, but many

debates still rage on.

An ecologist named Garrett Hardin wrote an essay called “The Tragedy of the Commons”,

describing the source of environmental problems as a conflict:

Short-term interests of individuals versus...

Long-term interests of civilization and the Earth itself

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Example: A small village consists mostly of farmers that raise and sell sheep at a nearby city.

The only place for the sheep to graze is a commons in the center of the village.

A commons is an area that belongs to no individual; it is shared by the entire society.

Likely outcome: Villagers obtain as many sheep as possible, allow to graze in the commons.

Maximize short-term financial gain.

What if the commons was instead divided into sections that was owned by each villager?

Because the land is owned, individuals are much more likely to plan and use it for the long-term.

The Tragedy of the Commons describes the likeliness of a commons area being exploited for

short-term economic gain.

Modern examples include the atmosphere and oceans.

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How are our Ecological footprints affecting the Earth?

An ecological footprint is one measurement of a person’s resource use.

Includes the amount of space needed to support each person in a nation, including forests,

farms, and cities.

Ecological Footprint the amount of biologically productive land and water needed to supply a

person or a country with the renewable resources that they need and to absorb and recycle the

wastes and pollution produced by such resource use.

The per capita ecological footprint is the average ecological footprint of an individual in a

given country or area.

Developed countries have a much larger footprint, reflecting a much larger use of resources.

If a country’s TEF is larger than its current biological capacity to replenish its renewable

resources and absorb the resulting wastes and pollution, it is said to have ecological deficit.

Ecological Footprint Comparison

Sustainability is when human needs are met so that the population can survive indefinitely.

“Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to

meet their own needs.” Brundtland Commission, 1987

It is the ability to meet current human need for natural resources without compromising the needs

of future generations

The Earth is a closed system, meaning nothing enters or leaves the Earth in large quantities is

heat. Resources are limited, but the population continues to increase. Wastes do not go away.

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LESSON

1.3

Major causes of the

environmental problems:

1. Population growth

- Exponential growth occurs when a quantity such as human population increases at a

fixed percentage per unit of time, such as 2% per year.

- Human population has been growing exponentially, the world’s people consume vast

amount of food, water, raw material and energy

- Humans also produced huge amounts of pollution and wastes in the process.

2. Wasteful and unsustainable resource use

- The lifestyles of many consumers in more-developed countries and in less-developed

countries are built upon growing affluence, or wealth, which results in high level

consumption and unnecessary waste of resources.

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3. Poverty

- A condition in which people are unable to fulfill their basic needs for adequate food,

water shelter, healthcare, and education.

- The daily lives of the world’s poorest people are focused on getting enough food,

water, and cooking and heating fuel to survive.

- Desperate for short term survival, some of these individuals unintentionally degrade

forests, soils, grasslands, fisheries, and wildlife at an ever-increasing rate.

- Does not have the luxury of worrying about long term environmental quality and

sustainability.

4. Failure to include in their market prices the harmful environmental costs of goods and

services

- Ex. Fishing companies pay the costs of catching fish but do not pay for the depletion

of fish stocks

- Timber companies pay the cost of clear-cutting forests but do not pay for the resulting

environmental degradation and loss of wildlife habitat.

- The primary goal of company is to maximize profits for its owners or stockholders,

which is how capitalism works.

- Consumers have no effective way to evaluate the harmful effects, on their own health

and on the earth’s life-support systems, of producing and using these goods and

services.