Sustainability

Sustainability:

• Ability of an ecosystem to continue to exist indefinitely by recycling their materials

• Natural ecosystems are sustainable as long as they have a constant energy source

Ecosystem Services:

• Benefits that organisms receive from the environment and its resources

  • Food production, water supply, raw supply, climate regulations, gas supply, etc.

• Use these services without reducing ecosystem health, any disruption unbalances ecosystem

Sustainable practices must:

• Provide economic opportunities while maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem health

• Balance society’s demands with nature’s ability to supply them

How can individuals help:

• Make responsible consumer choices

• Volunteer, use public transit, recycle, use solar power,

• Vote for environmentally conscious parties

• Join science minded advocacy groups

• Smart growth-build cities upward rather than outward so

  • Homes and businesses are intermixed

  • Errands are walkable

  • Green spaces preserved

  • Better public transportation

Individual Empowerment

• Consumers: your purchasing choices have power, understanding what goes into products drives change

• Volunteers: local commitment has global effects

• Citizens: Vote, educate yourself on candidates, participate in local science projects

• Advocacy group members: influence legislation to protect ecosystems

Negative Influences:

• Land use, resource use, habitat loss and fragmentation, deforestation, soil degradation, agriculture practices, contamination, overexploitation, extinction

Scientifically literate:

• Involves being able to recognize and evaluate bias in information

• Bias: judgment that is based on a person’s knowledge, understanding and beliefs