A'P' Environmental Science Chapter 1

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A.P. Environmental Science Chapter 1

• Objective To understand how the natural world
  works. To understand how human systems interact
  with the natural systems. To understand
  sustainability.

Note This PowerPoint was originally created by
Mr. DeWeese, augmented by Mrs. Withers.
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Easter Island Background.

• This is one of the most remote spots on Earth.
  1200 miles from the nearest island, 2,300 miles
  from the coast of South America.
• It was rediscovered on Easter Sunday 1722 by
  three Dutch ships under the command of Jacob
  Roggeveen. It was inhabited by Polynesians
  living primitively.

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Lessons from Easter Island

• Original Inhabitants were from Polynesia
• Islands were abundantly forested
• As the population grew they cut trees for
  agriculture, structural materials, and to move
  the huge head stones

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By 1600s

• All trees were gone
• Cleared land failed to hold water
• Top soil washed into sea
• Workers revolted
• Starvation disease became epidemic
• Peruvian sailors infected the remaining survivors
  with venereal diseases.

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Lessons

• When a society fails to care for the environment
  that sustains it, when its populations exceed the
  carrying capacity of the land and water to
  provide adequate food for all, the result is
  disaster!

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Four Global Trends

• Population growth and economic development
• Decline of ecosystems
• Global atmospheric changes
• Loss of biodiversity

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Ecological Footprint

• 2004 Population of the world is 6.4 billion as
  of July 2007, 6.6 billion, Aug 2008, 6.8 billion
• Adding 77 million each year
• 2050 Population estimates are 8.9 billion people
• Each person creates a certain demand on the
  Earths resources.
• The demand increases with affluence
• Ecological Footprint calculates the natural areas
  required to satisfy human needs in food, housing,
  transportation, and goods services

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U.N. Study Pilot Analysis of Global Ecosystems
(PAGE)

• Examined the status of five major ecosystems
  which deliver the goods and services that support
  human life.
• Coastal/marine
• Freshwater
• Agriculture
• Grasslands
• Forests
• Utilizes an ecosystem approach. The studies
  indicated that nearly every measure used to
  assess the health of ecosystems indicated that we
  are drawing on then more than ever and degrading
  them at an accelerating pace.
• Human activities are starting to affect the
  natural chemical cycles carbon, water, nitrogen,
  phosphorus

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Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA)

• Begun World Environment Day, 2001 after a 4 year
  assessment
• Map the Health of our planet, fill the gaps in
  the knowledge that we need to preserve it. Human
  activities are impacting on the natural chemical
  cycles (water, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus)
• MEA intends to provide the scientific framework
  for building the knowledge base required for
  sound policy decisions and management
  interventions.

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Global Atmospheric Changes

• Montreal Protocol (1987)
• Aimed at curbing release of chlorofluorocarbon
  refrigerants
• Concerned with ozone depletion

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Greenhouse effect

• Due primarily to release of CO2 from automobiles
  (burning fossil fuel) into atmosphere.
• The absorption of infrared energy by CO2 warms
  the lower atmosphere.
• Levels have grown from about 280 ppm in 1900 to
  over 375 ppm in 2004. We are currently
  increasing CO2 at a rate of .4 per year.
• Result is like a greenhouse

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So what does CO2 do in the atmosphere?

• CO2 is transparent to sunlight as it comes in but
  absorbs heat radiated from Earth. So it slows
  down heat lost to space.
• Most scientists believe that anthropogenic
  greenhouse gases (due to human activities) have
  contributed substantially to the observed warming
  over the last 50 years.

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Kyoto Protocol

• Japan (1997)
• Treaty to reduce CO2 emissions and other
  greenhouse gases.
• Failed to be ratified by many of the
  industrialized countries (U.S.)

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So Why not sign the Kyoto Protocol?

• Even if the treaty is adhered to by all parties,
  the levels of greenhouse gases will continue to
  rise indefinitely
• Concerns for many countries are the conflicting
  concerns between the short term economic impacts
  of reducing fossil fuel use and the long term
  consequences of climate change for the planet.
• The US feels it will restrict our economic growth
  unfairly while allowing developing countries (who
  dont produce much CO2 at present) to be exempt
  from reducing emissions. Large developing
  countries including India, China and Brazil are
  not required to meet specific targets for now.

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What some people say.

• If you really care about the environment, stop
  buying things that come in plastic packaging and
  stop using your car - Joe, London
•   America must be the teacher of democracy, not
  the advertiser of the consumer society. It is
  unrealistic for the rest of the world to reach
  the American living standard.  
• - Mikhail Gorbachev   

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Loss of Biodiversity

• Increase human population is accelerating the
  conversion of forests, grasslands, and wetlands
  to agriculture.
• Habitat alteration loss of wild plants and
  animals and their homes.

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Why is losing biodiversity so critical?

• All domestic plants and animals used in
  agriculture are derived from wild species. We
  still rely on introducing genes from wild species
  into our domestic species to keep them vigorous.

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• 80 of the human population depends on
  traditional medicines.
• Many modern prescription drugs were originally
  derived from plants.
• Only a small percentage of plants has been
  thoroughly studied for their medicinal
  properties.
• Maintaining natural systems enables them to
  recover after severe disturbances.
• Once a species is goneit is gone forever.

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Three strategic Themes

• Sustainability
• Stewardship
• Sound science

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Sustainability

• A system that can continue indefinitely with out
  running out.
• The practical goal that our interactions with the
  natural world will be working toward.

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Stewardship

• Taking care of our natural world so that others
  in the future can appreciate, and take part in
  the Earths Ecosystems
• The ethical and moral framework. That should
  inform our public and private actions.

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• More often, stewardship is the actions performed
  everyday by people who care enough for each other
  and for the natural world.
• Participating in recycling
• Purchasing cars that pollute less and use less
  energy
• Turn off the lights in an empty room
• Refusing to engage in conspicuous consumption
  that is constantly urged on us by commercial
  advertising.
• Support organizations that promote sustainable
  practices.
• Vote for candidates who are sympathetic to
  environmental concerns.

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Environmental Racism

• The placement of waste sites and other hazardous
  facilities in towns and neighborhoods in which
  most of the residents are nonwhites.

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Justice for the developing world

• Often people in the developing world are without
  land, have inadequate food and are in poor
  health.
• Some rulers divert billions of dollars from their
  countries for their private gains.
• Some poverty can be attributed to unjust economic
  practices of the wealthy industrialized countries.

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Sound Science

• The basis for out understanding of how the world
  works and how human systems interact with it.

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Junk Science

• Information that is presented as valid science
  but that does not conform to the rigors of the
  methods and practice of legitimate science.
• Examples include giving prominence to some data
  while unwelcome data is ignored. See the example
  on p 14.

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Good Science is

• Based on the scientific method
• Uses verifiable data and conclusions
• Avoids value judgments

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Data

• The information gathered from observations and
  measurements drawn from the natural world or from
  human interactions.
• Must be acquired through the senses, directly or
  through the use if instruments.
• Data must be recorded with the highest possible
  degree of accuracy

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• Not every reported observation is accurate.
• Most scientists are skeptical of any new report
  until it is confirmed or verified.
• Investigations are repeated and data from the
  first scientist is checked out.
• As the observations are confirmed by more and
  more investigators, they gain the status of
  factual data.

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Theories

• The major objective of scientific reasoning
• Theory in the scientific sense has a much
  different meaning than in the non-scientific
  world. Most people assume that theory means
  something that is uncertain. In science a theory
  is an explanation or model based on observation,
  experimentation, and reasoning, especially one
  that has been tested and confirmed as a general
  principle helping to explain and predict natural
  phenomena.
• This is the explanation of how things work in the
  natural world.
• Scientists must be objective and rational
• Objectivity is achieved when all data and
  observations are considered.
• Rationality refers to the need to make clear,
  logical connections between data and the
  theory-forming process.

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Shaping Principles

• Values and assumptions scientists bring to their
  work.
• One of the most important shaping principles is
  the scientists world view.
• A set of assumptions and values that the person
  believes to be true about how the world works and
  his or her place in it.
• Strongly influenced by the culture in which an
  individual lives.

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The best we can do

• The best we can do is to establish a theory
  beyond a reasonable doubt.
• There might be another theory that will do a
  better job of explaining the data.
• Scientists often deal with models, not the real
  thing.

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• Scientists working in a given field establish
  what sound science is and what it is not.
• They communicate their findings to each other and
  to the public as they publish their work in
  peer-reviewed journals.

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So why are people so confused?

• We are continually confronted by new
  observations. It takes time for hypotheses to be
  developed and tested.
• Certain phenomena (hole in the ozone layer) do
  not lend themselves to simple tests or
  experiment. It is difficult and time
  consumingto prove the causative role of one
  factor or rule out another.

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• Bias the biases or vested interests of a person
  may affect the amount of information the person
  requires to be convinced.
• Some people harp on absence of absolute proof
  which is impossible anyway. This keeps the issue
  controversial.
• Promoting disagreement keeps people unsure and
  delays decisions.

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• Subjective values when nuclear power is
  considered at the purely scientific level of
  physics, there is virtually no controversy.
  However, when environmental considerations are
  made as to whether to promote further use of
  nuclear energy to generate electrical power
  regardless of the risks, people have different
  subjective feelings.

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So Whats a Non-scientist to do?

• What are the observations (data) underlying the
  conclusion (theory)
• Do the explanations and theories follow logically
  from the data?
• Does the explanation account for all of the
  observations?
• Are there reasons that a particular explanation
  is favored? Who profits?
• Is the conclusion supported by the community of
  scientists with the greatest competence to judge
  the work?

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Ecosystem Capital

• Natural and managed ecosystems provide human
  enterprises with essential goods and services.
• The world economy depends on many renewable
  resources.
• Agriculture, farming and fishing are responsible
  for 50 of all jobs worldwide.

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• These same ecosystems also provide a flow of
  services that support human life and economic
  wellbeing.
• Think of these goods and services as ecosystem
  capital. This is part of the wealth of the
  nation.
• Much of the ecosystem capital is renewable. We
  fish, harvest food, harvest timber. But it
  doesnt mean that it will be exploited
  sustainably.

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• Most often the people who are most affected are
  the poor.
• Their water supply is polluted.
• They suffer from infectious water borne diseases
• Loss of traditional food, fuel, etc, because of
  logging by a multinational company.
• Combinations of private enterprise and government
  policies CAN protect ecosystem capital and make
  it a profitable enterprise.

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Policy and Politics

• What are the political processes that lead to the
  decisions about what happens to the natural
  world?
• The Common Good is defined by the point of view
  of many.
• We need to prevent or reduce air, water and land
  pollution.
• We need to use natural resources in a sustainable
  way.

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Globalization

• The accelerating interconnectedness of human
  activities, ideas, and cultures
• Changes are most evident in
• Economies
• Cultural patterns
• Political arrangements
• Pollution
• Environmental resources

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• This has meant different things to different
  people.
• Economies, cultural patterns, political
  arrangements, environmental resources and
  pollution.
• For many it has brought improvement in health and
  well-being.
• For others it has brought destruction of cultural
  and religious ideals and norms.

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• People are instantly linked through the Internet,
  satellites, and cables.
• Ease of transportation, financial transactions.
• NAFTA. WTO.
• Western diets and styles and culture are marketed
  throughout the world.
• SARS virus, AIDS, have been spread
• Dispersion of exotic species.
• Nuclear fallout from nuclear accidents.

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The Environment in the 21st Century

• UNCED Rio 1992 United Nations Conference on
  Environment and Development - outcome was a
  blueprint intended to guide development in
  sustainable directions into and through the 21st
  century.
• Establishment of a convention on climate change
  and biodiversity
• This resulted in major regions, nations and
  communities to develop their own versions of how
  sustainable development would be achieved in
  their various jurisdictions.

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• WSSD Johannesburg 2002 World Summit on
  Sustainable Development most of the agreements
  made at UNCED were implemented weakly at best
• Only weak statements of support for crucial
  issues.
• The US fought against many of the proposed
  targets and timetables.
• By 2015 people without basic sanitation would be
  cut in half.
• Ocean fisheries restored by 2015.
• By 2010 loss of biodiversity would be reduced.

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• Business as usual is not sustainable. There will
  come a time when resources are no longer adequate
  to support the human population.
• Civil order will break down.

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Good News

• Food production has improved.
• Percentage of individuals who are undernourished
  has declined from 35 TO 20 over the past 30
  years.
• Population growth rates are declining in many of
  the developing countries.
• Numerous caring people are beginning to play an
  important role in changing societys treatment of
  Earth.

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The End!