Energy and the Environment

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Energy and the Environment

• PHSC 1014

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How often have you seen headlines and news
stories about environmental problems in your area?

• Ozone Levels in Houston Hit Record
• Raw Sewage Found in Mississippi
• Pesticide Spill Washes Into Waterways
• Water Wars Between Colorado and Arizona
• Mississippi Declared a Disaster Area
• Dump Smells, Complain Residents
• Run-off Contains High Nitrogen Levels

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Some problems are global.

• Global warming
• Energy shortages
• Fish populations depleted
• Acid rain
• Species extinction
• Invasive species
• Drought
• Low whale populations
• Loss of ozone layer

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Environmental problems are not new.

• Ancient Greece denuded forests and suffered
  erosion problems.
• Roman citizens used up the wood in the area and
  had to use remains of old buildings to build new
  ones.
• Lack of human waste disposal brought cholera
  plagues to London.
• Dodo birds and passenger pigeons hunted out of
  existence.New evidence that first homo sapiens
  caused species to become extinct.

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ENVIRONMENTALISM

• There have been advocates for the environment
  throughout history.
• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• David Henry Thoreau
• John Muir
• Aldo Leopold
• President Teddy Roosevelt
• Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson
Teddy Roosevelt
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During the 1960s to 1970s, the environmental
movement grew quickly as more problems came to
light.

• Population growth
• Deforestation
• Nuclear power concerns
• Habitat destruction
• Loss of species
• Water and air pollution
• Increasing ocean temperatures
• Rivers igniting

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Conflicts arise when actions intended to save
the environment threaten economic and social
well-being of citizens.

• Saving old-growth forests results in fewer jobs
  for lumber-jacks, lower company profits, and
  higher prices for wood products.
• Preserving populations of commercial fish reduces
  income for fishermen and increases fish prices.
• Using turtle-exclusion devises allows shrimp to
  escape from shrimp nets and lowers crew profits.
• Preserving western grasslands requires a drop in
  the number of cattle grazing on the land.
• Decreasing pollution requires companies to
  install expensive scrubbing devices or make
  costly changes their procedures.
• Preserving rainforests prevents indigent farmers
  from making their living using time-honored
  practices.

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SUSTAINABILITY
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Sustainability combines two goals.

• Ensuring that resources will continue to be
  available to us and to our descendents. In the
  past we have used resources faster than they can
  be replaced.
• Maintaining ecosystems. Ecosystems are the
  infrastructure of the biosphere. Without them
  the world as we know it would not exist.

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Achieving Sustainability

• In order to achieve sustainability, we must limit
  our total impact on the environment so that
  Earths ecosystems have sufficient time and
  resources to regenerate the resources we use.

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Our Impact on the Environment

• Two primary factors affect our impact on the
  environment..
• Population size - the higher the population, the
  more resources our environment must provide.
• Resources used per person - the more resources
  each person needs, the more resources our
  environment must provide.

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Resource Use Per Person

• People in developed countries, such as those in
  North America and Europe, use substantially more
  resources per person than those in underdeveloped
  countries such as many of those in Africa and
  Southeast Asia.
• For example, the average American requires 120
  gallons of water per day to meet needs, while the
  average African requires less than 20 gallons per
  day.

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Waste produced is also a factor in resources used
per person.

• The more waste or pollution produced, the longer
  it will take the ecosystem to remove it.
• Too much waste or pollution can destroy
  ecosystems.
• People in developed countries produce
  substantially more waste per person than those in
  underdeveloped countries.

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Impact of the Environment

• Our impact on the environment is the product of
  population size multiplied by the average amount
  of resources used by each person.
• I N x R
• I total impact on the
  environment
• N population size
• R average amount of
  resources used per person

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Sustainability

• Sustainability requires balancing population size
  and the resources used per person at a level that
  allows both continued harvesting of natural
  resources and maintenance of the ecosystem over
  time.
• Many questions remain unanswered, such as
• How many people is too many?
• What standard of living is acceptable?
• How much government regulation do we want?
• Whose responsibility is it?

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The Role of Science in Achieving Sustainability

• Scientists cannot, and should not, answer all of
  these complex questions.
• Scientists can provide helpful data.
• What is the maximum amount of a resource that can
  be harvested without harming the ecosystem?
• How much waste can a system decompose per year?
• What factors affect how quickly a resource can be
  regenerated?
• How can we replace non-renewable resources?

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Your Role in Achieving Sustainability

• Exercise your right to vote.
• Reduce your environmental footprint.
• Educate yourself so that you can make appropriate
  choices.

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Energy and the Environment
This semester, we are going to discuss energy
usage and itsimpact on the environment

• What is energy?
• Basic geology and Earth systems
• The different forms of energy we use
• One area of impact the atmosphere
• Population projections
• Politics

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Basic Skills

• You will need to understand basic mathematics
• Be able to plug numbers into an equation
• Be able to solve an equation for a particular
  variable Ex F ma, solve for a
• Be able to do simple word problems

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How to Succeed

• This course will require that you
• Read the online materials
• Spend 6-9 hours a week studying EVERY WEEK
• Ask questions when you do not understand
  something
• Do not wait until the end of the semester to
  start working
• Discuss materials with others in the class