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© Cengage Learning 2015

LIVING IN THE ENVIRONMENT, 18eG. TYLER MILLER • SCOTT E. SPOOLMAN


1Environmental Problems, Their

Causes, and Sustainability


• Environment: everything around us

• Environmental science: interdisciplinary

science connecting information and ideas

from:

– Natural sciences: ecology, biology, geology,

chemistry

– Social sciences: geography, politics,

economics

– Humanities: ethics, philosophy

Environmental Science Is a Study of

Connections in Nature


• What is sustainability?


• The capacity of

the earth’s

natural systems

and human

cultural systems

to survive,

flourish, and

adapt into the

very long-term

future

Sustainability


• Dependence on solar energy

– The sun provides warmth and fuels

photosynthesis

• Biodiversity

– Astounding variety and adaptability of natural

systems and species

• Chemical cycling

– From the environment to organisms and then

back to the environment

Three Scientific Principles of Sustainability


• Natural capital: keep species alive

– Natural resources: useful materials and

energy in nature

– Natural or ecosystems services: important

nature processes provided by healthy

ecosystems.

• Examples: air/water purification, topsoil renewal,

pollination, nutrient recycling

Sustainability Has Certain Key

Components

Natural Capital

Solar energy

Air

Air purification

Climate control

UV protection (ozone layer) Life

(biodiversity)

Water Population control

Pest controlWaste treatment

Nonrenewable minerals

(iron, sand)

Soil Land

Soil renewal Food production

Nutrient recycling

Nonrenewable energy

(fossil fuels)

Natural resources

Ecosystem services

Natural Capital = Natural Resources + Ecosystem Services

Renewable energy (sun, wind, water

flows)

Water purification

Fig. 1-3, p. 7


• Full-cost pricing

– Include harmful health and environmental

costs of goods and services

• Win-win solutions

– Benefit people and the environment

• A responsibility to future generations

Other Principles of Sustainability Come

from the Social Sciences

Fig. 1-5, p. 9

ECONOMICS

Full-cost pricing

Principles of Sustainability


• Resources

– Anything we obtain from the environment to meet our needs

• An inexhaustible resource

– Solar energy

• Renewable resource

– Several days to several hundred years to renew

– Examples: forests, grasslands, and fertile soil

• Sustainable yield

– Highest rate at which we can use a renewable resource

without reducing available supply

Some Resources Are Renewable and

Some Are Not


• Nonrenewable resources

– Finite stock on earth

– Energy resources

– Metallic mineral resources

– Nonmetallic mineral resources

Some Resources Are Renewable and

Some Are Not (cont’d.)


• Sources of pollution

– Point sources

– Nonpoint sources

Pollution Comes from a Number of

Sources


• Ecological footprint

– Amount of biologically productive land and

water needed to provide a person or area with

renewable resources, and to recycle wastes

and pollution

• Per capita ecological footprint

• Ecological deficit

– Footprint is larger than biological capacity for

replenishment

Ecological Footprints: A Model of

Unsustainable Use of Resources


• As our ecological footprints grow, we are

depleting and degrading more of the

earth’s natural capital

• Environmental degradation: wasting,

depleting, and degrading the earth’s

natural capital

– Happening at an accelerating rate

We Are Living Unsustainably

© Cengage Learning 2015Fig. 1-7, p. 11

Natural Capital Degradation

Degradation of Normally Renewable Natural Resources

Climate change

Shrinking forests

Air pollution

Decreased wildlife habitats

Species extinction

Soil

erosion Water pollution

Declining ocean fisheries

Aquifer depletion


• I = P x A x T

– I = Environmental impact

– P = Population

– A = Affluence

– T = Technology

IPAT is Another Environmental Impact

Model


• More-developed countries

– Industrialized nations with high average

income

– 17% of the world’s population

• Less-developed countries

– 83% of the world’s population

Countries Differ in their Resource Use and

Environmental Impact

Natural Capital Use and Degradation

Fig. 1-11, p. 13


Less-Developed Countries

Consumption per person

(affluence, A)

Population (P)Technological

impact per unit of consumption (T)

Environmental impact of

population (I)

More-Developed Countries

X X =

IPAT


• Types of resources

– Open access renewable resources

– Shared resources

• Tragedy of the commons

– Common property and open-access

renewable resources are degraded from

overuse

– What are some solutions?

The Tragedy of the Commons: Degrading

Commonly Shared Renewable Resources


Tragedy of the Commons

• Written by Garrett Hardin in 1967

• Concerns over-use of common property

• Clean air, open ocean and its fish, wildlife

species, publicly owned land,

gases of lower atmosphere,

space, welfare


Tragedy of the Commons

• 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.

• The villagers in this situation will have an incentive to obtain and graze as many sheep as possible. Over time, the commons will become barren and unusable.

• A second village has its grazing land divided into nine fenced sections, each of which is owned by a different family.

– These families will carefully control the amount of grazing to ensure their land is usable in the long-term.


• Climate change, air pollution, water

pollution, and overfishing of international

waters are all modern examples of the

Tragedy of the Commons.

23

Norilsk, RussiaSource: ecojunk.wordpress.com

Zadar, CroatiaSource: Agence France-Presse

Causes of Environmental Problems

Excluding

environmental costs

from market prices

PovertyUnsustainable

resource use

Population

growth

Increasing

isolation

from nature

Causes of Environmental Problems

Fig. 1-15, p. 16


?

Industrial

revolution

Black Death—the Plague

Hunting and

gathering

Agricultural revolution Industrial

revolution

Billio

ns o

f peo

ple

Exponential Growth of Human Population

Time


• Humans were hunters and gatherers

12,000 years ago

• Three major cultural events

– Agricultural revolution

– Industrial-medical revolution

– Information-globalization revolution

• Current need for a sustainability revolution

Cultural Changes Can Grow or Shrink Our

Ecological Footprints


A Global Concern


• Harmful environmental impact due to:

– High levels of consumption

– High levels of pollution

– Unnecessary waste of resources

• Affluence can provide funding for

developing technologies to reduce:

– Pollution

– Environmental degradation

– Resource waste

Affluence Has Harmful and Beneficial

Environmental Effects


• Unable to fulfill basic needs

– Adequate food, water, shelter, health care,

and education

• Working to survive

Poverty Has Harmful Environmental and

Health Effects


• Companies do not pay the environmental

cost of resource use

• Goods and services do not include the

harmful environmental costs

• Companies receive tax breaks and

subsidies

Prices of Goods and Services Do Not

Include the Harmful Environmental Costs


• StarKist brand chunk light tuna

in water

– Price at Shop Rite: $0.99

• American Tuna brand wild

albacore tuna in water

– Price at Whole Foods Market:

$4.99

• What are the hidden costs

behind that $4.00 price

difference?32

Example of Hidden Costs


• Increasing populations in urban areas

• Nature deficit disorder

– Not having enough contact with nature

We are Increasingly Isolated from Nature


• Environmental ethics: What is right and

wrong with how we treat the environment?

– Planetary management worldview

• We are separate from and in charge of nature

– Stewardship worldview

• Manage earth for our benefit with ethical

responsibility to be stewards

– Environmental wisdom worldview

• We are part of nature and must engage in

sustainable use

People Have Different Views on

Environmental Problems/Solutions


• Each of these worldviews acknowledges that the Earth is a closed system, meaning matterdoes not enter or leave it in large amounts.

– Resources are finite.

– Wastes do not “go away”.

• These understandings form the basis for understanding and solving each of the issues within environmental science.

35

Earthrise, taken by astronaut Frank Borman in 1968, during the Apollo 8 mission.


• Environmentally sustainable society

– Meets current needs in a just and equitable

manner without compromising future

generations’ ability to meet their needs

• Natural income

– Renewable resources

Environmentally Sustainable Societies


• Overall attitude that combines

environmental wisdom with compassion

for all life

• Social scientists suggest it only takes 5-

10% of the population to bring about major

social change

• Significant social change can occur more

quickly than we often think

A More Sustainable Future is Possible


Can You Make a Difference?


• A more sustainable future will require that

we:

– Rely more on energy from the sun and other

renewable energy sources

– Protect biodiversity through the preservation

of natural capital

– Avoid disrupting the earth’s vitally important

chemical cycles

Three Big Ideas


• The key to environmental solutions

– Apply the principles of sustainability to the

design of our economic and social systems,

and individual lifestyles

• The 21st century’s transition generation will

decide the path which humanity takes

Tying It All Together


• 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

41

The Goal: A Sustainable World

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