Environmental Issues Test 1

types of sources

1. Primary: original data, analysis, peer-review, academic journal articles, meta-analysis 2. Secondary: reviews by scientists or agency, review articles in academic journals, review/report by government agency 3. Tertiary: reports describing or about research, news papers, magazine, Wikipedia, encyclopedia, book, not yet published

Were more primitive societies more in tune with nature? (3 arguments)

1. Yes, more dependent on nature, not living in cities 2. No, physical exposure does not necessarily mean a deeper understanding. More knowledge now with greater levels of technology to help us explore. 3. No, today we preserve nature whereas ancient societies just lived in it

how to make a scientific argument

1. claim: statement/hypothesis you are asking another person to accept (clear, declarative, cause and effect) 2. evidence: grounds for a claim, source of data (numerical data, facts, examples, addresses claim at hand) 3. Warrant: justification that shows why the claim is valid and evidence supporting the claim

four phases of think tanks

1. early 1900s- rich private families providing research 2. post-WWII- government supported agencies 3. 1970-80s- smaller groups blurring the line between research and advocacy 4. recent- small ephemeral groups in pursuit of short-term policy/political agendas

Five theories in The Origin of Species (Darwin adapted from Mayr)

1. evolution as such: species evolve 2. common descent: shared common ancestors 3. gradualism: evolutionary change through small incremental steps 4. species diversification: divergence from common ancestors creates multiplication of species (explanation for biodiversity) 5. natural selection: differential survival and reproduction of some individuals over others in a population sue to phenotypic differences ( if heritable then favored traits will be differentually represented in the next generation)

controversy around natural selection/evolution

1. fundamental paradigm shift between "typological thinking" and variation (species not created by the creator and therefore not perfect) 2. evolution is stochastic (governed by the laws of chance) (blind?) 3. species can change

Research/Solution challenges (3)

1. open systems: exterior influence and variables, no boundaries, no control (chaos theory/ Jurassic park) 2. lag time: long time between stimulus and response, difficult to prove causation, most human change is slow over time with cumulus effects 3. irreversible consequences: long time or impossible to reverse damage (soil erosion on Easter Island, loss of old growth forests, genetic diversity, extinction)

The Modern Synthesis

1. phenotype= genotype+environment 2. acquired characteristics are not inherited 3. genes do not blend 4. ultimate source of variation is mutation 5. environmental factors can affect the rate of mutation but not the direction

Vikings in greenland (5)

1. self-inflicted environmental damage: sod houses generated erosion, cattle brought over drained resources, soil deprivation, overgrazing and overharvesting 2. failure to respond to the natural environment: didn't eat fish because of a culture/pride prohibition 3. hostile neighbors they were, refused Inuit help 4. loss of friendly neighbors Europe stopped supplying them 5. climate change mini ice-age

Social traps (3)

1. tragedy of the commons 2. time delay: actions that produce benefits today but set into motion events that cause problems later on (fossil fuel) 3. sliding reinforce: actions that are beneficial at first may change conditions, decreasing their benefits over time (pesticide)

global environmentalism

Apollo space program ushering in new era of global unification after first pictures of the world come out, idea of a common global environment and interconnectedness

Natural selection

Assumes organisms vary between individuals within their own species 1. Variation: leads to differences in survival and reproduction 2. Heritability: variation must be genetically inherited (necessity of reproduction ability) 3. Differential survival and reproduction "survival of the fittest": ability to survive and reproduce (the essence)

John Muir

Biocentric preservationist, national park service (Stephen Mather was a follower of Muir and headed Park Service)

source quality: CRAP test

Currency Reliability Authority Purpose

should the news be balanced in reporting?

Depends: if there is a natural disaster (hurricane) with a chance of changing paths, best to evacuate the entire area. But it is always important for the public to receive total facts (how science is reliable). Balanced also doesn't always mean representative.

the nested box model of sustainability

Environment ( social ( economy))

Easter Island collapse

Environment couldn't support human life, bio-diversity declined (mass deforestation, environmental catastrophe), resource deficit, population extinction (smallpox)

IPAT factors

Impacting factors Population size Affluence Technology (urbanization)

Is evolution blind?

In the sense that there is no predetermined goal, but not in its operating manner because selection is based off fitness and reproduction

Less polar bears

Mother polar bears need high levels of fat to produce cubs, not getting it, decline in birth rates/ survival of cubs.

Who started the environmentalist movement?

Plato! soil degredation, de-forestation, bio-centric preservation

Utilitarian conservation

Pragmatic resource conservation. nature and the environment should be saved not because they are beautiful or for moral reasons, but because they hold utilitarian value to humans

think tanks

Privately funded (usually) organization that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture.

Thomas Malthus

Resource limitation: all species produce more offspring than survive

Gifford Pinchot

Utilitarian conservationist, first U.S. Forest Service chief (1905)

Are polar bears drowning?

Yes which is surprising because they're great swimmers. Food source shift giving them less stored fat and energy for their long swims.

Pervasiveness of unsustainability

agriculture, release of dangerous pollutants into ecological systems, failure to reduce greenhouse gasses, city and regional planning, architecture, transportation, energy production, industrial processes, product fabrication, household consumption

sustainable societies

balanced with the natural world. primitive societies were, no modern society is

Characteristics of pseudoscience fields

based on assumptions, beliefs, or correlations not supported by data, biased, not reproducible/ quantifiable, underlying mechanism is not investigated

There are more polar bears now

behavioral change in polar bear populations since ice bergs/sheets have decreased, forcing them inland as they cant spend as much time on the water hunting. now they're going after caribou and nesting birds on land as their food preferences shift

Lamarck

champion of evolutionary thought: theory of inheritance by acquired characteristics (animals adapting to their environments- not a good indicator of what their offspring will inherit)

evolution

changes in allele frequencies over time

Conservation Ex Situ

conservation not just where animals live, it is where we all live and knowing how to adjust food habits, urban systems, and yard planting to accommodate nature.

Scientific (broad) agreement

control human population growth and impact, resource transition to an economy that protects ecosystem capitol/ environmentally benign processes, community transition from car-dominated to smart-growth

Darwin

descent with modification: changes over the course of generations in the properties of organism populations gave mechanism for evolutionary change (patterns of relationships, species distribution suggested descent from a common ancestor)

Case study: declining marine mammal populations

dramatic declines in colonies of sea otters, seals, whales (shifting in food preferences)

How to avoid social traps

education

Most important factor in influencing public opinion on climate change

elite partisan battle: without consensus among the elites, the issue doesn't become mainstreamed

Mono lake

example of sound science: shows the interconnectedness of cities, nature, and the systems that support human life (open-systems idea)

modern environmentalism

focused on human health post-WWII and the attempt to improve conditions (pollution), organized fight for environmental issues (regulatory processes, hearings, mass media causes)

Environmental concerns today

harvesting, clean air, water, forests, fossil fuels

Cascade theory

humans dramatically reduce whale biomass: decline in natural food for orcas, orcas systematically shifting eating preferences in sequential order with respect to animal size, greater demand on natural prey populations (harbor seals) (potential collapse for all) (open systems?)

true sustainability

intersection (3 legged stool) of economic profitability, social responsibility, and environmental conservation

sustainable development

meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

Biomimicry

mimicking biology in technology and design (designing swimsuits by observing dolphins)

problems with the 3 legged stool

must be viewed holistically, not independently, and balanced. society and the economy operate within the context of a natural environment of limited capacity, changes must be made to social/economic institutions

small populations (evolution)

non-adaptation mechanisms for evolutionary change become stronger in smaller populations, smaller populations become less fit in their environments (more insulated system, less traits)

Was evolution immediately accepted?

nope! 1. radical departure from current (past) thinking 2. conflict with religion 3. Darwin didn't get everything correct (blending theory of inheritance- doesn't account for previous generations, didn't understand where variation was created)

Possible causes for extinction (4)

overchill, overkill, overill, overgrill

wicked problems

policy problems that tend to be unprecedented, multi-causal, highly complex with solutions that involve tradeoffs (climate change, deforestation, over-consumption)

Evolution based on the property of ________________ not individuals

populations/species -different evolutionary speed rates/ generation turnover (insects are faster at adapting than large mammals)

Biocentric preservation

preservation ethic, nature has an independent and inherent value. emphasizes the right of other organisms to live

Options to ease environmental impacts today

privitization, regulation, volunteer cooperation, co-ops, polluter pays

Natural selection is a _______ in evolution

process (evolution is a record)

Natural selection acts on _______ not ______ trait values

relative; absolute (trait needs to be better not perfect: natural selection doesn't create perfect beings)

good science

scientific methods, peer review, can be uncertain

Best reporting reflects....

scientific opinion and the active debates surrounding issues

Science in the media

spreading awareness through alarm, editors not fully understanding the theoretical models/assumptions, not checking facts, sell add time/gain funding/spreading an agenda. however, the ability to make accurate predictions is a hallmark of good science

sustainable systems

sustainable if it can be continued indefinitely without depleting any of the material or energy resources required to keep it running

Characteristics of scientific fields

systematic observation, empirical testing (hypothesizing), evidence gathering, formulating general theories, peer-review or reputable journal/source