Chapter1: Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability.

New efforts to prevent the "tragedy of the commons" could include

using shared resources at rates below their estimated sustainable yields

Which of the following does not describe a sustainable society?

utilizes nonrenewable resources for maximum benefit of the current generation

Describe the environmental wisdom worldview and provide an example

we are part of and totally dependent upon nature and that nature exists for all species, not just us. It also calls for encouraging environmentally friendly forms of economic growth and development and discouraging Earth-degrading forms. Our success depends on learning how life on Earth sustains itself and on integrating environmental wisdom into the ways we think and act." Examples will vary

Subsidies

are tax breaks or payments provided by the government to certain companies to help them With using resources. Subsidies encourage companies to abuse the natural capital

Non-degradable pollutants

are those pollutants that natural processes can't break down. Examples of these are plastics, mercury or lead.

Point sources

are when pollutants come from a single source that can be identified, such as a drainpipe from factory or smokestack from a power plant. Point sources are usually easy to Identify.

Excluding environmental costs

from product prices adds to the environmental problems because consumers have no effective way of evaluating which products are more harmful than others. If companies were forced to add surcharges to their products to pay for the harmful environmental costs, consumers would realize which products come at a high cost to the environment. Consumers would also realize which products were given government subsidies, which are depleting natural resources.

The country with the largest per capita ecological footprint is

United Arab Emirates.

How we degrade Natural Capital ?

We degrade natural capital either by using resources faster than they can be renewed or by putting pollution and wastes into the environment faster than the natural services can clean them up. While the scientific solution to degrading natural capital can sometimes be easy to find, implementing the solution can be difficult because economic and political considerations come into play. It's easy to say we should stop over-fishing, however, this is difficult to implement because some countries depend upon that fishing to maintain their economies. Compromises and trade-offs have to be found to solve the problem of over-fishing.

An ecological footprint may best be defined as the

a and b

An ecological deficit is created when

a country depletes its natural capital faster than its biological capacity to replenish its renewable resources and absorb the resulting wastes.

Nonpoint sources of pollution include all of the following except

a smokestack from a power plant

An environmental worldview that holds that we can and should manage the Earth for our benefit, but that we have an ethical responsibility to be caring and responsible managers of the Earth, is

stewardship

Some analysts refer to an eventually unsustainable addiction to buying more and more stuff as

affluenza

The consequences of volcanic eruptions and burning coal are ____________________ and ____________________.

air pollution; global warming

Ecological tipping point(s), which could result in an irreversible shift in natural systems include(s)

all of the above.

Examples of the effects of pollution might include

all of these answers

Environmental ethics

are an important part of a person's environmental world View. Environmental ethics are the beliefs that a person holds about what is right or wrong about how we affect the environment.

Non-point sources

are everything that cannot be classified as a point source and are much more difficult to identify. They are more dispersed and can be events such as fertilizer runoff from farm lands into rivers.

Natural resources

are materials and energy that occur in nature and are needed to sustain human life.

Biodegradable pollutants

are pollutants that can be broken down over time by natural processes. Examples of biodegradable pollutants are newspapers and sewage.

A sustainability revolution

would be a cultural change whereby humans would learn how to reduce their environmental footprint and live more sustainably.

Is China's total ecological footprint greater than that of India's?

yes

Your environmental worldview describes

your assumptions and values about how the world works and what one's role in the world should be

There are three main environmental worldviews:

• Planetary management worldview — People With this worldview believe that nature exists primarily to meet our needs and wants. We are in charge of nature, and that we can use our technology to manage the earth's system for our benefit. • Stewardship worldview — People With this worldview believe that we are stewards of the earth. We still manage the earth for our benefit, but we should promote environmentally beneficial forms of economic growth and be caring and responsible managers. • Environmental wisdom worldview — People With this worldview believe that nature exists for all species, not just for us. We are the part of nature and dependent upon it. And our survival depends upon the ability to find out how the earth sustains itself.

Three ways to head toward a more sustainable lifestyle are:

• Rely more on renewable energy from the sun, such as solar energy, Wind power and flowing water. • Protect biodiversity by preventing the degradation of ecosystems and natural processes. • Help sustain the earth's natural nutrient cycles by reducing wastes and pollution to a level that these chemical cycles can recycle them

Which of the following statements best illustrates the "tragedy of the commons?"

A factory pollutes a river as much as the law allows

Natural resources are classified as nonrenewable

(those that are in fixed quantities, such as coal, Oil and minerals).

Natural resources are classified as renewable

(those that the earth can replenish such as water, air and sol )

The goal of environmental science includes

1- learning how nature works. 2-understanding how we interact with the environment. 3-finding ways to deal with environmental problems. 4-finding ways to live more sustainably.

What are the four (4) basic causes of environmental problems?

1-Population growth 2-Wasteful and unsustainable resource use 3-poverty 4-failure to include the environmental costs of goods and services in their market prices

The three principles of sustainability are

1-Relying on solar energy 2-Biodiversity 3-Nutrient cycling

The three principles of sustainability are:

1. Reliance on solar energy — Solar energy is a perpetual resource With a continuous supply, which powers other forms of energy such as flowing water and Wind. Solar energy also supports photosynthesis. 2 Biodiversity — Biodiversity refers to the variety of different life forms, the natural systems in which these organisms live and interact, and the natural services they provide. 3. Nutrient Cycling — Nutrient cycling is the process of chemicals cycling from the environment, through organisms, back to the environment.

How many Earths are we currently using compared to Earth's ecological capacity?

1.25

According to World Bank estimates, how many people live on less than US $1.25 per day?

1.4 billion

The human population currently totals

6.9 billion.

What does the difference in ecological footprint between China and India mean?

China's overall effect on the environment is more severe than that of India's.

The country with the world's largest population is

China.

____________________ are not owned by a single person or organization, but are degraded by many people.

Common-property resources Free-access resources

1R-Define environment. Define and distinguish among environmental science, ecology, and environmentalism. Define and distinguish between an organism and a species. What is an ecosystem? What are three prin-ciples that nature has used to sustain itself for at least 3.5 billion years? Define natural capital, natural resources, and natural

Ecology is a biological science that looks at how liv ng things interact With each other and their environment. Ecology IS a main component of environmental science. Environmentalism is a social movement whose goal IS to protect the earth from all forms of liv ng things. Environmentalism is not a science. Comment(0) Step 2 of 4 An organism is a living thing. A species is a group of organisms that have a unique set of characteristics that set them apart from other organisms. Comment(0) Step 3 of 4 An ecosystem is all of the organisms within a certain area or volume. It includes the interaction between these organisms and with the nonliving matter and energy of their environment. A desert is an ecosystem.

Define environmental science

Environmental Science is a science that studies how humans interact With the living and nonliving partsof their environment. It is an interdisciplinary study, which includes biology, chemistry, geology, ecology,geography, economics, political science, philosophy and ethics.

____________________ is the ability of the environment to function indefinitely in an optimally healthy state.

Environmental sustainability

How does environmentalism differ from environmental science or ecology?

Environmentalism is a social movement toward protecting earth's life systems that is practiced more in the political and ethical arenas whereas environmental science practiced in the science arena.

Define environment.

Every thing surround us

The four causes of environmental problems are:

Exponential population growth — Exponential population growth means an exponential increase in the consumption of food, water, raw materials, energy, and the production of waste materials. 2. Wasteful and unsustainable resource use — Affluent nations tend to have high levels of unnecessary consumption, which leads to high levels of resource waste. 3. Poverty — People who live in impoverished areas are concemed With shot-term survival. They focus on finding enough food, water, shelter and fuel to get through each day. Whole countries With people like this can have devastating effects on the local environment. People who live in poveny also have much higher mortality rates due to poor health conditions. 4. The price of goods does not include the cost to natural capital — Companies which produce products do not have to include the cost to protect or clean up the environment in the cost of the product. Therefore, consumers have no real way of knowing how environmentally conscious a company may be.

Developing countries have a low ____________________, which poses a threat to their ability to become environmentally sustainable.

GDP

What will happen if humanity's ecological footprint continues to be greater than Earth's ecological capacity?

Humans will destroy their environment, more and more animal and plant species will be lost, poverty and disease will increase, etc.

Which of the following major cultural changes to Homo sapiens has not intensified environmental degradation?

Hunter-gatherer civilization

Which of the following is not associated with the pollution cleanup approach?

It is the most economical in the long run.

Which of the following statements about developing countries is true?

Most of the projected increase in the world's population is expected to take place there

Which worldview is most consistent with the status quo in the United States?

Planetary Management

Poverty can increase environmental degradation; however, environmental degradation can increase poverty. Why is this so?

Poor people may be less concerned about environmental issues since they are preoccupied with daily existence. However, the poor are severely impacted by environmental degradation since they have less access to adequate sanitation and health care facilities.

____________________ is a possible solution to the problem of people exploiting a free-access resource, but it may not be practical for global common resources.

Private ownership

List the three scientific principles of sustainability and give an example of each

Reliance on solar energy, biodiversity and nutrient cycling

Why does the search for scientific solutions to sustainability problems often involve conflicts?

Scientific solutions most times do not involve political solutions. Trade-offs or compromises become necessary in order to implement scientific solutions through political processes.

Make an argument supporting the statement that individuals matter in making the shift toward environmental sustainability?

Sustainability begins with our daily choices. It only takes 5-10% of the population in a community to bring about major change in a relatively short time frame.

An environmentally sustainable society will require most middle income American workers to decrease their consumption of products

T

Decreasing population growth in developed countries will decrease resource consumption

T

Developed countries have a significant negative effect on the environment because of the consumption per person and technological impact per unit of consumption.

T

Developed countries' populations use about 88% of the world's resources.

T

Economic growth provides more goods and services whereas economic development uses economic growth to improve living standards.

T

Environmental science is an interdisciplinary study that integrates the humanities and natural sciences

T

Life on earth has sustained itself over billions of years even during long periods of cooling and warming of the earth's surface.

T

Natural capital = Natural resources + Natural services

T

Natural capital degradation is a by-product of economic development

T

Pollution cleanup is considered a short-term solution if population and consumption levels grow without corresponding improvement in pollution control technology.

T

Population growth has declined since the 1960's

T

Sustainability begins at a personal level.

T

The world's more developed countries contain relatively small populations, use large proportions of resources and produce the largest proportions of waste.

T

There are a number of strategies and tools available to conserve rather than degrade or destroy the planet's capital

T

Which of the following is not a result of being an affluent country?

The ecological health in the country usually degrades as wealth increases.

Although the poor have limited access to resources, they still have an overall high environmental impact. Explain why this statement is true.

The large number of poor that are preoccupied with daily sustenance do not focus on long term environmental issues, which leads to environmental degradation.

What role for sustainability could individual play ?

The shift towards IiVing a more sustainable existence has to start at an individual level. People have to begin incorporating sustainability into their daily lives; and then, they have to put pressure on governments and large corporations to do the same.

The country with the second largest per capita ecological footprint is

USA.

One example of nutrient cycling

can be found in the topsoil. Microbes in the soil break down inorganic matter and make it available for plants to absorb. The plants take up these chemicals and incorporate them in their cells. Animals eat the plants and take up the chemicals. Once the animal dies, microbes decompose its body and the inorganic chemicals are released back into the soil

Resources that are called nonrenewable are

capable of depletion

Which of the following is an example of recycling?

collecting and remelting aluminum beer cans

All of the following are potentially renewable resources except

crude oil.

In ecology, the term sustainability

describes how can be the biological system remains diverse and productive time to time. Long-lived forests and healthy wetlands are the best examples for sustainable biological systems.

The United States, Canada, and Japan are examples of ____________________ with a high average per capita GDP.

developed countries

Time delays in the harmful effects of living unsustainably often cause environmental degradation to build slowly until it reaches a(n)

ecological tipping point.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures

economic growth.

Non-renewable resources include ____________________ sources such as oil and natural gas that cannot be recycled.

energy

An environmental worldview that holds that we are dependent on nature and our success is dependent on learning how the earth sustains itself and integrating this knowledge into the way we think and act, is

environmental wisdom

Your ____________________ refers to the set of assumptions and values a person holds with regard to his or her role in the world.

environmental worldview

A social movement dedicated to protecting Earth's life support system for all living things is called

environmentalism

Meeting current and future basic resource needs without compromising future generation's basic needs is considered a(n)

environmentally sustainable society

On the outskirts of a municipality lies a forest on public property. A person applying sustainable resource-use principles might suggest

harvesting trees below their estimated sustainable yield

Natural capital

includes the natural resources and services that keep all forms of life alive and support human economic activities. Natural capital is a critical component of sustainability.

Which of the following characterizes cultural revolutions?

increased resource consumption and pollution

The effects of pollutants include all of the following except

increasing forests and agricultural land

Of the following actions, the one that does the least to sustain the Earth is

increasing our dependence on nonrenewable resources

Ecology

is a biological science that looks at how living things interact With each other and their environment. Ecology IS a main component of environmental science.

A species

is a group of organisms that have a unique set of characteristics that set them apart from other organisms.

An environmental worldview

is a person's assumptions and Ideas that show how that person thinks of the world and his or her place in it.

Environmental Science

is a science that studies how humans interact With the living and nonliving parts of their environment. It is an interdisciplinary study, which includes biology, chemistry, geology, ecology,geography, economics, political science, philosophy and ethics.

Poverty

is a situation where people cannot fulfill their basic needs for adequate food, water, shelter, health and education. Povety leads to people who are focused on short-term survival finding enough food, water and fuel to get through each day. Three of the harmful environmental and health effects of this type of thinking are: • Degradation of large amounts of renewable resources, such as forests and wildlife. • Pollution of water supplies due to inadequate sanitation facilities. • Pollution of the air from open fire pits and Inadequately vented cooking stoves. Two effects that environmental degradation has on the povety stricken are inadequate drinking water due to polluted water supplies and an inadequate food source due to loss of habitat and shrinking animal populations.

Environmentalism

is a social movement whose goal IS to protect the earth from all forms of liv ng things. Environmentalism is not a science.

Culture

is a society's knowledge. beliefs. customs. technology and practices.

The tragedy of the commons

is a term coined by Garrett Hardin in 196B to describe the cumulative effect of many people using a shared resource. Individually, people believe that their use of a shared resource Will have little overall effect on the resource. The multiplicative effect of many people With this same belief is that the resource becomes degraded or scarce.

An ecosystem

is all of the organisms within a certain area or volume. It includes the interaction between these organisms and With the nonliving matter and energy of their environment. A desert is an ecosystem.

Economic growth

is an increase in a nation's gross domestic product (GPO). The GPO is the annual market value of all of a nation's goods and services. Economic growth looks only at an increase in monetary value.

Pollution

is defined as a chemical or other mechanism in the environment at a level that is detrimental to humans. Other agents can be noise pollution or heat pollution. Pollutants can come into the environment naturally, such as With volcanic eruptions, or from humans, such as waste products being dumped in waterways.

Environment

is everything surround us

A resource

is everything that comes from the environment to meet human needs and wants. Solar energy, water, air and plants are examples of resources.

The per capita GPD

is found by div ding the gross domestic product by the total population of the country at midyear.

An ecological footprint

is how we represent the amount of land and water necessary to provide humans With sufficient renewable resources and to remove their wastes and pollution. The larger the ecological footprint, the less we are living sustainably.

A renewable resource

is one that nature can replenish through natural processes. The time frame for this replenishment process to occur can be from days to hundreds of years. An example of a renewable resource is fish populations.

A perpetual resource

is one where the supply is continuous and the resource is expected to last Indefinitely. An example of a perpetual resource is solar energy.

A less-developed country

is one which does not have a high per capita GOP and is not as industrialized. Some of the less-developed countries are considered middle-income countries because they are moderately developed. Examples of middle-income countries are China, India and Mexico. Others of the less-developed countries are considered low-income countries because they are the least developed. Examples of low-income countries are Haiti and Nicaragua.

A more-developed country

is one which has a high per capita GOP and IS Industrialized. Examples of more-developed countries are the Llnited States, Japan and Australia.

An environmentally sustainable society

is one which meets current and future resource needs in an equitable way and does not compromise the needs of future generations. Having an environmentally sustainable society should be society's ultimate goal

Affluence

is personal wealth that leads to high levels of consumption and wastage of renewable resources. American consumers use about 30 times as much as Indian consumers and about 100 times as much as the people in the poorest countries. Growing affluence leads to environmental damage such as increased levels of consumption and wastage of renewable resources, and increased production of waste products. On the plus side, however, affluence also allows for better education, which can lead to people being more concerned With environmental quality and protection.

Natural income

is renewable resources, such as animals, plants, and soil supplied by the earth's natural capital. It can be equated to the interest that is provided by a capital investment. Living sustainably means living off the natural income without depleting the natural capital

The gross domestic product (GPD) Comment(0) Step 8 of B A more-developed country is one which has a high per capita GDP and is Industrialized. Examples of more-developed countries are the Llnited States, Japan and Australia. A less-developed country is one which does not have a high per capita GOP and is not as industrialized. Some of the less-developed countries are considered middle-income countries because they are moderately developed. Examples of middle-income countries are China, India and Mexico. Others of the less-developed countries are considered low-income countries because they are the least developed. Examples of low-income countries are Haiti and Nicaragua.

is the annual market value of all of a nation's goods and services. This includes the goods and services produced by all of the businesses operating within the country, whether domestic or foreign.

The per capita ecological footprint

is the average ecological footprint. It is calculated from all of the ndlvlduals living in country. The per capita ecological footprint is an estimate of, on average, how much an ndlvldual consumes of the earth's renewable resources.

Sustainable yield

is the highest rate at which a renewable resource can be used without reducing its available supply. The sustainable yield is how fast nature can replenish a renewable resource.

An ecological tipping point

is the point beyond which an irreversible change occurs in the natural systems. For example, over hunting and loss of habitat have led to the extinction of many animal species. Once extinct, these species can never return to the earth.

Pollution cleanup

is the process of cleaning up pollutants after they have been released into the environment. It is an after-the-fact, or out-put pollution control cleanup. An example of pollution cleanup is removing the oil after an Oil tanker spill

Pollution prevention

is the process of reducing or eliminating the production of pollutants It is a before- the fact, or input pollution control. An example of pollution prevention is adding scrubbers to a power plant smoke stack to remove harmful chemicals before they are added to the atmosphere.

Nutrient cycling

is the process where chemicals are circulated from the environment through organisms and back to the environment. Nutrient cycling is so Vital to sustaining life on earth that it is considered one of the three principles of sustainability. Because certain chemicals exist in fixed quantities, they need to be cycled back through the environment.

Reuse

is when a waste material is collected, cleaned, and reused in the same form. An example of reuse is the collection of glass bottles, which are then cleaned and refilled over and over again.

Exponential growth

is when the human population increases at a fixed rate per unit of time. The exponential growth on the planet was fairly flat-lined until the industrial revolution and then it began to increase almost vertically. By 2010, there were 6.9 billion people on the planet and It was increasing by BC million people per year. Even though the exponential growth rate has slowed a little since 1963, another 2.4 billion people Will be added to the planet by 2050.

Recycling

is when waste materials are collected and reprocessed Into something new. An example of recycling is the collection of aluminum cans. The cans are melted down and made into other aluminum products.

An organism

living thing

Dealing with conflicts between scientific solutions and political solutions usually involves

making trade-offs

Economic development

measures how a country uses its economic growth to improve the standard of living of the people living in that country. Economic development is used to classify countries as economically more developed or economically less developed.

Environmental degradation or natural capital degradation

occurs because we are living unsustainably. We are reducing the earth's natural capital at a faster rate. Three examples of environmental degradation are declining ocean fisheries, shrinking forests and aquifer depletion.

We can face the challenge of slowing population growth through

promoting family planning and elevating the status of women.

Installing runoff curtains in a construction site is an example of ____________________ pollution control.

output

Underlying root causes of unsustainable resource use include all of the following except

over reliance on renewable energy resources.

A chemical dumpsite would be an example of a ____________________ pollutant.

point source

Reducing the packaging on manufactured goods is an example of

pollution prevention

According to a number of environmental and social scientists, four basic causes of environmental degradation are

poverty, population growth, unsustainable resource use, failure to include environmental costs in market prices

Of the following behaviors, the one that runs counter to the three principles of sustainability is

producing and consuming anything people are willing to buy.

The action of processing plastic or aluminum cans into another usable product is called ____________________.

recycling

Which of the following characterizes sustainability revolutions?

reducing our ecological footprint

Which is the least effective way to extend the use of nonrenewable resources?

reducing the efficiency of resource use

The three principles of sustainability are

reliance on solar energy, biological diversity and nutrient cycling

A resource such as water that is renewed continuously is called a(n)

renewable resource

Use of a natural resource based on sustainable yield applies to

renewable resources.

As part of the path to sustainability, tradeoffs most specifically refer to

resolving conflicts through compromise

Old soda bottles that are collected, washed, and refilled are an example of ____________________.

reuse

Point sources of pollution include all of the following except

runoff from cropland.

One way to deal with degradation of common property is to use shared renewable resources at or below its estimated ____________________.

sustainable yield

The highest rate at which we can use a renewable resource indefinitely without reducing its available supply is called its

sustainable yield

Poverty is defined as

the inability to meet one's basic survival and education needs

The three major cultural changes that have occurred since humans were hunter-gathers are:

• The agricultural revolution — this is when humans learned to grow and breed plants and animals. It made food, shelter and clothing supplies more readily available. • The industrial-medical revolution — this is when humans learned produce goods and food on a large scale and how to increase longevity and health through better medicines. • The information-globalization revolution — this is when humans learned how to develop new technologies that allowed them to gain rapid access to global information.