Review of Learning Objectives with Selected Key Terms - Chapter 1 - Addressing Environmental Problems

List and briefly describe the five stages in addressing environmental problems.

1. Scientific assessment involves gathering information about a potential environmental problem. 2. Risk analysis evaluates the potential effects of intervention. 3. Public education and involvement occur when the results of scientific assessment and risk analysis are placed in the public arena. 4. Political action is the implementation of a particular course of action by elected or appointed officials. 5. Long-term evaluation monitors the effects of the action taken.

Poverty

A condition in which people are unable to meet their basic needs for adequate food, clothing, or shelter.

Less Developed Countries (LDCs)

A developing country with a low level of industrialization, a high fertility rate, a high infant mortality rate, and a low per capita income (relative to highly developed countries).

System

A set of components that interact and function as a whole.

Hypothesis

An educated guess that might be true and that is testable by observation and experimentation.

Define ecological footprint.

An individual's ecological footprint is the amount of productive land, fresh water, and ocean required on a continuous basis to supply that person with food, energy, water, housing, material goods, transportation, and waste disposal.

Highly Developed Countries (HDCs)

An industrialized country that is characterized by a low fertility rate, low infant mortality rate, and high per capita income. Also called developed country.

Explain the impact of population and affluence an consumption.

As population increases, people can exceed the capacity of a region to support basic needs for food, shelter, and clean water. When consumption by individuals substantially exceeds these basic needs, the resources in a region will be exceeded even more quickly. In either case, consumption that exhausts both nonrenewable and renewable resources is unsustainable.

Explain how human activities affect global systems.

Earth consists of many physical and biological systems. Its abundant resources have allowed many forms of life to thrive and evolve. Humans, through our growing population and technology, have exploited these resources to the point that we are putting the environment at risk.

Sustainable Development

Economic development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Also called sustainable economic development.

IPAT

Environmental (I)mpact = The Number of (P)eople x (A)ffluence per person x Effect of (T)echnologies

Define environmental science and briefly describe the role of Earth systems in environmental science.

Environmental science is the interdisciplinary study of humanity's relationship with other organisms and the nonliving physical environment. Environmental scientists study systems; each system is a set of components that interact and function as a whole. A natural system consisting of a community of organisms and its physical environment is an ecosystem. Ecosystems are organized into larger and larger systems that interact with one another. At a global level are Earth systems, which include Earth's climate, atmosphere, land, coastal zones, and the ocean.

Relate Garrett Hardin's description of the tragedy of the commons in medieval Europe to common-pool resources today.

Garrett Hardin contended that our inability to solve many environmental problems is the result of a struggle between short-term individual welfare and long-term environmental sustainability and societal welfare. In today's world, Hardin's parable has particular relevance at the global level. Common-pool resources are those parts of our environment that are available to everyone but for which no single individual has responsibility—shared resources such as the atmosphere, fresh water, forests, wildlife, and ocean fisheries.

Garrett Hardin (1915-2003)

He was a professor of human ecology at the University of California-Santa Barbara who wrote about human environmental dilemmas. In 1968, he published his classic essay, "The Tragedy of the Commons," in the journal Science. He contended that our inability to solve many environmental problems is the result of a struggle between short-term individual welfare and long-term environmental sustainability and societal welfare.

Describe the factors that characterize human development and how they impact environment and sustainability.

Human development is typically characterized by factors associated with wealth, such as access to energy resources and medical technology. Historically, highly developed countries have represented less than 20% of the global population but account for more than 50% of resource use. Less developed countries (LDCs) are developing countries with high poverty rates, low levels of industrialization, high fertility rates, high infant mortality rates, and very low per capita incomes (relative to highly developed countries). Increasingly, many of the world's countries, such as China and India, have mixed development, with some urban residents owning considerable wealth but other urban and most rural residents living in poverty.

Briefly describe the history of the Lake Washington pollution problem of the 1950s and how it was resolved.

Lake Washington exemplifies a successful approach to addressing a relatively simple environmental problem. The pouring of treated sewage into Lake Washington had raised its level of nutrients to the point where the lake supported excessive growth of cyanobacteria. Disposal of the sewage in another way solved the lake's pollution problem.

Nonrenewable Resources

Natural resources that are present in limited supplies and are depleted by use; include minerals such as oil and natural gas.

Describe the three most important factors that determine human impact on the environment.

One model of environmental impact (I) has three factors: the number of people (P); the affluence per person (A), which is a measure of the consumption or amount of resources used per person; and the environmental effect of the technologies used to obtain and consume those resources (T). This model uses an equation to represent the relationship between environmental impacts and the forces that drive them: I = P x A x T

Differentiate between renewable and nonrenewable resources.

Renewable resources are those that nature replaces fairly rapidly (on a scale of days to centuries), and can be used forever as long as they are not overexploited in the short term. Nonrenewable resources are present in limited supplies and are depleted by use.

Renewable Resources

Resources that are replaced by natural processes and can be used forever, provided they are not overexploited in the short term. Examples include fresh water in lakes and rivers, fertile soil, and trees in forests.

Define sustainability

Sustainability is the ability to meet current human natural resource needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs; in other words, it is the ability of humans to manage natural resources indefinitely without the environment going into a decline from the stresses imposed by human society on the natural systems that maintain life.

Briefly describe sustainable development.

Sustainable development is economic development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Three factors—environmentally sound decisions, economically viable decisions, and socially equitable decisions—interact to promote sustainable development.

Sustainability

The ability to meet the current human need for natural resources without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs; assumes the environment can function indefinitely without going into a decline from the stresses imposed by human society on natural systems such as fertile soil, water, and air.

Ecological Footprint

The amount of land and ocean needed to supply an individual with food, energy, water, housing, transportation, and waste disposal.

Consumption

The human use of materials and energy; generally speaking, people in highly developed countries are extravagant consumers, and their use of resources is greatly out of proportion to their numbers.

Data

The information, or facts, with which science works and from conclusions are inferred.

Environmental Science

The interdisciplinary study of how humanity interacts with other organisms and the nonliving physical environment.

Outline the scientific method.

The scientific method is the way a scientist approaches a problem by formulating a hypothesis and then testing it by means of an experiment. There are many variations of the scientific method, which basically involves these steps: State the problem or unanswered question; develop a hypothesis; design and perform an experiment to test the hypothesis; analyze and interpret the data; and share the conclusion with others.

Scientific Method

The way a scientist approaches a problem (by formulating a hypothesis and then testing it by means of an experiment).

Common-Pool Resources

Those resources of our environment that are available to everyone but for which no single individual has responsibility. Formally called global commons.