Chapter 1: ENV Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability
Human population growing exponentially: in 2013 the growth rate was __%and now there ___ people wth about __ addd each years. There can be ___ of us by 2050.
1.2, 7.1 billion, 85 million, 9.7 billion
Isolation from nature: More than ___ of people live in ___ areas.
1/2, urban
About ___of worlds population get water from polluted sources by animal and human feces
1/8
Species are becoming extinct at least ___ x faster than the were in pre-___ times
100, human
More-developed countries have ___% of the worlds population
17
The latest version of our species has been around for bout ____ years. As we have dominated the earth and especially since ___, we have seriously degraded these natural systems including our own and our __.
200,000, 1900, economies
Life of on earth has been sustained for __ of years by __ energy, __, and __ cycling.
Billions, solar, biodiversity, chemical
Natural resources are materials and energy in nature that are essential or useful to __. Thy are often classified as ___ resources, ___ resources, o ___ sources
Humans, inexhaustible, renewable, un renewable
Natural recovery can take __ to __ of years, while human impacts are expanding exponentially within a time period of ___ to __ years.
Hundreds, thousands, 10, 100
"Never doubt that a small group od thoughtful committed citizens can change th world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
Margaret mead
Also known as a developing country, a country that is at a relatively early stage in the process of economic developement. Some are ___ income, like China. Some are ____developed countries, like Haiti.
Middle, least
Industrialized nations with high average income per person
More-developed countries
Life has been sustained to ___ processes.
Natural
Natural resources and natural services that keep us and other species alive and support our economies.
Natural capital
The global trust fund of free natural resources and eco stem services that nature has provided for us, future generations, and their species
Natural capital
Environmental degradation aka
Natural capital degradation
By working to preserve and replenish earths ___, we can find the best ways to reduce our ___ while expanding our ___.
Natural capital, footprint, impact
environmentally sustainable societies protect ___ and live off its ___
Natural capital, income
Many human activities can degrade ____ by using normally ___ sources such as trees and topsoil faster than nature can restore them and polluting the air.
Natural capital, renewable
Living sustainably means living on ____
Natural income
The renewable resources such as plants, animals, soil, clean air, and clean water provided by the artes natural capital
Natural income
Materials and energy in nature that are essential or usefu to humans
Natural resources
Natural capital= ___ + ___
Natural resources, ecosystem services
Sustainability: The capacity of the earth's_____ systems and _____ cultural systems to survive, flourish, and adapt to ____ environmental conditions into the very-long term ____
Natural, human, changing, future
Pollutants can eter the environment ___ or through ___ activities. Come from two types of sources: ___ or __
Naturally, human, point, nonpoint
not having enough contact with nature with urban environment and technology
Nature deficit disorder
Does an ecosystem service cost money?
No
Does anyone know how many people the earth can support indefinitely
No
Dispersed and often difficult to identify source of pollution
Nonpoint source
Something produced in nature more slowly than it is consumed by humans, cannot be replaced. Example?
Nonrenewable, copper, oil, coal
Chemical cycling aka ?
Nutrient cycling
The chemicals necessary for plants life processes and those of most other animals
Nutrients
Resources that are not owned by anyone and can be used by almost anyone. Example?
Open-access renewable resources, atmosphere, ocean
Any form of life
Organism
IPAT model by __ and ___
Paul Elchrich, John Holden
Lifestyle of consumers of expanding world population results in higher levels of total and ___ resource consumption along with more waste.
Per capita
The average ecological footprint of an individual in a given country or area
Per capita ecological footprint
Humans are separate from and in charge of nature and that we can amanage the earth mostly for our benefit
Planetary management worldview
Examples of human-centered worldviews: ____ worldview and ___ worldview
Planetary management, stewardship
Single, identifiable sources and origin of pollution
Point source
A group of organisms that has a unique set of characteristics that distinguishes it from other groups of organisms
Species
We can and should have an ethical responsibility to be caring and responsible managers of the earth
Stewardship worldview
Nonrenwable resources exist in a fixed quantity, or _____, in the earth's
Stock
Two ways to full cost: shift from environmentally harmful gov __ to ___. And to tax ___ and waste heavily while reducing taxes on ___ and ___.
Subsides, beneficial, pollution, wealth, income
When governments give companies ___ such as tax breaks and patients to assist them with using __ to run their business: this helps create __ and stimulate the ___ but encourages _.
Subsides, resources, jobs, economy, degradation
Our lives and economies depend on energy from the __ and on __ services and ___ services (____) provided by the earth
Sun, natural, ecosystem, natural capital
Collectively people in poverty are more focused on __ rather than sustainability, so they __ forests topsoil, and rasslands in order to stay alive. Some people have planted __ and that is part of their long term survival
Survival, degrade, trees
3 goals of environmental science: 1) Learn how life on earth has __ and ___ 2) Understand how we ___ with the environment 3) find ways to deal with environmental __ and live more ___
Survived, thrived, interact, problems, sustainably
The capacity of the earth's natural systems and human cultural systems to survive, flourish, and adapt to changing environmental conditions into the very-long term future
Sustainability
Highest rate at which we can use a renewable resource indefinitely without reducing its available supply
Sustainable yield
True or false? ENV includes living and nonliving things
T
Where do plants get nutrients from?
Solar energy
Air pollution causes __ deaths in china every years and worldwide __ are killed from indoor air pollution
1 million, 4.3 million
UN released Millenium Ecosystem Assessment: __ year study by ___ experts from __ countries. According to the study, human activities have degraded or overused about __% of the earths ecosystem services. It also concluded we have ___ to the problems that we can implement within a few ___.
4, 1360, 95, 60, solutions, decades
Sustainable future: research by social scientists suggest it takes only __-__% of the population of a community, country ir world to bring about major social and environmental change. Research shows that such change can occur in a time __ than most people think
5,10, shorter
How many principles of sustainability?
6
Some scientists argue we can sustain the population and level it off to __ by 2050
8 billion
Less-developed countries have ___ of population
83
According to the US world bank, about ____ people live in __ poverty, struggling to live on the equivalent of less than ___ a day..
900 million, extreme, 1.25
The variety of genes, organisms, species, and ecosystems in which organisms exist and interact
Biodiversity
If an ecological footprint is larger than its _____ to replenish its ___ sources and absorb the resulting wastes and pollution, it is said to have an ____
Biological capacity, renewable, ecological deficit
Protect your ___ and live on the ___ it provides. Deplete or waste your capital and you will move into a___ lifesytle.
Capital, income , unsustainable
The circulation of chemicals necessary for life from the environment through organisms and back to the environment
Chemical cycling
What helps turns waste into resources? Important component of nutrient cycling?
Chemical cycling. Topsoil
It is much easier and less costly to identify and ___ or ___ pollution from ___ sources than from widely dispersed nonpoint sources
Control, prevent, point, nonpoint
The goals of sustainability will be served by our working to ___ and ___ our beneficial environmental ___.
Create, expand, impact
environmentally sustainable society- Society that meets the ____ and ___ basic resource needs of its people in a just and ____ manner without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their basic resource needs
Current, future, equitable
The suns input of energy warms the planet and provides energy that plants use to produce nutrients. Powers direct and indirect forms of solar energy
Dependence on solar energy
scientific principles of sustainability: (3)
Dependence on solar energy, biodiversity, chemical cycling
UN classifies world countries as economically more ___ or less __
Developed
An interdisciplinary study of how humans interact with living and nonliving parts of their environment
Environmental science
Worldview holding that we are part of and dependent on nature and that life's support system exists for all species not just us and that our economic success and long term survival of cultures and our species depends on learning how the earth has sustained itself for billions of years and integrating such lessons from nature into the ways we think and act.
Earth-centered worldview
footprint is larger than biological capacity for replenishment
Ecological deficit
The amount of land and water needed to supply a population or an area with renewable resources and to absorb and recycle the wastes and pollution produced by such resource use
Ecological footprint
As our ___ grow, we are depleting and defrauding more of the earths natural capital
Ecological footprints
The biological science that studies how living things interact with one another and their environment
Ecology
Full cost pricing (____): Products we buy must include the _____ costs behind their production, giving consumers better information about the environmental impacts of their lifestyles and make better choices
Economics, environmental
Set of organisms within a defined area interacting with one another and with their environment of living and non-living matter
Ecosystem
group of organisms in a defined geographic area (terrestrial or marine) that interact with each other and the env
Ecosystem
Processes provided by healthy ecosystems that support life and human economies at no monetary cost to us
Ecosystem services
A major focus of ecology is the study of...
Ecosystems
Affluence has negative affects but can also allow for more widespread and better ___- which lead more people to become concerned. Make money ready for technologies to reduce ___, Environmental degradation, and resource ___.
Education, pollution waste
Dependence on solar energy : The suns input of ____ warms the planet and provides energy that plants use to produce ____. Powers direct and indirect forms of solar energy
Energy, nutrients
Everything around us. Includes the living and non living things in which we interact with and affects any livin organism or other specified system
Environment
everything around us, living and non living
Environment
Chemical cycling: The circulation of chemicals necessary for life from the ____ through __ and back to the ___. Earth receives a continuous supply of energy from the __, but receives no new supplies of life-supporting ___. Through organisms complex interaction with living and nonliving organisms, they must continually ___ the chemicals they need in order to survive. There is little __ in nature other than the __ world.
Environment, organisms, environment, sun, chemicals, recycle, waste, human
Depletion of destruction of a potentially renewable resource such as soil, grassland, forest or wildlife that is used faster than it is naturally replenished. If it continues the resource will become nonrenwable (extinct)
Environmental degradation
What causes malnutrition?
Environmental degradation
The study of varying beliefs about what is right and wrong with how we treat the environment-
Environmental ethics
Useful tool for studying worldviews
Environmental ethics
Your set of assumptions and values reflecting how you think the world works and what you think your role in the world should be
Environmental worldview
Do not confuse environmental science and ecology with ___.
Environmentalism
Social movement dedicated to trying to sustain the earth's life support state for all forms of life
Environmentalism
Society that meets the current and future basic resource needs of its people in a just and equitable manner without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their basic resource needs
Environmentally sustainable society
Biodiversity: The variety of genes, organisms, species, and ecosystems in which organisms ____ and ____. The interactions among species, especially the ___ relationships, provide ecosystem is vital and keeps any population from growing too __. Also provides countless ways for them to adapt to __ environmental conditions.
Exist, interact, feeding, large, changing
When a quantity such as the human pollution increases at a fixed percentage per unit of time
Exponential growth
True or false? Companies using resources to provide goods for consumers generally are required to pay for most of the harmful environmental and health costs of supplying such goods
F- NOT
Example of indirect forms of solar energy:
Flowing water, wind
Products we buy must include the environmental costs behind their production, giving consumers better information about the environmental impacts of their lifestyles and make better choices
Full-cost pricing
Social science principles of sustainability : ___ pricing, ___ solutions, responsibility to ____
Full-cost, win-win, future
We could shift toward living more sustainably bu applying ___ pricing, searching for ___ solutions, and vomiting to pressing the earth's life support system for ___.
Full-cost, win-win, future
Who called the degradation of renewable sources "tragedy of the commons"
Garret Hardin
Example of less open but shared resources
Grassland, resource, stream
The WWF estimated that the US is responsible for almost ___ of the global ecological footprint.the average American consumes about __ time the amount of resources that the average ___ consumes and ___ ties consumed by the average person in the wordlds poorest countries. We would need __ planet earth to sustain the rate of resource use of the average American.
Half, 30, Indian, 100, 5
Pollution: Contamination of the environment by any chemical or other agent such as ___ or ___ to a level that is harmful to the health, survival, or activities of huans or other organisms.
Heat, noise
3 major categories of environmental worldviews: ___-centered, ___- centered, ___-centered
Human, life, earth
Worldview that sees the natural world primarily as a support system for human life
Human-centered worldview
Source of energy that cannot be used up by humans. Example?
Inexhaustible , sun and win energy
Solar energy is an ___ source because its supply is expected to last at least ___ years until the sun dies.
Inexhaustible, 6 billion
Ecology: The biological science that studies how living things ___ with one another and their___
Interact, environment
____ is what sustains life
Interdependence
the dependence of two or more people or things on each other.
Interdependence
Ecology and environmental science reveal that ____, not __, is what sustains ___ and allows it to adapt to a continually changing set of env conditions.
Interdependence, Independence
One of more areas of study
Interdisciplinary
What type of study is environmental science? It integrates ideas of from te ___ sciences. Also integrates ___ sciences
Interdisciplinary, natural, social
scientific principles of sustainability aka
Lessons from nature
Despite our many scientific and technological advances we are utterly dependent on the earth for clean air and water, food, shelter, energy, fertile, soil, and all other components of the planet's _____
Life support system
Worldview holding that all species have value has participating members of the biosphere regardless of their potential or actual use to humans- belief that we have the ethical responsibility to avoid hastening the extinction of species through our activites
Life-centered worldview
Lack of protein and other nutrients needed for good health
Malnutrition
Win-win solutions (_____): Learning to work together in dealing with our environmental problems by recognizing our ____ connections with others and our life support system. Shifting from ___ situation based on ____of other humans to this that is based on ___.
Political science, interdependent, win-lose, dominance, compromise
Polluting substances
Pollutants
Contamination of the environment by any chemical or other agent such as noise or heat to a level that is harmful to the health, survival, or activities of huans or other organisms
Pollution
Cleaning up or diluting pollutants after we have produced them
Pollution cleanup
2 different ways we've tried to deal with pollution?
Pollution cleanup, pollution prevention
Efforts focused on greatly reducing or eliminating the production of pollutants
Pollution prevention
Environmental Impact=
Population x affluence x technology
Major causes of environmental problems are __ growth, unsustainable __ use, __, avoidance of ___ pricing, and increasing ___ from nature.
Population, resource, poverty, full-cost, isolation
Condition in which people are unable to fulfill their basic needs for adequate food, water, shelter, health care, and education
Poverty
A natural resource that can be replaced at the same rate at which the resource is consumed. Example?
Renewable, air, water,topsoil, plants, animals
IPAT model includes use of __ and __ sources
Renewable, nonrenwable
Anything that we can obtain from the environment to meet our needs and wants
Resource
Principles by which nature has sustained itself for billions of years by relying on solar energy, biodiversity, and nutrient cycling
Scientific principles of sustainability
Derived from studies of economics, political science, and ethics. Full cost pricing, win-win solutions, and a responsibility to future generations
Social science principles of sustainability
The sun's input of energy
Solar energy
In learning to live more sustains, what is our most scarce resource?
Time
A vital natural resource that provides us and most other land-dwelling species with food. Without nutrient cycling in this life as we know it. Would not exist
Topsoil
Dealing with conflicts often involving making __, or compromises. If the timber company is persuaded to plant Rees that it already cleared or degraded instead of clearing the undisturbed forest the government give the company a ___, financial support, to meet some of the costs for planting trees.
Trade-offs subsidy
Who released Millenium Ecosystem Assesment?
UN
Acknowledges our growing ecological footprints and the need to reduce them, but it stresses that in pursuing our activities and creating products and services, we need to consider how we can improve some aspec of he environment while we serve our needs and want
Upcycling
In nature, waste=___
Useful resources
Affluence=
Wealth
Learning to work together in dealing with our environmental problems by recognizing our interdependent connections with others and our life support system
Win-win solutions
Our environmental ___ play a ey role in determining whether we live unsustainable or more sustainability
Worldviews
A key component of environmental science is
ecology
