1. Introduction to Environmental Science

2. Ch 1 Science & Environment
Section 1 Understanding our environment
I can define environmental science.
I can compare and contrast environmental
science and ecology
I can list the 5 major fields of study that contribute to environmental science
I can describe the major effects of humans on the environment throughout history

3. Section 1 I can distinguish between renewable and
non-renewable resources
I can classify environmental problems into three major categories

4. Introduction to Environmnetal Science
How do you define “environment”?

5. Introduction to Environmental Science
Everything around us, living and nonliving, natural and man-made
Includes the relationships between these components of the environment

6. What is Environmental Science?
Definition of environmental science:
the interdisciplinary study of
(1) how the earth works,
(2) how we interact with the earth, and
(3) how to deal with environmental
problems
Let’s break that down…

7. Definition of Environmental Science
EnvironmentalSciene is a broad, interdisciplinary , applied science
ES includes many fields of study, including Biology,
Earth science, Chemistry, Physics,
Social Sciences

8. Definition of Environmental Science
how the earth works
How do the four spheres of our planet function naturally to maintain a balance?
atmosphere
biosphere
lithosphere
hydrosphere

9. Definition of Environmental Science
how we interact with the earth (our impact on the environment)
How do we upset the natural balance?
How do we use resources?
How do we produce waste?
What do we do with out waste?

10. Definition of Environmental Science
(3) how to deal with environmental
problems
To reduce or eliminate our unbalancing effect:
Decision making
Problem solving

11. Why study Environmental Science?
Rapid changes in earth’s environment due to human activities can be traced to two “revolutions”:

12. Life has existed on earth for 3.8 billion years
Earth well suited for life
Water covers ¾ of planet
Habitable temperature
Moderate sunlight
Atmosphere provides oxygen and carbon dioxide
Soil provides essential minerals for plants
But humans are altering the planet; not always in positive ways

13. POPULATION Globally, 1 in 4 people lives in extreme poverty
Cannot meet basic need for food, clothing, shelter, health
Difficult to meet population needs without exploiting earth’s resources

14. OVERPOPULATION People overpopulation Consumption overpopulation
Too many people in a given geographic area
Problem in many developing nations
Consumption overpopulation
Each individual in a population consumes too large a share of the resources
Problem in many highly developed nations

15. Hunter-Gatherers Humans and our ancestors

17. Hunter-Gatherers 60,000-12,000 years ago
Nomadic – followed plants & animals (allowed nature to repair itself)
Lived in small groups-impact low
Life expectancy – years
Experts on native plants
Low resourse use per person
Over-hunting: disappearance of species?

18. Hunter-Gatherers

19. Discovery of Fire
Effect on vegetation widespread & devastating (kept grasslands open)
Affected areas where original action not intended (not all environments adapted to withstanding fire)
Can be repetitive and cover the same area at frequent intervals
Selective in its effect on species

21. Domestication of plants

22. Agricultural Revolution
Gradual move from nomadic lifestyle of hunter-gatherers to the farming of domesticated animals and plants
Started about 10,000 years ago
Led to human population
explosion
Can you explain why???

23. Agricultural Revolution
12,000-10,000 years ago (end of last ice age)
Domestication of:
Plants by women (artificial selection of best grains) (figs, rice, barley, wheat)
Animals (wolves 3000BC, goats & sheep,
horses)
Longer life span (better food)

24. Deliberate destruction of natural vegetation to cultivate elected crops
Forced people to settle in specific places
Caused development of towns – led to changes in land use and population growth (500xs as many people as hunting)
Created problems for waste disposal
People began to accumulate material good

25. Development of harmful chemicals & pesticides
Survival of native plants & animals, once vital to survival, became less important
Growth of more food, enabling populations to expand
Conflict between society more common as ownership of land & water rights became
crucial economic issues

26. Encouraged use of domesticated animals in work (ploughing, transport)
Large forested areas cleared for farms
Created soil erosion, orgrazing, and other environmental problems (collapse of civilization in Tigris-Euphrates river basin through salt contamination in overworked soil)

27. slash & burn

31. Centers of domestication Dates (years b.p.)
Archaeological record indicates that plant & animal domestication arose independently in at least 7, and possibly more, separate locales
Centers of domestication Dates (years b.p.)
Near East/"fertile crescent“ 11,000
Northern China 9,000
Southern China (?) ,000
Central Mexico ,750
Peruvian Andes 5,250
Papua New Guinea ,000
West Africa ,500
Eastern No. America 4,000

32. Urbanization Large-scale disruption of forests
Improvements in human welfare & expansion of human populations beyond limits set by pre-agriculture patterns of life
Growth in transportation and polllution problems

33. European Colonization
Large scale environmental degradation under colonial exploitation of resources in former colonies in Africa, Latin America, India
No regard for environmental consequences
Devalued natural resources in colonial states

34. PROBLEMS
1. Dependency on few plants--Agriculture made human communities dependent on relatively few plants--the main crops which they grew--rather than on the many different kinds of plants which hunter-gatherers use.
2. Greater vulnerability to weather—

35. Complete dependency on harvest times--To survive, agriculturalists have to gather all their food for the year at one or two or three harvest times, rather than gathering year round.
Nothing can be allowed to interrupt the harvest.
Agricultural communities became more time- conscious.

36. store the produce of their fields for the rest of the year, protect it from moisture, vermin, and thieves
learn to dole out supplies in measured quantities so the community can survive
have seed for next year's planting.
These conditions created a new kind of life style.

37. 4. Need for intense physical labor
specialization becomes possible
5. wealth acquires meaning
6.Humans had never before lived in large
groups or in densely packed spaces. They
had to learn how to do so successfully (perhaps we are still learning how).

38. problem of polluting one's living space
need to develop elaborate cultural means of
disposing of their dead, or of their food wastes
or excrement, or of the wastes of their livestock.
Mobile hunter-gatherer groups must necessarily
limit the number of children they have to care for
at any given time; large families of many
children mean more hands to help in the fields.
infectious disease, a problem closely related to
population growth and to the difficulty of
maintaining a clean, healthy living space.

40. Industrial Revolution

41. Industrial Revolution
Development of machines to do manual/animal labor
Led to use of non-renewable energy sources (fossil fuels) that disrupt the balance of our ecosystems (started in mid-1700’s – recent!)

42. Industrial Revolution
Large scale use of fossil fuels & mineral resources that pollute air, soil & environment
Development of new forms of transportation - boosted international trade and made available goods & services in distant locations
Created shift from dependence on renewable fuels to dependence on non-renewable fuels

43. Began in England in mid 1700’s
Spread to US in 1800’s
People lived longer & healthier
Environmental degradation increased
Factory towns sprang up, people left farms
Factory towns grew polluted, noisy, hazardous
Coal smoke filled cities

44. Reduced amount of land & labor needed for farming
Improved quality of life: electricity, sanitation, nutrition, medical care improved, improved communication through telephone & computer
Shift from natural products & medicines to man-made (plastics, synthetics)

45. The Human Population Over Time: Locate agricultural and industrial revolutions….
Yr. each billion was reached
2015*
1999
1987
1974
1960
1930
1880
* projected

46. Scale of Environmental Problems
Environmental problems are typically categorized by the affected population.
Global problems, like global warming and the hole in the ozone layer affect the entire world population.
Local problems, such as deforestation or pollution, can occur on a local scale

47. “Spaceship Earth”
Earth - a closed system, meaning materials do not enter or leave
Limit to resources
Damage that occurs stays in the system
Energy enters from sun, heat leaves

48. 10 Major Problems Facing Earth’s Environment (from Collapse by Jared Diamond)
Destruction of natural habitat
Loss of biodiversity
Soil damage and erosion
Use of fossil fuels as our main energy source
Overuse of freshwater resources

49. 10 Major Problems Facing Earth’s Environment
6. Release of toxic materials
7. Introduction of “alien” species
8. Release of harmful gases into atmosphere
9. Human population growth
10. Increasing standard of living

50. A tragic metaphor for “Spaceship Earth” ?
Easter Island is a relatively small, isolated Pacific island on which there are hundreds of large stone sculptures, indicating that a complex society once lived there
Reference on Easter Island, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond

51. A tragic metaphor for “Spaceship Earth” ?
When European explorers arrived in the 1700’s they found a mostly barren landscape, with no trees over 10 feet tall, yet there were hundreds of toppled statues all over the island.
The few people living on the island had no horses or oxen, were using grass to build fires and lived a primitive lifestyle.

52. The mystery: How did the Easter Islanders build and erect the statues, why did they do it and what happened to the civilization that accomplished this?

53. A tragic metaphor for “Spaceship Earth” ?
Evidence has been pieced together to provide the following explanation:
The island was settled by Polynesians from other islands around 400 CE.
At that time there were trees, including palms, on the island as shown by pollen studies. There is evidence that land and sea birds were abundant.
The human population grew as high as 30,000 as the islanders harvested dolphins and fish for food using wooden canoes. They also ate native island birds and rats. Farms were started to provide more food.

54. A tragic metaphor for “Spaceship Earth” ?
Like other Polynesian cultures, society was divided into chiefs and commoners, which were established into clans.
On Easter Island, there was collaboration between the clans, but also competition that resulted in building the large stone heads using rock from an island quarry and moving them into place on their territory. One theory is that this process required many workers to move them by pulling them along wooden tracks, possibly on a wooden sled. All of this required a huge expenditure of resources to support the structures and feeding the workers.

55. A tragic metaphor for “Spaceship Earth” ?
Eventually, the island was completely deforested, leading to local extinction of many species on which the islanders depended, as well as the loss of the raw materials to sustain their standard of living. Deforestation also led to soil erosion and a decrease in crop yield from farms. Climate change may have contributed to deforestation.

56. A tragic metaphor for “Spaceship Earth” ?
By 1680, civil war replaced the organized clans. People survived as best they could, raising more domesticated chickens for food. The statues that had once been erected as a sign of superiority between clans were then toppled over by rival clans, and remained as evidence of the societal collapse when the Europeans arrived.

57. A tragic metaphor for “Spaceship Earth” ?
Is this a small scale model of what could happen to our planet?
Similarities: overexploitation of resources in a fragile, closed system, with no where to escape, no place to get more resources

58. Environmental Problems
Resource depletion
Renewable vs nonrenewable
Pollution
Biodegradable vs nonbiodegradable
Loss of biodiversity
Habitat destruction
extinction

59. The Good News Jared Diamond writes in Collapse,
“While we do face big risks, the most serious ones are not ones beyond our control, …. Because we are the cause of our environmental problems, we are the ones in control of them, and we can choose or not choose to stop causing them and start solving them.”

60. Summary What’s the situation?
We depend completely on the environment for survival
We are experiencing increased wealth, health, mobility, leisure time
Humans change the environment, often in ways not fully understood – unintended consequences
Natural systems have been degraded i.e., pollution, erosion and species extinction
Environmental changes threaten long-term health and survival

61. “We are the most dangerous species of life on the planet, and every other species, even the earth itself, ha caue to fear our power to exterminate. But we are also the only species which, when it chooses to do so, will go to great effort to save what it might destroy”
Wallace Stegner

62. A World Apart

63. More Money, More Consumers
The countries which have more wealth also use more of the Earth’s resources. We also produce more of the substances which may damage the Earth

64. Affluenza - unsustainable addiction to overconsumption and materialism exhibited in the lifestyles of affluent consumers in the United States and other developed countries

65. Ecological Footprint
This is one way to measure our impact on the environment globally.
What is an ecological footprint?
the environmental impact of a person or population
amount of biologically productive land + water for raw materials and to dispose/recycle waste
Overshoot:
humans have surpassed the Earth’s capacity