Miller & Spoolman Living in the Environment 16th edition a.p. environmental science CHAPTER 1: ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS, THEIR CAUSES, AND SUSTAINABILITY Miller & Spoolman Living in the Environment 16th edition

Living in an Exponential Age Exponential Growth: a quantity increases at a fixed percentage per unit of time, such as 2% per year. Because of exponential growth in the human population, there were 6.7 billion people on Earth in 2008 (7.04 billion as of September 2012). How many people can Earth support, and at what level of resource consumption?

How would you improve your school so that it prepares future leaders to protect the planet? .

Some Terms You Need to Know environment ecosystem natural capital environmental science exponential growth natural services ecology environmentalism nutrient cycling organism sustainability solar capital species natural resources natural income GDP – gross domestic product per capita GDP economic development developed country developing country resources conservation perpetual resource renewable resource sustainable yield environmental degradation ecological footprint

What is an Environmentally Sustainable Society? Our lives and economies depend on the sun (solar capital) and on natural resources and natural services (natural capital) provided by the earth. Living sustainably means living off the earth’s natural income without depleting the natural capital that supplies it.

Goals of Environmental Science are to learn how: nature works the environment affects us we affect the environment to deal with environmental problems and live more sustainably.

How Can Environmentally Sustainable Societies Grow Economically? Societies can become more environmentally sustainable through economic development dedicated to improving the quality of life for everyone without degrading the earth’s life support systems.

How are Our Ecological Footprints Affecting the Earth? As our ecological footprints grow, we are depleting and degrading more of the earth’s natural capital. What’s your ecological footprint? Discuss and determine how we can look at our class data and create a graphic representation

What is Pollution and What Can We Do About It? Preventing pollution is more effective and less costly than cleaning up pollution Types of pollution Point sources Nonpoint sources Biodegradable pollutants Nondegradable pollutants Pollution prevention = input pollution control Pollution cleanup = output pollution control

Tragedy of the Commons Set Up Arrange yourselves in groups of 3-4 Materials: 1 plate for each person, plus 2 extra for the group 1 spoon for each person “Bank” of goldfish crackers (they live on one of the “extra” group plates) Start with 4 fish per group member on the last “extra group plate which represents your pond, and place this plate in the middle of the group Everyone starts with four family members (2 parents, 2 kids) In your notebook, keep track of how many fish you catch each season, the number of family members remaining in your family

Tragedy of the Commons Game During a hunting season, you may not communicate with any of the group members A hunting season lasts 30 seconds You can only catch fish with your spoon, one at a time If a fish falls off the plate, it dies (think fish out of water) If you catch: 0 fish, your whole family starves to death. You do not get to play in future rounds 1 fish, 1 family member dies 2 fish, everyone lives Each fish beyond 2 can be sold for 5 points

Tragedy of the Commons To prepare for the next hunting season, each fish left in the pond reproduces once, basically doubling your fish population You may only participate in the hunting season if you have at least one member left in your family

Why Do We Have Environmental Problems? Major causes of environmental problems are population growth wasteful and unsustainable resource use Poverty exclusion of environmental costs of resource use from the market prices of goods and services attempts to manage nature with insufficient knowledge. People with different environmental worldviews often disagree about the seriousness of environmental problems and what we should do about them.

What Are the Four Scientific Principles of Sustainability? Nature has sustained itself for billions of years…without human interference Solar energy Biodiversity Population control Nutrient cycling Lessons from nature that we can apply to our lifestyles and economies.