1. Why are Some Actions Not Sustainable?
Chapter 1 Key Issue 4
Why are Some Actions Not Sustainable?

2. Big Question
What systems do humans interact with and how can they negatively impact those systems? What can be done by humans to prevent further destruction of Earth’s resources and systems?

3. Key Terms Resources Lithosphere Renewable Resources Biotic
Nonrenewable Resources
Biosphere
Sustainability
Climate
Three Pillars of the Environment
Topographic Maps
Conservation
Ecosystem/Ecologist
Preservation
Cultural Ecology
Abiotic
Environmental Determinism
Atmosphere
Possibilism
Hydrosphere

4. Geography, Sustainability, and Resources
The world is connected by human activity but humans are also connected by the physical world (ex. atmosphere, land, water, vegetation, and living creatures)
Substances in the environment that are useful to people, economically and technologically accessible, and socially acceptable to use are known as resources

5. Geography, Sustainability, and Resources
There are two types of resources:
Renewable Resources – Those that are produced in nature more rapidly than they are consumed by humans
Nonrenewable Resources – Those that are produced in nature more slowly than they are consumed by humans

6. Geography, Sustainability, and Resources
Sustainability is the use of Earth’s resources in ways that endure their availability in the future
Geographers worry about humans depleting nonrenewable resources and destroying renewables through pollution

7. Geography, Sustainability, and Resources
They also work on ways to sustain the resources we have
1987 “Brundtland Report” claimed that the sustainability of the Earth’s resources could be achieved by three pillars: environmental protection, social equity, and economic growth

8. Geography, Sustainability, and Resources
Environmental Pillar
By using conservation and preservation, Earth’s resources can be saved and used by future generations
Society Pillar
Humans must make changes to what resources they consume and how much of them they use. Consumer choice can support sustainability when people embrace it as a value

9. Geography, Sustainability, and Resources
The Economy Pillar
The economy should put a huge premium or charge on the resources that the most threatened. The more a human action damages the sustainability of earth, the more we should have to pay

10. Geography, Sustainability, and Resources
Some critics of such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) say it is too late to discuss sustainability…they claim humans are already using too much biologically productive land on Earth
Some claim that the Earth’s resources are unlimited because the definition of resources change drastically and unpredictably over time
Both sides of the argument agree that we must work together as a planet to preserve and distribute Earth’s precious resources

11. Sustainability and Earth’s Physical Systems
Natural resources are classified into four interrelated systems
The first three are made up of nonliving or inorganic matter and are known as abiotic
These include the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere
The fourth system is made up of organic (living) matter and is known as biotic. This system is called the biosphere

12. Sustainability and Earth’s Physical Systems
Abiotic systems:
Atmosphere – Thin layer of gas that surrounds earth up to 300 miles. Made up of 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, it is held together by gravity. Long-term weather patterns make up climate which geographers use to classify places on earth into 5 climate regions

13. Sustainability and Earth’s Physical Systems
Hydrosphere – All water on or near Earth’s surface. Could exist in water vapor in the atmosphere or ice in glaciers. 97% of Earth’s water is in the oceans. Human activity is heavily dependent on the water, especially agriculture

14. Sustainability and Earth’s Physical Systems
Lithosphere – the Earth’s crust and some of the mantle below the crust. Extends around miles deep in the Earth’s surface. Studying Earth’s landforms helps geographers explain the distribution of people and the choice of economic activities at different locations. Landforms on Earth’s surface are shown on topographic maps.

15. Geography, Sustainability, and Ecology
The fourth natural resource system is biotic and known as the biosphere
Living organism can not survive without interacting with the surrounding physical environment. Because of this, the biosphere interacts with and includes the three abiotic systems of Earth

16. Geography, Sustainability, and Ecology
Most organisms on Earth interact within the top 10 feet of the lithosphere, top 650 feet of the hydrosphere, and lowest 100 feet of the atmosphere
All three provide organisms with what they need to survive: lithosphere = provides food and shelter, hydrosphere = water, food, and shelter for aquatic life, atmosphere = air to breathe and protection from sun’s rays

17. Geography, Sustainability, and Ecology
The combination of living organisms and abiotic spheres is known as the ecosystem
Ecologists study the ecosystems of earth to understand how organisms interact with the physical environment

18. Geography, Sustainability, and Ecology
Human geography looks specifically at how humans interact and live within the three abiotic spheres
Human geography is concerned about how negative human interactions can harm the spheres (ex. Soil erosion, air and water pollution, depletion of key nutrients in soil, etc.)

19. Geography, Sustainability, and Ecology
Different cultural groups modify the four spheres in different ways
The human-environment relationship is known as cultural ecology
Geographers such as Carl Ritter and Alexander von Humboldt created the approach known as environmental determinism which claimed that the physical environment affects and causes human social development

20. Geography, Sustainability, and Ecology
Modern geographers reject this idea in favor of possibilism. This says the environment may limit some human activities but humans have the ability to adjust to their environment
Culture and wealth are big determinants in how and why people adjust to their environment
Possibilism is also used to determine if people’s activities and patterns are sustainable

21. Big Question & Key Terms
What systems do humans interact with and how can they negatively impact those systems? What can be done by humans to prevent further destruction of Earths resources and systems?
Resources
Lithosphere
Renewable Resources
Biotic
Nonrenewable Resources
Biosphere
Sustainability
Climate
Three Pillars of the Environment
Topographic Maps
Ecosystem/Ecologist
Conservation
Cultural Ecology
Preservation
Environmental Determinism
Abiotic
Possibilism
Atmosphere
Hydrosphere