1. Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability
CHAPTER 1
Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability 1

2. Core Case Study: A Vision of a More Sustainable World in 2060
A transition in human attitudes toward the environment, and a shift in behavior, can lead to a much better future for the planet in 2060
Sustainability: the capacity of the earth’s natural systems and human cultural systems to survive, flourish, and adapt into the very long-term future

3. Nature’s Survival Strategies Follow Three Principles of Sustainability
Reliance on solar energy
The sun provides warmth and fuels photosynthesis
Biodiversity
Astounding variety and adaptability of natural systems and species
Chemical cycling
Circulation of chemicals from the environment to organisms and then back to the environment
Also called nutrient cycling 3

4. Sustainability Has Certain Key Components
Natural capital: supported by solar capital
Natural resources: useful materials and energy in nature
Natural services: important nature processes such as renewal of air, water, and soil
Humans degrade natural capital
Scientific solutions needed for environmental sustainability 4

5. Some Sources Are Renewable and Some Are Not (1)
Resource
Anything we obtain from the environment to meet our needs
Some directly available for use: sunlight
Some not directly available for use: petroleum
Perpetual resource
Solar energy 5

6. Some Sources Are Renewable and Some Are Not (2)
Renewable resource
Several days to several hundred years to renew
E.g., forests, grasslands, fresh air, fertile soil
Sustainable yield
Highest rate at which we can use a renewable resource without reducing available supply 6

7. Some Sources Are Renewable and Some Are Not (3)
Nonrenewable resources
Energy resources
Metallic mineral resources
Nonmetallic mineral resources
Reuse
Recycle 7

8. Countries by Gross National Income per Capita
Figure 2 This map shows high-income, upper-middle income, lower-middle-income, and low-income countries in terms of gross national income (GNI) PPP per capita (U.S. dollars) in (Data from World Bank and International Monetary Fund)
Supplement 8, Fig 2 8

9. Pollution Comes from a Number of Sources (1)
Sources of pollution
Point sources
E.g., smokestack
Nonpoint sources
E.g., pesticides blown into the air
Main type of pollutants
Biodegradable
Nondegradable
Unwanted effects of pollution 9

10. Overexploiting Shared Renewable Resources: Tragedy of the Commons
Three types of property or resource rights
Private property
Common property
Open access renewable resources
Tragedy of the commons
Common property and open-access renewable resources degraded from overuse
Solutions 10

11. Ecological Footprints: A Model of Unsustainable Use of Resources
Ecological footprint: the amount of biologically productive land and water needed to provide the people in a region with indefinite supply of renewable resources, and to absorb and recycle wastes and pollution
Per capita ecological footprint
Unsustainable: footprint is larger than biological capacity for replenishment

12. IPAT is Another Environmental Impact Model
I = P x A x T
I = Environmental impact
P = Population
A = Affluence
T = Technology 12

13. Case Study: China’s New Affluent Consumers
Leading consumer of various foods and goods
Wheat, rice, and meat
Coal, fertilizers, steel, and cement
Second largest consumer of oil
Two-thirds of the most polluted cities are in China
Projections for next decade
Largest consumer and producer of cars 13

14. Natural Systems Have Tipping Points
Ecological tipping point: an often irreversible shift in the behavior of a natural system
Environmental degradation has time delays between our actions now and the deleterious effects later
Long-term climate change
Over-fishing
Species extinction

15. Tipping Point
Figure 1.15: In this example of a tipping point, you can control the ball as you push it up to the tipping point. Beyond that point, you lose control. Ecological tipping points can threaten all or parts of the earth’s life-support system.
Fig. 1-15, p. 19 15

16. Causes of Environmental Problems
Population growth
Unsustainable resource use
Poverty
Excluding environmental costs from market prices
Figure 1.17: Environmental and social scientists have identified four basic causes of the environmental problems we face (Concept 1-3). Question: For each of these causes, what are two environmental problems that result?
Fig. 1-17, p. 20

17. Industrial revolution13 12 11 10 9 ? 8 7
Billions of people 6 5 4 3
Industrial revolution 2
Figure 1.18: Exponential growth: The J-shaped curve represents past exponential world population growth, with projections to 2100 showing possible population stabilization as the J-shaped curve of growth changes to an S-shaped curve. (This figure is not to scale.) (Data from the World Bank and United Nations, 2008; photo L. Yong/UNEP/Peter Arnold, Inc.)
Black Death—the Plague 1
2–5 million years
8000
6000
4000
2000
2000
2100
Time
B. C.
A. D.
Hunting and gathering
Agricultural revolution
Industrial revolution
Fig. 1-18, p. 21

18. (% of world's population)
Lack of access to
Number of people
(% of world's population)
Adequate sanitation facilities
2.6 billion (38%)
Enough fuel for heating and cooking
2 billion (29%)
Electricity
2 billion (29%)
Clean
drinking water
1.1 billion (16%)
Adequate health care
Figure 1.20: These are some of the harmful effects of poverty. Questions: Which two of these effects do you think are the most harmful? Why? (Data from United Nations, World Bank, and World Health Organization)
1.1 billion (16%)
Adequate housing
1 billion (15%)
Enough food for good health
1 billion (15%)
Fig. 1-20, p. 22

19. Prices Do Not Include the Value of Natural Capital
Companies do not pay the environmental cost of resource use
Goods and services do not include the harmful environmental costs
Companies receive tax breaks and subsidies
Economy may be stimulated but there may be a degradation of natural capital 19