1. Causes and Sustainability
Environmental Issues
Causes and Sustainability
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2. Spaceship Earth Solar radiation Energy in = Energy out Reflected by
atmosphere (34%)
UV radiation
Absorbed
by ozone
by the earth
Visible
light
Lower Stratosphere
(ozone layer)
Troposphere
Heat
Greenhouse
effect
Radiated by
atmosphere
as heat (66%)
Earth
Heat radiated
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3. Population Growth
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4. Environmental Interactions
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5. Spaceship Earth
What Are Our Main Environmental Problems?
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6. Biodiversity Depletion
Pollution
Air Pollution
Global climate change
Stratospheric ozone depletion
Urban air pollution
Acid deposition
Outdoor pollutants
Indoor pollutants
Noise
Biodiversity Depletion
Habitat destruction
Habitat degradation
Extinction
Water Pollution
Sediment
Nutrient overload
Toxic chemicals
Infectious agents
Oxygen depletion
Pesticides
Oil spills
Excess heat
Waste Production
Solid waste
Hazardous waste
Food Supply Problems
Overgrazing
Farmland loss
and degradation
Wetlands loss
Overfishing
Coastal pollution
Soil erosion
Soil salinization
Soil waterlogging
Water shortages
Groundwater depletion
Loss of biodiversity
Poor nutrition
Major
Environmental
Problems
Loss of Biodiversity
Resource Depletion
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7. Chemical Pollution
Can the Earth continue to absorb unlimited amounts of pollution?
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8. Industrial Wastes Soluble Poisonous Heavy Metal Elements
Accumulate along the food chain & cause death when in high concentration
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9. Industrial Accidents Crude Oil (from wrecked tankers)
cover sea surface which reduces light penetration and dissolve O2 amount
stick feathers of birds, making them unable to fly
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10. Agricultural Chemicals
Inorganic Fertilizers
cause rapid growth of algae (e.g. red tides)
use up lots of O2 in water
fish & other organisms die from suffocation
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11. Agricultural Wastes Manure (fertilizer)
Decomposers increase rapidly due to sufficient food supply
O2 content in water decreases
Cause suffocation of fish & other organisms
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12. Pesticides Include: Herbicides Insecticides Fungicides Bactericides
In conventional agriculture, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides can kill off much of the life in the soil, making no distinction between what’s beneficial and harmful. Synthetic fertilizers are then applied because plants can’t live in dead soil. The process continually strips the soil of its vitality. Meanwhile, many of those chemicals leach into our water.
Agricultural chemicals have become so ubiquitous in our environment that even the most remote regions on earth have been found to have traces of these chemicals in the water, soil, plant and animal life.
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13. Pesticides
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14. Biological Magnification
Chlorinated hydrocarbons
Pesticides like DDT
Break down slowly in the environment
Accumulate in the fatty tissue of animals
Become more concentrated as it moves up the food chain
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15. Biological Magnification DDT
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16. The Domino Effect
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17. Environmental Resources
Perpetual
Renewable
Non-renewable
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18. Ground Water Pollution and Depletion
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19. Ground Water Pollution and Depletion
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20. Ground Water Pollution and Depletion
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21. Our Good Earth
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22. Fertilized World
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23. Loss of Biodiversity
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24. Extinction of Species
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25. Extinction of Species
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26. Renewable Resources What is Sustainability? Sustainable Yield
living off the natural income replenished by soils, plants, air and water
not depleting earth’s endowment of natural capital that supplies this income
Sustainable Yield
The highest rate of use of a resource in which it can be used indefinitely without reducing its available supply
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27. Resources Sustainable Society Environmental Degradation
satisfy the basic needs of people for food, clean air & water, and shelter indefinitely without
depleting or degrading natural resources
preventing future generations from meeting their basic needs
Environmental Degradation
exceeding a resource’s natural replacement rate causing the resource to decrease
Ground water pollution and depletion
Excessive erosion/soil compaction
Extinction of Species
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28. Environmental Issues
Do you believe that the current lifestyle of the US is sustainable? Analyze your lifestyle; how would resources be affected if everyone on Earth lived the way you do?
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29. Environmental Impact
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30. Environmental Impact Developing countries Developed countries Pop=5.1B
Low per capita GNP
Represent 95% of the projected increase in the worlds population
Developed countries
Pop=1.2B
Highly industrialized with high per capita GNP
Represent 20% of the world’s population
Controls
85% of wealth
88% of resources
produces 75% of pollution and waste
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31. The Good and Bad of Economic Growth
Positive
Increased Life Expectancy
Infant Mortality Drop
Increased Food Production
Safe Drinking Water in Rural Areas
Increased Production with fewer materials
Decrease in Major Air and Water Pollution (since 1970s)
Negative
Life Expectancy Lower in developing countries (LDC)
Infant Mortality is 8 times Higher in LDC
Less Sustainability in Agricultural Practices
Air and Water Pollution in LDC is too High
Increased Demand on Resources (population growth)
Increased Disturbance of Habitable Surface (73% already)
1 in 4 people in the world make less than $370/year
Economic Gap Increase (Rich get richer, poor get poorer)
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32. Environmental Myth Humans are in charge
There will always be more (unlimited supply)
Economic growth is good…always
Success depends on our ability to dominate, understand and control nature
Technology will inevitably save mankind
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33. Environmental Wisdom
Human beings are like other species and rely on the earth to survive
Nature does not exist just for us
We need the earth but the earth does not need us
Limited Resources should not be wasted
Some economic growth is good, other types are not; encourage the good
Understand the earth to learn to live in harmony with it; the more informed, the better our decisions
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34. Environmentally-Sustainable Economic Development
Social
Economic
Environmental
Sustainable
Solutions
Environmental
Social
Economic
Traditional Decision
Making
Decision Making
In a Sustainable Society
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