1. ESC110 Chapter One Understanding our Environment
Principles of Environmental
Science - Inquiry and Applications,
2nd Edition
by William and Mary Ann Cunningham

2. Chapter One Some Key Terms McGraw-Hill Course Glossary
logical thinking
paradigms
 positivism
 reflective thinking
 remediation
 restoration ecology
 scientific theory
 sustainability
 sustainable development
 analytical thinking
 creative thinking
 critical thinking
 deductive reasoning
 environment
 environmental science
global environmentalism
hypothesis
 inductive reasoning

3. Chapter 1 Understanding Our Environment; Science as a Way of Knowing;
A Brief History of Conservation and Environmentalism; and
Current Environmental Conditions
Human Dimensions of Environmental Science.

4. Understanding Our Environment
The Planet Earth
Unique in the universe (?);
Mild, relatively constant temperatures;
Biogeochemical cycles;
Millions of species; and
Diverse, self-sustaining communities.

5. What is Environmental Science??
The Natural World
biosphere (plants & animals),
lithosphere (soils & rocks),
atmosphere (air), and the
hydrosphere (water)
Humans – social institutions and their artifacts (eg, political orgs, science, technology, etc)
Interaction
Negatively?? so the more we learn about the environment the better we can develop solutions
Environmental Science

6. Environmental Science
Environment is the circumstances and conditions that surround organism(s) as well as the complex of social & cultural conditions that affect an individual or community;
Environmental science is the systematic study of our environment and our place in it.

7. What's Happening to the Frogs?
In some places, up to sixty-percent of frogs and salamanders
have abnormal limbs, digits, eyes, or internal organs.
Environmental science allows us to explore the possible causes of such problems.
(observational &/or experimental)

8. Science as a Way of Knowing
Modern science has its roots in antiquity;
Greek philosophers;
Arabic mathematicians and astronomers; and
Chinese naturalists.

9. Scientific Investigation
Hypothesis - a conditional explanation that can be verified or falsified; and
Scientific theory - an explanation that is supported by an overwhelming body of data and experience

10. Experiments and Models
Natural Experiments
Gathering of historic evidence; and
Conducted by scientists who can't test their hypotheses directly.
Manipulative Experiments
Manipulate environment
Gather data on effects - quantification
Use statistics (tools) and determine probabilities
Models
Simulate real environmental systems;
Can be physical or mathematical;
Provide heuristic information (suggestions of how things MIGHT be); and
Are influenced by researchers' assumptions.
Develop ‘paradigms’-overarching models of the world that guide our interpretation of events

11. Applied Science
Many environmental scientists want to use their knowledge to
repair ecological systems that have been damaged by humans.

12. The Kissimmee River - the focus of an ambitious $8 billion
Restoration Ecology
Restoration - the re-creation of species composition and
ecosystem functions in areas disrupted by human actions
The Kissimmee River - the focus of an ambitious $8 billion
restoration project.

13. Artificial Ecosystems
Example: human-designed wetlands can be used to treat sewage effluent

14. History of Conservation and Environmentalism
Stages of Activism
Pragmatic resource conservation
Moral & aesthetic nature preservation
Growing concern about health & ecological damage cause by pollution (modern environmentalism)
Global environmental citizenship

15. Pragmatic Resource Conservation
1864 George Perkins Marsh wrote Man & Nature
“We are never justified in assuming a force to be insignificant because its measure is unknown, or even because no physical effect can now be traced to it as its origin”
Influenced President Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot (his chief conservation advisor)
Roosevelt created Forest Service w/ Pinchot as chief
Their policies were utilitarian conservation (save forests for utility not aesthetics or ecology)

16. Preservation - moral & aesthetic
John Muir (first president of Sierra Club) opposed Pinchot’s utilitarian policies
Nature deserves to exist for its own sake-regardless of its usefulness
Biocentric preservation – fundamental right of other organisms to exist and pursue their own interests (spiritual values & aesthetics)

17. Modern Environmentalism
1962 Rachel Carson wrote Silent Springs (about pollution & the threat of toxic chemicals to humans & other species)
Mostly considered local, regional or maybe even national effects to environment
A fusion of conservation of natural resources and preservation of nature with concerns about pollution, environmental health, and social justice.

18. Global Environmentalism
International travel and communication today has created a - Global Village or Spaceship Earth
Earth Summits (eg Rio de Janeiro) or Earth Days or ….
Have created all of us into a Global Citizen (whatever we do locally may influence someone/something around the world!!!)

19. Current Environmental Conditions
Half the world's wetlands were lost in the last 100 years.
Land conversion and logging have shrunk the world's forests by as much as 50%.
Nearly three-quarters of the world's major marine fish stocks are over fished or are being harvested beyond a sustainable rate.
Soil degradation has affected two-thirds of the world's agricultural lands in the last 50 years.

20. Major Causes of Environmental Degradation
(1) Population Growth
More than 6 billion people now occupy the earth, and we are adding about 85 million more each year.
In the next decade, most population growth will be in the poorer countries - countries where present populations already strain resources and services.

21. (2) Resource Extraction and Use
Burning of fossil fuels
Destruction of tropical rainforests and other biologically rich landscapes
Production of toxic wastes

22. Acid Deposition

23. Human Dimensions of Environmental Science
More than 1.3 billion people live in acute poverty, with an income of less than $1 (US) per day. These people generally lack access to an adequate diet, decent housing, basic sanitation, clean water, education, medical care, and other essentials.
Four out of five people in the world live in what would be considered poverty in the US or Canada.
The world's poorest people are often forced to meet short-term survival needs at the cost of long-term sustainability.

25. The American Lifestyle
To get an average American through the day takes
about 1000 pounds of raw materials, including
40 pounds of fossil fuels;
22 pounds of wood and paper; and
119 gallons of water.
Every year, Americans throw away some 160 million
tons of garbage, including
50 million tons of paper;
67 billion cans and bottles; and
18 billion disposable diapers.

26. Obviously, if everyone in the world tried to live at
consumption levels approaching ours, the results would be
disastrous.

27. Sustainability
How can the nations of the world produce the goods and services needed to improve life for everyone without overtaxing the environmental systems and natural resources on which we all depend?
Sustainable development:
progress in human well-being that we can extend or prolong
over many generations, rather than just a few years.
To be truly enduring, the benefits of sustainable development must be available to all humans, not just to the members of a privileged group.

28. Conservation/ Preservation Modern Environmentalism
Global Citizen
(McKinney & Schoch)

30. Basic Causes of Environmental Problems

31. A = affluence or average resource-use per person
Fig Simplified model of how three factors – population, affluence, and technology – affect the environmental impact of population in developing countries and developed countries.
P = number of people
A = affluence or average resource-use per person
T = technology or the beneficial & harmful environmental effects of the technologies used to provide & consume each unit of resource

33. Obviously, if everyone in the world tried to live at
consumption levels approaching ours, the results would be
disastrous.

34. Fig 1-8. Relative ecological footprints of the United States, the Netherlands, and India.

35. Fig Types of decision making in traditional and sustainable societies. The traditional decision making in most societies involves treating social, economic, and environmental issues separately (left). Environmentally sustainable development calls for integrating social, economic, and environmental issues and concepts to find sustainable solutions to problems (right).

36. Environmental Science looks at these complex interactions
Fig Major components and interactions within and between the earth’s life-support system and the human sociocultural system (culturesphere). The goal of environmental science is to learn as much as possible about these complex interactions.

37. Signs of Hope Many areas have made progress in
controlling air and water pollution and
reducing wasteful resource uses.
Population has stabilized in most industrialized countries, and even in some very poor countries. We have discovered many new resources and invented more efficient ways of using existing supplies.
Increased media coverage has made people more aware of environmental issues.
Young people are showing a great deal of interest in environmental science!