exponential growth
Quantity increases at a fixed percentage per unit time
Rapid, explosive growth
Doubling of pop. each generation
biodiversity
Variety of life forms and the habitats where they live
Ex: coral reefs, tropical rainforests
environment
All surroundings
Living and non-living
Natural and man-made
environmental science
Interdisciplinary
Natural sciences (biology, chemistry, physics, geology, etc.) - how the natural world works
Social sciences (economics, politics, ethics, etc.) - how humans and their institutions interact with and impact the natural world
natural sciences
Try to understand how the natural world works
Ex: biology, chemistry, physics, geology, etc.)
social sciences
Study how humans and their institutions interact with and impact the natural world
Ex: economics, politics, ethics, etc.
ecology
Ex of a natural science
Studies relationships b/t living organisms and their environment
environmentalism
Social movement aimed at protecting the natural world
sutstainability / durability
Ability to survive and adapt to changing environmental conditions
natural capital
Natural resources and natural services that keep us and other species alive and support our economies
solar capital
Warms planet
Provides energy for photosynthesis
sound science
Concepts and ideas that are widely accepted by experts in a particular field
Peer review process
environmentally sustainable society
Meets the current and future needs of its people for basic resources in a just and equitable manner without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs
economic growth
Increase in capacity of a country to provide people with good and services
GDP
Gross Domestic Product
Annual market value of all good and services produced by all firms and organizations (foreign & domestic) operating within a country
economic development
Improvement of living standards by economic growth
developed countries
High per capita GDP
Highly industrialized
Ex: U.S., Canada, Most Western European Countries
developing countries
Low per capita GDP
Some are middle-income and moderately developed
Some are low-income
Ex: China, Brazil, Kenya, Ethiopia
doubling time
Time it takes for a population to double given its growth rate
Use "Rule of 70"
Divide 70 by the growth rate to get the doubling time
resource
Anything obtained from the environment to meet our needs or wants; ex: air, coal, water, wood
perpetual resources
On a human time scale it is renewed continuously; ex: the sun
renewable resources
Can be renewed fairly rapidly (hours to several decades); ex: wood, water, air, fish
nonrenewable resources
Exist in a fixed quantity or stock in the earth's crust; ex: coal, iron, uranium
sustainable yield
Highest rate that a renewable resource can be used indefinitely without reducing its available supply
environmental degradation
Exceeding a resources natural replacement rate
Supply of resource shrinks
common property or free access resources
Commons
Individuals do not own the resource and the resource is available for all to use at little or no cost
Garrett Hardin
1915 - 2003
American Ecologist
Wrote paper titled, The Tragedy of the Commons
Tragedy of the Commons
Concept written about by Garrett Hardin
"If I do not use this resource, someone else will. The little bit I use or pollute is not enough to matter...
ecological footprint
Amount of biologically productive land and water needed to supply an area with resources and to absorb the wastes and pollution produced by such resource use
How many Earths does it take to support your way of life???
per capita ecological footprint
per person ecological footprint; higher for developed countries and lower for developing countries
pollution
Presence of an unwanted material or substance in high enough levels in air, water, soil, or food to threaten the health, survival, or activities of a living organism
Natural sources and anthropogenic sources
point source pollution
Pollutants come from single, identifiable sources
Large amount coming from an area you can point to
ex: sewage effluent, smokestack emissions
non-point source pollution
Comes from larger dispersed areas and are difficult to identify
Ex: agricultural runoff, runoff from a housing development
pollution prevention or input pollution control
Reduces or eliminates the production of pollutants
pollution cleanup or output pollution control
Cleaning up or diluting pollutants after they have been produced
poverty
Inability to meet one's basic economic needs
malnutrition
Improper diet and lacking protein and other nutrients needed for good health
undernourished
Not receiving enough calories
affluenza
Unsustainable addiction to overconsumption and materialism
agriclutural revolution
Began 10,000 - 12,000 years ago
Allowed people to settle in villages, grow crops and raise domesticated livestock
industrial-medical revolution
275 years ago
Shift from rural to urban society
Shift from using human and animal power to fossil fuels
Science used to improve sanitation and control disease
information-globalization revolution
50 years ago
New tech used to gain rapid access to information on a global scale
tribal era
5-10 million Native Americans
10,000 years before European Settlers in early 1600's
frontier era
1607 - 1890
European colonists begin settling North America and using its resources
frontier environmental worldview
Most of N. America viewed as vast wilderness and resources to be conquered and managed for human use
early conservation era
1832 - 1870
Some become alarmed at the resource depletion and degradation in the U.S.
Urged U.S. gov't to protect unspoiled lands owned by the public
environmental worldview
Your assumptions and values about how you think the world works and what your role in the world should be
environmental ethics
Your beliefs about what is right and wrong and how we treat the environment
planetary management worldview
We are separate from nature and nature exists mainly to meet our needs and increasing wants
Economic growth is unlimited and we can use our ingenuity and technology to manage earth's resources and services
stewardship worldview
We can manage the earth for our benefit but we have ethical responsibility to be caring, responsible stewards of the earth
Encourage environmentally beneficial forms of economic growth
environmental wisdom worldview
We are part of and totally dependent on nature
Nature exists for all species not just humans
social capital
Different people and cultures sharing ideas and beliefs
Collaboration
Diversity